International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Galina Tirnanić
Oakland University, Rochester MI, United States; 
[e-mail]
Invisible Bonds: Image and Its Source of Power in Byzantine Popular Belief
This essay draws parallels between superstitious manipulations of pagan statuary in Constanti-
nople and the mechanisms through which Orthodox images were believed to operate in Byzantium. 
I explore the concept of type and archetype to better understand the source of power of images in a 
variety of Byzantine contexts. As a point of departure I analyze superstitious powers ascribed to some 
antique statues in the city, such as Athena at the Forum of Constantine and those of Herakles, Kalydo-
nian boar, and an eagle clutching a snake at the Hippodrome. Persistent, yet adaptable, late antique and 
medieval beliefs in supernatural function of images were based on principles of persuasion through 
visual analogy between images and what they stood for. Extending the analysis to the phenomenon of 
bleeding icons and the miraculous working of saints’ relics, I examine the underlying commonalities 
between images used in supernatural and Orthodox practice.
Icons and relics were loci of saints’ holiness, but the relationship between them and the entities 
they represented was theologically complex. Similarly, some statues in the city were supernaturally 
connected to entities whose powers could be harnessed by practitioners of sorcery. What did it mean 

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for an ancient Greek sculpture of a boar to represent a Byzantine emperor and how is that relationship 
connected to Christian iconographic traditions, such as a lamb standing in for Christ? How did 
development of icon theory impact magical practices and beliefs and vice versa? How did it affect 
popular religion, the prevailing understanding of images, and the way the human body was understood 
in relationship to divinity? Essentially, the essay explores the status of images and their function in 
Byzantine culture with a particular emphasis on the bonds between images and their archetypes.