A Hidden Agenda of Imperial Appropriation and Power Play? Iconological Considerations Concerning Apse Images and Their Role in the Iconoclast Controversy

Q4 Social Sciences
P. Niewöhner
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Abstract

Abstract According to the written sources, the Iconoclast controversy was all about the veneration of icons. It started in the late seventh century, after most iconodule provinces had been lost to Byzantine rule, and lasted until the turn of the millennium or so, when icon veneration became generally established in the remaining parts of the Byzantine Empire. However, as far as material evidence and actual images are concerned, the Iconoclast controversy centred on apse images and other, equally large and monumental representations, none of which were ever venerated. Prior to Iconoclasm, such images had not been customary at Constantinople, where the early Christian tradition had been largely aniconic and focused on the symbol of the cross. Thus, the introduction of monumental Christian imagery to Constantinople appears to have been a major aspect of the Iconoclast controversy. This paper asks why and finds that the images in question, whilst not for veneration and therefore not essential to the theological debate, stood out for imperial propaganda. They led to close visual integration of the emperor and the church that had previously been kept apart, because aniconic traditions used to limit imperial presence inside Constantinopolitan church buildings. It seems, then, that the Iconoclast controversy, although conducted in religious terms, was partly driven by a hidden agenda of imperial appropriation and power play.
帝国拨款和权力游戏的隐藏议程?关于后殿图像的圣像学考虑及其在反圣像争议中的作用
根据文献资料,圣像破坏者的争论主要是关于对圣像的崇拜。它开始于七世纪晚期,在大多数圣像行省被拜占庭统治之后,一直持续到世纪之交左右,那时圣像崇拜在拜占庭帝国的其余部分普遍建立起来。然而,就物质证据和实际图像而言,打破圣像的争议集中在后殿图像和其他同样巨大的纪念性表现上,这些图像都没有受到尊敬。在圣像破坏运动之前,这样的图像在君士坦丁堡并不常见,那里早期的基督教传统在很大程度上是无标志的,并且集中在十字架的象征上。因此,将不朽的基督教图像引入君士坦丁堡似乎是反圣像争论的一个主要方面。这篇论文询问了为什么,并发现这些有问题的图像,虽然不是为了崇拜,因此不是神学辩论的必要条件,但却在帝国宣传中脱颖而出。它们使皇帝和教堂在视觉上紧密地结合在一起,而在此之前,皇帝和教堂是分开的,因为标志性的传统限制了皇帝在君士坦丁堡教堂建筑中的存在。这样看来,这场反圣像的争论,虽然是在宗教方面进行的,但在一定程度上是由帝国挪用和权力游戏的隐藏议程所驱动的。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Millennium DIPr
Millennium DIPr Social Sciences-Law
自引率
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3
审稿时长
1 weeks
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