Holy Saviour Research Articles

Founded by, Dedicated to, and Fighting About the Holy Savior: Schism in Waldǝba, a Microcosm of Factionalism in the Ethiopian Church

Abstract For members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Waldəba is the emblem of monasticism. Its isolation and reputation as the site of the utmost rigorous monastic asceticism has made it the metaphor for the pursuit of spiritual life in the form of extreme self-denial. What the popular imagination does not allow for, however, is the fact that Waldəba is also a place of perpetual rivalry and acrimonious division. Betä Minas and Betä Ṭama, the two monastic houses or orders that constitute the community of Waldəba, have been bitter rivals throughout their known history. The rivalry of the two houses is in turn both an outcome and manifestation of centuries-old division and rivalry within the Ethiopian Church. The story of the rivalry of the two houses of Waldəba is therefore explored in this study for the light it throws on broader issues of factionalism in the Ethiopian Church. The main focus of the study is the period from the early seventeenth century to the present. Throughout this period, the dominant feature in the rivalry of Betä Minas and Betä Ṭama was a controversy on the doctrine of the Trinity. At about the same time, the Ethiopian Church was elsewhere beset by a Christological controversy on the meaning and relevance of the anointment of Christ. Thus far, the connection between the doctrinal rivalry in Waldəba over the question of the Trinity and the controversy on the anointment of Christ elsewhere in the country has not been carefully studied. By assessing and analyzing the relevant primary sources, this study shows that the two are in fact directly interrelated. In as much as the unction controversy was one of the most important issues in the history of the Ethiopian Church since the seventeenth century, the findings of this study therefore call for major revisions in our understating of the history of the Ethiopian Church and its relation with the central monarchy of the Christian Kingdom throughout this period. With regard to the theological issues at stake, this study shows that the controversy on the anointment of Christ was as much about the Trinity as Christology. Contrary to the tendency in the secondary literature to push the origin of one of the three doctrinal parties involved in the controversy on the anointment of Christ to the eighteenth century, this study also shows that all three were there since the outbreak of the controversy in the early seventeenth century. The amount of importance scholarship attaches to it notwithstanding, this study also shows that the synod of Boru Meda, held in 1878, to resolve the unction controversy, was not that decisive in settling the controversy. This study also casts doubt on the finality of the divorce of church and state effected as the result of the 1974 socialist revolution in Ethiopia.

Šibenski graditelj i klesar Ivan Hreljić u svjetlu arhivske građe

U članku su sabrani već poznati i dosad nepoznati arhivski podatci o šibenskom graditelju i klesaru Ivanu Hreljiću, jednom od djelatnika iz kruga Jurja Dalmatinca. Kao istaknuti predstavnik jedne od šibenskih porodičnih radionica, bio je aktivan sudionik događanja koja su obilježila vrijeme procvata kamenarske djelatnosti u Šibeniku u drugoj polovini 15. stoljeća. Koncem 1449. godine zaposlio ga je Juraj Dalmatinac na gradnji zidina novoga Paga. Vjerojatno je u Pagu nastavio raditi tijekom sljedećih nekoliko godina, da bi se u Šibeniku ponovo pojavio 1455. godine, kada je, zajedno s bratom Lukom i klesarom Dismanom Banjvarićem, isporučivao kamen za gradnju samostana Sv. Spasa. Suradnja s bratom uspješno je nastavljena i kasnije pa su se njih dvojica 1458. godine obvezali popraviti i ojačati crkvu Sv. Ivana u Uzdolju, a 1459. godine u cijelosti sagraditi novu crkvu u selu Široke, po uzoru na nedaleku crkvu u Mitlu. Godine 1462. Ivan se obvezao gvardijanu franjevačkog samostana Sv. Marije u Vranduku da će otići s njim u Bosnu i tamo raditi za njega tri mjeseca. Izgleda da se i u Bosni zadržao nešto duže, a nakon povratka u Šibenik, od 1464. godine se učestalo pojavljuje u arhivskoj građi, uglavnom kao poduzetnik, posrednik ili stranka u sporovima i kao vlasnik broda. Tek 1469. godine spominje se da je ugovorio isporuku određene količine bijelog kamena za gradnju crkve Sv. Marije u Fermu te je potvrđena njegova obveza, pri čemu je za njega jamčio Radmil Ratković, još jedan istaknuti majstor iz kruga Jurja Dalmatinca. Ivan Hreljić se posljednji put spominje živ početkom 1474. godine. Sačuvani arhivski arhivski podatci iz Hreljićeva života, osim što oslikavaju njegov životni put i djelatnost, ujedno mogu poslužiti i kao ilustracija čvrstih veza između šibenskih majstora kamenarske struke i isprepletenih mreža međusobnih odnosa.

