‘Who touched my clothes?’: The Healing of the Woman with the Haemorrhage (Mark 5: 24–34; Luke 8: 42–48 and Matthew 9: 19–22) in Early Medieval Visual Culture

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgements This article is part of the Research project »The Haemorrhaging Woman (Mark 5: 24-34parr)«. An iconological research into the meaning of the bleeding woman in medieval art (fourth–fifteenth century). Also a contribution to the blood- and touching taboo before the era of modernity – funded by the Research Funds of the Catholic University Leuven (2008–2012). I am grateful to my team Liesbet Kusters, Emma Sidgwick and Lise De Greef. Notes 1. For all biblical quotations, I will use the New Revised Standard Version. 2. The Haemorrhoïssa is discussed in the following exegetic and bible historical studies: F. Bovon, L'évangile selon saint Luc, Commentaire du Nouveau Testamente (Genève, 1991), 3a: 431–440; M.R. D'Angelo, »Gender and Power in the Gospel of Mark. The Daughter of Jairus and the Woman with the Flow of Blood«, in Miracles in Jewish and Christian Antiquity. Imagining Truth, Notre Dame Studies in Theology, ed. J.C. Cavadini (Notre Dame, IN, 1999), 3: pp. 83–109; C. Fonrobert, »The Woman with a Blood-Flow (Mark 5.24–34) Revisited. Menstrual Laws and Jewish Culture in Christian Feminist Hermeneutics«, in Early Christian Interpretation of the Scriptures of Israel. Investigations and Proposals, JSNTS, 148 – Studies in Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity, eds C.A. Evans and J.A. Sanders, Sheffield, 1997, 5: pp. 121–140; F.T. Gench, Back to the Well. Women's Encounters with Jesus in the Gospels, Louisville, 2004, 28–55; S. Haber, »A Woman's Touch. Feminist Encounters with the Hemorrhaging Woman in Mark 5.24–34«, Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Vol. 26, No. 2, 2003, pp. 171–192; R.A. Horsley, Hearing the Whole Story. The Politics of Plot in Mark's Gospel, Louisville, 2001; G. Lemarquand, An Issue of Relevance. A Comparative Study of the Story of the Bleeding Woman (Mk 5:25–34; Mt 9:20–22; Lk 8:43–48) in North Atlantic and African Contexts, New York, 2004; A.-J. Levine, »Discharging Responsibility. Matthean Jesus, Biblical Law and Hemorrhaging Woman«, in Treasure New and Old. Recent Contributions to Matthean Studies, eds D.R. Bauer and M.A. Powell, Atlanta, 1996, pp. 379–397; J. Marcus, Mark 1–8. A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, New York, 2000; H. Melzer-Keller, Jesus und die Frauen. Eine Verhältnisbestimmung nach den synoptischen Überlieferungen, Herders biblische Studien, Freiburg 1997, vol. 14; D. Oppel, Heilsam erzählen – erzählend heilen. Die Heilung der Blutflüssigen und die Erweckung der Jairustochter in Mk 5, 21–43 als Beispiel markinischer Erzählfertigkeit, Bonner biblische Beiträge, Weinheim, 1995, vol. 12; J. Plaskow, »Antijudaism in feminist Christian Interpretation«, in Searching the Scriptures. A Feminist Introduction, ed. E. Schüssler Fiorenza, New York, 1993, pp. 117–129; E. Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her. A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins, New York, 1994, p. 124; M.J. Selvidge, Woman, Cult, and Miracle Recital. A redactional Critical Investigation on Mark 5: 24–34, London, 1990; M.J. Selvidge, »Mark 5:25–34 and Leviticus. A reaction to Restrictive Purity regulations«, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 104, No. 4, 1984, pp. 619–623; T. Söding, Glaube bei Markus. Glaube an das Evangelium, Gebetsglaube und Wunderglaube im Kontext der markinischen Basileiatheologie und Christologie, Stuttgarter Biblische Beiträge, Stuttgart, 1985, 1987, 12: pp. 414–421; E. Struthers Malbon, »Narrative criticism. How does the story mean?