71-89

The significance of the prophets in the dome of the Panayia tou Arakos and their counterparts in the Panayia Myriokephalon and the Panayia Veljusa

• Παπαμαστοράκης, Τίτος

The iconographie programme in the dome of the Panayia tou Arakos at Lagoudera in Cyprus has survived intact. The decoration of the cupola consists of a circle in the vault of the dome surrounded by two friezes. Within the circle is depicted the head of the Pantocrator on a red ground. In the upper frieze ten angels are portrayed in ten medallions. In the lower frieze, in the spaces between the windows, are twelve prophets holding scrolls with inscriptions. Clockwise, starting from the east point, they are: 1 Jeremiah, 2. Solomon, 3. Elias, 4. Elisha.5. Daniel, 6. Gideon, 7. Habakkuk, 8. Ezekiel, 9. Jonah, 10. Moses, 11. David, 12. Isaiah.The arrangement of these prophets in the dome of the Panayia tou Arakos has an interesting peculiarity: the figures of the prophets form pairs symmetrically stationed in relation to the long axis of the church. In this way a continuous conversation is established engaging the whole area of the dome above the heads of the viewers. The pairing of the prophets is effected not only through their persons, but through the texts on the scrolls they are holding.A study of the prophets and the scrolls shows that the twelve prophets depicted in the drum of the dome of the Panayia tou Arakos were used to emphasize directly or indirectly the earthly hypostasis of Christ: the prophets’ scrolls exalt in the first instance the Word Incarnate and the person of the Virgin Mary, and in the second instance the divine hypostasis of the Pantocrator. None of the texts refers to the Pantacrator as Judge, and the idea of the Second Coming is absent from the symbolic content of the inscriptions.The frieze with the angels and the Preparation of the Throne should not be interpreted on its own, but in conjunction with the frieze of the prophets. The angels are facing the Preparation of the Throne, which in this case symbolizes the Holy Trinity and not the throne of the Second Coming. The symbolic portrayal of the Holy Trinity in this position in the dome is directly related to the mystery of the Incarnation and in full accord with the symbolic meaning of the prophets.The choice of the particular prophets, their composition and studied disposition within the space of the dome, and the choice of the texts indicate the importance accorded to the prophets by the donor and spiritual creator of the iconographie programme, and his effort to render them adequate vehicles for the spiritual content that he wished to convey in the dome. The synthetic dialectical connection between the figures and the inscriptions reveals the advanced intellectual background of the donor who imposed his personal view on his monument.A comparison of the iconographie programme in the dome of the Panayia tou Arakos with the surviving 11th and 12th century examples in the Balkan peninsula shows that in respect of its symbolic content it belongs in a category of churches whose common characteristic is the importance they give to the two natures of Christ and the role of the Virgin in the Incarnation. The most important churches in this category are the Panayia ton Myriokephalon in Crete and the Panayia Veljusa in Macedonia.In the Panayia ton Myriokephalon the Virgin attended by two angels and seven figures of prophets are depicted below the Pantocrator at the eastern axial point. The texts on the prophets’ scrolls refer indirectly to the Incarnation and the Virgin. The iconographie programme in the Panayia ton Myriokephalon expresses in its totality the two natures of Christ.In the Panayia Veljusa, below the enthroned Pantocrator are depicted the Virgin, St John the Baptist, two attendant angels and four prophets. The eight figures form four pairs in a similar manner to that in the Panayia tou Arakos. A significant detail is that the text on Ezekiel’s scroll comes from the church consercation service. It is the only instance where a text of this kind is inscribed on the scroll of a prophet depicted in a dome. This constitutes a strong argument for dating the the frescoes to before the inauguration of the church and immediately after its construction, in 1080. Although the presence of the Virgin together with St John the Baptist might suggest an eschatological interpretation of the symbolic content of the dome, nevertheless the scheme of the Deesis in this iconographie programme represents the restitution of grace to his chosen people conferred through the Incarnation of a philanthropic and almighty God.The preceding analysis shows that the spiritual creators of the churches paid serious attention to the treatment of the figures of the prophets in order to convey the symbolic message they wished to express in the dome. Neither the choice of the figures nor that of their positions or of the texts in the scrolls was fortuitous. On the contrary, these elements were all designed to communicate a particular symbolic meaning, which in the case of the above churches was Salvation through Incarnation.These three churches were the creations of eponymous individuals of a high intellectual order who belonged to the upper social strata. The symbolic significance of all three programmes is the same, but they originated from different conceptions, which in each case served different ends. The donors of the Panayia Myriokephalon and the Panayia Veljusa represented imperial policy and were expressions of its endeavour to impose itself idealogically on the fringes of the empire. In the case of the Panayia tou Arakos the intellectual donor seems to have sought to express his personal conception of life and thus of religion, which for Medieval man was the most important element in his notion of the world. Perhaps the anthropocentric view of Christianity with which the donor appears to have been imbued was due to his contact with a classical education. This indeed seems very probable in a society of a few chosen intellectuals seeking its literary and artistic models in antiquity, surrounded by a multitude living in the ineluctable fear of the Second Coming.

• History and Archaeology
• Philosophy, Ethics and Religion

• Αρχαιολογία
• Arts and religion
• Christian art and symbolism

Για την ευγενή παραχώρηση των φωτογραφιών της Παναγίας του Άρακος ο υπογράφων ευχαριστεί το Διευθυντή Αρχαιοτήτων Κύπρου κ. Αθανάσιο Παπαγεωργίου., Περιέχει 3 σχέδια. Πίνακες 31-36 βλέπε τέλος τεύχους, Το άρθρο περιέχεται στο τεύχος: Μέρος Α'-Μελέτες