International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

STUDIES IN BYZANTINE ICONOGRAPHY ‒ PART 3
Chairs: 
Rostislava G. Todorova, Zoja Bojić
Charalampos Machairas
, 
Christ, Melchizedec, David and the Controversy about the Azymes: 
A Reinterpretation of a Sinaitic Icon
Snežana Filipova
,
 
Heracles’ Knot in the Medieval Sacral Art
Youssef Nasr Rafca
, 
Les astres et la temporalité actuelle de la théophanie - déisis presbytérale
Andrea Babuin
, 
Battle Shields in Byzantine Art, 10
th
– 15
th
Century
Elena-Dana Prioteasa
, 
Greek-Rite Churches in Medieval Hungary: 
Observations on the Iconography of Two Sanctuaries
Zoja Bojić
, 
Greek and Roman Landscape and the Byzantine Art

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883
Charalampos Machairas
Thessaloniki, Greece; 
[e-mail]
Christ, Melchizedec, David and the Controversy about the Azymes: 
A Reinterpretation of a Sinaitic Icon
Among the many icons of the Sacred Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount of Sinai is 
included an icon with three holy figures dated to the beginning of the 12
th
century. Based on the 
icon’s inscriptions modern researchers recognized Christ portrayed in bust and also the full-standing 
figures of Abraham and Melchizedec. However it is possible that the inscriptions were repainted 
during a restoration made in the 18
th
century. There is also the possibility that the inscriptions 
copied the previous ones. It is also true that the narrative scene of the meeting of Abraham and 
Melchizedec, an event which is described in the book of the Genesis of the Old Testament, can be 
found in illustrated manuscripts. For example the scene is depicted in a miniature found on fol. 
68r of the codex Vat. gr. 746. However the purpose of this paper is to prove that the two depicted 
full-length holy figures are in fact that of priest-king Melchizedec and prophet David. This is 
another scene of Byzantine art that is found mainly in decorated manuscripts. An almost identical 
composition to the Sinaitic icon, with Melchizedec and David turning toward the roundel of Christ, 
is represented on a miniature now kept in Saint Petersburg that originally belonged to the codex 61 
of the Pantokrator Monastery on Mount Athos, which is dated to the end of the 9
th
century. Similar 
compositions can be found on fol. 25r of the manuscript Par. gr. 20, now kept in the Bibliothéque 
Nationale, dated to the 9
th
century, and on fol. 152r of the manuscript Add. 19.352 in the British 
Library, commonly known as the Theodore Psalter and dated to 1066. Another example is a 
miniature on fol. 194r of the codex Barb. gr. 372 (Barberini Psalter) of the Vatican Library, which is 
dated to the second half of the 11
th
century. The scene is connected with the Holy Communion, as in 
the last three manuscripts the Communion of the Apostles is represented between Melchizedec and 
David. Then the Sinaitic icon reproduces a composition which is connected with Holy Communion 
and is also linked with a theological controversy between the Orthodox and the Latin Church that 
had begun from the 11
th
century and continued during the 12
th
and 13
th
centuries. The Orthodox 
Church supported the practice of using leavened bread for the Holy Communion, while the Latin 
Church used unleavened bread (azymes). Many theological works were written at this period. For 
example at the end of the 11
th
century Nicholas of Andida wrote treatises on azymes. Furthermore 
the Patriarch of Constantinople Nicholas III or IV addressed a letter to the Patriarch of Jerusalem 
in which he refuted the use of azymes by the Latins. It seems possible then that there was also a 
dispute between Orthodox and Latins in the Holy Land. This is not a mere speculation. The Russian 
pilgrim abbot Daniel, who visited the Holy Land in the 12
th
century, records a church at Mount 
Tabor dedicated to Melchizedec. Daniel also stresses that at this place Melchizedec performed a 
sacrifice with leavened bread and wine, in fact a prefiguration of Christ’s celebration of the Holy 
Communion, and he did not offer azymes. We must also note that in the scenes of the manuscripts 
and the icon Melchizedec holds an ewer with wine and a paten with bread, because the text of the 

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Genesis mentions that he made an offering with bread and wine. It is then likely that the donor of 
the icon, who is a bishop depicted in prostration before David, wanted to make clear that he was 
following the doctrine of the Orthodox Church.