Britt Inger Johansson Paper

8/12/2019 Britt Inger Johansson Paper

1/18

Spectacle and Worship

Byzantine Liturgy in its Urban and Architectural Setting in the

Fifth to Seventh Centuries

Britt-Inger Johansson, docent, Lund & Uppsala Universities

[email protected]

This paper ows its existance to a longer essay on Byzantine liturgy and church

architecture in Constantinople written by me in connection with a phd-course inByzantinology in 2002. That essay was published in Swedish at the web site of the

Swedish Institute in Istanbul in the autumn the same year. The conference theme

gave the opportunity to develop one topic covered further by asking the following

questions: What was the relationship between the urban landscape, church

architecture and ritual in the pre-iconoclastic period? What role did visual

experience play in Byzantine liturgy in its urban and architectural setting at that

time? How did visuality relate to spatiality? What meanings may be deduced from

it?1

To answer these questions the paper analyses the interaction of the popular

processions of the station liturgy and the liturgy of the Eucharist in conjunction

with church interiors and the urban landscape of 5th-7thcentury Constantinople.

1Of particular use has been discussions in Baldovin, John Francis,The Urban Character of Christian Worship inJerusalem, Rome, and Constantinople from the Fourth to the Tenth Centuries, Diss 1982) later published asTheUrban Character of Christian Worship: The Origins, Development and Meaning of Stational Liturgy, OrientaliaChristiana Analecta (Pont. Institutum Studiorum Orientalium: Roma 1987). Also, Liz James interpretations of the

role of visuality in Byzantine sacred art in two essays have been inspirational for the production of this paper: Colorand Meaning in Byzantium, Journal of Early Christian Studies11:2 (2003), pp. 223-233 and Senses and Sensibilityin Byzantium,Art Historyvol. 27, no 4, September 2004, pp. 522-537.

1


2/18

The present day Great Church of Constantinople, Hagia Sophia, was built in

532-37 during the reign of

Emperor Justinian. It replaced a

previous church which was burnt

down during the Nika Riot but

had been inaugurated already in

360 during the reign of Emperor

Constantine II as the new

cathedral.2

Constantine II was anadherent of the Aryan heresy, and had dispossessed the Nicaean Christians of the

churches of the city.3Thus, Hagia Sophia originally belonged to the Aryans. After

two decades, Theodosius I ejected the Aryans in381 and returned the same

churches to the sole disposition of the Nicaean party. The Aryans were thenceforth

allowed to celebrate mass only outside the city walls. This brings us to the

initiation of the Constantinopolitan stational liturgy which grew out of the conflict

between the Aryans and the Orthodox. The following brief account of its

development is mainly based on John Francis Baldovins comparative study of the

station liturgies in Rome, Jerusalem and Constantinople.4

The newly dispossessed Aryans would assemble in a public square in

Constantinople to celebrate a night vigil singing hymns. At dawn they would

demonstratively walk in procession to the church they were still allowed to use

outside the city walls to celebrate Eucharist. These processions attracted people,

and were therefore regarded as a threat to the Nicaean party. In an atmosphere of

2Mathews, Thomas F.,The Early Churches of Constantinople, (Pennsylvania State University Press: UniversityPark/ London 1971), p. 123Mainstone, Rowland J.,Hagia Sophia: Architecture, Structure and Liturgy of Justinians Great Church(Thames &Hudson: London 1988), p. 131. The Nicaeans were those who adhered to the proclamation of trinitarian faithestablished by a Council in Nicaea in 4thcentury, whereas the Aryans diverged from that theological dogma.4Aside from Baldovin (1987), pp. 181-204, see also Taft, Robert, The Byzantine Rite: A Short History, AmericanEssays in Liturgy (The Liturgical Press: Collegeville, Minn. 1992), pp. 30-32. Berger, Albrecht has discussed the

station liturgy further in its later medieval stage in the essay Imperial and Ecclesiastical Processions inConstantinople,Byzantine Constantinople: Monuments, Topography and Everyday Life(Ed. Nevra Necipoglu),(Brill: Leiden-Boston-Kln 2001), pp.73-88

2


3/18

one-upmanship the patriarch John Chrysostom initiated similar nightly Nicaean

processions around 400. Carrying torches, the Nicaeans would walk in popular

procession, stopping at certain intervals, so-called stations in churches or squares,

to pray and sing along the route in an attempt to shout down the Aryans. To make

their own processions more visually spectacular than their competitors, the

patriarch persuaded the Empress Eudoxia to donate expensive silver crucifixes and

candle holders to be carried at the head of the processions.

