Icon Worship Research Articles

Онтология образа и изображения в концепции иконопочитания Иоанна Дамаскина

The article is devoted to the conceptual analysis of the concepts of «obraz» and «image» applied to the Orthodox icon. The main subject of the study is the interpretation of their relationship in the icon worship theory of St. John of Damascus.

On the Issue of the Semantics of the Monumental Paintings of the Church of the Saviour at Berestove of 1643–1644

The purpose of the article is to analyse the literature and sources covering the issues of studying the ideological and artistic content of the monumental painting of the Church of the Saviour at Berestove of 1643–1644. The author's main focus is on revealing the semantics of the mural's subjects and interpreting the iconology of the monumental ensemble, which will allow us to determine the place of the monument in the context of the national spiritual and artistic culture of the first half of the seventeenth century. It is planned to characterise the ideological programme of the monumental painting of the Petro Mohyla era and to identify the main accents in the system of paintings. The research methodology is based on the application of a systematic approach, an analytical method, art history, historical-comparative, historical-genetic, historical-systemic, and descriptive methods for a comprehensive consideration of the given problem and formulate well-founded conclusions. The scientific novelty is characterised by the fact that for the first time, based on a critical analysis of literature and sources, the need for a reliable semantic analysis of the monumental painting of the Church of the Saviour at Berestove of 1643-1644 was identified. Based on a thorough study of the features of the church's painting system, the leading artistic and visual themes are identified and a variant of the interpretation of the iconology of the monumental ensemble of the time of Petro Mohyla is proposed. Conclusions. Summarising, we should note, that in the process of analysing the system of paintings of the Church of the Saviour at Berestove, its integrity and the conditionality of all elements were noted. The nature of the images made it possible to identify the key areas that carry the greatest semantic and dogmatic load. The author identifies the leading theological themes in the system of paintings – the Incarnation and the Eucharistic Sacrifice – and outlines a number of subjects that represent these themes. It is noted that the theme of the Incarnation in Byzantine art acquired special significance after the victory of icon worship. The monumental ensemble of the Church of the Saviour of 1643-1644 was presented as a reminiscence of Macedonian Renaissance art. It was noted that the programmatic archaism of the system of paintings and a specific set of subjects were related to the actual tasks of the spiritual life of the time of Petro Mohyla. Keywords: Church of the Saviour at Berestove, monumental painting, Macedonian Renaissance, post-Byzantine art, system of paintings, semantics, iconology, theological programme, ideological and artistic content, spiritual culture, archaism, Era of Petro Mohyla.

Theological Aspects of the Formation of the Theory of the Artistic Image in Byzantium IV—XIV Centuries.

The subject of the research is the formation of the theological theory of the image in the church-artistic tradition of Christian art. The aim is to identify the main aspects of the formation of the theory of the image in the pre-Iconoclastic period based on the works of representatives of the Cappadocian school, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Maxim the Confessor, John of Damascus, as well as after the approval of icon veneration, reflected in the works of Patriarch Gregory of Constantinople, Theodore the Studite, Simeon the New Theologian, Gregory Palamas and Patriarch Nikephoros. To trace how the influence of theological thought was reflected in Byzantine church art. To determine the specific features of the phenomenon of the iconographic image and to highlight the significance of its dogmatic foundations in religious art. In the study of the works of Byzantine theologians, historical and cultural analysis was used, which allowed a more holistic view of the worldview of the era in which they created, and the ideas they defended. The study allows us to conclude that for the defenders of icon worship, the "soil" was prepared by the great theologians of the Cappadocian school, who in turn converted and reinterpreted the Neoplatonic teachings of Plotinus, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, who transformed their ideas into a christocentric doctrine of salvation. The dogmatic ideas of the theologians influenced the change of the ancient art form, giving it a new content, which, in turn, can become an important criterion that helps to identify and evaluate genuine spirituality in the works of church art. The study of the theological theory of the image is an important element in determining the fidelity of the artistic transmission of the essence of the creed and understanding of the sacred content of medieval temple painting, as well as a necessary reference point for modern icon painters, allowing them to choose in their work a system of expressive means corresponding to theological dogmas.