Biodeterioration agents dwelling in or on the wall paintings of the Holy Saviour’s cave (Vallerano, Italy)

The preservation of the wall paintings in rural habitats may be difficult because of severe damage caused by living organisms that may discolor and degrade substrata as a consequence of their growth and metabolic activity. In order to set proper protocols for conservative interventions, biodeterioration agents dwelling within the wall paintings of the Holy Saviour’s Cave, in Vallerano, Italy, were analyzed, taking into account their impact on the substrate and their relation with environmental factors. Pigments, binders, and deterioration products of the paintings were examined by spectroscopic and micro-stratigraphic analysis. A predominant whitish grey crust was due to the massive development of the lichen Dirina massiliensis f. sorediata, but Caloplaca xantholyta and Lepraria sp. were also observed, while a brilliant green patina, red powdery granules, and a black biofilm were due to the presence of green algae (Stichococcus sp., Trentepohlia sp.) and cyanobacteria (Chroococcus sp., Nostoc sp.). Black fungi, here analyzed by ITS rDNA sequencing, were also present.

Dalmatinski trikonhosi

Autor raspravlja o fenomenu ranokršćanskih i srednjovjekovnih trikonhosa na istočnoj obali Jadrana, pretežno u Dalmaciji. Prema formi, funkciji i vremenu nastanka razvrstava ih u pet skupina. Prvu tvore relativno rane, malene cellae trichorae koje prvotno bijahu funerarne memorije na privatnome posjedu. Nastale su, čini se, pretežno do sredine 5. stoljeća. Drugu tvore nešto složeniji triconchosi koji za razliku od prethodnih cela imaju ispred svetišta dugi naos. Nalaze se na području antičke Dalmacije po čemu ih autor i naziva dalmatinskim trikonhosima. Oni sadržajem i množinom predstavljaju problemsko težište članka koji je po njima i naslovljen. Nastali su uglavnom poslije sredine 5. ili početkom 6. stoljeća. Treću skupinu tvore oni primjeri iz prve i druge grupe koji su od prvotne memorije naknadno postali trikonhosi kao kompleksne bazilike. Poput ostalih tipova prvotnih memorija koje su naknadno preuređene u kongregacijske crkve i oni su prepravljeni uglavnom poslije sredine 6. stoljeća. Četvrtu skupinu tvore predromanički trikonhosi, morfološki vrlo zanimljiva skupina centralnih građevina, ali i dviju longitudinalnih, koje su nastale pretežno tijekom 9. stoljeća, međutim s primjerima već u 8. stoljeću (rotonda Sv. Trojstva u Zadru), te još u 10. stoljeću (rotonda u Ošlju). Konačno, petu skupinu tvore romanički trolisti nastali pretežno u 12. stoljeću.

Geological and geotechnical properties of the medieval rock hewn churches of Lalibela, Northern Ethiopia

Lalibela is a medieval settlement in Northern Ethiopia famous for its 11 beautifully carved rock hewn churches, registered as World Heritage Site in 1978. The rock hewn churches are grouped into three based on their proximity: the Bete Medhane Alem (Church of the Holy Saviour), Bete Gabriel–Rufael (Church of St. Gabriel–Rafael) and Bete Giorgis (Church of St. George) groups. The churches are carved out of a single, massive scoriaceous basalt hill which was deposited along an East–West extending palaeovalley in the Oligo-Miocene Trap basalt of the northwestern Ethiopian plateau. The Rock Mass Rating (RMR) classification scheme was used to classify the rock mass (assuming each church as a separate rock mass) based on their uniaxial compressive strength and the spacing and conditions of discontinuities. Though most of the churches are hewn from medium to high strength rock mass, discontinuities make them vulnerable to other deteriorating agents mainly weathering, and water infiltration. Most of the rock hewn churches are affected by pre-carving cooling joints and bedding plane discontinuities, and by mostly but not necessarily post-carving tectonic and seismic induced cracks and fractures. Material loss due to deep weathering triggered by rain water infiltration and uncontrolled groundwater seepage affects most of the churches, particularly the Bete Merqorios (Church of St. Mark) and Bete Aba Libanos (Church of Father Libanos) churches. The scoriaceous basalt which is porous and permeable allows easy passage of water while the underlying basalt is impermeable, increasing the residence time of water in the porous material, causing deep weathering and subsequent loss of material in some of the churches and adjoining courtyards.

Flower symbolism and the cult of relics in medieval Serbia

Flower symbolism and the cult of relics in medieval Serbia

The third chrysobull of Zica

The chrysobulls of King Stefan the First Crowned, and his son, Radoslav, to the monastery of Zica, written on the walls of the passage beneath the bell-tower of the Church of the Holy Saviour, were already observed in the 1820s and were published several times, on the basis of various transcriptions. However, no one noticed that beside them, on the surfaces beneath the figures of the saint apostles, Peter and Paul, in the soffit of the arch on the western side, there were severely damaged texts, inscribed in small script, the traces of which allow us to recognise yet another deed of gift of King Stefan. The text started off on the southern side with an invocation and intitulation, followed by an exposition containing a series of toponyms that resumed on an appropriate surface on the northern wall, also enumerating the donated possessions, and ending in a sanction. This third chrysobull was probably granted before the end of the reign of Stefan the First Crowned, when the need was felt to officially confirm possession of the estates that were later granted. Nevertheless, given the worn out state of the text from exposure to bad weather conditions, the content does not offer any significant data that could fill in the picture of the Zica feudal holdings, with unknown estates. Like the two previous documents, the third chrysobull was also inscribed when the church was being redecorated, in the time of Archbishop Sava III (1309-1316). Technically, it was done in the same layer of plaster and has the characteristic lettering used in the first two chrysobulls. The fact that its contents were written in smaller letters on small fields at the side, although there was enough space on the larger empty surfaces beneath the first two, can probably be explained by the intention to repeat the way in which the chrysobulls were arranged in the passage beneath the bell-tower, in the time of Archbishop Sava I. Then, also in an abbreviated version, in front of the first two documents, extracts from the third were displayed on the free, relatively small surfaces.

