International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Ekaterine Gedevanishvili
George Chubinashvili National Research Centre
for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation, Tbilisi, Georgia;
[e-mail]
The Representation of the Passion Cycle in the Ikvi Church and Its Connection 
to the Current Theological Debates in Georgia
The wall painting of the Church of St. George at Ikvi presents one of the most important 
examples of 12
th
century Georgian monuments. The first layer of the murals was executed after the 
death of King David the Builder (1089-1025) – the greatest ruler of Georgia who brought most 
of the lands of the Caucasus under his control and turned the Georgian kingdom into the most 
powerful state in the Near East and the Caucasus. Ikvi as a specific example interestingly illustrates 
the cultural upraise and esthetical changes of the epoch
.
What makes the Ikvi murals exceptional is its nonstandard iconographic arrangement of the 
decoration. Moreover the adornment of the dome presents one of the few examples of 12
th
century 
painted domes surviving in Georgia, showing a unique program not only for Georgian, but for 
Byzantine art in general.
The murals of Ikvi contain at least two main phases: the principal images in the naos were 
painted during the first half of the 12
th
century
,
while the representation of the Last Judgment 
covering the western cross-arm was completed later, most probably in two phases at the beginning 
and the middle of the 13
th
century
.
The Ikvi murals are the sole surviving example in Georgian medieval art and to my knowledge, 
in the art of the Christian East where the several Christological scenes appear in the drum of the 
dome
.
Here we find the Transfiguration and three scenes of the Passion cycle - the Crucifixion, the 
Deposition, and the Lamentation, while the summit of the dome presented the scene of the Ascension 
of Christ
, 
a subject which has a long history in the decoration of Byzantine domes. It seems that the 
choice of the dome program was determined by the particularly high drum of the Ikvi dome and 
the painter was inspired by the ‘classical’ Byzantine tradition of locating the Christological scenes to 
the squinches of the dome. But still, the choice of the Passion scenes forming a tripartite narrative 
image looks quite unbalanced. Three episodes of the Passion comprising a miniature cycle give a 
special significance to this theme in the whole programme.

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It is well known that a special interest in the Passion cycle is already evidenced in the art of the 
post–Iconoclastic period. Yet, scholars have singled out the Comnenian epoch as showing a new 
and special interest in this subject within Byzantine art. The theological debates, as well as aesthetic 
changes are regarded as the main inspiration for this interest.
Georgia responded to the theological discussions raging inside the Byzantine capital, but there was 
one, I would say, “magisterial” theological current that had an important influence on Georgian culture 
– the counter to Armenian Monophysitism, the major rival confession to Greek Orthodoxy in Georgia.
This centuries-old theological opposition between neighbors grew especially fervent during 
the 12
th
century, when most Caucasian lands were brought under Georgia’s control. The impact of 
this dispute upon Georgian culture can be traced throughout the centuries, but it was especially 
strong during the period under consideration in this paper.
It should be noted that this heresy also became active in Byzantium through the coalition of 
the Syrian and Armenian Monophysite churches occurring in the 11
th
-12
th
centuries. What makes 
this coalition even more acute is the alliance of the Monophysites with the Roman Catholic Church 
- in spite of the doctrinal disagreement they found in accordance with the liturgical practice of the 
Eucharist. I even argue that the actuality of the Monophysite faith in the history of the theological 
thought of Byzantium during this period is underestimated in scientific literature. I will not dwell 
upon the Byzantine reaction to these events and will only note that the “global” scale of this heresy 
can also be felt in the Georgians’ attitude toward their neighbors. Obviously Georgia was strongly 
concentrated on Monophysitism, even regarding it as a theological problem of the first degree, 
though always generalizing it and discussing it with the leading Christological heresies of church 
history, showing the “ecumenical” context of this opposition.
Tinatin Virsaladze was the first in Georgian scholarly literature to study the immediate influence 
of these disputes upon Georgian medieval painting. This approach inspired further research regarding 
it as the key theme for understanding the iconographic programs of Georgian murals.
This context must have played a decisive role in the selection of the scenes of the dome 
program at Ikvi. The location of the Passion scenes in the drum of the dome - the physical ‘crown’ 
of the whole space, so to say - assigned a conspicuous role to this subject, turning it into the main 
dogmatic message of the murals. Being set out from the overall program of the decoration, the 
Passion cycle is primarily perceived as an answer to the Monophysites, whose position regarding 
the relationship between Christ’s human and divine natures can be formulated as such: it was the 
Divine Logos Who had suffered and died on the cross.
It is not accidental that a special emphasis by its location has been given to the Transfiguration 
in the ordering of the scenes. The Transfiguration was regarded as the symbolical prefiguration of 
the Passion of Christ. Due to this context, it is often included in the Passion cycle (St George at 
Kurbinovo, the Church of the Transfiguration at Miroje). This link is tangibly shown at Ikvi by an 
angel of the Crucifixion gesturing towards the scene of the Transfiguration. But still the latter is 
primarily perceived here within its theophanic context, which is even underlined by the fairly red 
mandorla of Christ, an iconographical detail which is not typical of Byzantine art. The location of 
the Transfiguration as the ultimate expression of the dogma of the two natures of Christ alongside 
the Passion scenes would reinforce the Christological interpretation of the image, turning the dome 
programme into a