ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΙΚΗ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΛΟΓΙΑ

In the Menologion of Emperor Basil II, a work of the 10th century, the vision of Saint Peter, Archbishop of Alexandria, is depicted for the first time. Peter saw Christ with a torn tunic because of the deacon Arius, the later leader of the heresy of Arianism. Christ wears a transparent tunic, like gauze. It is equally transparent in subsequent works, such as in the 13th century fresco of Olympiotissa and elsewhere. Perhaps it is connected with the ancient privilege of the Popes of Alexandria to wear a “thin fabric” on the head when celebrating the Mass, which evolved into the tiara of the bishop of Alexandria, but also of Rome. The tunic of Christ is like a crown, like a talisman on the head of each Bishop of Alexandria. Since that fabric is thin, therefore the "Alexandrian" Christ should also be depicted that way. The establishment of the representation as a mural painting in the Holy Altar of the Churches is connected with the theological disputes of the 12th - 13th centuri...

  The young Roman mistress Caecilia, wife of Valerian, was martyred on November 22 by three cuts of sword by the executioner in the 3rd century. A church was built above her house in the 4th century, which was renovated by Pope Paschal at the beginning of the 9th and the apse of the holy altar was decorated with a mosaic. It shows Christ with the Apostles Peter and Paul, Caecilia with Valerian and Agatha, as well as Paschal (with a square halo, a sign that he was alive when the work was finished) being embraced by Caecilia. Under the church, grain collection areas and parts of the ancient Roman house were found, where a lararium (prayer place) of the goddess Minerva was saved. The two mistresses of the house, the goddess of the anchestors and the martyr of Christ, have been preserved to this day. +E. G . ------------------------ Η νεαρή Ρωμαία δέσποινα Καικιλία, σύζυγος του Βαλεριανού, μαρτύρησε στις 22 Νοεμβρίου με τρεις σπαθιές από τον δήμιο κατά τον 3 ο αιώνα. Πάνω από το...

The Constantinopolitan noblewoman Theodora Palaiologina Synadene, widow of the Grand Stratopedarches Ioannis Doukas Angelos Synadenos, at her monastic tonsure took the new name “Theodoule”. She and her second child, the nun Euphrosyne, founded in the 14th century the Monastery of the Virgin of "True Hope". Theodoule composed and wrote the Typikon of the new Monastery. In the manuscript codex with the Typikon, the noble nun is represented offering the gold-clad Virgin and Christ a copy of the church of her Monastery, while her daughter Euphrosyne offers a book, the codex with the Typikon. The mother's face is somewhat older with pale lips and emaciated cheeks, while the daughter's is rosy and youthful. The portraits are incredibly lifelike. The powerful woman is seen leading her daughter towards the Virgin by pulling her by the hand, as she would have done when she was still a little girl. +E. G . ------------------------------------------------------------------------...

  A fine art "podea", a silk embroidered cloth (75 x 75 cm) that hung below an icon, is preserved in the Ducal Palace Museum in Urbino, Italy, a gift to a church in Constantinople in the early 15th century by a high official of the Imperial Court of the Paleologian dynasty. The donor referred to in the embroidery, "Manuel, son of Eudocia", with the fine parted blond hair according to the mode of the period and rich clothing, kneels before the standing Archangel, who brandishes the sword from its scabbard. The depicted Manuel may be an illegitimate son of John V, who defeated the Ottomans in a naval battle off Constantinople in 1411. He cannot be the then-reigning Emperor Manuel, because his mother's name was Helen. The inscription that surrounds the podea is very beautiful and shows the importance that the Romans gave to divine help. The central inscription is: "Archangel Michael the Protector". A dialogue between the two faces then unfolds: ...

The queen of the Ostrogoths Amalasuntha gifted the Bishop of Rome Felix IV the Library of Peace and the ancient pagan temple of Romulus in the Roman Forum in the center of Rome. In 527, Felix united the buildings and a Christian church was created, which he dedicated to the doctors saints of the East, Cosmas and Damianus. Perhaps the church was dedicated to the saints to house their relics from the East, as it still holds the bones of the Roman martyrs Marcus and Marcellinus. There is no evidence attesting to the existence of a Roman pair of doctor brothers with the same names. Next to their church there is the ancient temple of the Dioskouri brothers, Castor and Pollux. The famous doctor of Asia Minor, Galenus, is said to have given lectures in the Library area and in general the medical community of Rome frequented there. In the Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damianus, a wonderful mosaic from the 6th-7th century is preserved that shows the two brothers being brought to the gold-clad I...