10-17세기 러시아 종교문화의 지향성

The purpose of this paper is to examine the orientation of Russian religious culture from the sociocultural perspective. Russian religious culture revealed ambiguous and sometimes paradoxical characteristics. I looked at how the transcendental orientation of religion and the secular orientation of culture collided and coexisted in Russian religious culture. The afterlife orientation of Russian religious culture revealed mystical and ideal aspects. Subtexts of these aspects included Neo-platonism, Negative theology, and Asceticism. On the other hand, the secular orientation of Russian religious culture was revealed in the form of following folk beliefs, magical worship, and collusion between religion and state power. Multiful beliefs, worship of miraculous icons, and religious uses of political power were subtexts of these aspects.

Icons

As long as we remained within the Orthodox Church circles, worshiping and studying, there was no clear explanation on what icons stands for, or are meant to be. It was after venturing into theological training, at a Protestant ecumenical University, that the challenge of understanding icons was unveiled. Historically, Iconoclasm, a medieval period controversy, led to a schism in the Church and persecutions of the iconodules. Apparently, the persecutions did not bring to an end the question whether icons were idols or not. Listening to the public crusades by Protestant churches, it is not uncommon to hear condemnation of icons, especially from the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. This research article sets on the premise that if transcendentalism, as developed by John Macquarrie and Bernard Lonergan, is used to explain the use of icons in worship, the meaning and use of icons will be understood and thus appreciated in a multi-denominational context. The research was both field and library based. In field research, non-probability sampling was used and data collected was tabulated using nvivo tools.

История слов Максима Грека против Лютера (в защиту иконопочитания)

The Russian scholarly tradition describes the religious struggle against Lutherans, starting with the works by Maximus the Greek. A. I. Ivanov’s guidebook includes six words related to the publicist’s anti-Protestant polemic. Although, the Epistle against Heretics on Worship of Holy Icons is a special variant of Epistle 6 by Iosif Volotsky the Apostle and does not belong to Maximus the Greek. Another work, The Epistle against Lutherans is the treatise by Starets Artemius. Maximus the Greek is the author of the Epistle against Luther on Worship of Holy Icons. It exists as an intravitam manuscript (mid-16th century) with the author’s corrections and as a copy from the Pomorskoye Sobraniye (18th-19th centuries), without the author’s corrections, but with several fuller archetypal readings. Maximus the Greek’s relying on oral sources resulted in misrepresenting the Lutherans’ teaching of icon worship: he assumed Lutherans to worship icons of Jesus Christ, the Virgin, and John the Baptist. Of concern is the manuscript’s dating. Maximus the Greek meant to disprove Luther’s teaching of non-worship of holy icons and constructed his speech on appeals to Luther. Vocatives, appellatives, and imperatives are the expressive components reflecting the mood and emotional state of the indignant author. These should indicate that the Epistle was written before Luther’s death in 1546. However, Maximus the Greek writings tend to follow a polemical script, and in this Epistle, the learned monk quotes Luther’s address to him, suggesting that it was written before 1552 when Messingheim appeared in Moscow with protestant works.

ИСТОРИКО-КРАЕВЕДЧЕСКИЕ РАССКАЗЫ И СКАЗАНИЯ О МЕСТНОЧТИМЫХ ИКОНАХ И СВЯТЫХ XVII – XIX ВЕКОВ

The local-history stories and legends about locally venerated icons and saints of the XVII-XIX centuries are studied. They are considered as the sources on the history of icon worship in the interfluve of the Oka and the Don. The identification of the genre originality of regional Legends about icons is carried out. Much attention is given to new monuments of literary tradition starting from the Late Middle Ages and up to the present. The paper presents the relevance and scientific novelty. It is stressed that the historical existence of regional texts about locally venerated icons and regional hagiographic texts of the lives of saints, which belong to the late manuscript and oral tradition of the XVII-early XX centuries, is formulated and studied by the authors for the first time. Finally, the authors focus on the fact that previously, researchers were only aware of local history publications of a number of texts. Their descriptive characteristics are given.

