britt inger johansson paper
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Spectacle and Worship
Byzantine Liturgy in its Urban and Architectural Setting in the
Fifth to Seventh Centuries
Britt-Inger Johansson, docent, Lund & Uppsala Universities
This paper ows its existance to a longer essay on Byzantine liturgy and church
architecture in Constantinople written by me in connection with a phd-course inByzantinology in 2002. That essay was published in Swedish at the web site of the
Swedish Institute in Istanbul in the autumn the same year. The conference theme
gave the opportunity to develop one topic covered further by asking the following
questions: What was the relationship between the urban landscape, church
architecture and ritual in the pre-iconoclastic period? What role did visual
experience play in Byzantine liturgy in its urban and architectural setting at that
time? How did visuality relate to spatiality? What meanings may be deduced from
it?1
To answer these questions the paper analyses the interaction of the popular
processions of the station liturgy and the liturgy of the Eucharist in conjunction
with church interiors and the urban landscape of 5th-7thcentury Constantinople.
1Of particular use has been discussions in Baldovin, John Francis,The Urban Character of Christian Worship inJerusalem, Rome, and Constantinople from the Fourth to the Tenth Centuries, Diss 1982) later published asTheUrban Character of Christian Worship: The Origins, Development and Meaning of Stational Liturgy, OrientaliaChristiana Analecta (Pont. Institutum Studiorum Orientalium: Roma 1987). Also, Liz James interpretations of the
role of visuality in Byzantine sacred art in two essays have been inspirational for the production of this paper: Colorand Meaning in Byzantium, Journal of Early Christian Studies11:2 (2003), pp. 223-233 and Senses and Sensibilityin Byzantium,Art Historyvol. 27, no 4, September 2004, pp. 522-537.
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The present day Great Church of Constantinople, Hagia Sophia, was built in
532-37 during the reign of
Emperor Justinian. It replaced a
previous church which was burnt
down during the Nika Riot but
had been inaugurated already in
360 during the reign of Emperor
Constantine II as the new
cathedral.2
Constantine II was anadherent of the Aryan heresy, and had dispossessed the Nicaean Christians of the
churches of the city.3Thus, Hagia Sophia originally belonged to the Aryans. After
two decades, Theodosius I ejected the Aryans in381 and returned the same
churches to the sole disposition of the Nicaean party. The Aryans were thenceforth
allowed to celebrate mass only outside the city walls. This brings us to the
initiation of the Constantinopolitan stational liturgy which grew out of the conflict
between the Aryans and the Orthodox. The following brief account of its
development is mainly based on John Francis Baldovins comparative study of the
station liturgies in Rome, Jerusalem and Constantinople.4
The newly dispossessed Aryans would assemble in a public square in
Constantinople to celebrate a night vigil singing hymns. At dawn they would
demonstratively walk in procession to the church they were still allowed to use
outside the city walls to celebrate Eucharist. These processions attracted people,
and were therefore regarded as a threat to the Nicaean party. In an atmosphere of
2Mathews, Thomas F.,The Early Churches of Constantinople, (Pennsylvania State University Press: UniversityPark/ London 1971), p. 123Mainstone, Rowland J.,Hagia Sophia: Architecture, Structure and Liturgy of Justinians Great Church(Thames &Hudson: London 1988), p. 131. The Nicaeans were those who adhered to the proclamation of trinitarian faithestablished by a Council in Nicaea in 4thcentury, whereas the Aryans diverged from that theological dogma.4Aside from Baldovin (1987), pp. 181-204, see also Taft, Robert, The Byzantine Rite: A Short History, AmericanEssays in Liturgy (The Liturgical Press: Collegeville, Minn. 1992), pp. 30-32. Berger, Albrecht has discussed the
station liturgy further in its later medieval stage in the essay Imperial and Ecclesiastical Processions inConstantinople,Byzantine Constantinople: Monuments, Topography and Everyday Life(Ed. Nevra Necipoglu),(Brill: Leiden-Boston-Kln 2001), pp.73-88
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one-upmanship the patriarch John Chrysostom initiated similar nightly Nicaean
processions around 400. Carrying torches, the Nicaeans would walk in popular
procession, stopping at certain intervals, so-called stations in churches or squares,
to pray and sing along the route in an attempt to shout down the Aryans. To make
their own processions more visually spectacular than their competitors, the
patriarch persuaded the Empress Eudoxia to donate expensive silver crucifixes and
candle holders to be carried at the head of the processions.