«, in Mark and Method. New Approaches in Biblical Studies, ed. J.C. Anderson and S.D. Moore, Minneapolis, 1992, pp. 37–29; J. Wilkinson, The Bible and Healing. A Medical and Theological Commentary, Grand Rapids, 1998; P. Trummer, Die Blutende Frau. Wunderheilung im Neuen Testament, Freiburg, 1991, pp. 15–21. 3. Marcus, Mark 1–8, pp. 364–366. 4. Marcus, Mark 1–8, p. 366. 5. One could ask whether the Haemorrhoïssa is cured by the installation of a menopause: her source dried up; R. Formanek, ed., The Meanings of Menopause. Historical, Medical and Clinical Perspective, Hillsdale, 1990. 6. See notes 35 35. Knipp, Christus medicus, pp. 124–125. –36 36. Mathews, The Clash of Gods, pp. 65–66. . 7. Wilkinson, The Bible and Healing, p. 105. 8. D. Rhoads, »Jesus and the Syrophoenician Woman. A narrative-critical Study«, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 62, No. 2, 1994, pp. 343–375, is seen by some authors as a similar initiative, but in this case the Greek woman throws herself at Christ's feet to demand the healing of her daughter, Mark 7: 24–30. 9. R. Bieringer, »‘Nader Mij niet’: De betekenis van mê mou haptou in Johannes 20:17”, HTS Teologiese Studies, No. Theological Studies, 61, 2005, 19–43. 10. P.J. Lalleman, »Healing by a Mere Touch as a Christian Concept«, Tyndale Bulletin, Vol. 48, No. 2, 1997, pp. 335–361. See also: R. Grob, »Berühren«, in Theologisches Begriffslexikon zum Neuen Testament, ed. L. Coenen, Wuppertal, 1967, pp. 85–86. 11. W. Cotter, Miracles in Greco-Roman Antiquity. A Sourcebook, London, 1999, p. 246. 12. This contrasts with Fonrobert, »The Woman with a Blood-Flow (Mark 5.24–34) Revisited«, p. 127, which says that »healing by touch is also a common element in hellenistic healing stories«. 13. H.C. Kee, Medicine, Miracle and Magic in New Testament Times, Cambridge, 1984, pp. 2–4; Cotter, Miracles in Greco-Roman Antiquity, p. 246; H.C. Kee, Miracle in the early Christian World. A Study in Sociohistorical Method, New Haven, 1983, pp. 162–163. 14. C.D. Marshall, Faith as a Theme in Mark's Narrative, Society for New Testament Studies. Monograph Series, Cambridge, 1989, 64: pp. 106–108; E.E. May, »For Power Went Forth from Him … (Luke 6:19) «, Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Vol. 14, No. 2, 1952, pp. 93–103, 98. 15. Also see: H. van der Loos, The Miracles of Jesus, Novum Testamentum Supplementum, Leiden, 1965, 9: p. 510. 16. Horsley, Hearing the Whole Story, p. 208. 17. A well-balanced position in this can be found in Marcus, Mark 1–8, p. 357, and A.T. Robertson and W.J. Perschbacher, Word Pictures of the New Testament, Vol. 1: Matthew and Mark, Grand Rapids, 2004, passim. 18. Which, moreover, is Marla Selvidge's major argument in the issue of anti-Judaism in this passage. 19. C. Ginzburg, A distance. Neuf essais sur le point de vue en histoire, Paris, 1998, 101: »Ces images, concentrées sur le punctum, sur l'instant décisif«. 20. T.F. Mathews, The Clash of Gods. A Reinterpretation of Early Christian Art, Princeton, 1993, p. 63 ff. 21. C. Nauerth, »Heilungswunder in der frühchristlichen Kunst, in Spätantike und frühes Christentum«, in Spätantike und frühes Christentum, eds H. Beck and P.C. Bol, Frankfurt am Main, 1983, pp. 339–446; T.F. Mathews, The Clash of Gods, pp. 54–65; G. Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. 1: Christ's Incarnation, Childhood, Baptism, Temptation, Transfiguration, Works and Miracles, trans. J. Seligman, London, 1971; A. Grabar, Christian Iconography. A Study of Its Origins, Princeton, 1968; J. Elsner, Art and the Roman Viewer: The Transformation of Art from the Pagan World to Christianity, Cambridge, 1995; K. Weitzmann, »The Late Roman World«, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. New Series, Vol. 35, No. 2, 1977, 2–96; R. Jensen, Understanding Early Christian Art, London, 2000; D. Knipp, Christus medicus in der früchristlichen Sarkophagskulptur: ikonographische Studien der Sepulkralkunst des späten vierten Jahrhunderts, Leiden, 1998. 