General

General Christopher T. Begg, Paul R. Redditt, and Todd R. Hanneken ________ 1. [Anonymous], “Prof. Wilhelm Joseph Wessels: Curriculum Vitae,” OTE 31 (2018) 468–75. This brief piece provides a photo, an account of the academic career, and full bibliography of a senior South African OT scholar who is the honoree of the above issue of OTE that was published on the occasion of his retirement from university teaching.—C.T.B. 2. Sonja Ammann, “The Clothing of Cult Statues and Biblical Polemics against Iconic Worship,” Clothing and Nudity, 255–87 [see #771]. In conclusion, the clothing of cult statues was a widespread custom in the 1st millennium b.c.e., attested in the Levant, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. Biblical texts only occasionally refer to this custom, mainly in polemical texts denigrating iconic worship from the Late Persian or Hellenistic periods (see Jer 10:29; Ezek 16:18; Eps. Jer. 10–11, 19, 32, 57, 71, and possibly 2 Kgs 23:7). The biblical polemics against iconic worship allude to various aspects of the gods’ clothes: the high material value of the divine garments, the fragility of textiles, the removal of clothing as an act of humiliation, and clothing as a practice associated both with gods and humans. Some of these aspects, such as the perception of clothing as an anthropomorphic feature, bespeak an outsider’s perspective on the part of the biblical writers, since, in the understanding of their worshipers, the gods’ special garments set them apart from ordinary humans. Other aspects, like the sumptuousness of the garments, were also perceived positively by those engaged in the practice of clothing cult statues. By contrast, in the biblical material, the clothing of such statues gives rise to various denigrating statements about them: (1) the high material value of the statues’ attire is set in contrast with their inability to move or with their general uselessness—precious garments are wasted on inanimate and powerless objects; (2) clothing gives the cult statues the appearance of (high-ranking) human beings—but they are more helpless than a human being; (3) the perishability of the textiles out of which the gods’ garments are made fore-shadows the perishability of the gods themselves and intimates their inability to prevent even their own decay; and (4) the removal of the clothing on the divine statues shows that those statues, unable to defend themselves, are powerless. Moreover, the priests of those gods are depicted as irreverent and greedy. In this way, biblical references to the clothing of cult statues contribute to those references’ derisive portrayal of iconic cults. [Adapted from author’s conclusion, pp. 264–65—C.T.B.] 3. Nahum Ben-Yehuda, “Textile Production in the Iron Age Ancient Near East,” Clothing and Nudity, 53–85 [see #771]. “This chapter will describe the raw textile materials and dyestuffs, production processes, tools and implements, and products related to textiles in the Iron Age ANE, with special emphasis on the HB” (p. 53). B.-Y. organizes his presentation of the above topics under three over-arching headings, each with its various sub-headings as follows: (1) Textile Materials; (2) Dyestuffs and Laundry or Bleaching Agents; and (3) Manufacturing [End Page 1] Processes. The article is illustrated with many drawings of the realia to which it refers.—C.T.B. 4. Brian K. Blount, “The Souls of Biblical Folks and the Potential for Meaning,” JBL 138 (2019) 3–21. What is available to text interpreters is never meaning, but potential meaning. That potential is accessed culturally. A culturally responsive engagement with a text’s meaning potential has profound implications for the shaping of a more just biblical society, classroom, and profession. There is a connection between how one exegetes in the classroom and the study and how one operates, justly or unjustly, in the world. [Adapted from author’s published abstract.—P.L.R.] 5. Erhard Blum, “Institutionelle und kulturelle Voraussetzungen der israelitischen Traditionsliteratur,” Tradition(en) im alten Israel, 3–44 [see #774]. Since the 1990s, the claim has often been advanced that prior to the 2nd half of the 8th cent. b.c., or even the 7th cent., the...

