medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Am I right in concluding that the ‘fanning’ of the Eucharistic elements during the Creed in the current liturgy of S. John Chrysostom is a relic of the practice discussed below? jbw From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul Chandler Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 1:17 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [M-R] Feasts and Saints of the Day: November 17 medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture John Dillon is right that the instrument here is a flabellum or riphidion, known from at least the 4th century and originally a fan used to keep insects from the eucharistic elements. There are instructions for the deacon to fan in the Apostolic Constitutions. I think I've read somewhere that the movement of air was later interpreted symbolically as representing the presence of the Spirit, but I can't find a reference for that and perhaps I have invented it. Later still they became simply a mark of honour and largely lost their fan-like quality. In Orthodox use they became (and remain) disks on a pole, occasionally very elaborate but sometimes quite small, embossed with the image of a seraph. The Wikipedia articles has some quite good images in its many links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flabellum Some Western examples were extremely elaborate, such as this German example: http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/70011794 or this fabulous 12th c. Scheibenkreuz from Hildesheim: http://www.welterbe-hildesheim.de/domschatz/popup_scheibenkreuz_01.html Presumably these had decorative/honorific rather than functional fanning purposes. The last relic of the flabellum in the West were the ostrich-feather plumes that used to be carried in papal processions. I don't think the Communion of the Apostles theme is unknown in the West. Here's Fra Angelico's version: http://www.wga.hu/art/a/angelico/11/armadio7.jpg and here the one from the Très Riches Heures: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Folio_189v_-_The_Communion_of_the_Apo stles.jpg . On 22 November 2011 02:16, Christopher Crockett <[log in to unmask]> wrote: the next one http://www.orthodoxy-icons.com/uploads/posts/2011-04/1304066191_city-nonreso nant0010.jpg seems to represent angels shooing the flies off of the consecrated Host (bread & wine) --which suggests that the one to the left is Christ presenting the consecrated Host to Peter (left) & Paul? as far as i am aware, not an iconography known in the West. c -- Paul Chandler, O.Carm. Holy Spirit Seminary | PO Box 18 (487 Earnshaw Road) | Banyo Qld 4014 | Australia office: (07) 3246 9888 | home: (07) 3246 9894 [log in to unmask] ********************************************************************** 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 _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.1872 / Virus Database: 2101/4630 - Release Date: 11/21/11 ********************************************************************** 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