By joining either the Aryan or the Nicaean procession the individual signaled

both doctrinal belonging and collective identity. A tad anachronistically, one might

say that this popular liturgy of the streets became a multimedia show and a forcefulvisual argument in an ongoing public debate and a weapon in the power struggle

between the two religious factions.5In time, the Aryans were forbidden to hold

vigils, but the Nicaean processions continued. One reason was that they increased

the air of festivity of the Christian religious services so that they could compete

with secular spectacles like circus games and horse races at the Hippodrome. The

development of material and ritualistic splendour of the station liturgies thus

functioned as a means of advertising Christianity to the part of the populace not yet

converted.

The station liturgy eventually received a new purpose as it became the expression

of a unified orthodox Constantinople.6An understanding of the experiential

meaning of this development may be founded on the following definition of

religion and ritual by the scholar Robert Taft SJ:

A religion is // a shared perspective, a common outlook on reality. As suchit depends on the groups collective remembrance of things past, of events thathave been transformed in the collective memory of the community into keysymbolic episodes determinative of the communitys being and self-understanding // . For it is through the interpretation of the past that acommunity relates to the present and copes with the future. In the process ofritual representation, past constitutive events are made present in ritual time, in

5Baldovin (1987), p. 185 and 210.6Baldovin (1987), p. 210-211.

3


4/18

order to communicate their force to new generations of the social group,

providing thus a community of identity through history.7

The structure of the Constantinopolitan station liturgy was founded on key

events of different kinds, merging the religious with the secular. Not only religious

feastdays were celebrated with popular processions. In moments of city crises a

station liturgy might be formed so that the populace could call on divine

protection, this occurred for instance during an earthquake in the 5th century. If

divine aid had been dispensed, then that day would be proclaimed a public holiday

and a commemorative station liturgy would be established for all time.

Eventually, these processions became more formalised and elaborate, and were

reserved for certain feast days rather than being a weekly occurrence as they

originally seems to have been. Hymns and antiphons were created for different

procession days, and formal prayers were included, eventually even lessons. By the

by, the station liturgy became an important defining element in the liturgical

development in Constantinople and an important factor in the production and

reproduction of civic and religious identity for its citizenry. The station liturgy

contributed to a visual sacralisation of the whole city, where the Emperor resided

as the Vicar of Christ. Streets, squares and market places became extensions of the

7Taft, Robert, The Liturgy of the Hours in the Christian East: Origins, Meaning, Place in the Life of the Church,(Liturgical Press: Collegeville Minn. 1986), p. 236.

4
http://_illustrations/


5/18

churches during processions and the churches became nodes of collective

manifestations of shared identity in the urban fabric.8They were both physical

points of departure, as well as goals for the processions, which created a dynamic

flow through the arteries of the city fuelled by the movement of human bodies.

Likewise, the liturgy of the Eucharist was also influenced by them as Baldovin has

shown.

The liturgies of the civic and religious public spheres enmeshed nation, city and

religion in a tightly wound web of shared meaning and identity peculiar for

Constantinople.9The founding of the city, the overcoming of natural disasters and

foreign invasions were included and commemorated in public rituals

10

side by sidewith saints days and other religious feast days related to scriptural events; thus

incorporating them all not only in a historical but also an eschatological perspective

while grounding them in the actual city. The processions reminded the citizenry of

Constantinople of divine grace in troubled times and offered the hope of eternal

glory to the faithful.

Hagia Eirene, longitudinal section.