By joining either the Aryan or the Nicaean procession the individual signaled
both doctrinal belonging and collective identity. A tad anachronistically, one might
say that this popular liturgy of the streets became a multimedia show and a forcefulvisual argument in an ongoing public debate and a weapon in the power struggle
between the two religious factions.5In time, the Aryans were forbidden to hold
vigils, but the Nicaean processions continued. One reason was that they increased
the air of festivity of the Christian religious services so that they could compete
with secular spectacles like circus games and horse races at the Hippodrome. The
development of material and ritualistic splendour of the station liturgies thus
functioned as a means of advertising Christianity to the part of the populace not yet
converted.
The station liturgy eventually received a new purpose as it became the expression
of a unified orthodox Constantinople.6An understanding of the experiential
meaning of this development may be founded on the following definition of
religion and ritual by the scholar Robert Taft SJ:
A religion is // a shared perspective, a common outlook on reality. As suchit depends on the groups collective remembrance of things past, of events thathave been transformed in the collective memory of the community into keysymbolic episodes determinative of the communitys being and self-understanding // . For it is through the interpretation of the past that acommunity relates to the present and copes with the future. In the process ofritual representation, past constitutive events are made present in ritual time, in
5Baldovin (1987), p. 185 and 210.6Baldovin (1987), p. 210-211.
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order to communicate their force to new generations of the social group,
providing thus a community of identity through history.7
The structure of the Constantinopolitan station liturgy was founded on key
events of different kinds, merging the religious with the secular. Not only religious
feastdays were celebrated with popular processions. In moments of city crises a
station liturgy might be formed so that the populace could call on divine
protection, this occurred for instance during an earthquake in the 5th century. If
divine aid had been dispensed, then that day would be proclaimed a public holiday
and a commemorative station liturgy would be established for all time.
Eventually, these processions became more formalised and elaborate, and were
reserved for certain feast days rather than being a weekly occurrence as they
originally seems to have been. Hymns and antiphons were created for different
procession days, and formal prayers were included, eventually even lessons. By the
by, the station liturgy became an important defining element in the liturgical
development in Constantinople and an important factor in the production and
reproduction of civic and religious identity for its citizenry. The station liturgy
contributed to a visual sacralisation of the whole city, where the Emperor resided
as the Vicar of Christ. Streets, squares and market places became extensions of the
7Taft, Robert, The Liturgy of the Hours in the Christian East: Origins, Meaning, Place in the Life of the Church,(Liturgical Press: Collegeville Minn. 1986), p. 236.
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churches during processions and the churches became nodes of collective
manifestations of shared identity in the urban fabric.8They were both physical
points of departure, as well as goals for the processions, which created a dynamic
flow through the arteries of the city fuelled by the movement of human bodies.
Likewise, the liturgy of the Eucharist was also influenced by them as Baldovin has
shown.
The liturgies of the civic and religious public spheres enmeshed nation, city and
religion in a tightly wound web of shared meaning and identity peculiar for
Constantinople.9The founding of the city, the overcoming of natural disasters and
foreign invasions were included and commemorated in public rituals
10
side by sidewith saints days and other religious feast days related to scriptural events; thus
incorporating them all not only in a historical but also an eschatological perspective
while grounding them in the actual city. The processions reminded the citizenry of
Constantinople of divine grace in troubled times and offered the hope of eternal
glory to the faithful.
Hagia Eirene, longitudinal section.
This brings us into the 6th century
and the prosperous, long reign of
Justinian who initiated a large number of
ecclesiastical building efforts, including
rebuilding Hagia Sophia as previously
mentioned.11As Baldovin concludes:
Many of the churches that figure
significantly in the citys stational liturgy receive their final form at this time.12
Architectonically, this period is characterised by experiments with new shapes,
8Aside from the main thoroughfares, cardo & decumanus,and some market places, the exact streetplanlayout ofConstantinople is still under debate, cfp Berger, Albrect, Streets and Public Spaces in Constantinople,DumbartonOaks Papers, vol. 54, 2000, pp. 161-172 and Dark, K.R., Houses, Streets and shops in Byzantine Constantinoplefrom the fifth to the twelfth centuries,Journal of Medieval History, Vol. 30, No 2, 2004, pp. 83-107.9Baldovin (1987), p. 197, see also p. 211.
