Branislav Cvetković

The Living (and the) Dead

Imagery of Death in Byzantium and the Balkans

UDK: 252 Branislav Cvetković

271.3(450)”12” Regional Museum, Jagodina, Serbia
75.046.3(450)”12” branicvet@ptt.rs

Being omnipresent in all societies of medieval Europe, death and the human attitudes to it were reflected in rich artistic
production in a number of ways. This text surveys iconography of death in the Byzantine and medieval Balkan art with atten-
tion to complexity existing in this particular sort of imagery. Therefore, wall paintings, miniature illumination and sculpture
reveal diverse representations of the dead, from typical schemes of one dying on a deathbed, over violent deaths in battles
or assassinations, to various examples of imagery illustrating theological notions of hereafter and resurrection, based on an
overall optimism. This survey presents also analysis of less known examples or of some recently discovered, while the others
are given a new interpretation.

Key words: death, Byzantium, Balkans, Bulgaria, Serbia, iconography, portraits

Ten years ago George Dennis started his essay on death in Byzantium that “there is one way in which we enter
this world, but many ways in which we leave it”, quoting Niketas Choniates’ reflection on the deaths of Byzantine
emperors “that God does not like to direct human affairs in the same manner all the time but prefers some variety”.1
Though following the anecdotal substance of the quotation the headline for this article is not built on convenient
matters, since it uses direct language unlike Byzantines who tried to avoid terms of death and dying.2 It rather
incorporates a sort of dualism in rendering death, which was characteristic for the East Orthodox iconography.
Accordingly, this survey of imagery of death in Byzantium and medieval Balkans only partly adheres to traditional
approach in analyzing varied typology of picturing the deceased, bearing in mind that a homo mediaevalis was
generally certain that the death was not the end, but that it was a change of life, in fact the journey, similar to the
game of life but of a different nature.3
The theme of death was omnipresent in all facets of intellectual endeavor in the East, as well as in European
West. Therefore, it has been much studied by Byzantinists, in various contexts, from specific ritual practices,5 and
4

distinct commemorative ensembles around tombs and complex funerary installations,6 to the wider spatial and
architectural backgrounds, and to their functional and iconographic layouts.7 Rare but highly important death
cycles of monastic inspiration have also received due attention in special studies,8 as was the case with the Last
Judgement, the most powerful pictorial statement of eschatology; from this rather frightening landscape one
gets into the precincts either of Paradise if proven right, or to the abyss of Hell, if proven wicked.9
But death in Byzantine iconography was studied as a separate topic only in an article written long time
ago by Christopher Walter.10 There the huge material was divided into six categories with corresponding number
of chapters, but of uneven length. Walter was adamant in establishing firm concept of his study having cente-
red analysis to imagery of death “as part of the normal human lot”, leaving out all examples of, as he had put it,
“violent death”, and stressing the obvious fact that “it is impossible to treat fully so rich a subject in the course of
a brief article”.11 Conversely, what his survey brings to the reader are various examples with important corpus of
IKON, 4-2011

