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Icons
of Macedonia - I
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here are presented just a part of icons from the book "Icons of
Macedonia" -
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BEGINNINGS
- THE ICONOCLASTS VERSUS THE CULT OF ICONS
 The
sacred paintings known as icons to the discipline which studies them
should not be regarded as being an invention of Christianity. In discussing
their origin and significance Kurt Weitzmann points out that this sort
of sacred painting is found in the cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis",
in illustrations of mythological scenes connected with the fate of the
good king of Egypt Osiris, brother and husband of the goddess Isis.
Icons have been worked in different shapes and forms depending on their
purpose as well as on the different materials and techniques with which
they were made. In the Christian world they were already to be found
in the earliest period of Christianity. In the fourth century the two
bishops Eusebius of Caesarea and Epiphanius of Salamis mention icons
in which Jesus Christ, the Holy Mother of God, the Archangel Michael
and certain of the apostles were represented. However, Bishop Epiphanius
of Salamis expressed open revolt against the painting of sacred figures,
considering it idolatry. His resistance was especially directed against
Christ's figure being painted.
This shows that during the first centuries in the period of Early Christianity
there were different and very often completely opposing views on the
painting of, respect for and presence of icons in shrines. In the course
of time this resistance to sacred paintings or icons was to lessen to
the point where their presence in shrines would become obligatory or
again was to increase to the point of their total removal. At the core
of the conflict from the very first the question of idolatry, that is
to say of the relationship between the painting and its archetype, was
present. For many years ferocious and exhaustive wars were waged between
the iconoclasts and the Iconodules in the course of which at various
times the position of one or the other prevailed. However, from the
beginning of the eighth century events were to assume a completely different
character. Serious conflicts erupted and as a result the Romaoian Empire
was to be shaken to its very  foundations.
A more detailed survey of the history of these movements enables us
to gain an understanding of thephilosophical and theological basis by
means of which certain positions taken up by both the one and the other
of the conflicting sides become clearer.
George Ostrogorsky in his well-known work "Studies of the History
of the Struggle over Icons in Byzantium''2 states that "the animosity
towards icons in Romaoian state flared up in the Asia Minor provinces
of the Empire and appeared there under the influence of oriental cultures
(Hebrew and especially Islamic) and oriental sects (Paulicianism) and
gained a hold in certain circles of the Romaoian clergy, especially
in Phrygia. With the accession of the Emperor Leo III in the 20's of
the eighth century it was to become the dominant ecclesiastical teaching
of the Romaoian state. The theoretical basis of Iconoclasm in this period
was the Old Testament prohibition of paintings and opposed the cult
of icons with the ban on idolatry."
 George
Ostrogorsky further says: "Iconoclasm was to reach its peak under
Emperor Constantine V, son and heir to Leo III, under whose rule (741-775),
after a long period of expectation during the 50's, a severe attack
upon icons took place which was to spread with everincreasing intensity
right up to the death of the Emperor. Under Emperor Constantine V, Iconoclasm
also developed further in a theoretical respect: while allusions to
Christological problems appeared initially only in isolated cases in
the camp of the iconoclasts, the texts written by Constantine V finally
shifted the focus to questions of a Christological nature which constituted
the real nucleus of the conflict."
The Iconoclastic Council summoned in 754 in Constantinople in order
to establish the official direction of iconoclastic doctrine referred
to the texts written by Constantine V. However, in so doing they subjected
them to a complete re-working, trying to eliminate, above all, dogmatic
or doubtful parts of those texts.
George Ostrogorsky, going into this material thoroughly, sets out the
view that "an excursus into the hagiographic and chronographic
literature would prove that Constantine V, as opposed to the Council
he summoned, was inimically disposed not only to the cult of icons but
also to that of the Mother of God and the saints. These extreme features
of Iconoclasm came to a head in the second half of Constantine's rule
when in the 60's he set out to break the opposition of the monks."
After this there followed a strong reaction on the part of the Iconodules,
who after Constantine's death in 775 managed to  establish
the cult of icons at the Seventh Oecumenical Council of 787 in Nicaea.
This event concluded only the first period of the struggle against Icons.