This brings us into the 6th century

and the prosperous, long reign of

Justinian who initiated a large number of

ecclesiastical building efforts, including

rebuilding Hagia Sophia as previously

mentioned.11As Baldovin concludes:

Many of the churches that figure

significantly in the citys stational liturgy receive their final form at this time.12

Architectonically, this period is characterised by experiments with new shapes,

8Aside from the main thoroughfares, cardo & decumanus,and some market places, the exact streetplanlayout ofConstantinople is still under debate, cfp Berger, Albrect, Streets and Public Spaces in Constantinople,DumbartonOaks Papers, vol. 54, 2000, pp. 161-172 and Dark, K.R., Houses, Streets and shops in Byzantine Constantinoplefrom the fifth to the twelfth centuries,Journal of Medieval History, Vol. 30, No 2, 2004, pp. 83-107.9Baldovin (1987), p. 197, see also p. 211.

10Baldovin (1987), p. 169, 186-188, 190 and 197..11Procopius,Buildings(The Loeb Classical Library: Harvard/London 1961), pp. 10-79.12Baldovin (1968), p. 178.

5


6/18

forms and spaces. In particular, the Emperor encouraged technically advanced,

centrally planned churches with bold cupola constructions without entirely

abandoning the shape of the basilica which provided interior processional space.

This reliance on proven models in combination with daring technical innovations

led to hybrid forms as witnessed by Hagia Sophia and Hagia Eirene, both still

standing.

The building program seems to represent a desire to monumentalise and

embellish Constantinople as the second Rome, after the fall of the first. Further, it

served as visual reminder of the position of Orthodox Christianity as preferred

imperial state religion after the dogmatic struggles of previous centuries. In trueRoman spirit, Justinian positioned himself as a great ruler and a worthy successor

of Augustus and Constantine. In fact, he even emulated King Solomon himself in a

visually compelling manner through the impressive buildings being erected all over

the city. The churches in themselves reminded the citizens of the Emperors

munificence and became signs of imperial power13connecting it with the divine,

offering spiritual protection as

many of them encircled the c

Judg

ity.14

ing by contemporary

acc

ct

ounts and the evidence of

architecture, an important aspe

of new church structures appears

to have been a desire to open up

and maximise the flow of light,

best exemplified by Hagia

Sophia.15When standing in the middle of this huge church, the flooding light in

13Webb, Ruth, The aesthetics of Sacred Space: Narrative, Metaphor, and Motion inEkphraseisof ChurchBuildings,Dumbarton Oaks Papersvol. 53, 1999, p. 66.14Baldovin (1987), p. 180.15Procopios discusses the light in Hagia Sophia in his description of the church inBuildings. Later, Paolos

Silentiaros dwells both on the effects of daylight as well as of the abundance of artificial lighting in the evening inHagia Sophia in the translations of Mango, Cyril, The Art of the Byzantine Empire 312-1453: Sources andDocuments, Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching 16, (University of Toronto Press: Toronto 1986), pp. 80-90.

6


7/18

conjunction with the placement and design of the central load bearing pillars of

the spectator the illusion of dissolving walls and ceilings.

fers

has

dows

ording

that

urseing

f the churches of

Co

was

elf

most

16 Since the latter was

covered by gold ground mosaic the scintillating and reflecting character must have

contributed to further that impression to the contemporary eye.17Liz James

noted concerning icons that light was a means of expressing virtue and holiness

both in physical art and in writing.18Such a conviction seems to have saturated

also Hagia Sophia; evident through the glittering mosaics and numerous win

of the interior, and the extensive grounds surrounding the exterior which acc

to Paolos Silentiarios was surrounded by open courts with the main objective

it may appear to be bathed all round by the bright light of day.

19

Light is of conecessary for improved visibility as well. Not surprisingly, light, truth and view

was strongly connected in the Byzantine mind, a topic we will return to later.

Apart from light, accessibility was another prominent feature o

nstantinople, eventhough a certain degree of seclusion was signalled through the

intervening porticoes,

porches, fore-courts and

narthexes. A succession of

ritual transition spaces

thus created where the

participant was offered the

chance to prepare him/ hers

before encountering the

holy. These spaces provide

checkpoints on a gradual journey from a secular to a sacred environment which

was percieved as a symbolic image of heaven. The procession of the station liturgy

Other well-lit churches are the still extant Hagia Eirene and the destroyed Church of the Holy Apostles which plentyof windows,16Although the first dome collapsed due to an earthquake two decades after its completion was slightly shallower itwas still equipped with windows according to Procopius, letting in light in much the same way. See Taylor, Rabun,A Literary and Structural Analysis of the First Dome on Justinians Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, The Journal ofthe Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 55, no 1, March 1996, pp. 66-78.