22. The image interpretation of early-Christian art here hermeneutically follows the modern interpretation by exegetes. 23. Nauerth, »Heilungswunder in der frühchristlichen Kunst«, fig. 157, shows a similar iconography on a contemporary, Roman sarcophagus. 24. R. Mellinkoff, Outcasts. Signs of Otherness in Northern European Art of the Late Middle Ages, Berkeley, 1993, 1: pp. 220–222, treats the back perspective in iconography as a sign of isolation from society. The author refers mostly to the case of Mary Magdalene. Also see my article: »Noli me tangere. Narrative and iconic space«, in Jerusalem as Narrative Space, eds A. Hofmann and G. Wolf, Firenze, 2009, in press. 25. C.J. Watson, »The Program of the Brescia Casket«, Gesta, Vol. 20, No. 2, 1981, pp. 283–298, with bibliography. 26. Inv. Nr. Pb 35; Mathews notices that the cock is Asclepius' sacrificial animal, The Clash of Gods, 66. Christ often takes the place of the Asclepius figure; B. Baert, »The Pool of Bethsaïda. The Cultural History of a Holy Place in Jerusalem«, Viator. Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Vol. 36, 2005, pp. 1–22. 27. Reichenau, late tenth century, München, Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek, Cod. Lat. Cim 58, fol. 44; A. Boeckler, Ikonographische studien zu den Wunderscenen der Ottonischen Malerei des Reichenau, München, 1961, p. 9 and figs 10–14; F. Dressler and F. Mutherick, eds, Das Evangeliar Otto III Clm 4453 der bayerischen Staatsbibliothek München, Munich, 1978; K. Schulmeyer, »Evangeliar Otto's III«, in Europas Mitte um 1000, Council of Europe Art Exhibition, 27, eds A. Wieczorek and H.–M. Hinz, Stuttgart, 2000, 1: pp. 456–457. 28. Trier, Stadtbibliothek, codex 24, fol. 91; H. Schiel, Codex Egberti der Stadtbibliothek Trier, Basel, 1960; F.J. Ronig, »Erläuterungen zu den Miniaturen des Egbert Codex«, in Der Egbert Codex. Das Leben Jesu. Ein Höhepunkt der Buchmalerei vor 1000 Jahren, S.D. Dornheim et al., Stuttgart, 2005, p. 78 e.v. 29. On the genesis of visual conventions, see: J. Bremmer, »Walking, Standing, and Sitting in Ancient Greek Culture«, in A Cultural History of Gesture, eds J. Bremmer and H. Roodenburg, Ithaca, NY, 1993, pp. 15–35; B. Baert and L. Kusters, »The Twilight Zone of the Noli me tangere. Contributions to the History of the motif, ca. 400–ca. 1000) in the West«, Louvain Studies, Vol. 32, 2007, pp. 255–308; M. Barasch, Giotto and the Language of Gesture, Cambridge, 1987. 30. As seen on an ivory from Munich dating to c.400, myrrhophores, See T. Mueller, Kunst und Kunsthandwerk. Meisterwerke im Bayerischen Nationalmuseum, München. Festschrift zum 100–jährigen bestehen des Museums, 1855–1955, Munich, 1955, cat., p. 3; C. Stiegemann and M. Wemhoff, eds, 799. Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit. Karl der Grosse und Papst Leo III in Paderborn, Tl. 2, Mainz am Rhein, 1999, cat., p. X.2, and the so-called Apostle Sarcophagus (Chairete) from the same period, see known through an engraving in A. Bosio, Roma Sotterranea, Rome, 1651, and P. Aringhi, Roma subterranea novissima, Rome, 1659. 31. A. Reinhartz, Why ask my Name? Anonimity and Identity in Biblical Narrative, Oxford, 1998, p. 188. 32. Due to the sometimes ambiguous poses, the Haemorrhoïssa has sometimes been confused with the Noli me tangere in secondary literature, as for the mural painting in the Petrus and Marcellinus catacomb; the Brescia reliquary, and the so-called capsa of Brivio, the latter in G. Noga-Banai, The Trophies of the Martyrs. An Art Historical Study of Early Christian Silver Reliquaries, Oxford, 2008, pp. 38–61, fig. 3. In all three cases there are indeed no disciples present. The kneeling position of the woman and the pointing gesture by Christ can be read as a tactile gesture on the one hand (cf. the Chairete, and a rather dismissive gesture, cf. Noli me tangere) on the other. Christ's twisted torso too can cause confusion in comparison with the Christ that is turning away in Noli me tangere. We are convinced, however, that an independent iconographical motif of the Noli me tangere did not exist before Carolingian times. 