 |
 |
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture On 11/05/11, Terri Morgan wrote: > Zachary/Zacharias and Elizabeth (first century) were the parents of John the Baptist. According to the gospel account, they were elderly, past the time they could expect offspring. When an angel announced the upcoming birth to Zacharias, he was incredulous, and as a result was struck dumb until after John's birth. According to legend, Zacharias was later killed by Herod in the Temple in Jerusalem. Several Fathers declared Zachary died a martyr; Peter Damian (third sermon on the birth of Mary) said that to inquire about things the evangelists chose not to recount about these two shows an improper and superfluous curiosity. There doesn't seem to be any extra-biblical tradition about Mary. They are celebrated on February 11 in the Eastern Church. > Of course, there's abundant extra-biblical tradition about Mary. Back in 2003, when, in a pair of sentences the second of which has been re-worked into this notice, Phyllis Jestice said (<http://tinyurl.com/43s4q6o>): "Elizabeth was the mother of John the Baptist and a cousin of Mary. Oddly, there doesn't seem to be any extra-biblical tradition about her.", "her" referred to Elizabeth. Biblically, the priest Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth, also a descendant of Aaron, are familiar from Luke 1:5-79. Orthodox churches celebrate this pair on chiefly 5. September (the 11. February celebration noted above at least usually commemorates the Finding of Zacharias' Relics). Prior to its revision of 2001 the RM entered Zacharias and Elizabeth under today; it now commemorates them under 23. September (a day for which we did not have a "Feasts and Saints of the Day" this year). One of the more widely accepted extra-biblical traditions about Mary is that of her Presentation in / Entry into the Temple as recounted in the infancy gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and other texts, where the priest of the temple who receives Mary is usually identified as Zacharias. It's likely that we'll have some visuals to go with that when we come to the Feast of the Presentation on 21. November. In the meantime, though, here are a few portrayals of the matter in question: a) Mosaic (late eleventh-century), katholikon of the Daphni monastery in Chaidari (Athens prefecture): http://tinyurl.com/yeku4zl b) Fresco (ca. 1300), attributed to Manuel Panselinos, in the Protaton church on Mt. Athos: http://tinyurl.com/7gpz4wq c) Fresco (1303-1305), by Giotto di Bondone, in the Arena Chapel (a.k.a. Cappella dei Scrovegni), Padua: http://tinyurl.com/6ccv6o d) Fresco (betw. ca. 1312 and 1321/1322) in the sanctuary of the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica in, depending on one's view of the matter, Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo: http://tinyurl.com/yam5dg9 e) Fresco (betw. ca. 1313 and ca. 1320) in the King's Church (dedicated to Sts. Joachim and Anne) in the Studenica monastery near Kraljevo (Raška dist.) in Serbia: http://tinyurl.com/yezz9d3 Detail (the Theotokos before Zacharias): http://tinyurl.com/y88ar7f f) Mosaic (betw. 1315 and 1321), Chora church, Istanbul, vault in the exonarthex: http://tinyurl.com/yebthnd g) Icon (fourteenth-century) formerly in the church of the Peribleptos (or Sv. Climent Novi) at Ohrid, now in the Icon Gallery in the same complex: http://www.soros.org.mk/konkurs/019/eng/i38.htm h) Manuscript illumination in a later fourteenth-century _Speculum humanae salvationis_ produced at Bologna (Paris, BnF, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, ms. Arsenal 593 [fols. 1-42], fol. 7r), at left: http://tinyurl.com/y8uz8sf Other portrayals of Zacharias: Non-narrative: a) Mosaic (earlier eleventh-century; restored between 1953 and 1962) in the katholikon of Hosios Loukas near Distomo in Phokis: http://tinyurl.com/2d5j2c9 b) Fresco (betw. ca. 1312 and 1321/1322; September calendar portrait) in the narthex of the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica in, depending on one's view of the matter, Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo: http://tinyurl.com/63dulxv Annunciation to Zacharias: a) Fresco (ca. 1320) by Giotto