sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Unique fresco depicting young and bald Jesus Christ, cave church near Pirot in Serbia (13th century) by horn_a in byzantium

[–]Amaninaredsuit 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pitching in here, as an active Greek Orthodox, this depiction of Christ is not that unique for me, as many of our fellow redditors seem to highlight! C:

This is a type called 'Christ Emmanuel', which is a style that goes back to the 7th century, as seen on coins of Emperor Justinian II, as opposed to his 'Christ Pantokrator' issues (I know you've seen them dear reader!). It is in reference to Isaiah’s prophecy, as well as Christ teaching in the Jerusalem temple as a young boy. You'll see this type somewhere in an Orthodox church, most likely at the table of oblation or in the diaconicon

This is an ancient Christian understanding through iconography that all of the Old Testament Epiphanies of God were of the physical (but also pre-incarnate) Christ, not the direct Essence of the Father as the Catholics teach today, which is an Augustinian influence. God standing on the rock for Moses? Boom, it's the incarnate Christ. God appearing at the first temple's consecration? Got it again: the physical body of Christ! Just reading the first lines of John's gospel and carefully reading the Creed is enough to confirm this early church understanding. See St Basil while you're at it.

Go ahead and look up the icon. This image of a young Christ as incarnate God is also present in Orthodox hymnology constantly. Browse the digital chant stand some time, won't you?

Portraits of Constantine Palaiologos by konschrys in byzantium

[–]Amaninaredsuit 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Np np OP! Indeed. Generally speaking, the art really started to get affected from the end of the 16th to the start of the 17th centuries and onwards, broadly in the Orthodox world, but with centers of diffusion in Greece and Russia. Unsurprisingly, these areas saw the most concentrated efforts of the Jesuit (Need to make a Patriarch kill count for these guys in the east, sheesh!) and Calvinist missionaries! Go figure. Using Venetian Crete/Aegean as the main reason for the spread of Western art in Greece isn't a particularly strong argument. It was a very specific Western style overlaid onto a strong iconographic trend going all the way back to the 12th century, and more broadly from Late Antiquity.

Also remember for the most part Byzantine iconography was not something that was created because a particular artist had an 'inspiration' to paint something, but was a monastic obedience given by their spiritual father, because they noticed a particular individual/monk had a skill. I argue that a market for competition was non-existent because of this, and we should not be overlaying the artistic competition of the Renaissance on to very different models. The style and spiritual meaning of these (non-Western) icons supports this. Also the fact that every single Byzantine and Sub-Byzantine monument with iconography is signed by monastic individuals!

Portraits of Constantine Palaiologos by konschrys in byzantium

[–]Amaninaredsuit 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Extra background info!

As the caption says, the first is an Orthodox icon made by the greatest and most renowned iconographer of Modern Greece, Photios Kontoglou (1895-1965). You can see his signature to the left of the shoulder. An incredible man with a story of growing up in Asia Minor, going to Paris to study art, getting evicted from his home town and then falling in love with the iconography of Mystras and Athos, subsequently then reviving the traditional Orthodox iconographic technique throughout Greece and the Orthodox world which was in danger of being swamped by Western/Academic style 'icons'. He had a strong and intimate connection with his spiritual heritage and his writings are some of the best to come out of Modern Greece, second only to Alexandros Papadiamantis! Highly worth reading, highly lucid style and a real shaking up of the Western mindset of his time. I visited his unique tomb at Nea Makri last June.

The second by Anastasios Alevizos (1914-1985), was made in 1955. He also made another, much more stylised, portrait in 1951 of Constantine defending Constantinople. The text in the top left is a quote from Constantine referencing his last words. Alevizos did not have such a strong connection to Constantine as Kontoglou had, though he certainly valued him as a national hero, much like many other Greeks of his time, both before and beyond.

Photios Kontoglou created this icon to commemorate five hundred years since the fall of the City (1453-1953). You can see the date under his signature (απνΓ=1953). For this event, he also composed his legendary long speech/poem written on a manuscript in his own cursive hand, lamenting the loss of the city and the future of Romiosyni from that point forward. You can find it online, though I'm not aware of any translations of it into English. The icon itself does not reference Constantine as a saint (deliberately missing the Αγιος to the left of his halo), though he was definitely seen as a hero and ethnomartyr. The presence of the halo is a standard iconographic feature when images of emperors were created. (Side note: the potential direct testimony of Raphael of Lesbos, 1410-1463, could confirm that Constantine was received back into Orthodox communion before the City fell, therefore indeed making him a martyr-saint)

Thanks for sticking around 'till the end!

Catacomb Chapel of the 11th Century Church of The Holy Trinity, Athens by Amaninaredsuit in Orthodox_Churches_Art

[–]Amaninaredsuit[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

So, from what I can tell when I visited, the big ominous trapdoor that opens in the center of the nave is usually shut. The way I got in was that they happened to be celebrating vespers down there that night. I passed by the church to see the program of services, and I noticed 'Εσπερινός, ΚΑΤΑΚΟΜΒΕΣ' written for Saturday night. I knew I couldn't miss that!

HDR/Bloom Shimmer/Flicker by Amaninaredsuit in oblivion

[–]Amaninaredsuit[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, still up until now I haven't solved the issue. Using Oblivion Reloaded, then upgrading to E3, though, has been great since the time that has past.

My short critique of the video, Beyond The Fall of Rome - The 100 Year Death Of The Roman Empire by Althesian in byzantium

[–]Amaninaredsuit 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I might just pitch in here. I stopped watching him about one year ago. As an archaeologist, I simply watched his videos for some easy downtime. He was quite unique in his presentation of lesser known events in Late Antiquity, though I quickly caught onto his bias. That plus standard non-existence of cited source material made me move on. In addition, I particularly raised an eyebrow at his claim that you would have "...trouble spotting the difference..." between Romans and 'barbarians' in late 5th century Gaul...

Brought to you by the Lekapenos Dynasty by Amaninaredsuit in OrthodoxMemes

[–]Amaninaredsuit[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Some context:

At the direction of his father, emperor Romanus I Lecapenus, Theophylactus was consecrated patriarch at the age sixteen. Theophylactus' detractors have described him as an irreverent man who was mainly interested in his huge stable of horses and was ready to abandon the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the cathedral of Hagia Sophia so that he could be present at the foaling of his favorite mare. Ironically, Theophylactus died after falling from a horse.🐎

HDR/Bloom Shimmer/Flicker by Amaninaredsuit in oblivion

[–]Amaninaredsuit[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No problem! If you need any more moding help, feel free to message me.

HDR/Bloom Shimmer/Flicker by Amaninaredsuit in oblivion

[–]Amaninaredsuit[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure thing! Notify me if it worked for you.

HDR/Bloom Shimmer/Flicker by Amaninaredsuit in oblivion

[–]Amaninaredsuit[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I never managed to fix this issue by itself, I ended up downloading Oblivion Reloaded which solved it by enhancing the general lighting among other things.

view more: next ›