33. B. Baert, »The healing of the blind man at Siloam, Jerusalem. A contribution to the relationship between holy places and the visual arts in the Middle Ages, Pt. I«, Arte Cristiana, Vol. 838, 2007, pp. 49–60; Vol. 839, 2007, pp. 121–130. 34. Baert, »The Pool of Bethsaïda«, pp. 1–22. 35. Knipp, Christus medicus, pp. 124–125. 36. Mathews, The Clash of Gods, pp. 65–66. 37. Mathews, The Clash of Gods, p. 68. 38. Origen, Contra Celsum, I: 67; athews, The Clash of Gods, p.68. 39. Asterius of Amasia, Homily 1, PG 40, cols 165–168; in C. Mango, The Art of the Byzantine Empire 312–1453. Sources and Documents, Englewood Cliffs, 1972, p. 51. 40. Mathews, The Clash of Gods, fig. 40, 60: here too the author identifies a raising of Lazarus in combination with the Haemorrhoïssa. 41. J. Spier, Late Antique and Early Christian Gems, Wiesbaden, 2007; J. Spier, »Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition«, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 56, 1993, pp. 25–62; R.K. Ritner, »A Uterine Amulet in the Oriental Institute Collection”, Journal of Near Institute Studies, Vol. 43, No. 3, 1984, pp. 209–221. 42. A.A. Barb, »Three Elusive Amulets«, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 27, 1964, pp. 1–22, p. 10; fig. 2a–b. 43. J. Spier, Late antique, cat., p. 684 a and b: New York, America numismatic society, rock crystal, 30–20–4 cm. 44. J. Spier, »Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition” «, p. 44, fig. 6b, inv. no. 1917, sixth–seventh century; also shown by L. Kötzsche, Age of Spirituality. Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century, ed. K. Weitzmann, Princeton, 1979, p. 440, and Nauerth, referentie ontbreekt, op. cit. mag niet, 560, cat., p. 165. In note 111, p. 44, Spier also refers to the Benaki museum in Athens, were a green Chalkedon intaglio from the middle–Byzantine age is being kept with the Haemorrhoïssa and the Crucifixion on it, without inscription. Haematite is an iron ore that is not particularly rare. Characteristic for this stone is its red core, but once processed, sharpened or polished, it turns black to silvery. 45. See M. Frazer and K. Weitzman, eds, The Age of Spirituality, New York, 1977, p. 440. 46. C. Meier, Gemma Spiritualis. Methode und Gebrauch der Edelsteinallegorese vom frühen Christentum bis ins 18. Jahrhundert, München, 1977, pp. 392–395. 47. J. Spier, »Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition«, pp. 28, 30, 44, 56; 44: »The bronze token with the haemorhoïssa suggests that it had to help women in some way«. 48. I. Veith, Hysteria. The History of a Disease, Chicago, 1965. 49. M. Pointon, »Interior Portraits. Women, Physiology and the Male Artist«, Feminist Review, Vol. 22, 1986, pp. 5–22. 50. J. Spier, »Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition«, as in fig. 40 – 4d: silver ring, and also on a leaden amulet, both Corinthian. 51. J. Spier, »Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition«, as in fig. 40 – 4d: silver ring, and also on a leaden amulet, both Corinthian. p. 30. 52. J. Spier, »Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition«, as in fig. 40 – 4d: silver ring, and also on a leaden amulet, both Corinthian. p. 43, often this portrait is octopus-like. 53. J. Spier, »Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition«, as in fig. 40 – 4d: silver ring, and also on a leaden amulet, both Corinthian. p. 43. 