Ostrogorsky considers that "with the ending of the first period
of Iconoclasm it was already spiritually exhausted."
Under Emperor Leo V the Armenian (813-820), however, Iconoclasm flared
up again, only to lose something of its force during the reign of Michael
II (820-829) and rise again with increased fanaticism under Theophilus
(829-842).
This was the situation right up to the time of the Iconodule victory
and the establishment of the cult of icons in 843.
If one bears in mind that the definitive establishment of this cult
took place in the middle of the ninth century, that is to say immediately
before the missionary activities of the Slavonic educators Cyril and
Methodius and their disciples Clement and Nauru, the question is logically
posed of how it developed, what phases it went through, how Iconoclasm
was reflected in Macedonia from the time of the appearance of icons
in the first centuries of Christianity to the middle of the ninth century,
that is by the time of Clement of Ohrid and Naum?
THE VELJUSA ICONS ON WOODEN PANELS WITH THEIR GOLD AND SILVER REV,TEMENTS
LOST OVER THE CENTURIES
 The
inventory of the church of the Mother of God Eleousa (Our Lady of Compassion)
in the village of Veljusa near Strumica drawn up in 116437 by the monks
of this monastery clearly shows that in the eleventh and twelfth centuries
some churches in Macedonia already had rich collections of icons made
from various materials. This church had 35 such icons. It is especially
important that the monks who made the inventory of icons divided them
into two groups: the first group consisted of valuable icons richly
decorated with gold and silver revdtements and the second group consisted
of icons which were not decorated and were less valuable.
Among the richly decorated icons made from expensive materials the first
to be mentioned in the inventory is a copper icon dedicated to the Mother
of Good with the Infant Christ. The Mother of God, the monks record,
was depicted in a seated position. On the narrow frame there was a revdtement
of gold-plated silver. The second icon, portraying three warrior saints
in full figure, was completely worked in gold-plated silver. It is particularly
interesting that medallions containing pictures were appliqued on to
the frame of this icon. The closest analogy to these icons can be found
in the treasury of St. Mark's, Venice - the famous enamel diptych which
is considered to be the work of Constantinopolitan gold workshops of
the  tenth
century. In this diptych, around the centrally placed figures of Jesus
Christ and the Mother of God, there are twelve medallions each (a total
of 24) where saints ar depicted in halfportrait.
Another icon in St. Mark's, Venice, is also similm to the icon in the
monastery of the Mother of Go Eleousa in Veljusa. It too is considered
to be the wor of Constantinopolitan gold workshops. This is an icor
depicting the Archangel Michael and other saints. worked in gold and
enamel, and dating from the firsl
half of the eleventh century. On the richly-decorated frame of this
well-known icon there are ten medallions, six round and four oval. In
the latter, two to a medallion, in full length, dressed in gilded coats
of mail and short tunics and bearing lances and shields, the following
saints are portrayed: Theodore of Tyro, Theodore Stratilate, Demetrius
and Nestor, Procopius, George, Eustachius, and Mercurius. We should
look to these saints for the names of those in the Veljusa icon. The
third icon mentioned in the inventory was dedicated to the Mother of
God. In our opinion, it was made in wood relief. In the inventory it
is said to have a thin halo and a narrow flame without decorations,
but it is gold plated with polyment. The fourth icon was also dedicated
to the Mother of God and in contrast to the previous one was worked
on stone. The narrow frame was silver, without decorations. It could
be assumed that it was a silver box into which was inserted a marble
tablet with the figure of the Mother of God in relief. The fifth icon,
according to the monks, was of large dimensions. It also showed the
Mother of God, with a medallion depicting the Infant Christ on her breast.
The Mother of God was shown in full length, with a gold-plated silver
halo round her head. The Infant Christ had a similar halo. The sixth
icon was again dedicated  to
the Mother of God and was of large format. The Mother of God with the
Infant Christ in her arms had a halo, but of non-gilded silver. The
second last icon in this collection was likewise dedicated to the Mother
of God and the Infant Christ. She was depicted in full length and they
both had halos. It remains unknown to whom the last icon was dedicated,
however. In drawing up the inventory the monks say that they omitted
to include it in the group of precious decorated icons and the place
where its title is given in the inventory has been damaged.