10Baldovin (1987), p. 169, 186-188, 190 and 197..11Procopius,Buildings(The Loeb Classical Library: Harvard/London 1961), pp. 10-79.12Baldovin (1968), p. 178.
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forms and spaces. In particular, the Emperor encouraged technically advanced,
centrally planned churches with bold cupola constructions without entirely
abandoning the shape of the basilica which provided interior processional space.
This reliance on proven models in combination with daring technical innovations
led to hybrid forms as witnessed by Hagia Sophia and Hagia Eirene, both still
standing.
The building program seems to represent a desire to monumentalise and
embellish Constantinople as the second Rome, after the fall of the first. Further, it
served as visual reminder of the position of Orthodox Christianity as preferred
imperial state religion after the dogmatic struggles of previous centuries. In trueRoman spirit, Justinian positioned himself as a great ruler and a worthy successor
of Augustus and Constantine. In fact, he even emulated King Solomon himself in a
visually compelling manner through the impressive buildings being erected all over
the city. The churches in themselves reminded the citizens of the Emperors
munificence and became signs of imperial power13connecting it with the divine,
offering spiritual protection as
many of them encircled the c
Judg
ity.14
ing by contemporary
acc
ct
ounts and the evidence of
architecture, an important aspe
of new church structures appears
to have been a desire to open up
and maximise the flow of light,
best exemplified by Hagia
Sophia.15When standing in the middle of this huge church, the flooding light in
13Webb, Ruth, The aesthetics of Sacred Space: Narrative, Metaphor, and Motion inEkphraseisof ChurchBuildings,Dumbarton Oaks Papersvol. 53, 1999, p. 66.14Baldovin (1987), p. 180.15Procopios discusses the light in Hagia Sophia in his description of the church inBuildings. Later, Paolos
Silentiaros dwells both on the effects of daylight as well as of the abundance of artificial lighting in the evening inHagia Sophia in the translations of Mango, Cyril, The Art of the Byzantine Empire 312-1453: Sources andDocuments, Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching 16, (University of Toronto Press: Toronto 1986), pp. 80-90.
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conjunction with the placement and design of the central load bearing pillars of
the spectator the illusion of dissolving walls and ceilings.
fers
has
dows
ording
that
urseing
f the churches of
Co
was
elf
most
16 Since the latter was
covered by gold ground mosaic the scintillating and reflecting character must have
contributed to further that impression to the contemporary eye.17Liz James
noted concerning icons that light was a means of expressing virtue and holiness
both in physical art and in writing.18Such a conviction seems to have saturated
also Hagia Sophia; evident through the glittering mosaics and numerous win
of the interior, and the extensive grounds surrounding the exterior which acc
to Paolos Silentiarios was surrounded by open courts with the main objective
it may appear to be bathed all round by the bright light of day.
19
Light is of conecessary for improved visibility as well. Not surprisingly, light, truth and view
was strongly connected in the Byzantine mind, a topic we will return to later.
Apart from light, accessibility was another prominent feature o
nstantinople, eventhough a certain degree of seclusion was signalled through the
intervening porticoes,
porches, fore-courts and
narthexes. A succession of
ritual transition spaces
thus created where the
participant was offered the
chance to prepare him/ hers
before encountering the
holy. These spaces provide
checkpoints on a gradual journey from a secular to a sacred environment which
was percieved as a symbolic image of heaven. The procession of the station liturgy
Other well-lit churches are the still extant Hagia Eirene and the destroyed Church of the Holy Apostles which plentyof windows,16Although the first dome collapsed due to an earthquake two decades after its completion was slightly shallower itwas still equipped with windows according to Procopius, letting in light in much the same way. See Taylor, Rabun,A Literary and Structural Analysis of the First Dome on Justinians Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, The Journal ofthe Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 55, no 1, March 1996, pp. 66-78.