54. J. Spier, »Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition«, as in fig. 40 – 4d: silver ring, and also on a leaden amulet, both Corinthian. p. 43. 55. There is an abundance of literature available on the uterus and menstruation in the premedical world: S.E. Cayleff, »She Was Rendered Incapacitated by Menstrual Difficulties. Historical Perspectives on Perceived Intellectual and Physiological Impairment Among Menstruating Women«, in Menstrual Health in Women's Lives, eds A.J. Dan and L.L. Lewis, Urbana, IL, 1992, pp. 229–235; L. Dean–Jones, »Menstrual Bleeding According to the Hippocratics and Aristotle«, Transactions of the American Philological Association, Vol. 119, 1989, pp. 177–192; M. Green, »Female Sexuality in the Medieval West«, Trends in History, Vol. 4, No. 4, 1990, pp. 127–158; A.E. Hanson, »Hippocrates. Diseases of Women I«, Signs, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1975, pp. 567–584; M.C. Horowitz, »Aristotle and Woman«, Journal of the History of Biology,Vol. 9, No. 2, 1976, pp. 183–213, reveals Aristotle's biological and political sexism. For another viewpoint, see J. Morsink, »Was Aristotle's Biology Sexist?«, Journal of the History of Biology, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1979, pp. 83–112; D. Jacquart, C. Thomasset and M. Adamson, trans., Sexuality and Medicine in the Middle Ages, Princeton, 1988; J. Delancy, M.J. Lupton and E. Toth, The Curse. A Cultural History of Menstruation, New York, 1976; Formanek, ed., The Meanings of Menopause. 56. According to Barb, »Three Elusive Amulets«, Pl. 6a, these ideas go back to Mesopotamian archetypes. The amulets also protect men that were infected by a »womb«, like the one (plate 6a) for the Russian Basileos. Also see: J.-J. Aubert, »Threatened Wombs: Aspects of Ancient Uterine Magic«, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, Vol. 30, 1989, pp. 421–449; C.W. Bodemer, »Historical Interpretations of the Human Uterus and Cervix Uteri«, in The Biology of the Cervix, ed. R.J. Blandau and K. Moghissi, Chicago, 1983, pp. 1–11; S. Griffin, Woman and Nature. The Roaring Inside Her, New York, 1978. 57. Spier, »Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition« p. 45. 58. Spier, »Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition« p. 46. 59. Other examples in Ritner, »A Uterine Amulet in the Oriental Institute Collection«, passim. 60. AA. Barb, »St. Zacharias the Prophet and Martyr. A Study in Charms and Incantations«, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 11, 1948, pp. 35–67, 63 and 67. 61. Meier, Gemma Spiritualis, 394: »Hematites (…) dicitur ab hema, quod est sanguis, et tithein, quod est sistere, quasi sistens sanguinem«, after Petrus Berchorius, c.1290–1362, Reductorium morale XI, 440a. In these same passages Berchorius attributes the haemorrhage to »luxuria«, to »carnalis voluptas, mundana prosperitas, fluxusque cujuscunque iniquitatis«, and thereby refers to the passage in Mark. »Figura de haemorrhoissa, quae ad tactum vestimenti Christi a fluxu sanguinis est sanata. Vestimentum Christi est abstinentia, quae re vera sanat ab istis fluxibus animam peccatricem.« The connection between the illness and sin, at least in the late Middle Ages, requires further research. 62. E. Abel, ed., Orphica, Leipzig, 1885, verses 642 ff.; Barb, »St. Zacharias«, p. 67. 63. O. Ebermann, Blut- und Wundsegen in ihrer Entwicklung dargestellt, Palaestra 24, Berlin, 1903; Barb, »St. Zacharias«, pp. 38–42; There are instances wherein the daughter of the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15.22) is also called Berenice. In Henry III's book of pericopes, 1039–143, Bremen, Staatsbibliothek M., 21, fol. 28v, features the haemorrhaging woman at the bottom, and the episode of the Canaanite woman in the top register. In this latter Christ is also approached from the back. 64. Barb, »St. Zacharias«, p. 42; M.R. James, The Apocryphal New Testament, Oxford, 1924, p. 102: Bernice; 183: Beronice; 306: Berenice; and 157: Veronica. The name would also become an exorcism for various problems. It is also used for fine nitrate. 