17As described by Procopius18James (2003), p. 227.19Quoted from Mango (1986), p. 85

7


8/18

offered an immaterial spiritual road leading to the interior of a church, as an

accompaniment to the physical one offered by the streets as the celebration of

Eucharist was liturgically initiated in the city.

The decorative elements of the inner architecture strongly resemble outdoor

arc

ll-lit

t

diaries,

te self-

o liturgical handbooks have been preserved from earlier than the 10th

ce t as

hitecture which makes the vast space appear like a covered square. The large

number of doors in Hagia Sophia, originally offering access to the city and its

streets, further strengthens this impression.20Taken in conjunction with the we

interior, the practice of station liturgy and the very shape of the porticoed urban

thoroughfares, it would seem that the churches and their nearest vicinity were no

conceived of as closed enclaves but as integrated extensions of public processionalspace. I would propose that they were designed to spatially interact with

colonnaded civic public spaces and the porticoed streets acting as interme

the latter pulling together individual buildings and uniting them as Marlia

Mundell Mango has observed.21Thus, urban space was not created by separa

contained units but rather woven together by interdependent physical components

stimulated by the processions of the station liturgy which in its turn appealed

visually.

Since n

ntury, scholars have reconstructed various parts of the Liturgy of the Eucharis

well as station liturgy by triangulating different textual sources as chronicles,

homilies, mystagogic commentaries, a later typikon and so forth.22The

20This was by all means not only the case with Hagia Sophia, but also other churches according to Mathews (1971).This means they were well-integrated in the urban environment. Cfp Baldovin (1987), p. 178: It certainly was

squares are

urgy in Byzantium and Beyond,(Variorum:in

d

equipped for all kinds of movement with entrances on every side as well as exterior stairwells and interior staircases.21Mango, Marlia Mundell, The Porticoed Street at Constantinople, (Ed. Nevra Necipoglu),ByzantineConstantinople: Monuments, Topography and Everyday Life(Brill: Leiden-Boston-Kln 2001), p 30. The streetporticoes were all colonnaded at this time, for a description see pp. 40-46. The various colonnaded publicdescribed on pp. 33-40. According to Mango, Marlia Mundell, The Commercial Map of Constantinople,

Dumbarton Oaks Papers, vol. 54 (2000), p. 196, Constantinople boasted fifty-two porticoes already in the 5thcenturyaccording to theNotitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae in 425.22See Baldovin (1982), pp. 414-450 or Baldovin (1987) p. 181-204; Taft (1992), pp. 28-38; Taft, Robert, SomeNotes on the Bema in the East and West Syrian Traditions,LitAldershot 1995), pp. 45-75, Wybrew; Hugh,The Orthodox Liturgy: The Development of the Eucharistic Liturgy

the Byzantine Rite(London: 1996), p. 67-103, Mathews (1971), pp. 105-177, Mainstone (1988), p. 219-287 anOusterhout, Robert, The Holy Space: Architecture and Liturgy,Heaven on Earth: Art and the Church inByzantium, Ed. Linda Safran, (The Pennsylvania University Press: University Park Pa 1998), pp. 81-87.

8


9/18

reconstruction efforts have been directed towards the spectacular

Constantinopolitan cathedral liturgy which was entwined with the public life of

court and citizenry, and has been assumed to have influenced other liturgies. A 10th

century copy23of the 9thcentury Menologion of Basileios II is illustrated with

pictures showing some of the various stages of the liturgy in keeping with textual

sources and architectural remains. Justinians contemporary chronicler Procopios

made a thorough description of Hagia Sophia inBuildings, as did Paolos

Silentiaros and several others. From their ekphraseismay be gleaned additional

information both on the physical appearance of the church as well as their

experience of it.24

In order to make this discussion less abstract, and more tangible, I will now

continue with an ekphrasis of my own with an extrapolated account of the

presumed interaction between station liturgy, urban landscape, mass liturgy and the

interior of Hagia Sophia as it may have appeared during the period discussed.