Источники текстов Знаменского цикла Пахомия Логофета

The so-called “Znamensky” cycle written by Pachomius Logothetes (the Serb) is devoted to the feast of the Novgorodian icon of the Mother of God of the Sign (“Znamenie”) and the rescue of Novgorod from the besieging Suzdalian army in 1169—1170. It comprises the Service, a short narrative text called “Commemoration”, and the Panegyric. So far, scholars have named two main and few minor sources used by Pachomius for the “Commemoration” and the Panegyric, but no analysis of their usage and role has been offered. Sources for the Service have not been studied at all. This article shows that Pachomius Logothetes composed all parts of the “Znamensky” cycle with the use of many textual borrowings from a large number of sources. Those are various hymnographical, narrative, and panegyrical texts related to the Constantinopolitan protector of the city cult, including the cult of Marian relics (the robe and the girdle), texts devoted to the worship of Marian icons and the Holy Cross, and a number of other feasts, and also a fragment from the Chronicle by George the Monk. From those sources Pachomius drew large fragments as well as individual expressions and combined them to create new texts. Several short hymns he borrowed entirely or with minor changes. Pachomius also modeled parts of his Panegyric after rhetorical constructions he found in his sources. Special features that comprise Pachomius’s concept of the feast of the icon “Znamenie” and distinguish it from the previously existed version were also derived from these sources.

Iconolatry and Pentecostal Christianity: The Nigerian Experience

This work “iconolatry and the African Christianity: the Nigerian experience”, examines the resurgence of the veneration and otherwise the worship of icons and symbols that shook the foundation of the early church history now in Nigerian Christianity. It could be recalled that iconolatry as the worship of images or icons, was one of the major issues in Christian history that led to the iconoclastic controversy in the 8th century of Christianity (c725 to 787). More so, iconolatry was one of the burning issues in the 16th century protestant reformation that vehemently criticized the Roman Catholic Church for idolatry. From the historical perspective of the contemporary trend in African Christianity, especially in Nigeria, this work observed that image worship or veneration has taken a center stage in the beliefs and practices of the entire spectrum of faith in Nigerian Christianity, especially the new Christian religious movements here represented by the Pentecostals. This paper is therefore poised to lead the Nigerian church (Christianity) to cast a retrospective look at Christian history to guide against the obvious resurgent of iconolatry for which the church suffered a great deal in history.Key Words: Iconolatry, African Christianity, Pentecostal, Pentecostalism, Catholicism, Idolatry, Nigeria, Iconography

HAVE WE FORGOTTEN THE 7TH ECUMENICAL COUNCIL? ERRORS CONCERNING THE WORSHIP OF THE ICONS IN CONTEMPORARY ROMANIAN LITURGICAL PRACTICE

In marked contrast to the orthodox theology and practice of worshiping holy icons, as taught by the Church as a result of the iconoclastic debate in 8thcentury (Nicaea, 787), Romanian Christians attitudes and practices today are not only erroneous, but sometimes even contradict the decisions and teaching of the Holy Fathers. These deviations also have affected the currently practice of worshiping. For example, the Euchologion endorsed for the Romanian Church today stipulates that icons are blessed in a liturgical service (I think can be used both words; during , but also through), although this was rejected by the Fathers and by usual customs of the 8th century. Another misunderstanding of the Tradition spirit in the official worship of the Church are irregularities in Christians’ private life of faith. Various practices here seem to reflect ideas which are not in line with the doctrine of the Orthodox Church. For example, many faithful place the icons in their homes to hinge on the dimensions of the wall and not always on the east side walls of the house. Sometimes they arrange icons in a way that makes it impossible to touch and kiss them, thus deviating from what the most important Fathers who defended the worship of icons have prescribed. Sometimes the faithful intermingle family pictures with their icons, thus misleading onlookers to stipulate a misplaced “holiness” for such family members.

“No Worshipping the Images of Saints... ”: the Perception of the Biblical Pohibition in the Culture of the Russian Subbotniks in the 18th –19th Centuries