The other icons, classified by the monks as not decorated, should also
be mentioned: 1. the Mother of God, full-length; 2. the Presentation
of the Mother of God at the Temple; 3. the Dormition (Koimisis) of the
Mother of God; 4. the Mother of God Enthroned, with a portrait of Manuel,
the  founder
of the Veljusa church; 5. the Holy Martyrs Manuel, Sevel and Ismail;
6. St. Nicholas, with aportrait of Manuel the founder: 7. Christ with
St. Peter and Paul, a large icon with depictions of other saints in
the medallions. In discussing these icons, attention should be directed
to the two icons mentioned above with portraits of Manuel the founder,
who built the monastery and its church in 1080. Accordingly, some of
these icons, at least these last with the portraits of Manuel the founder,
would have belonged to the late eleventh century.
While drawing up the inventory of the icons, the monks of Veljusa indicated
where in the church the icons were placed. Thus the full-length icons
were placed above the alter-screen. These were icons n the frames of
which saints were depicted in medallions. It should be emphasised that
such decorated icon-frames were a
more modest version of the decoration with evdtetnents of gold-plated
silver and medallions worked in enamel or silver and gold. Such modestly-decorated
icons were to be found in other monastery churches in this period. Firstly,
we would point out a small icon of the Deists from the Monastery of
St. Catherine, Mr. Sinai, dating from the late eleventh century.38 On
its very narrow frame are depicted two saints in full length and there
are six medallions portraying the Archangels Michael and Gabriel and
the Preparation of the Throne, and three other saints in the medallions
at the bottom of the frame. From the same monastery there is a small
icon of Ss. Procopius, Demetrius and Nestor, also dating from the second
half of the eleventh century. On the upper and lower parts of its frame
there are medallions depicting Jesus Christ and St. Nicholas.39
At the time of the inventory the following icons were placed above the
architrave of the Veljusa church: the Saviour, an ell in length: St.
John the Forerunner, the same size; St. Peter, slightly smaller that
the previous ones; St. John Chrysostom, full length, also an ell in
height; Ss. Stephen the New and Accentius, the same size as the previous
icon; a triptych in the centre of which the Crucifixion of Christ was
depicted, while on its wings there were two compositions, the Dormition
(Koimisis) of the Mother of God and the Resurrection of Christ on one
and the Ascension of Christ and the nativity on the other. Thereafter
follow icons of 
which we cannot say for certain that they were placed above the architrave.
These are the Forty Martyrs and the Descent (Anastasis) into Hell. The
monks state that the latter icon was large and that it had a door. Perhaps
this icon had a special function, that of closing off the entrance from
the nave to the alterspace or the chapel on the south side. There are
numerous examples of such iconostases from later periods, especially
from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but none with an icon
of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste. Continuing to record the icons in the
church, the monks list the following: Ss. Cosmas and Damian,  with
painted medallions; two icons of St. Demetrius, one larger, with painted
medallions, and a smaller one without medallions: St. John Chrysostom,
with medallions, a diptych with the figures of Jesus Christ and the
Mother of God; St. Mina, gold-plated copper; St. Eleutheria; St. John
Chrysostom, and St. Basil. Finally, they mention a copper icon of the
figure of the Saviour with medallions depicting figures with lances
- probably the much-favoured Warrior Saints.
The inventory found in the Veljusa church, in which we find partial
descriptions of icons of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, gives us
reason to assume that such or similar icons from this period were to
be found in many other churches throughout Macedonia. We can thus conclude
that a variety of types of icons, in terms of technique and material,
was to be found in these
churches. There were icons in fresco and tempera on a wood base and
icons in relief in wood, stone, copper, silver and gold.
FRESCO-ICONS
In the middle of the eleventh century, icons executed in fresco technique
and depicting important archpriests of the church were painted on the
walls of the icon and proskomide in the cathedral church of St. Sophia
in Ohrid. Among these, the best preserved are the half-length portraits
of the Patriarchs of Alexandria John and Eustathius and the figures
of St. Polycarp and Timothy. The anonymous painter took pains that these
icons should give the impression of having been painted on wood. He
especially stresses the plasticity of the material the icons are painted
on, bringing out the depth of the coffer with the use of shadows; he
also painted the metal hangers and nails with which those "wooden"
icons were "hung" on the walls in the church. Among the best-preserved
figures are those of St. Cyrus and St. John.°° In some miniatures,
such as a miniature in the Psalter of 106641 in the British Museum,
we find the same endeavour to depict icons as being "hooked"
and "hanging" on church walls.