65. Barb, »St. Zacharias«, p. 43, note 1; E. von Steinmeyer, Die kleineren althochdeutschen Sprachdenkmäler, Deutsche Neudrucke. Texte des Mittelalters, Berlin, 1916. 66. Nikephorus Callistus, thirteenth century (Historia Ecclesiaticae X. 30) quotes Macarius Magnes in his Antirrhétiques: Discours contre les iconoclastes, ed. M.-J. Baudinet-Mondzain, Paris, 1989. Theophylactus, end ninth century, repeats Eusebius in his Enarratio in Evangelium Matthaei, IX, Migne PG 123, cols 230–231. Sozomenos, c.400–c.50, Historia Ecclesiasticae (V. 21) and Philostorgios, pp. 368–430, Historia Ecclesiasticae (VII. 3) both mention that when Julian the Apostate removed the statue and replaced it with his, it was destroyed by lightning; Fabre, L'image possible, p. 242. Nikephorus compresses the event by claiming that the statue was cast by the woman herself instead of on commission. Pierre-Antoine Fabre speaks of a densification of the Haemorrhoïssa at the level of the text, but also at the level of the visual anthropology: »un double phénomène d'incorporation et de débordement: la femme incorpore la force venue du Christ et c'est cette incorporation qui, en arrêtant le flux, entensifie le corps, au lieu qu'il soit dilué par l'écoulement du sang, et rend possible une image définie, …«, Fabre, L'image possible, p. 244. 67. Eusebius of Caesarea, Histoire écclesiastique, trans. G. Bardy, Paris, 1955, pp. 191–192; R. Brugge, »Effigiem Christi, qui transis, semper honora. Verses condemning the cult of sacred images in art and literature«, Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia, Vol. VI, 1975, pp. 127–139; E. von Dobschütz, Christusbilder. Untersuchungen zur christlichen Legenden, Leipzig, 1899, pp. 31 and 197; P.-A. Fabre, »L'image possible. Réflexions sur le défaut d'illustration dans les écrits prescriptifs et défensifs sur l'image au XVIe siècle«, in Emblemata sacra. Rhétorique et herméneutique du discours sacré en images. The Rhetoric and Hermeneutics of Illustrated Sacred Discourse, Imago Figurata Studies, eds R. Dekonick and A. Guiderdoni-Bruslé, Turnhout, 2007, 7: pp. 229–251; Fonrobert, »The Woman with a Blood-Flow (Mark 5.24–34) Revisited«, p. 122; Selvidge, Woman, Cult, and Miracle Recital, p. 20. 68. Known through a text by Photius in the ninth century: Fabre, L'image possible, p. 237, note 19. 69. Pliny the Elder, Historia naturale, 7.15.64, Loeb, 2, p. 549. 70. J.R. Branham, »Sacred Space under Erasure in Ancient Synagogues and Early Churches«, Art Bulletin, Vol. 74, No. 3, 1992, pp. 375–394; J.R. Branham, »Blood and Sanctity at Issue«, Res. Anthropology and Aesthetics, Vol. 31, 1997, pp. 53–70; J.R. Branham, »Frauen und blutige Räume. Menstruation und Eucharistie in Spätantike und Mittelalter«, Vorträge Warburg-Haus, 3, 1999, pp. 129–161; J.R. Branham, »Bloody Women and Bloody Spaces«, Harvard Divinity Bulletin (e-journal) Vol. 30, No. 4, 2002, pp. 15–22; J.R. Branham, »Penetrating the Sacred: Breaches and Barriers in the Jerusalem temple«, in Thresholds of the Sacred. Architectural, Art Historical, Liturgical and Theological Perspectives on Religious Screens, East and West, ed. S. Gerstel, Cambridge, 2006, pp. 6–24. 71. Also see: E. Amt, »Outsiders. Jewish and Heretic Women«, in Women's Lives in Medieval Europe. A Sourcebook, New York, 1993, pp. 279–317; C. Fonrobert, Menstrual Purity. Rabbinic and Christian Reconstructions of Biblical Gender, Stanford, CA, 2000, pp. 160–210. 