One of the main markers of the Russian Subbotniks movement was the prohibition of icon-worship, mentioned in the earliest official sources about the Judaizers. Case investigations reflected in the archival documents bristle with information about rejection of icons by sectarians. But besides these uninformative stereotype accusations, we also find more detailed descriptions of iconoclastic ideas and practices of the «Russian Jews». These were diverse practices – individual, collective, secret, public – of rejecting images. Some of them became specific rituals of revealing followers of «Mosaic Law» to the church and secular authorities. These were practices of desecration of icons – also more or less concealed and demonstrative; some of them were harsh and aggressive. Proving the importance of the prohibition of the icon worship, the Judaizers traditionally referred to the Old Testament texts – i.e. the Pentateuch, the Book of Psalms and Book of Wisdom. The Molokan-Subbotniks in similar cases used the New Testament as well. The attitude to the sacred images became a popular subject of disputes between the Judaizers and missionaries in the last decades of the 19th century. The efforts of the missionaries to distinguish between icons and idols were in vain. The Subbotniks did not accept arguments that were not based on the quotes from the sacred texts. And the Orthodox Christians priests, in turn, could not adequately use the potential of patristic theology, revealing the essence of Christian worship of icons. Their arguments turned out to be irrelevant for representatives of a typical textual community. Strict prohibition of icon-worship did not exclude substitute and visualization practices in the Subbotnik communities. These were the replacing of icons by the Bible and sacred inscriptions, the use of paintings of the Old Testament subjects as well as drawings depicting the All-Seeing Eye and the ritual of venerating the image of Moses, reminiscent of the worship of the icon in the Orthodox Christianity.

Cross Veneration in the Medieval Islamic World: Christian Identity and Practice under Muslim Rule by Charles Tieszen

Reviewed by: Cross Veneration in the Medieval Islamic World: Christian Identity and Practice under Muslim Rule by Charles Tieszen James H. Kane Tieszen, Charles, Cross Veneration in the Medieval Islamic World: Christian Identity and Practice under Muslim Rule (The Early and Medieval Islamic World), London, I. B. Tauris, 2017; hardback; pp. x, 229; R.R.P. US $95.00, £59.00; ISBN 9781784536626. Any satisfactory account of inter-religious dialogue and debate should illuminate the perspective of more than just one party to the discussion. Charles Tieszen's new book does this admirably. Drawing on a wide range of argumentative texts composed by both Christian and Muslim authors between the eighth century and the fourteenth, Tieszen provides a detailed and thoughtful analysis of how the idea and practice of cross veneration served as a kind of rhetorical whetstone against which writers on both sides of this medieval religious divide attempted to sharpen the truth claims of their respective faiths. Among the many insights of this valuable study is the conclusion that 'disputational literature' (p. 6) dealing with cross veneration was not penned simply to score points in esoteric theological debates. Rather, one of the key concerns of authors writing in this genre was to delineate the boundaries of their faith more clearly, and thereby reinforce the religious identity of their readers, in a milieu in which they believed it was in urgent need of strengthening. Such texts could therefore fulfil a hortatory and self-reflexive purpose just as readily as they could function as polemical weapons or apologetic instruments. Chapter 1 lays the foundation for the analysis with a lucid overview of defences of cross veneration against late antique pagan critics and in texts of the Adversus Judaeos tradition, which Tieszen argues left an enduring imprint on the arguments exploited by the Christian authors he goes on to discuss. One of these authors, John of Damascus, features prominently from the outset. Tieszen situates his work against the broader intellectual backdrop of debates regarding the worship of icons and symbols in the eighth-century Byzantine and Islamic worlds. Chapter 2 offers a particularly nuanced reading of John of Damascus's justification of cross veneration in his De haeresibus. In it, indirect 'counterattacks' in the works of Islamic authors such as 'Abd al-Jabbār (in 995) and Ibn Abī Ṭālib al-Dimashqī [End Page 203] (in 1321), and further rebuttals by the ninth-century East Syrian Christian writer 'Ammār al-Baṣrī, allow Tieszen to demonstrate how both Christians and Muslims manipulated the issue 'as a means for [religious] navigation […] and identification' (p. 45). Developing this theme, Chapter 3 elucidates in detail the ways in which various Christian authors moved beyond simply 'comparing Christian and Muslim piety […] [to] concentrate on offering explanations for their veneration of the cross' (p. 61). Tieszen suggests that many of these explanations, which foreground the symbolic nature of the cross and its inherent power, were designed to give Christians living in Islamic contexts 'a response to offer those Muslims with whom they were having [theological] discussions' (p. 90) and a way of buttressing 'the stability of their faith against the mounting pressures of Islam' (p. 91). Chapter 4 carries this argument even further with an analysis of some of the more innovative ideas in works by authors such as the ninth-century West Syrian theologian Abū Rā'iṭah al-Takrītī, who stressed the need to venerate unembellished (e.g. wooden) crosses, explained the cross as a Christian qiblah orienting worship towards God through Christ, and interpreted it as 'Christ's proxy on earth until he returns' (p. 104). Ideas such as these reinforced the notion of the cross as an essential distinguishing mark for Christians in the multireligious context of the medieval East. Choosing how to arrange the material in a study that focuses on 'texts spanning seven centuries' (p. 93) is far from straightforward. Though understandable, Tieszen's decision to structure his analysis thematically rather than chronologically does not always '[ease] the work readers must do in navigating through a large corpus of literature' (p. 15). Despite points of conceptual commonality, nonspecialist readers may be somewhat disoriented by his leaps from authors...