information and a number of conclusions, but the material selected for a detailed analysis and reproduction is
rather uniform in that it follows steady iconography of a dead body represented in profile laid on a bed. Therefore,
categories do not really differ much in their compositional structure, and the examples from the first category,
treating “the last illness”,12 are identical in iconography with those of the second category called “the lying in
state”,13 and are quite similar with the fifth category, named by Walter, “the mortal remains lying in their place of
rest”.14 Likewise, the fourth category, defined as “deposition in tomb or charnel-house”,15 also belongs to this same
and simple iconographic scheme of the lying body on a couch or on a bier, surrounded by various personages.
This convention, as Walter rightly states, is related to the Dormition of the Virgin, in fact the most frequent theme
in Byzantine death iconography.16 As for the two remaining categories from the Walter’s list, the third one, called
“transportation of the mortal remains”,17 as well as the sixth one, named “cult at the sealed sarcophagus”,18 both
step out of death iconography proper and truly belong to other themes, those of the cult of saints and of the
relics.19
Therefore, the following text will attempt to expand the scope beyond the typological exercise from Wal-
ter’s article and will pay full attention to complexity existing in the imagery of death in East Orthodox Christiani-
ty because it reflects its multilayered semantics and often blurred polisemy of the Byzantine iconographic and
pictorial language. Iconography of death incorporates not only imagery of the dead alone, but also theological
notions of the hereafter and resurrection, based on an overall optimism. Such an optimistic vision of the salva-
tion and redemption is disclosed by examples as is iconography of the famous Vatican sakkos,20 where hosts of
the righteous, clad in robes of light, are assembled according to St Basil the Younger, “in the spiritual marriage
chamber”.21
Imagery of death in Byzantine iconography is quite varied. The most diverse examples are to be found
amongst martyrial cycles, the so-called illustrated Menologia, with hundreds of bloody ways of execution of the
martyrs and other saints.22 But there were also illustrated chronicles and Old Testament books with a number of
battle scenes and dozens of mutilated bodies. Today, the rare preserved manuscripts of such books are the Venice
Alexander,23 the Bulgarian copy of the Manasses Chronicle,24 and the Madrid Skylitzes Chronicle.25
Before reaching to one or another realm – the Heavens or the Underworld – the soul of the departed would
go to the weighing process and this was familiar scene often included into the complex representations of the
Last Judgement.26 The soul of the dead took the form of a small naked figure,27 standing in front of the Balance of
Justice attended from both sides by Archangel Michael and devil or several demons, the iconography of which
extends back to ancient Egyptian art.28 The most illuminating way of the role given to the Balance of Justice is to
be found in the double miniature showing the death of a monk and weighing of the soul in the Psalter Dionysiou
65: there the two superposed scenes make clear visual distinction between the passing away of the righteous
monk, whose soul is being received by an angel in upper part of the miniature, and of the weighing of the soul,
in the lower part, taking place in front of the Hell shown as a dark scary pit.29
Sometimes the psyche looks more feminine though it is sexless, as in Dečani,30 but at times it is much more
masculine, as in Veluće (fig. 1). This fresco was given prominent place by being painted in the first zone near the
church entrance, as part of complex Last Judgement covering large areas of the narthex.31 But amongst a num-
ber of similar scenes in medieval art this one is of particular interest due to its present state of preservation. The
“archaeology” of this damaged fresco uncovers additional information on different ways it communicated with
the faithful in the course of time. Importance of its message obviously made a priest called Michael inscribe his
own name next to the figure of the soul, hoping he too will be ordained among the blessed ones. On the other
hand, the green skinned figure of devil has been almost entirely destroyed by a number of scratches, which was
apparently the way the faithful fought vices and demons. In a similar way the superstitious used to remove paint
from saintly faces on icons and frescoes for medicinal cures.32 It has also been ascertained that when the paint is
flaked only around the flesh areas on icons it suggests that the viewers physically interacted with the image by
 Cvetković, The Living (and the) Dead

touching or kissing saint’s likeness.33 Likewise, the ivories, stone icons and various talismans could also be worn
out by simply being rubbed or held during prayer.34
The souls of the redeemed dead were sometimes depicted as swaddled babies, tightly grouped and held
by the God’s Hand,35 as in the entrance vault fresco of the Trinity church in Resava (fig. 2).36 The same convention
is also found in terrible image of slaughtered children in the famous fresco in Mark’s Monastery; though there
are no forensic details amongst the massacred innocents, expressive gestures of Rachel and the sheer number of
the murdered do make this fresco the most touching possible image of death and of its consequences with the
survivors.37
When Byzantine artists represented dead body they had several means at disposal. In imperial manuscripts
it was either laid body, as marginal image following psalmodic prayers, or moment of the soul departing body,
illustrating Psalm 6, 6-8 which describes it as dust and earth.38 George Dennis puts forward there was an obvious
difference between the prescribed way of seeing death and the one the Byzantines actually had.39 Therefore,
the personification of death was not always represented in antique manner as the figure of Hades,40 but as dark
frightening black angel, the best example of which is in the Tomič Psalter (fig. 3); there, the angel of Death stands
above the bed of a dying man, holding a long sharp sabre and handing out a deadly cup to the man.41 It is impor-
tant to note that here again, as in the Veluće fresco, the paint on the dark angel figure has been radically flaked
off, witnessing on relationship the owners of this manuscript had towards the personified Death, while long
captions in red ink, accompanying the miniature above and below it, testify to what extent medieval men were
really horrified when faced with inevitability of dying. Quite a similar deadly cup has been also preserved in the
Serbian Psalter, now in Munich.42
While the scenes of a deadly cup belong to iconography of the illustrated Psalters the owners of which
was royalty,43 the monastic milieu developed an optimistic view towards the notion of passing away. Probably
the most original programme built on such optimistic vision of redemption is structured in the wall painting of
the crypt in the monastery church of Hosios Loukas in Phokis (fig. 4).44 The scenes of the Entombment of Christ and
the Women at the Empty Tomb, as part of the appropriate cycle on the crypt walls, signify typical themes of East
Orthodox iconography of the Resurrection, but here originally reflected in roundel portraits of monastery elders
painted on the vault, being surrounded by starry sky, as if they are already in heavens.45 Much more severe and
direct was the unique programmatic fresco ensemble of the Enkleistra of St Neophytos on Cyprus, where Neo-
phytos the Recluse had himself painted in various contexts of his auto-sanctification, having completely blurred
borders between realms of life and death, of earth and heavens.46
In medieval donorship imagery the dead and the living were often joined together in their supplication but
the deceased could be sometimes easily recognized by crossed arms on the chest, as described in the Romance
of Digenis Acrites.47 Such gestures of the crossed arms appear on two fascinating Cypriot icons with portraits of
the dead,48 but the most remarkable combination of portraits of the dead with crossed arms and portraits of the
living is found on frescoes of the small church of St Nicholas in the village of Staničenje.49
In scholarly literature one can also come across notions that the Byzantine art avoided showing of decaying
corpses. It is only partially true since the moralizing imagery was indeed built on direct counterpointing of the
living with the dead. The prophetic visions, such is that of Ezekiel on dry bones, were given even naturalistic ren-
dition on the miniature in the famous Byzantine manuscript Par. gr. 510 where the standing figure of the prophet
Ezekiel faces piles of scattered human bones and skulls.50 This vision implying strong reference to Resurrection
was also painted on the wide west wall of the lower floor of the Bachkovo ossuary, though the skeletal details
were given there a rather stylized form.51
The other moralizing theme existent in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine iconography is that of St Sisoes
mourning the tomb of Alexander the Great, which has been popular within monastic communities.52 The composi-
tion is impressive, it comprises a decayed skeleton laid in an open sarcophagus and St Sisoes kneeling in front of
IKON, 4-2011