The main streets would have looked like the

porticoed cardo of ancient Gerasa seen here.

Imagine yourself a citizen of Constantinople on an

important feast day as the rededication of Hagia

Sophia.25Before the break of dawn you leave your

home to depart to the starting point of the procession

which may be one of the churches or the forum. Your

neighbours are hurrying alongside you. More and

more people gather in the streets and the atmosphere

is redolent with excitement; a rumour is spreading that the emperor himself will

present. Some people are chatting; others have taken out their prayer beads to

23Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, gr. 1613.

24Translations may be found in Mango (1986) of a selection of descriptions by Procopius (pp. 72-78), Evagrios (pp.79-80), and Paulos Silentiarios (pp. 80-96).25

Baldovin (1987), p. 188.

9


10/18

begin their spiritual preparation. You reach the meeting point and then wait wh

the people assemble.

Finally, the patriarc

ile

h arrives and then the emperor. The patriarch offers a prayer,

an

d

e of their

e

emperor enters the church in company with the patriarch followed by the

cle

s

held and made visible inside the church by people gathering into

groups according to social standing where they remained in spatial zones reserved

r social

antiphonal psalm is sung and everyone joins in the response. The two dignitaries

initiate the procession followed by clergy carrying the crucifix, the gospel book and

swinging sensers spreading wafts of aromatic incense. People fall in behind them.

The procession moves down one of the porticoed streets to the next large open

area, where the crowd stops. Once more, hymns and antiphonal psalms are sung;

litanies to the saints are offered. The procession continues. The mesmerising soun

of antiphonal psalms and prayers serve to heighten the sensibilities of theparticipants. Socially, the station liturgy allows people to mingle irrespectiv

civic standing apart from the dignitaries that lead the procession. Eventually, the

goal is reached, the Great Church itself where more proper social ordering will tak

place.

The

rgy. After an entrance rite in the narthex, the emperor takes his place near the

chancel in a cordoned off area, themetatorion, while the lay people disperse acros

the church to their assigned places. In politics, as well as theology, the cosmological

idea of a universal holy order, calledtaxisin Greek, also structured society

hierarchically.

Taxis was up

for them: emperor and patriarch, clergy and laity, men and women, baptised and

non-baptised, most likely prosperous and poor, maybe even married and

unmarried. The members of the congregation had a place reflecting his/ he

rank which microcosmically corresponded with the macrcosmos of taxis. Deviation

would have been threatened cosmic order itself. This social ordering by taxis may

be seen as an example of seductive power mediation leading to the participants

surrendering their self-will for the presumed greater good of Constantinople and

10


11/18

themselves.26The stone floor of Hagia Sophia has strips in divergent colours. The

have been interpreted as interior markers of stations, where the clerical procession

would have halted periodically on its way in for further singing and praying. They

may also have signified the social structuring of the congregation, delimiting

separate zones as perhaps hinted at by a passage in the medievalNarratio de S.

Sophias.

y

e laity found their respective places in the church, the patriarch and the

cle

;

Hagia

hich

Plan of Hagia Sophia with layout

erhaps the patriarch, the

carrier of the crucifix, the carrier

f the

27

While th

rgy continued the procession. A walkway physically defined by a marble barrier,

the so calledsolea, reached from the chancel to the pulpit and a little way beyond.

It split and made a detour on each side of the pulpit which was aligned west to east

theambo, that is the reading pulpit, was likewise made of marble with steps leading

up one side and down the other. This means the ambo was structured as a

walkway; in the previously mentionedMenologionone illustration shows a

procession crossing a similar ambo in the way suggested here. The ambo of

Sophia was in fact large enough to allow boy choristers standing undetected

underneath; as people entered they would be welcomed by an angelic hymn wwould seem to come out of nowhere.

of solea, ambo, bema, altar and

synthronon reconstructed

P

of the gospel and other

dignitaries went by way o

ambo as in theMenologion,

26Dovey, Kim,Framing places: Mediating Power in Built Form, (Routledge: London 2001), p. 2027This source quoted in Mango (1993), p. 101 claim that penitents were ordered by Justinian to stand on these stonestrips. This sounds extraordinary, but could be a slight misunderstanding of their actual function as suggested here.