Sun-icons

The evidence of icon worship is found in the ancient oldest known civilization of Indus valley. In India, prayers in natures form of Surya in ten Suktas in Rig-Veda. Sculptures of Surya started in second century A.D. and developed significantly in Gupta Period. Skanda-Puran has mentioned about 68 Temples of Sun in different parts of country. On the basis of architecture Sun Icon found in different parts of the country. All Icons have special significance.

«ЗБИРАННЯ» АНТИЧНИХ ПРИСЛІВ’ЇВ У НІДЕРЛАНДАХ ПЕРШОЇ ПОЛОВИНИ XVI СТ. ТА ФОРМУВАННЯ НОВОЇ ВІЗУАЛЬНОСТІ

This paper focuses on the study of the ways in which the revival of reintegration into European culture, particularly in the culture of the Netherlands, ancient proverbs and sayings – the so-called "adagia" – took place. Both Humanists’ collections of adagia and artistic depictions of proverbs fall within the scope of our research. Firstly, we will show how the great preoccupation with ancient proverbs shifted toward vernacular ones. Secondly, we will explore how proverbial expressions were transposed into pictures. Erasmus of Rotterdam, the famous Dutch humanist was among the first ones to publish a collection of proverbs and sayings in Latin taken mainly from the Greek and Roman literature. Soon, his work was followed by bilingual collections (in French and Flemish). The success of the adagia collections published by Dutch and German humanists inspired artists to depict the most popular sayings in their paintings. Consequently, proverbs became a part of the “new visuality”. By this term, we mean a new secular imagery, which replaced religious gothic imagery in the last decade of the 15th century. As one can notice, picturing ancient and vernacular proverbs was in vogue in the second half of the 16th century at a time of rapid dissemination of ideas of the Reformation in the Netherlands and the first performances of opponents of the Icon worship – iconoclasts. Religious confrontations forced Dutch artists to search for the new themes and iconographic schemes. The themes and their iconography had to be convenient as to Protestant so to Catholic clients. At the same time, they should not have contradicted the artists’ religious beliefs. As stated by K. Jonckheere, one can call these efforts of artists to legitimize art after the Iconoclastic Fury and to find a way of pragmatical coexistence of opposite religious views “a quest for pictorial ecumenism”. Pictured proverbs complemented this new, “ecumenical” imagery, the imagery that was convenient to all people regardless of their religious views. Therefore, ancient and vernacular proverbs have become an integral part of both the Dutch Renaissance literature, and the "ecumenical" art, the religious art beyond borders.

Material Practice and the Metamorphosis of a Sign: Early Buddhist Stupas and the Origin of Mahayana Buddhism

From at least the third century b.c. , Buddhist ritual focused on stupas , stylized replicas of the mounds of earth in which early Buddhists interred relics of the Buddha. Beginning in the first century b.c. , Buddhist monks in western India began manipulating the physical shape of monastic stupas to make them appear taller and more massive than they actually were. Buddhist monks used these manipulations to help assert authority over the Buddhist laity. Employing theories of practice, materiality, and semiotics, I argue that physical manipulations of the shape of stupas by Buddhist monks led to the progressive detachment of the primary signs of Buddhism from their original referents. Where earlier stupas were icons and indexes of the Buddha encased within indexes of his presence, later stupas were symbols of the Buddha and Buddhist theology. This change in the material practice of Buddhism reduced stupas ’ emotional immediacy in favor of greater intellectual detachment. In the end, this shift in the meaning ascribed to stupas created the preconditions from which the Buddhist image cult and Mahayana Buddhism emerged in the first through fifth centuries a.d . The development of Mahayana Buddhism and Buddha images signified a return to iconic worship of the Buddha.