72. Marcus, Mark 1–8, p. 357; G.G. Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism and Talmudic Tradition, Israel Goldstein Lectures, 1957, New York, 1960, pp. 10–12; I. Gruenwald, Apocalyptic and Merkavah Mysticism, Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des Urchristentums, Leiden, 1980, 14: p. 164. 73. S. Cohen, »Menstruants and the Sacred in Judaism and Christianity«, in Women's History and Ancient History, ed. S.B. Pomeroy, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1991, passim; P. McCracken, The Curse of Eve, The Wound of the Hero. Blood, Gender and Medieval Literature, The Middle Ages Series, Philadelphia, PA, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003. 74. R.H. Connely, Didascalia Apostolorum, Oxford, 1929, p. 254. 75. Cohen, »Menstruants«, p. 288. 76. PG 10, cola 1281–1282. 77. Branham, »Penetrating the sacred«, passim. 78. Branham, »Bloody women«, p. 8. 79. Cohen, »Menstruants«, p. 288; Branham, »Bloody women«, p. 7; G. Dox, The Apostolic Tradition of St. Hippolytus, London, 1968, 20, p. 6. 80. Epistola 14; R. Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Early Church, Collegeville, PA, 1976, p. 53. 81. C.T. Wood, »The Doctor's Dilemma. Sin, Salvation, and the Menstrual Cycle in Medieval Thought», Speculum, Vol. 56, No. 4, 1981, pp. 710–727, 713; Epistola 64, Pl. 77, cols 1183–1199. 82. P.J. Payer, Sex and the Penitentials. The Development of a Sexual Code 550–1150, Toronto, 1984, p. 36. 83. Pl. 187–188, Ch. 2, col. 106. 84. Branham, »Bloody women«, p. 8. 85. P. Underwood, The Kariye Djami. Vol. 1: Historical Introduction and Description of the Mosaics and Frescoes, New York, 1966, pp. 72–74; N. Teteriatnikov, »The Place of the Nun Melania (the Lady of the Mongols) in the Deesis Inner Narthex of Chora, Constantinople«, Cahiers Archéologiques, Vol. 43, 1995, p. 171. 86. C. Corneli, art., Tre scene di miracoli nel cubilico 65 detto di Nicerus, in L'orizzonte tardoantico e le nuove immagini. 312–468, Vol. 1, Turnhout, 2006, pp. 138–142; A. McGowan, Aesthetic Eucharists. Food and Drink in Early Christian Rituals, Oxford, 1999, pp. 1–89; Also see: R. Jensen, Understanding Early Christian Art, London, 2000; J. Wilpert, Ein Cyclus christologischer Gemälde aus der Katakombe der Heiligen Petrus und Marcellinus, Freiburg, 1891, p. 25; C. Osiek, M.Y. MacDonald and J.H. Tulloch, A Woman's Place. House Churches in Earliest Christianity, Minneapolis, 2005; J. Fink and B. Asamer, Die römischen Katakomben, Mainz am Rhein, 1997. 87. Ambrosius Mediolanensis, »Explanatio psalmorum XII (25, 24, 2)«, in Sancti Ambrosi Opera 6, Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum, 64, eds M. Petschenig and M. Zelzer, Vienna, 1999, p. 345. 88. Ambrosius Mediolanensis, »De fide ad Gratianum«, in De Fide, ad Gratianum, Fontes christiani, 47, Vol. 1, ed. C. Markschies, Turnhout, 2005, p. 212. 89. R. Teske, transl., and B. Ramsey, ed., Letters 100–155, London, 2003, pp. 129–140, 137. See also S. Soennecken, Misogynie oder Philogynie? Philologisch-theologische Untersuchungen zum Wortfeld Frau bei Augustinus , Frankfurt am Main, 1993. This line of reasoning is also taken over by Paulinus of Nola (355–431) in his Epistula 50: Paulinus Nolanus, Epistulae. Paulinus von Nola, Fontes christiani, 25, trans. and ed. Matthias Skeb, Freiburg, 1998, 3: pp. 1042–1075, 1067. 90. The fascination for liquids as juices of life not only has a Eucharistic connotation, but also a funerary one in the catacombs. Wine is the drink of the dead, it drips into the underworld through the earth, says Pliny. Gods and goddesses of the underworld, like Selene, often drink blood; J. Spier, »Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition” «, p. 46. 