11


12/18

while the lesser clergy followed the solea to join those worthy of passing over the

ambo further on. The procession continued into the sanctuary which was slightly

raised on a platform, the so-calledbema, which projected into the nave and w

surrounded by a barrier, thetemplon. At this time no iconostasisprevented the

people from viewing the action in the sanctuary since the icons were placed on top

of the architrave of the templonbarrier. The gospel was enthroned on the altar an

the clergy took up their seats on the stepped silver-cladsynthrononin the apse,

with the patriarch on the seventh topmost step in the middle.

The re

as

d

aders would procession back to the pulpit down the solea. The gospel

ca the

e

s

e

visibility, or visuality, is a key word to characterise the

sp

n and

rrier would presumably raise the gospel book high in the air while standing at

top before reading the text, as is customary to this day. Homilies were rare, but

were delivered by the bishop from his throne in the apse. After intercessions, th

catecumens and penitents would leave the church. The liturgy of the Eucharist wa

inaugurated by another procession. Deacons would leave the chancel to fetch the

bread and wine and carry them in procession in a similar fashion as before over th

ambo, along the solea, down to the chancel. Unlike the orthodox church of today,the Eucharistic ritual would be carried out mostly in full view. The communion

would take place along the barriers of the chancel, perhaps also along the solea

considering the large number of communicants. After the final blessing, people

would leave the church.

There is no doubt that

ectacular liturgy of the 6-7thcenturies. Witnessing was a profound part of the

experience of celebrating Holy Mass in Constantinople, from the more loosely

organised popular station liturgy in the streets, to the highly structured and

stratified liturgy inside the church. The design of space, furnishing, decoratio

liturgy was intended to support and emphasise a high level of visibility. The liturgy

became a strong sensuous and emotional experience, built up step by step from the

streets to the church.

12


13/18

The usage of the different furnishings contributed to promote the visual

experience. The synthronon was designed for visibility, the congregation saw the

patriarch and clergy, and vice versa. At the same time the synthronon and the

barriered sanctuary on its bema emphasised a hierarchical difference between its

occupants and everyone else. It made ecclesiastical leadership apparent,

emphasising the teaching authority of the patriarch, but also differentiating the

clergy by how far they were removed from the patriarch. Power relationship within

that distinguished group, as well as between them and the congregation, and within

the congregation was made clear in a pedagogical way. By being placed high the

bishop was raised above the crowd and able to practice symbolic disciplinarycontrol through his position of surveillance.28

The dignity of the altar was visually enhanced by the ciborium which originally

must have had a practical function preventing dust and particles from falling down.

A similar practical but later ossified function was filled by the nowadays purely

ceremonial fans in the Armenian mass. According to Procopios the altar was

originally made of gold, later covered by gold sheathing, and as in the mosaic the

brightness of this metal and that of other features in the interior sheathed in silver

were of mystical divine significance and signs of transcendent truth.29

The sanctuary barrier had both a practical and a symbolical function by

physically separating and setting aside a specific area as more holy than the rest,

being accessible only to clerical elite. The development of this barrier makes this

double function clear. In its earliest form it was very low and built by waist high

stone panels, ensuring that the Eucharist could be celebrated without the clergy

being crushed by participants flocking round the altar. Later on, higher columns

and an architrave were added to the barrier, and images began to be placed on top

of it. Further on, curtains were introduced; controlling visibility, and finally the

28Dovey (2001), p.19.29See James (2003), p. 227 who stresses the importance of the media of Byzantine art conveying light, brightness,and glitter.

13


14/18

iconostasis came to prohibit visibility, when that was not considered an important

element of liturgy any more.

Similarly, the solea seems to have had a mundane function to begin with,

creating a walkway for the clergy as an extension of the chancel barrier. But the

solea also became an important ritual device in that it maintained the clerical

procession, when the popular procession broke up, physically and visually

separating the clergy from the laity. Even the ambo became a ritual instrument and

not only an acoustic device to improve the quality of readings. Certain objects were

exalted symbolically by being displayed from the top of the ambo, as for instance

the gospel. The later public enthronement on the altar of the gospel clarified that itnot only represented the Written Word of God, but the Living Word of God, that

is Christ. Thus, it was not just a book that had been held aloft by the bearer on the

ambo, but the Saviour himself. As a sign of divine presence the gospel further

legitimised the teaching of the patriarch on the synthronon. This created a circular

reenforcement of symbolical implications.

