International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Elisabeta Negrău
Bucharest, Romania; 
[e-mail]
Policy and Prophecy. 
The Emergence of the Iconography of Ruler 
Crowned by Angels in Wallachia (1543)
This paper discusses the occurrence in the Principality of Wallachia, at the end of the first 
post-Byzantine century, of a vetust Byzantine iconography: a state ruler being crowned by an angel.
In the nave of the infirmary chapel of Cozia Monastery (1543), on the western wall there is a 
portrait of Wallachian voivode Radu Paisie, accompanied, on the left, by a representation of Saint 
Methodius of Patara. In front of the voivode, on the southern window jamb is depicted St. Andrew 
Strateilates in a martial pose. Marco, son and co-regent of voivode Radu Paisie, is represented on the 
west wall, at the left of his father, and has vis-à-vis, on the northern window jamb, a representation 

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of St. Lupus aiming a dragon. Both Radu Paisie and Marco are crowned by an angel, iconographic 
element that here appears for the first time in Wallachia.
Saint Methodius of Patara is known in the Byzantine and post-Byzantine tradition as the 
alleged author of a prophetic text of Syriac origin, known as the Apocalypse. A coronation episode is 
found in the medieval editions of the Pseudo-Methodian Apocalypse, in the passage which regards 
the prophecy about the providential emperor who frees Constantinople from Agareans. There, the 
election and the coronation of the Emperor liberator of the Christians is accomplished by angels.
At the infirmary chapel of Cozia Monastery, the presence of the military saints in martial 
attitudes facing the two voivodes crowned by angels, along with the representation of St. Methodius 
of Patara alongside the Wallachian Prince, are strong indices to presume that the Pseudo-Methodian 
text was the inspiration source for the images.
The apparition of this coronation iconography in Wallachia takes place in a time when anti-
Ottoman war plans were becoming stringent in Central and South-Eastern Europe following the 
occupation of Buda (1541). During 1543, the foreign policy of voivode Radu Paisie, initially pro-
Ottoman, shifted decisively in favour of the Habsburg Empire. The martial iconographic context 
of the two voivodes’ portraits at Cozia alludes to the new anti-Ottoman policy of Wallachia. The 
political moment coincides with the completion of the paintings in the infirmary chapel, at which 
the Prince joined as donor alongside hieromonk Maxim, the presumptive founder of the chapel. 
The presence of spatharios Stroe of Orboeşti’s portrait in the narthex helps to date the paintings 
between the months of May (when Stroe became spatharios) and August of the year 1543 (the end 
of the Byzantine year 7051, found in the dedicatory inscription).
Pseudo-Methodius’ Apocalypse had never circulated in Wallachia. The textual inspiration 
source for the paintings seems to come from Mount Athos, where the text was still copied during 
the 15
th
century. Hieromonk Maxim, mentioned in the dedicatory inscription as “magister”, had 
a superior theological training, obtained most likely on Mount Athos. The iconographic program 
inspired by the Pseudo-Methodian text must have had him as the main author.
Our study case brings a light on the reception and reinterpretation of the Byzantine apocalyptic 
literature during the 16
th
century. It pictures the mentalities and the atmosphere of the period, 
imbued with eschatology and with aspirations that aimed at putting an end to the rule of the 
Ottoman Empire in Europe. It was also the time when the Emperor Leo the Wise’s Oracle, a text 
largely influenced by Pseudo-Methodius, was illustrated by painter Giorgios Klontzas, following the 
victory of the Holy League at Lepanto.

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