17As described by Procopius18James (2003), p. 227.19Quoted from Mango (1986), p. 85
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offered an immaterial spiritual road leading to the interior of a church, as an
accompaniment to the physical one offered by the streets as the celebration of
Eucharist was liturgically initiated in the city.
The decorative elements of the inner architecture strongly resemble outdoor
arc
ll-lit
t
diaries,
te self-
o liturgical handbooks have been preserved from earlier than the 10th
ce t as
hitecture which makes the vast space appear like a covered square. The large
number of doors in Hagia Sophia, originally offering access to the city and its
streets, further strengthens this impression.20Taken in conjunction with the we
interior, the practice of station liturgy and the very shape of the porticoed urban
thoroughfares, it would seem that the churches and their nearest vicinity were no
conceived of as closed enclaves but as integrated extensions of public processionalspace. I would propose that they were designed to spatially interact with
colonnaded civic public spaces and the porticoed streets acting as interme
the latter pulling together individual buildings and uniting them as Marlia
Mundell Mango has observed.21Thus, urban space was not created by separa
contained units but rather woven together by interdependent physical components
stimulated by the processions of the station liturgy which in its turn appealed
visually.
Since n
ntury, scholars have reconstructed various parts of the Liturgy of the Eucharis
well as station liturgy by triangulating different textual sources as chronicles,
homilies, mystagogic commentaries, a later typikon and so forth.22The
20This was by all means not only the case with Hagia Sophia, but also other churches according to Mathews (1971).This means they were well-integrated in the urban environment. Cfp Baldovin (1987), p. 178: It certainly was
squares are
urgy in Byzantium and Beyond,(Variorum:in
d
equipped for all kinds of movement with entrances on every side as well as exterior stairwells and interior staircases.21Mango, Marlia Mundell, The Porticoed Street at Constantinople, (Ed. Nevra Necipoglu),ByzantineConstantinople: Monuments, Topography and Everyday Life(Brill: Leiden-Boston-Kln 2001), p 30. The streetporticoes were all colonnaded at this time, for a description see pp. 40-46. The various colonnaded publicdescribed on pp. 33-40. According to Mango, Marlia Mundell, The Commercial Map of Constantinople,
Dumbarton Oaks Papers, vol. 54 (2000), p. 196, Constantinople boasted fifty-two porticoes already in the 5thcenturyaccording to theNotitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae in 425.22See Baldovin (1982), pp. 414-450 or Baldovin (1987) p. 181-204; Taft (1992), pp. 28-38; Taft, Robert, SomeNotes on the Bema in the East and West Syrian Traditions,LitAldershot 1995), pp. 45-75, Wybrew; Hugh,The Orthodox Liturgy: The Development of the Eucharistic Liturgy
the Byzantine Rite(London: 1996), p. 67-103, Mathews (1971), pp. 105-177, Mainstone (1988), p. 219-287 anOusterhout, Robert, The Holy Space: Architecture and Liturgy,Heaven on Earth: Art and the Church inByzantium, Ed. Linda Safran, (The Pennsylvania University Press: University Park Pa 1998), pp. 81-87.
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reconstruction efforts have been directed towards the spectacular
Constantinopolitan cathedral liturgy which was entwined with the public life of
court and citizenry, and has been assumed to have influenced other liturgies. A 10th
century copy23of the 9thcentury Menologion of Basileios II is illustrated with
pictures showing some of the various stages of the liturgy in keeping with textual
sources and architectural remains. Justinians contemporary chronicler Procopios
made a thorough description of Hagia Sophia inBuildings, as did Paolos
Silentiaros and several others. From their ekphraseismay be gleaned additional
information both on the physical appearance of the church as well as their
experience of it.24
In order to make this discussion less abstract, and more tangible, I will now
continue with an ekphrasis of my own with an extrapolated account of the
presumed interaction between station liturgy, urban landscape, mass liturgy and the
interior of Hagia Sophia as it may have appeared during the period discussed.
The main streets would have looked like the
porticoed cardo of ancient Gerasa seen here.