di Bondone in the Peruzzi chapel of Florence's basilica di Santa Croce: http://www.wga.hu/art/g/giotto/s_croce/1peruzzi/baptis1.jpg b) Fresco (betw. 1335 and 1350) in the prothesis 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/3deafmz c) Fresco (betw. 1335 and 1350; September calendar scene) in the narthex 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/3tpgahr d) Relief (betw. ca. 1424 and 1430) by Jacopo della Quercia in the baptistery of Siena: http://tinyurl.com/3j697c7(http://tinyurl.com/2cll7xv" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/2cll7xv Murder of Zacharias: a) Fresco (betw. 1335 and 1350; September calendar scene) in the narthex 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/2av98xq b) Fresco (1545-1546) by Theofanis Strelitzas-Bathas (a.k.a. Theophanes the Cretan) in the Prodromos chapel in the katholikon of the Stavronikita monastery on Mt. Athos: in an earlier fourteenth-century French-language collection of saint's Lives (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 185, fol. 72r): http://tinyurl.com/3xuyoo2 b) Manuscript illumination (1348; Birth of St. John the Baptist) in an earlier fourteenth-century copy of the _Legenda aurea_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 241, fol. 141r): http://tinyurl.com/395754j c) Panel painting on Rogier van der Weyden's St. John Altarpiece (ca. 1455-1460) in the Staatliche Museen in Berlin: http://tinyurl.com/37w87qy d) Manuscript illumination (ca. 1480-1490; Birth of St. John the Baptist) in a late fifteenth-century copy of the _Legenda aurea_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 244, fol. 174r): http://tinyurl.com/284prg2 e) Hand-colored woodcut (1493) in the Beloit College copy of Hartmann Schedel's _Nuremberg Chronicle_ at fol. XCIIIIr (third woodcut on this page): http://tinyurl.com/6wh8d3h f) Reliefs (betw. 1490 and 1531) on the choir screen of the cathédrale Notre-Dame in Amiens (several views here): http://tinyurl.com/3qxvvdn Portrayals of Elizabeth (without Zacharias): a) Mosaic (earlier sixth-century; carefully restored, 1890-1900; the Visitation) in the apse of the basilica Eufrasiana in Poreč: ttp://nickerson.icomos.org/euf/s/s-.jpg(http://nickerson.icomos.org/euf/s/s-.jpg) In this scene, who's the child? According to Luke, neither Mary nor Elizabeth had given birth at the time of the Visitation. b) Scene in relief on a later sixth-century pyx in the Musée du Louvre in Paris: http://www.bluetravelguide.com/oeuvre/photo_ME0000021908.html c) Fresco (eleventh-century; the Visitation) in the cathedral of St. Sofia in Kyiv/ Kiev: http://www.icon-art.info/masterpiece.php?lng=en&mst_id=1071 Detail view: http://tinyurl.com/3t53pbj d) Manuscript illumination (ca. 1180; the Visitation) in a psalter from Normandy (The Hague, KB, ms. 76 F 13, fol. 15r): http://tinyurl.com/6cl8826 e) Fresco (1191; the Visitation) in the church of St. George at Kurbinovo (Resen municipality) in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: http://tinyurl.com/6uvz56w Expandable view: http://www.icon-art.info/hires.php?lng=en&type=1&id=3677 f) Manuscript illumination (Birth of St. John the Baptist) in a late thirteenth-century copy of of French origin of the _Legenda aurea_ (San Marino, CA, Huntington Library, ms. HM 3027, fol. 65r); differently sized views are accessible from the top of this page: http://tinyurl.com/325nbau(http://tinyurl.com/l97wfz" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/l97wfz g) Mosaic (betw. 1315 and 1321; Flight of Elizabeth) in the exonarthex of the Chora church in Istanbul: h) Fresco (1330s; at left: the Visitation) in the vault of the diaconicon (a.k.a. chapel of St. John the Forerunner) 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/3ncr286 i) Fresco (1330s; Birth of St. John the Forerunner) in the vault of the diaconicon (a.k.a. chapel of St. John the Forerunner) 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/2frj7qk j) Manuscript illumination (Birth of St. John the Baptist) in a fourteenth-century gradual from an unidentified Dominican house (Karlsruhe, Badische Bibliothek, cod. St. Peter perg. 49, fol. 81v): http://tinyurl.com/2fc6kk9 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