The liturgy of the hours, the station liturgies and the liturgy of Eucharist in

Constantinople was entwined with each other and embedded in everyday life. On

the one hand, they gave a sacramental dimension to the everyday existence of

ordinary citizens, connecting earth and heaven. On the other hand, the liturgy had

a distinctly urban character and was joined with the secular ritual of the imperial

court and therefore also served as a mediator of political power.30Every citizen,

from the poor spending the nights in porticoes to the emperor, could take part in

this public ritual. At the same time the ritual would uphold and reafirm the civic

and ecclesiastical ranking of every individual by their active participation. The act of

viewing worked as weve seen on many levels; it not only served to connect the

participant with the divine in a mystical fashion, but also to reenforce ecclesial and

civic power as well as social order. It was The ruling orders non-stop discourse

30Baldovin (1987), p. 211.

14


15/18

about itself.31The spectacle of byzantine worship was no doubt a materialized

worldview in the Debordian sense, working as a means of unification32on the

surface while working towards social separation according to the perceived

universal order (taxis).33

Mobility characterised the joined liturgies, which were dramatic, extrovert and

inclusive in character unlike later on, when the station liturgy became ever more

limited in scope34and the liturgy of the Eucharist was hidden behind the

iconostasis, promoting introversion and exclusivity. The early liturgies in

Constantinople developed interactively with the urban fabric and with distinct

buildings within it. The combined liturgies came thus to influence strongly thearchitecural conception and experience of Hagia Sophia and other churches, not as

separate, and closed off environments in the urban fabric, but in effect as dynamic,

interconnected parts of it. Visuality and spatiality interacted in equal measures in

the sacralisation of the city.

The carrying idea of the Justinian time seems to have been to both see, that is

witness, and also being seen, by taking part in a grand spectacle, where one would

be both participant and spectator at the same time.35Sight held a position of honor

among the senses in Byzantium: it was through sight that truth was apprehended.

/ / Sight was the most reliable and efficacious of the senses, the one priviliged by

God.36The windows, the scintillating mosaics, the oil lamps and chandeliers lit at

night, and the reflecting metal sheathing in the interior served to increase light

levels, and thereby visibilty, while emphazising the metaphyscal meaning of the

church as the House of God. This emphasis on visuality in liturgy, church

architecture, art and furnishing was influenced by theological ideas where the basic

assumption was that visual representation was clearer and more distinct than oral

31Debord, Guy, The Society of Spectacle, transl. Ken Knabb (Rebel Press: London, no publishing year stated), p.12,paragraph 23. Debords definitions of spectacle is strongly connected to modernity and capitalism, which limits itsusefulness as a theoretical tool in this analysis beyond was is commented on above.32Debord, p. 7, paragraph 3.33Debord, Guy, p. 10, paragraph 14 and p. 16-17, paragraph 29.34Baldovin (1987), p. 212-214 who ascribes the diminishing importance to the 7th-10thcenturies, see also Berger

(2001), p. 83.35Baldovin (1987), p. 211: The liturgyinthe city was the liturgyof the city.36James (2003), p. 228.

15


16/18

communication.37Thus, the validity of the oral parts of the liturgy was confirmed

and enhanced by visually appealing rituals of legitimation.38

The opening question of this paper whether visual experience was a significant

component in Byzantine liturgy in its urban and architectural setting may be

answered in the affirmative. Visuality sits at the centre of the byzantine spectacle of

worship in conjunction with a specific spatial and social practice. Viewing and

being viewed was instrumental for the creation of unity, collective meaning and

social order through combined civic and religious ritual.