In the churches of this and later periods, besides frescoes "hung"
on walls we can find fresco-icons linked to the iconography of the iconostasis.
When discussing the church of St. Sophia in Ohrid, special attention
should be drawn to the fresco-icons painted on  the
, columns at the level of the iconostasis. There are two. large fresco-icons
dedicated to the Mother of God with the Infant Jesus in her arms, that
on the north column being of the type of the Mother of God of Sorrows.
Fresco-icons cannot be discussed without mention of those painted in
the church of St. Panteleimon at Nerezi, near Skopje, dating from 1164.
Here, as in the church of St. Sophia in Ohrid, there are two types of
icon: those "hung" on the walls and those "flamed"
on the columns framing the iconostasis. The icons "hung" on
the walls of the church of St. Panteleimon, Nerezi, are to be found
in the north chapel and in the proskomide, while the frescoes painted
on pillars, with rich stucco-work flames, form a
whole together with the iconostasis.
Such fresco-icons decorated with rich marble or stucco-work frames are
to be found in the church of the Mother of God Kyriotisa in Constantinople,
late eleventh century, in the church of the Mother of God in Samara
in the Peloponnese, late twelfth century, in the church of the Mother
of God Porta Panagia at Torcello, end of the thirteenth century, and
others. When the donors were unable to afford more expensive frames,
the painters were obliged to paint frames themselves for these icons,
as was the case with the fresco-icons on the north and south walls on
either side of the iconostasis in the church of St. George, Kurbinovo,
dating from 1191, or in the church of St. John the Divine at Kaneo in
Ohrid, dating from the closing years of the thirteenth century. It can
be assumed with considerable certainty that such fresco-icons were painted
on the columns on either side of the marble iconostasis in the church
of the Mother of God Peribleptos (St. Clement's) in Ohrid in 1295. However,
these were destroyed during the installation of the new wooden iconostasis
made by the woodcarver Toma and painted by Dido Zograf in the nineteenth
century.
In 1317 the wellknown medieval painters Michael and Eutychios painted
fresco-icons dedicated to the patron saint of the church, St. George,
and to the Mother of God Pelagonitisa on the surfaces created in the
iconostasis after the walling up of the intercolumnar spaces. Some years
later, they painted the fresco-icon dedicated to St. Nicetas in the
church of the same name in the village of Banjani, near Skopje. There
are m existence numerous fresco-icons which were painted in the churches
of Macedonia from the eleventh up to the close of the. fifteenth centuries.
All these fresco-icons indicate that fresco-painting was inextricably
linked to easel painting and that icons done in tempera on wood were
the products of the same painters or painting workshops. But there are
cases where some painters are more closely  connected
with icon-painting on wood, which may be considered as a more specialised
branch in the field of painting. If one looks closely at them, their
works indicate a tendency
towards the more precise modelling which easel painting demands.
A study of the development of medieval icon-painting in Macedonia, especially
the icons done in tempera on wood, is made possible by the existence
of a numher of icons dating from the eleventh century. Starting out
from them, the oldest icons known to date, we can distinguish four groups
on the basis of the time at which they were executed:
- icons from the time when Macedonia was under Romaoian rule and up
to the time when it came under the mediaeval Serbian state;
- icons dating from the period when Macedonia was under mediaeval Serbian
rule;
- icons dating from the period up to the close of the seventeenth century
when Macedonia was under the dominance of the Ottoman Turks;
- icons dating from the period of the eighteenth century renaissance
and up to the collapse of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in 1912.
The material which has been discovered to date requires such a systematisation.
The subject of this study is icons from the first three groups, i.e.
from the earliest known icons to those of the close of the seventeenth
century....Go to part II.
From the book - "Icons of Macedonia" by Kosta Balabanov, photographs
by Blagoja Drnkov
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