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András Kraft
Central European University, Budapest, Hungary;
akraft@lit.auth.gr
Dimitris Minasidis
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece;
dminasid@hotmail.com
An Imperial Komnenian Depiction of the Last Judgment:
Kallikles’ Testimony Revisited
The twelfth-century physician and poet Nicholas Kallikles describes in an epigram entitled On
the Second Coming in the Palace a now lost Last Judgment scene that was located in the imperial
palace, probably in the Blachernae. It exhorts judicial officials to be rightful in their arbitrations and
stresses the most prominent position of Alexios I Komnenos, who is positioned adjacent to Christ,
the Judge. The value of this testimony lies in its significance for appreciating the political self-
fashioning of the early Komnenian period, which advances – in this mural painting – a typological
connection between Christ as the ultimate judge and the emperor as the supreme earthly arbiter. At
the same time, its value goes beyond its apparent political message.
In this paper we focus on the textual as well as iconographical contexts of this Last Judgment
depiction. First, we attempt to identify intertextual parallels with written sources and, secondly, to
analyze iconographical similarities with Last Judgment representations in Middle Byzantine art.
Thus, we present how Kallikles’ testimony provides us with an epigram that is a work of both visual
as well as textual traditions.
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Aleksandar Vasileski
Public Scientific Institution Institute of Old Slavic Culture, Prilep,
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia;
aleksandar.vasileski@isk.edu.mk
Resurrection of the Dead as Conceptual Basis for the Representations of Last
Judgment in the Monastery Churches St. Nikola, Manastir and St. Bogorodica,
Manastirec
The Last Judgment is the most significant visual representation of eschatological believes of
Christianity in the Byzantine art. The individual motives and scenes of this complex composition
give us an opportunity to understand the hopes and the faith of the medieval man for the destiny of
his own soul in the afterlife and the fate of humankind at the end of the world.
The content of the composition is a reason for its including as main segment of painted
decoration in compartments with funerary function. Usual emphasis of the didactic dimension of
the Last Judgment doesn’t give an answer to the choice of this composition as a decoration in this
context. Primary theological message of the Last Judgment can be revealed only if we relate the
composition with the other themes in a painted program, donor portraits and through analysis of
the individual motives included in the particular compositions.
The studying of the only preserved examples of the Last Judgment from 13
th
ct. on the
territory of Republic of Macedonia in monastery churches St. Nikola in v. Manastir, Mariovo
and St. Bogorodica in v. Manastirec, Porechе, can allow us to realise some of the most important
aspects of the composition. The donor of St. Nikola church in Manastir was abbot Akakios, who
is represented in the north nave of the basilica, where he was buried. There are no written sources
about the chronological determination of the building and frescos in the Manastirec church. The
composition in the arcosolium on the south wall of the narthex indicates that the donor of the
church was monk Meletij, and his grave was located in this part of the church. Common to the both
examples is their strong soteriological message that refers on the resurrection of the dead at the
Judgment day. In St. Nikola – Manastir, this theological premise is indicated in a more complex way,
by including representations of the prophets with texts that refer on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on
the cross. Prophetic texts have been read on the services during the Passion Week, and they refer on
sacrifice of Christ as a primary reason for victory over Death with his resurrection. Connection of
the texts with the composition of Last Judgment clarifies the causal link of resurrection of Christ
and final victory over Death, which will be realized with his Second coming. In Manastirec church,
this message of the Last Judgment is depicted more directly, by reserving the whole surface of the
western wall for representation of the rising of the dead on the Judgment day, which is one of the
most extensive representations of this motive in Byzantine art.
The relation between Last Judgment and the themes with soteriological massage appear in
many examples in the Byzantine art. This leads to conclusion that the main message of the theme
in the program of funerary chapels refers more to the faith in bodily resurrection on the Second
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coming of Christ than on the act of trial on the human kind. With the selections of the scenes
and motives that illustrate victory over Death for the decoration of their burial place, the donors
represented their hope for eternal life in unity with God after his Second coming. The lack of
concrete iconographical pattern to illustrate this doctrine leads to a variety of different solutions. It
has been conditioned by the theological education, wishes of the donors and by inventiveness and
visual experience of the painters.
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