Imagine yourself a citizen of Constantinople on an
important feast day as the rededication of Hagia
Sophia.25Before the break of dawn you leave your
home to depart to the starting point of the procession
which may be one of the churches or the forum. Your
neighbours are hurrying alongside you. More and
more people gather in the streets and the atmosphere
is redolent with excitement; a rumour is spreading that the emperor himself will
present. Some people are chatting; others have taken out their prayer beads to
23Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, gr. 1613.
24Translations may be found in Mango (1986) of a selection of descriptions by Procopius (pp. 72-78), Evagrios (pp.79-80), and Paulos Silentiarios (pp. 80-96).25
Baldovin (1987), p. 188.
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begin their spiritual preparation. You reach the meeting point and then wait wh
the people assemble.
Finally, the patriarc
ile
h arrives and then the emperor. The patriarch offers a prayer,
an
d
e of their
e
emperor enters the church in company with the patriarch followed by the
cle
s
held and made visible inside the church by people gathering into
groups according to social standing where they remained in spatial zones reserved
r social
antiphonal psalm is sung and everyone joins in the response. The two dignitaries
initiate the procession followed by clergy carrying the crucifix, the gospel book and
swinging sensers spreading wafts of aromatic incense. People fall in behind them.
The procession moves down one of the porticoed streets to the next large open
area, where the crowd stops. Once more, hymns and antiphonal psalms are sung;
litanies to the saints are offered. The procession continues. The mesmerising soun
of antiphonal psalms and prayers serve to heighten the sensibilities of theparticipants. Socially, the station liturgy allows people to mingle irrespectiv
civic standing apart from the dignitaries that lead the procession. Eventually, the
goal is reached, the Great Church itself where more proper social ordering will tak
place.
The
rgy. After an entrance rite in the narthex, the emperor takes his place near the
chancel in a cordoned off area, themetatorion, while the lay people disperse acros
the church to their assigned places. In politics, as well as theology, the cosmological
idea of a universal holy order, calledtaxisin Greek, also structured society
hierarchically.
Taxis was up
for them: emperor and patriarch, clergy and laity, men and women, baptised and
non-baptised, most likely prosperous and poor, maybe even married and
unmarried. The members of the congregation had a place reflecting his/ he
rank which microcosmically corresponded with the macrcosmos of taxis. Deviation
would have been threatened cosmic order itself. This social ordering by taxis may
be seen as an example of seductive power mediation leading to the participants
surrendering their self-will for the presumed greater good of Constantinople and
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themselves.26The stone floor of Hagia Sophia has strips in divergent colours. The
have been interpreted as interior markers of stations, where the clerical procession
would have halted periodically on its way in for further singing and praying. They
may also have signified the social structuring of the congregation, delimiting
separate zones as perhaps hinted at by a passage in the medievalNarratio de S.
Sophias.
y
e laity found their respective places in the church, the patriarch and the
cle
;
Hagia
hich
Plan of Hagia Sophia with layout
erhaps the patriarch, the
carrier of the crucifix, the carrier
f the
27
While th
rgy continued the procession. A walkway physically defined by a marble barrier,
the so calledsolea, reached from the chancel to the pulpit and a little way beyond.
It split and made a detour on each side of the pulpit which was aligned west to east
theambo, that is the reading pulpit, was likewise made of marble with steps leading
up one side and down the other. This means the ambo was structured as a
walkway; in the previously mentionedMenologionone illustration shows a
procession crossing a similar ambo in the way suggested here. The ambo of
Sophia was in fact large enough to allow boy choristers standing undetected
underneath; as people entered they would be welcomed by an angelic hymn wwould seem to come out of nowhere.
of solea, ambo, bema, altar and
synthronon reconstructed
P
of the gospel and other
dignitaries went by way o
ambo as in theMenologion,
26Dovey, Kim,Framing places: Mediating Power in Built Form, (Routledge: London 2001), p. 2027This source quoted in Mango (1993), p. 101 claim that penitents were ordered by Justinian to stand on these stonestrips. This sounds extraordinary, but could be a slight misunderstanding of their actual function as suggested here.
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while the lesser clergy followed the solea to join those worthy of passing over the
ambo further on. The procession continued into the sanctuary which was slightly
raised on a platform, the so-calledbema, which projected into the nave and w
surrounded by a barrier, thetemplon. At this time no iconostasisprevented the
people from viewing the action in the sanctuary since the icons were placed on top
of the architrave of the templonbarrier. The gospel was enthroned on the altar an
the clergy took up their seats on the stepped silver-cladsynthrononin the apse,
with the patriarch on the seventh topmost step in the middle.
