The Oldest Surviving Icons From the 11^th and 12^th Centuries

The largest number of old icons to have been discovered so far is in Ohrid, the ancient capital of the first state of the Macedonian Slavs and a museum-town where at every step one comes across medieval cultural monuments. Among the numerous churches in this town the following are the most interesting: the ruins of the oldest Slav monastery on the Balkans, with the church dedicated to St. Panteleimon. It contains the grave of the Slavonic educator St. Clement of Ohrid, a disciple of the brothers from Thessaloniki, Cyril and Methodius, who built the church with his own hands. The architecture of this church of Clement’s, of rectangular shape with an interesting cross, was to become one of the most attractive and long-lasting forms in mediaeval church architecture in Macedonia. St. Sophia, the cathedral church of Ohrid archbishops, was built on a very old Early Christian sacred site, probably in the reign of Czar Samuil, when efforts were being made to stabilize his Patriarchate. In it there is fresco-painting from towards the middle of the 11^th century, work of anonymous painters. The theological content in the frescoes in this church is considered to be one of the most complete and best-preserved examples of such from 11^th century Romaoian. Here there are portraits of the Slavonic educators Ss. Cyril and Methodius and Clement from Ohrid.

It is not known to what church the oldest icon discovered so far in Macedonia belonged. This small, badly damaged icon depicts the composition of the Forty Warrior Martyrs of Sebaste. It should immediately be stated that this small icon, badly damaged, is the oldest Ohrid icon, is also the oldest Romaoian icon with this subject to have been discovered. Professor Voislav J. Duric says: “Besides the famous 14^th century mosaic icon of the Forty Martyrs in Dumbarton Oaks and another, documentary unpublished icon from Chilandari, the Ohrid icon makes a third, and the oldest of this type.” There is, however, yet another icon. Dating from the middle 12^th century, where the composition Forty Martyrs is very well preserved, which one could say is the closest to the one in Ohrid. It is on tempera on wood. Here, the figure of Jesus Christ, depicted in a semicircular medallion on the upper part of the icon, has been preserved complete. In view of the fact that in the Ohrid icon the figure of Christ is partially damaged, we can, with the aid of the aforementioned icon, obtain a clear impression of how it looked. In both hands Christ holds a crown above the heads of the half naked martyrs on the frozen lake. This very well preserved icon is to be found today in the State Museum of History and Ethnography of Svenetija in Mestija, Georgia.

In fresco-painting there are several examples of compositions on this subject. The oldest is certainly that in the church of Santa Maria Antica in Rome (7^th-8^th centuries). In Macedonia this subject can be found in the alter-space of the church of St. Sophia in Ohrid and it was also painted in the church of St. Leontius in Vodica, both dating from the 11^th century. At a later date this subject was to be painted in Zica, Decani and Lesnovo and in many other churches. There are also well known miniatures such as that in the British Museum and the Moscow Synodal Library. There are also icons worked in ivory, such as those from Berlin and St. Petersburg.

In the Ohrid icon, as well as in the compositions mentioned so far, the martyrs are generally arranged in four rows. They are reacting in various ways to the process of freezing. Some of them are calm and reflective, some anxious, with raised hands and eyes turned towards the Saviour painted above their heads, while others have fainted from their suffering. Analysis shows that the painting of this icon has all the characteristics of the 11^th century painting and that it is closest to the painting in St. Sophia in Ohrid. The anonymous painter shows himself to be a master of icon-painting technique. To this day his colours have not lost their intensity and freshness. The line of the drawing, although emphatic, artful gives shape to the forms, giving them a special expressiveness. In his use of colours, the anonymous painter is very close to the painter of the icons in the church of St. Leontius in Vodoca. They both use the same means to differentiate the figures, painting one face in warm ochre tones and another in dark green with cold tones. It is hard to tell whether the icons is the work of local or of Constantinopolitian painters. It is well known that at this time the cult of the Forty Warrior Saints Martyrs of Sebaste, was very wide spread in Constantinople. However, as we have seen, this cult also existed in Macedonia. In recent years there has been increasing mention of the role of local painters and their impact on mediaeval painting. This is because among the works of these painters there increasingly appeared some which do not have the refinement of such centres of painting as Constantinople and Thesaloniki, which leads to the conclusion that local painters were also active.

It was the hand of just such master, in this case a very skilful goldsmith, however, which worked the small icon craved in stone, dedicated to St. John the Divine. The saint is shown in half length, facing left, with his head in profile. In his hands he holds a thick book. He is shown as a balding, elderly man with a short-trimmed beard and moustache. There is a large halo round his head. The figure of the saint is in bas relief, while the letters of the legend are engraved on the flat surface of the stone. On the basis of its stylistic characteristics, this small icon may be date from the end of the 11^th century. The unknown artist, despite his skilful mastery of technique of working miniature relief in stone, does not belong to the group of the more eminent creative artist of his time.