The Armenian Manuscripts Illuminated By Mesrop Xizanc'i fRom the Matenadaran Collection

This article presents a catalogue of the manuscripts from the Matenadaran Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts repository (Yerevan) written and illuminated by the scribe and miniaturist Mesrop Xizanc'i, an outstanding though not yet widely appreciated artist of the first half of the 17th century active in New Julfa (Isfahan). As a result of seven years of investigation, I have identified fortyfive manuscripts of this master among fifteen collections housed in the eleven countries:' the Monastic Libraries of the Congregation of Mekhitarists (Vienna, Venice), the British Library (London), the Bodleian Library (Oxford), the Chester Beatty Library (Dublin), the Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Berlin), theJ. Paul Getty Museum (Los-Angeles), the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg), the Institute of Manuscripts of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (Tbilisi), the Monastic Library of the Holy Ejmiajin (Valarsapat), the Church of the Holy Forty Martyrs (Aleppo), the Monastery of the Holy Saviour (Isfahan), the Armenian Patriarchate Library of the Monastery of St. James Jerusalem), the private collection of H. Martikian (San Francisco), and finally an anonymous private collection (London?). Eight Gospels and a codex History of the Great World Conqueror, Alexander of Macedon illustrated by Mesrop are located in the Matenadaran. The general catalogues of the Matenadaran included exact data for only six manuscripts which were embellished, written and repaired by Mesrop Xizanc'i (Gospels nn0 222,

Two Corrections

I The Abbess of Syon has very courteously called my attention to an error in my article on Fontevraud, at page 34. The last sentence of the middle paragraph should read: The order of the Most Holy Saviour (Brigittines) was founded in Sweden in 1370; it professed the Rule of St Augustine, but with its own Constitutions; it comprised in each house nuns, to the number of sixty, monks, not to exceed seventeen, and eight lay brothers. H. F. CHETTLE. II ‘With respect to the reliquaries I leave you to follow your own judgment; but as the relicts ( sic) can no longer be exposed, I should be inclined to consider it useless to be at any expense about their cases.’—Such is the conclusion of a letter of Fr Ralph Ainsworth, Provincial of Canterbury, to Fr Anselm Lorymer, Procurator of the same province, dated 28th July, 1813. It is plainly an answer to a letter of Fr Lorymer's in which he had asked the Provincial's leave to spend some money in having cases made for certain reliquaries with their relics. These were, in all reasonable probability, some of the objects which were found early last century in a box at the distillery of Mr Marmaduke Langdale in Holborn (see an article in the Downside Review for October 1934, on ‘Relics and Plate from the Rosary Chapel’). The interest of the above extract is that it puts the opening of the box and discovery of its contents considerably earlier than had previously been conjectured; for there is no contemporary written evidence as to when and under what circumstances that took place. Fr Alphonsus Morrall gives the story on the testimony of persons living at the time, but without a precise date; he conjectured ‘about 1822’, probably because in or before 1823 Fr Lorymer had the reliquary of the piece of the Holy Cross made into a monstrance which he sent to Downside for the opening of the Old Chapel in July of that year. It was a reasonable guess; but it now appears that Mr Langdale's box, which contained relics and plate from the seventeenth-century Chapel of the Rosary in London, was opened at least nine years earlier. It is a pity that Fr Lorymer's letter cannot be traced either at Downside or at Ampleforth (to which house Fr Ainsworth belonged), for it is not unlikely that it gave some particulars as to the time and circumstances of this interesting discovery. All that is now known of the matter, with identification of some of the contents of the box, may be found in the article referred to above. It may be added, however, that the Mr Sidney mentioned in one of Fr Lorymer's letters (p. 600) is now identified from old letters with William Sidney, who was at Acton Burnell from 1799 to 1801, first as a commensalis and then as a novice. He left owing to ill health, but remained on friendly terms with the Benedictines. Fr Lorymer says that Sidney ‘met with some account of a relick of the Holy Cross which I think must be the one you have’ (i.e. at Downside). It is possible that he was the author of the article in the Catholic Miscellany for 1824 (though Dr Oliver gives the author as Fr Lorymer himself), for the account there given, from Panzani, of a relic of the Holy Cross found in the Tower of London, is evidently the same as that ‘met with’ by Mr Sidney: it is really quoted word for word from Dodd's History in, p. 41. But that relic is certainly not the one from Langdale's box sent to Downside by Fr Lorymer, for this latter was believed in Weldon's time to have belonged to Queen Mary and to have been rescued from her chapel by Abbot Feckenham after her death. R.H.C.