The re
as
d
aders would procession back to the pulpit down the solea. The gospel
ca the
e
s
e
visibility, or visuality, is a key word to characterise the
sp
n and
rrier would presumably raise the gospel book high in the air while standing at
top before reading the text, as is customary to this day. Homilies were rare, but
were delivered by the bishop from his throne in the apse. After intercessions, th
catecumens and penitents would leave the church. The liturgy of the Eucharist wa
inaugurated by another procession. Deacons would leave the chancel to fetch the
bread and wine and carry them in procession in a similar fashion as before over th
ambo, along the solea, down to the chancel. Unlike the orthodox church of today,the Eucharistic ritual would be carried out mostly in full view. The communion
would take place along the barriers of the chancel, perhaps also along the solea
considering the large number of communicants. After the final blessing, people
would leave the church.
There is no doubt that
ectacular liturgy of the 6-7thcenturies. Witnessing was a profound part of the
experience of celebrating Holy Mass in Constantinople, from the more loosely
organised popular station liturgy in the streets, to the highly structured and
stratified liturgy inside the church. The design of space, furnishing, decoratio
liturgy was intended to support and emphasise a high level of visibility. The liturgy
became a strong sensuous and emotional experience, built up step by step from the
streets to the church.
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The usage of the different furnishings contributed to promote the visual
experience. The synthronon was designed for visibility, the congregation saw the
patriarch and clergy, and vice versa. At the same time the synthronon and the
barriered sanctuary on its bema emphasised a hierarchical difference between its
occupants and everyone else. It made ecclesiastical leadership apparent,
emphasising the teaching authority of the patriarch, but also differentiating the
clergy by how far they were removed from the patriarch. Power relationship within
that distinguished group, as well as between them and the congregation, and within
the congregation was made clear in a pedagogical way. By being placed high the
bishop was raised above the crowd and able to practice symbolic disciplinarycontrol through his position of surveillance.28
The dignity of the altar was visually enhanced by the ciborium which originally
must have had a practical function preventing dust and particles from falling down.
A similar practical but later ossified function was filled by the nowadays purely
ceremonial fans in the Armenian mass. According to Procopios the altar was
originally made of gold, later covered by gold sheathing, and as in the mosaic the
brightness of this metal and that of other features in the interior sheathed in silver
were of mystical divine significance and signs of transcendent truth.29
The sanctuary barrier had both a practical and a symbolical function by
physically separating and setting aside a specific area as more holy than the rest,
being accessible only to clerical elite. The development of this barrier makes this
double function clear. In its earliest form it was very low and built by waist high
stone panels, ensuring that the Eucharist could be celebrated without the clergy
being crushed by participants flocking round the altar. Later on, higher columns
and an architrave were added to the barrier, and images began to be placed on top
of it. Further on, curtains were introduced; controlling visibility, and finally the
28Dovey (2001), p.19.29See James (2003), p. 227 who stresses the importance of the media of Byzantine art conveying light, brightness,and glitter.
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iconostasis came to prohibit visibility, when that was not considered an important
element of liturgy any more.
Similarly, the solea seems to have had a mundane function to begin with,
creating a walkway for the clergy as an extension of the chancel barrier. But the
solea also became an important ritual device in that it maintained the clerical
procession, when the popular procession broke up, physically and visually
separating the clergy from the laity. Even the ambo became a ritual instrument and
not only an acoustic device to improve the quality of readings. Certain objects were
exalted symbolically by being displayed from the top of the ambo, as for instance
the gospel. The later public enthronement on the altar of the gospel clarified that itnot only represented the Written Word of God, but the Living Word of God, that
is Christ. Thus, it was not just a book that had been held aloft by the bearer on the
ambo, but the Saviour himself. As a sign of divine presence the gospel further
legitimised the teaching of the patriarch on the synthronon. This created a circular
reenforcement of symbolical implications.