Illustrations

1. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, exterior, photo by the author, 2002. (p. 1)

2. Byzantine Constantinople, city layout reconstruction, Wikimedia Commons, DeliDumrul (p. 4)

3. Hagia Eirene, longitudinal section, Wikimedia Commons, Alexander van Millingen,Byzantine

Churches in Constantinople,1912 (p. 5)

4. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, cupola interior, photo by the author, 2002 (p. 6)

5. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, interior, photo by the author, 2002 (p. 7)

6. Gerasa (present-day Jerash), Jordania, street portico, photo by the author, 2005 (p. 9)

7. Hagia Sophia, groundplan, scanned by the author from Cyril Mango,The Art of the Byzantine

Empire 312-1453: Sources and Documents, 1993 (p. 11)

References

Baldovin, John Francis SJ,The Urban Character of Christian Worship in Jerusalem, Rome, and

Constantinople from the Fourth to the Tenth Centuries, Diss 1982

Baldovin, John Francis SJ,The Urban Character of Christian Worship: The Origins

Development and Meaning of Stational Liturgy, Orientalia Christiana Analecta(Pont.

Institutum Studiorum Orientalium: Roma 1987)

Berger, Albrecht Imperial and Ecclesiastical Processions in Constantinople, (Ed. Nevra

Necipoglu),Byzantine Constantinople: Monuments, Topography and Everyday Life(Brill:

Leiden-Boston-Kln 2001)

Berger, Albrect, Streets and Public Spaces in Constantinople,Dumbarton Oaks Papers, vol. 54,

2000, pp. 161-172

37Ibid.38Dovey (2001), p.12

16


17/18

Dark, K.R., Houses, Streets and shops in Byzantine Constantinople from the fifth to the twelfth

centuries,Journal of Medieval History, Vol. 30, No 2, 2004, pp. 83-107

Debord, Guy,The Society of Spectacle, transl. Ken Knabb (Rebel Press: London, no publishing

year stated)

James, Liz, Color and Meaning in Byzantium,Journal of Early Christian Studies11:2 (2003),

pp. 223-233

James, Liz, Senses and Sensibility in Byzantium,Art Historyvol. 27, no 4, September 2004, pp.

522-537

Mainstone, Rowland J.,Hagia Sophia: Architecture, Structure and Liturgy of Justinians Great

Church(Thames & Hudson: London 1988)

Mango, Marlia Mundell, The Commercial Map of Constantinople,Dumbarton Oaks Papers,vol. 54 (2000)

Mango, Marlia Mundell, The Porticoed Street at Constantinople, (Ed. Nevra Necipoglu),

Byzantine Constantinople: Monuments, Topography and Everyday Life(Brill: Leiden-Boston-

Kln 2001)

Mango, Cyril,The Art of the Byzantine Empire 312-1453: Sources and Documents, Medieval

Academy Reprints for Teaching 16, (University of Toronto Press: Toronto 1986)

Mathews, Thomas F., The Early Churches of Constantinople, (Pennsylvania State University

Press: University Park/ London 1971)

Menologion of Basileios II,Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, gr. 1613

Ousterhout, Robert, The Holy Space: Architecture and Liturgy,Heaven on Earth: Art and the

Church in Byzantium, Ed. Linda Safran, (The Pennsylvania University Press: University Park Pa

1998)

Procopius,Buildings(The Loeb Classical Library: Harvard/ London 1961)

Taft, Robert,The Liturgy of the Hours in the Christian East: Origins, Meaning, Place in the Lifeof the Church, (Liturgical Press: Collegeville Minn. 1986)

Taft, Robert SJ, The Byzantine Rite: A Short History, American Essays in Liturgy (The Liturgical

Press: Collegeville, Minn. 1992)

Taft, Robert, Some Notes on the Bema in the East and West Syrian Traditions,Liturgy in

Byzantium and Beyond, (Variorum: Aldershot 1995), pp. 45-75

Taylor, Rabun, A Literary and Structural Analysis of the First Dome on Justinians Hagia

Sophia, Constantinople,The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 55, no 1,March 1996, pp. 66-78.

17


18/18

Webb, Ruth, The aesthetics of Sacred Space: Narrative, Metaphor, and Motion inEkphraseisof

Church Buildings,Dumbarton Oaks Papersvol. 53, 1999

Wybrew; Hugh,The Orthodox Liturgy: The Development of the Eucharistic Liturgy in the

Byzantine Rite(London: 1996)

18

Britt Inger Johansson Paper

Documents

Transcript of Britt Inger Johansson Paper