medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Yesterday (26. October) was also the feast day, in many Orthodox and other Eastern-rite churches, of:
Demetrius of Thessaloniki (d. 304 or 305, supposedly). The megalomartyr D. (in Latin also Demiter; in Bulgarian, Dimitar; in Serbian, Mitar) is the historic patron of Thessaloniki, where he has had a church since sometime in the fifth century. Modern scholarship tends towards the belief that he is in origin the Demetrius of Sirmium recorded under 9. April in the later fourth-century Syriac Martyrology (as well as in the RM, whose calendar these 'saints of the day" notices usually follow for reasons pragmatic rather than confessional). Collections of his miracles are numerous and begin in the seventh century. D.'s earliest Passiones are attested from the ninth century: an account in Photius' _Bibliotheca_ (cod. 255), the anonymous Passio BHG 496, and its translation into Latin by the later ninth-century Anastasius Bibliothecarius (BHL 2122; A.'s version of the Miracula is BHL 2123).
These accounts make D. an itinerant preacher martyred at Thessaloniki on the orders of an irate emperor Maximian who had just seen the military saint Nestor of Thessaloniki (27. October in Eastern-rite churches) slay his favorite gladiator in the arena. D.'s tenth-century expanded Passio by Symeon Metaphrastes (BHG 498) connects the two by having Nestor call publicly upon the God of Demetrius. An anonymous Passio attested from the eleventh century (BHG 497) for the first time makes D. an aristocrat and a military commander. From the eleventh century onward D. is increasingly but far from uniformly portrayed as a military saint, a symbolic construction befitting his his role as defender of the polity (e.g. Thessaloniki, Bulgaria, Serbia). Herewith a few visuals:
D. (at left) as depicted in the later sixth-century procession of male martyrs in Ravenna's basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo:
http://tinyurl.com/2foe88u
D. (at center) as depicted in two sixth- or early seventh-century frescoes in his principal church in Thessaloniki (Ag. Demetrios):
http://tinyurl.com/2fnk27x
http://tinyurl.com/2d7uo6j
Detail of that second fresco:
http://tinyurl.com/2bbtn5k
Its location in the church:
http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/6678/IMG_0046.jpg
Some late antique survivals in the crypt of Thessaloniki's much rebuilt Ag. Demetrios:
http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/8592/IMG_0052.jpg
http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/2105/IMG_0054.jpg
http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/7821/IMG_0055.jpg
D.'s reputedly myrrh-gushing relics in this church:
http://img330.imageshack.us/img330/8061/img00740pa.jpg
D. as depicted in an earlier eleventh-century mosaic (restored between 1953 and 1962) in the katholikon of Hosios Loukas near Distomo in Phokis:
http://tinyurl.com/2epewom
D. as depicted in an earlier eleventh-century fresco (restored between 1953 and 1962) in the katholikon of the monastery of Hosios Loukas near Distomo in Phokis:
http://tinyurl.com/3y8jq8g
D. as depicted on a late eleventh- or early twelfth-century Byzantine cloisonné enamel plaque from an icon frame in the Djumati monastery in Georgia, now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris:
http://tinyurl.com/2d4fbvp
D. as depicted in a late twelfth-century Vladimur-Suzdal School icon in the State Tretyakov Galley, Moscow:
http://www.icon-art.info/hires.php?lng=en&type=1&id=435
D. as depicted in an early twelfth-century mosaic in the cathedral of St. Sophia in Kyiv/Kiev:
http://www.icon-art.info/hires.php?lng=en&type=1&id=657
D. as depicted in a later twelfth-century portable mosaic icon in the Xenophontos monastery on Mt. Athos:
http://www.icon-art.info/hires.php?lng=en&type=1&id=3653
D. as depicted in the earlier thirteenth-century frescoes (1230s) in narthex of the church of the Ascension in the Mileševa monastery near Prijepolje (Zlatibor dist.) in southern Serbia:
http://tinyurl.com/ybqe4xb
D. as depicted in the later thirteenth-century frescoes (either ca. 1263-1270 or slightly later) frescoes of the nave in the monastery church of the Holy Trinity at Sopoćani (Raška dist.) in southern Serbia:
http://tinyurl.com/2w4k453
http://tinyurl.com/3838jys
D. as depicted in a later thirteenth-century fresco (either ca. 1263-1270 or slightly later) in the chapel of St. George in the monastery church of the Holy Trinity at Sopoćani (Raška dist.) in southern Serbia:
http://tinyurl.com/y9xjlbk
D. as depicted in the later thirteenth-century frescoes (either ca. 1263-1270 or slightly later) in the chapel of St. Symeon Nemanja in the monastery church of the Holy Trinity at Sopoćani (Raška dist.) in southern Serbia:
http://tinyurl.com/yhpmxnp
Detail:
http://tinyurl.com/yeo4rbx
D. as depicted in a late thirteenth- or very early fourteenth-century icon by Manuel Panselinos in the Vatopedi monastery on Mt. Athos:
http://tinyurl.com/3af4yuq
D. as depicted in the late thirteenth- or very early fourteenth-century frescoes, attributed to Manuel Panselinos, in the Protaton church on Mt. Athos:
http://tinyurl.com/2flycjv
D. as portrayed in an early fourteenth-century steatite icon from somewhere in the Byzantine empire, now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris:
http://tinyurl.com/2388z9l
D.'s martyrdom (at right, St. Lupus of Svishtov) as depicted in a degraded earlier fourteenth-century fresco (betw. ca. 1312 and 1321/1322) in the nave of the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica in, depending on one's view of the matter, either Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo:
http://tinyurl.com/383dspm
Detail:
http://tinyurl.com/23a3vlv
http://tinyurl.com/383dspm
D. as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century fresco (1330s) in the altar area of the church of the Hodegetria in the Patriarchate of Peć at Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/ycc6ro8
D. as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1335 and 1350) in the nave of the church of the Holy Ascension at the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/yepkrlr
http://tinyurl.com/y9uhp8d
D., defending Thessaloniki from the Cumans and killing the Bulgarian tsar Kaloyan, as depicted in earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1335 and 1350) in the parecclesion dedicated to him in the church of the Holy Ascension at the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/372m3r5
http://tinyurl.com/23dmgev
D. as depicted in a perhaps late fourteenth-century icon in the Annunciation cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin:
http://www.icon-art.info/hires.php?lng=en&type=1&id=828
D. as depicted in early sixteenth-century frescoes (1502) by Dionisy and sons in the Virgin Nativity cathedral of the St. Ferapont Belozero (Ferapontov Belozersky) monastery at Ferapontovo in Russia's Vologda oblast:
http://tinyurl.com/35raqr4
D.'s martyrdom as depicted in an earlier sixteenth-century fresco (betw. 1535 and 1541) by Theofanis Strelitzas-Bathas (a.k.a. Theophanes the Cretan) in the Great Lavra on Mt. Athos
http://www.eikastikon.gr/afieromata/agios_dimitrios/8.jpg
D. as depicted in an earlier sixteenth-century fresco (1540) by Theofanis Strelitzas-Bathas (a.k.a. Theophanes the Cretan) in the katholikon of the Koutloumousiou monastery on Mt. Athos:
http://www.eikastikon.gr/afieromata/agios_dimitrios/12.jpg
Best,
John Dillon
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|