The liturgy of the hours, the station liturgies and the liturgy of Eucharist in
Constantinople was entwined with each other and embedded in everyday life. On
the one hand, they gave a sacramental dimension to the everyday existence of
ordinary citizens, connecting earth and heaven. On the other hand, the liturgy had
a distinctly urban character and was joined with the secular ritual of the imperial
court and therefore also served as a mediator of political power.30Every citizen,
from the poor spending the nights in porticoes to the emperor, could take part in
this public ritual. At the same time the ritual would uphold and reafirm the civic
and ecclesiastical ranking of every individual by their active participation. The act of
viewing worked as weve seen on many levels; it not only served to connect the
participant with the divine in a mystical fashion, but also to reenforce ecclesial and
civic power as well as social order. It was The ruling orders non-stop discourse
30Baldovin (1987), p. 211.
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about itself.31The spectacle of byzantine worship was no doubt a materialized
worldview in the Debordian sense, working as a means of unification32on the
surface while working towards social separation according to the perceived
universal order (taxis).33
Mobility characterised the joined liturgies, which were dramatic, extrovert and
inclusive in character unlike later on, when the station liturgy became ever more
limited in scope34and the liturgy of the Eucharist was hidden behind the
iconostasis, promoting introversion and exclusivity. The early liturgies in
Constantinople developed interactively with the urban fabric and with distinct
buildings within it. The combined liturgies came thus to influence strongly thearchitecural conception and experience of Hagia Sophia and other churches, not as
separate, and closed off environments in the urban fabric, but in effect as dynamic,
interconnected parts of it. Visuality and spatiality interacted in equal measures in
the sacralisation of the city.
The carrying idea of the Justinian time seems to have been to both see, that is
witness, and also being seen, by taking part in a grand spectacle, where one would
be both participant and spectator at the same time.35Sight held a position of honor
among the senses in Byzantium: it was through sight that truth was apprehended.
/ / Sight was the most reliable and efficacious of the senses, the one priviliged by
God.36The windows, the scintillating mosaics, the oil lamps and chandeliers lit at
night, and the reflecting metal sheathing in the interior served to increase light
levels, and thereby visibilty, while emphazising the metaphyscal meaning of the
church as the House of God. This emphasis on visuality in liturgy, church
architecture, art and furnishing was influenced by theological ideas where the basic
assumption was that visual representation was clearer and more distinct than oral
31Debord, Guy, The Society of Spectacle, transl. Ken Knabb (Rebel Press: London, no publishing year stated), p.12,paragraph 23. Debords definitions of spectacle is strongly connected to modernity and capitalism, which limits itsusefulness as a theoretical tool in this analysis beyond was is commented on above.32Debord, p. 7, paragraph 3.33Debord, Guy, p. 10, paragraph 14 and p. 16-17, paragraph 29.34Baldovin (1987), p. 212-214 who ascribes the diminishing importance to the 7th-10thcenturies, see also Berger
(2001), p. 83.35Baldovin (1987), p. 211: The liturgyinthe city was the liturgyof the city.36James (2003), p. 228.
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communication.37Thus, the validity of the oral parts of the liturgy was confirmed
and enhanced by visually appealing rituals of legitimation.38
The opening question of this paper whether visual experience was a significant
component in Byzantine liturgy in its urban and architectural setting may be
answered in the affirmative. Visuality sits at the centre of the byzantine spectacle of
worship in conjunction with a specific spatial and social practice. Viewing and
being viewed was instrumental for the creation of unity, collective meaning and
social order through combined civic and religious ritual.
Illustrations
1. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, exterior, photo by the author, 2002. (p. 1)
2. Byzantine Constantinople, city layout reconstruction, Wikimedia Commons, DeliDumrul (p. 4)
3. Hagia Eirene, longitudinal section, Wikimedia Commons, Alexander van Millingen,Byzantine
Churches in Constantinople,1912 (p. 5)
4. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, cupola interior, photo by the author, 2002 (p. 6)
5. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, interior, photo by the author, 2002 (p. 7)
6. Gerasa (present-day Jerash), Jordania, street portico, photo by the author, 2005 (p. 9)
7. Hagia Sophia, groundplan, scanned by the author from Cyril Mango,The Art of the Byzantine
Empire 312-1453: Sources and Documents, 1993 (p. 11)
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