In view of the fact that it is a valuable piece which is in question, and in view of the difficulties involved in producing such work and the time it takes, it may be assumed that it is the work of a more important figure who may have been connected to the well-established town of Prosek, which was built in the Vardar basin at one of the most important strategic points on the road to Thessaloniki.

When we speak of easel painting in this period, we would give particular emphasis to the existence of two icons: the first is dedicated to the Mother of God and the second to the Archangel Gabriel. Together, the two icons constitute the well-known composition of the Annunciation. The first to draw these icons to the attention of scholars at the beginning of this century, was N.P.Kondakov, he dated them as being from the 11^th or 12^th century. During his visit of Ohrid in 1900, Kondakov encountered these icons on wooden iconostasis in the church of the Mother of God Peribleptos (Clement’s). Several significant elements contributed to their being dated as from the 11^th century. Firstly there was the style of painting and then the inscription surviving on an enamel plaque where the name Leo is mentioned. Kondakov linked it to the name of Leo, Archbishop of Ohrid 1037-56. However, more recently other opinions have been advanced which associate these icons with the period of another Archbishop of Ohrid who bore the same name, Leo. This Archbishop Leo Mungo (1108-20), who is mentioned in records as being a Christianized Jew who succeeded to the throne of Ohrid archbishops after his missionary assignment among the gentiles and who for that reason was known as “the teacher of the gentiles”.

A study of these icons in the course of their conservation led to new and valuable discoveries. The removal of the metal revetments revealed a layer of patina built up over years, which pointed to the icons having been used for a considerable period of time without their revetments. A second important element is the conclusion that the unknown artist damaged the wooden panel and the layer of paint on which the names had been painted during the process of affixing the revetments and of making a bed for the enamel plaques which bore the names in the revetments. All this suggests that the icons were painted and the revetments affixed at different times. It has also become clear that when the icons left the workshop there was no inscription which could have mentioned the donor’s name. This was done on the enamel plaques incorporated in the revetment where the name Leo is mentioned. Accordingly, the linking of the icons with Archbishop Leo of Ohrid, Chartophylax of the Church of Constantinople, who occupied the archbishops throne of Ohrid from 1037 1056 was the result of a stylistic analysis which place the icon in the middle of the 11^th century and also of the influence of the name Leo on the enamel plaques. Analysis of the painting of the anonymous master indicates that these icons cannot be connected with the work of the St. Sophia painters, or at least not with the work of the master painter there. Therefore the question of whether a more precise dating of these icons is possible arises once more.

According to the Du Cange Catalogue, Theodule, who built the “upper great church” in Ohrid, succeeded Archbishop Leo on the archiepiscopal throne, i.e. in 1057. This proves to be of great significance because it points to the fact that in the second half of the 11^th century another church, a “great one”, was built in Ohrid. On the basis of this Ivan Snegarov advances the opinion that the “great” church could be the well-known church, preserved to this date, of the Holy Mother of God the Shepherd, built on the very ramparts above the entrance to the city. However, Professor Dimce Koco, in his study of the church of the Holy Mother of God the Shepherd, comes to the conclusion that it was not built until the close of the 14^th century, and that it could not possibly have any connection with the “great” church which bore the name “Upper” and was built by Archbishop Theodule of Ohrid with the help of the important figure Ivan Ando. Moreover, the name “Upper” for great church makes possible another hypothesis. It is known that within the town itself, only a hundred yards from the Upper Gate, there still stands a small church dedicated to the Holy Mother of God Pandonos. Undoubtedly this church was built on an older cult site, in our opinion on the foundations of a one-time larger shrine which, according to tradition, gave its name to this little church built at a later date. Being near the Upper Gate, the church of the Mother of God Pandonos may have acquired the name “Upper” because it really was very close to the Upper Gate, i.e. closer than any other church in this part of Ohrid. If Archbishop Theodule, with the help of the eminent Ivan Ando, facilitated the building of this church dedicated to the Holy Mother of God, it is possible that in decorating his church he commissioned a composition of the Annunciation on two panels, the two icons which could be considered to be the richest possible variant. Moreover, as Kondakov points out, the appearance of the Annunciation painted on separate icons was customary practice in Romaoian churches, where the Annunciation done in fresco was also painted separately on columns above the altar-space. In view of the fact that Archbishop Theodule came to the archiepiscopal throne in 1057 and remained there until his death in 1065, the more precise placing of the icons of the Holy Mother of God and Archangel Gabriel which constitute the Annunciation can be associated with this date. The gilded silver revetments, as we have pointed out, are of a much later date, the time of Archbishop Leo Mungo.

Undoubtedly, the revetments of these two icons are one of the oldest such entities preserved in Macedonia.

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Icons of Macedonia

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