 |
 |
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing (d. 1199 or 1200). In 1196 the grand župan of Raška, Stefan Nemanja, who had consolidated his power in central and southern Serbia and had won official recognition of his rule from the emperor Isaac II Angelos, abdicated in favor of his second son Stefan (soon to be Stefan the First-Crowned) and retired under the name Simeon (Symeon) to the monastery he had founded at then very isolated Studenica near Kraljevo in today's Raška district of Serbia. In 1197, accompanied by a great retinue, he joined his youngest son St. Sava of Serbia at Mt. Athos where they began the rebuilding of the Hilandar (Chilandar) monastery, thenceforth a Serbian foundation. Simeon died there on this day. When in 1207/08 Sava returned to Serbia he brought Simeon's body to Studenica where it was observed to exude a sweet-smelling, balsamous substance (myrrh). In 1208 Sava wrote a Life of his father (his brother Stefan the First-Crowned wrote another and Sava's biographer Domentijan of Hilandar wrote a third) and in 1209, with an Office written by Sava, Simeon was canonized as Saint Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing (in Serbian: Sveti Simeon Mirotočivi). His tomb at Studenica became a national shrine of the nascent Serbian Orthodox Church. 13. February is Simeon's feast day in Orthodox churches of the Chalcedonian persuasion. He has yet to grace the pages of the Roman Martyrology. Some medieval images of St. Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing: a) The earliest surviving portrait of Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing dates from the later 1230s or early 1240s. Situated in the chapel of St. Sava in the church of the Holy Ascension at the former Mileševa monastery near Prijepolje (Zlatibor dist.) in Serbia, it is only partly preserved: http://tinyurl.com/87avys7 Context (Simeon at far right, preceded by Sava of Serbia [also that saint's earliest surviving portrait]): http://tinyurl.com/yjvfstu b) Possibly earlier would have been the original (1230s?) of this fresco, carefully repainted in 1569, of Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing (at left; St. Sava of Serbia at center and king Radoslav at right) in the church of the Theotokos in the Studenica monastery near Kraljevo (Raška dist.) in Serbia: http://www.maletic.org/serbian-frescoes/single-gallery/2931652 Detail view (Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing): http://www.maletic.org/serbian-frescoes/single-gallery/2845078 c) King Radoslav's exonarthex (1230s) for this church includes in its frescoes a scene (also repainted in 1569 but since damaged) depicting Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing's departure for Mt. Athos: http://www.maletic.org/serbian-frescoes/single-gallery/2940441 Presumably, that image will have been complemented by a depiction of Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing's translation back to Studenica. The same church's chapel dedicated to him has such a pair (but the scene of the departure from Mt. Athos is only partly preserved). Herewith an overview (badly reduced): http://www.zaduzbine-nemanjica.rs/Studenica/slike/slikarstvo-studenice6.jpg Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing's translation back to Studenica: http://lessingimages.com/viewimage.asp?i=15030730+&cr=4&cl=1 Detail view: http://tinyurl.com/khjg8y5 d) Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing as depicted in a later thirteenth-century fresco (betw. 1263 and 1270; alternatively, 1270-1272) in the nave of the monastery church of the Holy Trinity at Sopoćani (Raška dist.) in Serbia: http://tinyurl.com/qzzreey e) Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing as depicted in a later thirteenth-century fresco (betw. 1263 and 1270; alternatively, 1270-1272) over the entrance from the narthex to his chapel in the monastery church of the Holy Trinity at Sopoćani (Raška dist.) in Serbia: http://tinyurl.com/mq8x3ed f) Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing (at left; at right, St. Basil the Great) as depicted in a later thirteenth-century fresco (betw. 1263 and 1270; alternatively, 1270-1272) in his chapel in the monastery church of the Holy Trinity at Sopoćani (Raška dist.) in Serbia: http://tinyurl.com/yh8mtzr Detail view (Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing): http://tinyurl.com/oto4xcp g) Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing's chapel in the monastery church of the Holy Trinity at Sopoćani (Raška dist.) in Serbia is also decorated with slightly later thirteenth-century frescoes (1280s?) depicting his translation from Mt. Athos to Studenica (images greatly expandable): http://tinyurl.com/yjub4uq h) Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing as depicted in an early fourteenth-century fresco (betw. 1307 and 1313) in the church of the Theotokos of Ljeviš in Prizren 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/l4qnr4d http://tinyurl.com/l22kcm7 i) Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing (at left; at right, St. Sava of Serbia) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. ca. 1308 and ca. 1320) by Michael Astrapas and Eutychios in the church of St. Nicetas the Goth (Sv. Nikita) at Čučer in today's Čučer-Sandevo in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: http://tinyurl.com/74kaq2n j) Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (ca. 1313-ca. 1320) in the nave of the King's Church (dedicated to Sts. Joachim and Anne) in the Studenica monastery near Kraljevo (Raška dist.) in Serbia: http://tinyurl.com/ya73mdy Detail view: http://tinyurl.com/yadtwhj k) Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century fresco (1317–1321) in the katholikon of the Hilandar monastery on Mt. Athos: http://slovo-aso.cl.bas.bg/images/Hilandar-St_Simeon.jpg l) Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century fresco (betw. 1330 and 1337) in the narthex of the church of the Apostles in the Patriarchate of Peć at Peć 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/pvtpkxk m) Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1335 and 1350) in the choir 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/yaj9q2m Detail view: http://tinyurl.com/y996bmv n) Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing (at left; at right, St. Sava of Serbia) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1335 and 1350) in the chapel of St. Nicholas 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/kpc39po Detail view (Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing): http://tinyurl.com/qcyj4ss o) Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century fresco (early 1340s) in the White Church in Karan, a locality of Užice (Zlatibor dist.) in Serbia: http://tinyurl.com/qhrehgy p) Simeon the Myrrh-Flowing (at left; at right, St. John of Damascus) as depicted in the late fourteenth-century frescoes (1389; restored in the early 1970s) in the monastery church of St. Andrew at Matka (Skopje dist.) in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: http://tinyurl.com/n43zlgy Best, John Dillon (matter from an older post revised) ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe 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: unsubscribe 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/medieval-religion