Medicine Master Buddha: The Iconic Worship of Yakushi in Heian Japan by Yui Suzuki (review)

Reviewed by: Medicine Master Buddha: The Iconic Worship of Yakushi in Heian Japan by Yui Suzuki Yoko Hsueh Shirai Medicine Master Buddha: The Iconic Worship of Yakushi in Heian Japan. By Yui Suzuki. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2012. 192pages. Hardcover €92.00/$122.00. Medicine Master Buddha is Yui Suzuki’s first book and number three in a new series by Brill, Japanese Visual Culture. This volume is unexpectedly—and refreshingly—unconventional in many ways, reacting against a number of commonly held perceptions concerning Yakushi’s position within the visual and religious landscape of Japan between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, or roughly the Heian and Kamakura periods. This book does not thoroughly examine the earliest history and origins of the Medicine Buddha Yakushi (Sk. Bhaiṣajyaguru), but instead concentrates on a change that occurred around the end of the eighth century in the way Yakushi was portrayed in Japan: the emergence of a standing Medicine Buddha; earlier images had represented Yakushi in a seated position. Suzuki explains that the standing images were adopted by the Saichō-Enryakuji lineage and can therefore be seen as a signature image of this lineage. Saichō (767–822) founded the Tendai school of Buddhism, which flourished during the Heian period, and established the temple complex Enryakuji on Mt. Hiei in Ōmi province (now Shiga prefecture). There is much I did not realize about Yakushi, and my first surprise was Suzuki’s mention of “hundreds” of images: “Although there are hundreds of extant Heian Yakushi images . . . contemporary art history textbooks in English only mention one or two such statues” (p. 2). Unfortunately, the book does not include a list of extant Yakushi images—not even of those that have been designated national treasures. Such a list, and perhaps also a guide to further readings, would have been helpful. Intrigued by Suzuki’s claim, I consulted Mikkyō jiin to butsuzō, a full-color reference volume on Heian sculpture published in 1992, and found that out of 118 color plates, 23 plates, or roughly 20 percent, were of Yakushi images.1 This high percentage lends credibility to Suzuki’s claim of “hundreds” of images. Suzuki is correct in suggesting that “illuminating the primacy of Yakushi images in the context of the Medicine Buddha’s devotional cult is long overdue” (p. 2). [End Page 255] The six chapters in the book proceed in roughly chronological order, and the author frequently circles back to corroborate or reconfirm earlier arguments. She also provides a summary of each chapter of the book as part of the volume’s introductory material. The first few chapters are heavy going, but by chapter 4 the book gains considerable momentum, and the account becomes absolutely captivating. Chapter 1, “The Formation of the Yakushi Cult,” examines the early history of the cult in Japan. Suzuki takes up the cult’s origins and informs us that evidence of Yakushi worship in Japan dates to the last quarter of the seventh century. As the author notes (see pages 20–21, and especially page 134, note 54), there is no easy way to definitively identify a Yakushi image manufactured before the ninth century. Until that time, Yakushi images did not hold medicine jars in their hands, and their manner of depiction was nearly the same as that for Shaka (Sk. Śākyamuni). The Medicine Buddha was often called upon to heal those suffering from illness. By the end of the eighth century, there was a “merging of private healing practices with the larger goal of prosperity and well-being for Japan as a whole” (p. 22). Chapter 2, “The Magical Yakushi: Spirit Pacifier and Healer-God,” discusses the ritual uses of Yakushi during the ninth century, which included appeals to protect the state by warding off epidemics or by preventing natural disasters such as flooding. Chapter 3, “Saichō’s Standing Yakushi and Its Iconic Legacy,” attempts both to visually reconstruct the lost Yakushi icon that once belonged to Saichō and to understand the role this icon may have played in the Buddhist master’s life. This is no easy task, especially because Enryakuji was “put to the torch in 1571 by the warlord Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582), and most of...