91. It would lead us too far to follow this line of reasoning to the problem of the Noli me tangere and the paradigm of Christ as untouchable Visible Invisibility. For this, see: K. Krüger, Das Bild als Schleier des Unsichtbaren. Ästhetische Illusion in der Kunst der frühen Neuzeit in Italien, München, 2001, p. 104; B. Baert, »Noli me tangere. Six Exercises in Image Theory and Iconophilia«, Image and Narrative. L'image des Anciens et l'image des Modernes: Permanence des problématiques, Vol. 15, 2006, electronic journal with review, http://www.imageandnarrative.be/iconoclasm/baert.htm. It is evident that within the broader issue of the problem of tactility in the Biblical tradition, the Haemorrhoïssa and Mary Magdalene are strongly related prototypes. 92. The concept conversus is very charged both nominally and narratively. In Psalm 17.3 it is God who gives us the power to »turn around« to salvation. This phrase has had a great influence on Augustine's confessions; O. Reta, »Conversion«, in Augustine Through the Ages. An Encyclopedia, ed. A.D. Fitzgerald, Grand Rapids, 1999, p. 239. Also in the Noli me tangere episode of John 20, verse 14 (conversa et retrorsum et videt Iesum) plays a crucial role. The moment of turning around is a turning point narratively and spiritually: the searching becomes a finding and a seeing, and later in the text it also becomes the insight into Christ's ultimate appearance, namely His resurrected self. In the iconography of the Noli me tangere Mary Magdalene's position also entails the concept of the turned around gaze, the so-called »iconic turn«. I develop this in: Baert, »The pact between space and gaze. The narrative and the iconic in Noli me tangere«, in To Tell, to Think and to Experience Images from Theology to Rhetoric and Aesthetics in the Early Modern Period, eds R. Dekoninck and A. Guiderdoni, Leuven, 2009 (in press). M. Pardo, »The Subject of Savoldo's Magdalene«, Art Bulletin, Vol. 71, No. 1, 1989, pp. 67–91, connects the »conversa« issue to some humanistic-aesthetic premises like the paragone. In the Haemorrhoïssa episode, however, it is not the woman who has to turn round to come to insight, but rather Christ Himself. On a primary level, His turning round is a reaction to a semi-magical impact of touching, see above, but on a second level Christ's turning round also effectuates a turning round in the woman: that of her healing, and that of faith. In the Haemorrhoïssa episode Christ the Divine exceptionally turns around Himself for the benefit of man. This allows us to understand Christ's »conversus« as the necessary interval, in time (in the text, in the fluxus) to establish a healing in the deepest core that supersedes magic, see above and below (Conclusion). 93. O. Demus, »The Style of the Kariye Djami and Its Place in the Development of Palaeologan Art«, in The Kariye Djami, ed. Underwood, pp. 107–160; P. Nikodijm, Mosaiki mecheti Kakhrie-dzhamisi v Konstantinopole, Odessa, 1918; R. Nelson, »Taxation with Representation: Visual Narrative and the Political Field at the Kariye Camii«, Art History, Vol. 22, 1999, pp. 56–82; R. Nelson, »The Chora and the Great Church: Intervisuality in Fourteenth-Century Constantinople«, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, Vol. 23, 1999, pp. 67–101; D. Oates, »A Summary Report on the Excavations of the Byzantine Institute in the Kariye Djami: 1957 and 1958«, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 14, 1960, pp. 223–231; R.G. Ousterhout, »The Architecture of the Kariye Camii in Istanbul«, Dumbarton Oaks Studies, Vol. 25, 1987; R.G. Ousterhout, »The Virgin of the Chora«, in The Sacred Image East and West, Illinois Byzantine Studies, eds R.G. Ousterhout and L. Brubaker, Urbana, 1995, 4: pp. 91–109; R.G. Ousterhout, »Temporal Structuring in the Chora Parekklesion«, Gesta, Vol. 34, 1995, pp. 63–