The Religious Landscape of Revolutionary St. Petersburg, 1905-1918

Although legitimately associated with a crisis of faith and the rapid spread of atheistic-socialism, the revolutionary period 1905-1918 in St. Petersburg/Petrograd can and should also be understood as one of unprecedented religious experimentation and spiritual growth, even among the working classes. Rejecting overly simplistic notions of “secularization” and de-Christianization, this article offers a necessarily fluid and pluralistic portrait of Petersburg religious culture, the contours of which were shaped by tensions between rural and urban practices, popular and official institutions, and competing notions of the sacred and the profane in the city’s increasingly diverse marketplace of beliefs. It examines the new and varied demands that working-class believers voiced with respect to the role of the Orthodox faith and Church in their lives and investigates urban Orthodoxy as it was “lived,” including changes and continuities in religious practice, sacramental life, icon worship, and pilgrimage.

Iconoclasmo e iconodulia entre oriente y occidente (siglo VIII-IX)

The following paper deals with the reception in the Carolingian west of the Byzantine Iconoclast Crisis. It considers the way both Christianities dealed with the problem that images presented to religious practices and the political consequences of iconic worship. The paper also states that during the VIII and IX centuries the iconoclast crisis allowed the emergence of a self conscious Latin Christian tradition. Consequentlyit was the moment that showed the beginning of two differing ways of Christian piety and the alienation of one towards the other. Western Christianity focused its religion practice in church building and the idea of Sacrality in the Eucharistic Rite. The oriental church, moreovers, centered its practices and theology on icon worship.

De-Toxing the Nation. Icon Worship - A Sobering Experience?

In June 2001 the Russian tabloid newspaper, Megapolis-Express, reported that the country’s famous magician, Iurii Longo, had performed a new “miracle:” he had turned a glass of water into vodka. “Why?!?,” exclaims the magician, when asked what gave him the idea. “Very rarely do I meet people and believe me, I travel a lot who fail to ask me when magic is finally going to reveal the secret of turning water into vodka” [Megapolis-express 2001]. Longo is still in the process of perfecting his skills; meantime, people are eagerly awaiting the day. For centuries alcohol has been as much part of Russian cultural history and folklore as icon worship, miracles, and sorcery. An entertaining connection to Longo’s task for the future can be found in the past, when in pre-Revolutionary Russia “sorcerers were commonly paid in wine or vodka” [Ivanits 1992:118]. In the light of this and factors such as the traditional association between traditional festivals and alcohol consumption, the Orthodox Church was firm in its condemnation of the sin of drunkenness, and to this day defines alcohol as the devil’s brew. The aim of this paper is to examine the processes of continuity and change in Russian culture (revival and survival) with reference to one of the ways in which alcoholism is purportedly overcome in Russia today, namely by veneration of a particular icon, which, it is claimed, since 1878 has been helping many Russians to rid themselves of the evil that possesses them. I shall not dwell on statistics, nor discuss the problem of alcoholism as such. Suffice to say that, according to a Reuters’ news report in May 2001, two thirds of Russian men die from alcohol abuse. A three-year study conducted in Moscow and Udmurtiia revealed that heart disease, accidents and suicides account for nearly 75% of all male deaths, most of them alcohol induced. “Men are seldom sober when they die” [http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/russia000519 .html].(1) Yet drink as a central part of the male cultural environment in Russia is not a recent phenomenon. Throughout history, the Russian male identity, cultural and national, has been linked to alcohol consumption. Drinking seems always to have comprised an essential part of men’s culture, and often acts as an assertion of their identity. Thus, the heroes (bogatyry) of the folk epic byliny embody men with a prodigious capacity for alcohol. Alcohol has also always occupied a central role in male bonding ceremonies; it has afforded men the necessary moral and physical boost in warfare and is invariably part of the consolidation process of patron-client relationships, as a rule a very male environment.(2) It was not untypical in Russia for favors to be performed and help offered quickly, if alcohol was offered as a reward. Thus Dostoevskii recounts in his Diary of a Writer (Dnevnik pisatelia) the story of a fire wreaking havoc in a village. As the flames threatened to destroy the church, the villagers hurried to its rescue. However, their attention was soon directed away from the house of God to the local inn: the innkeeper had appeared on the scene to plead with the volunteers that, if they saved his pot-house instead of the church, “he