it with raised arms in astonishment, as in the well known fresco at Monastery Varlaam in Meteora, in the Greek re-
gion of Thessaly.53 The context is similar to the West European memento mori iconography of the Three Living and
the Three Dead, as in the Campo Santo in Pisa.54 The significance of this didactic image of St Sisoes’ encounter with
the mortal remains of Alexander the Great is obvious regarding the prominence given to these frescoes, because
they are often positioned above doors and entrances, as in the church of St Athanassios in the village of Arbanassi
near Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria (fig. 5),55 or in Monastery Nikolje in the Ovčar-Kablar Gorges in Serbia.56
However, the majority of death scenes follow almost identical schemes with the dying laid on a bed, sur-
rounded by either a celestial being or a number of other people. The graves of the elite as patriarchs and arch-
bishops were usually designed as complex of lavish marble tombs with painted scenes of their passing away,
sometimes in form of arcosolium.57 Those important ones received special illustrated vita cycles, culminating in
their staged ceremonial death scenes.58 Even the bishops and metropolitans were given sumptuous burial places,
as the two from Gračanica revealing staged death scenes of Bishop Theodore and of metropolitan Dionysios.59
The burial place of the Archbishop Sava II in the church of Sts Apostles in the Patriarchate of Peć, reproduced
already in the Walter’s article, deserves special attention as it shows it had been in perpetual care as cultic site,
where from veneration of this cleric sprang (fig. 6).60 Various ensembles of sculptural and pictorial workmanship
on tombs were designed to induce immediate veneration with the faithful and the visitors. The painted scenes
of clerics on their deathbed were always signifiers of a cult, though only few would have passed the test of time.
There are many more examples of the regional or local cults being promoted through imagery, but never gained
real saintliness, as was the case with the bishop Merkurios, whose death was represented opposite the royal
portraits in the narthex of the Arilje cathedral.61 That the royal and clerical funerals and places of rest were held
of paramount importance in terms of state ideology is obvious from the results of recent research of the fresco
programmes of both of Sopoćani and Gradac monastery churches with the complex history of their respective
painted decorations.62
Especially venerated saints, the national holy rulers and dynasty founders, retained the conventional typo-
logy throughout time, including their renderings as the dead. Irrespective of the actual state of the saints’ relics,
the saints were represented either as dead lying on a bier or as if being alive.63 The most popular among monastic
circles were pictures of lying saintly monks surrounded by dense groups of hermits and other holy personages,
as evidenced by the prototype composition of Death of St Ephraim Syrus.64 Identical structural scheme was to be
followed in all instances when a local monk’s cult was being conceived, as with St Gabriel of Lesnovo, the death
scene of whom was painted in a specially constructed shallow niche in the lateral altar wall of the church in the
monastery Lesnovo.65 But among many of similar death scenes of holy monks and hermits, the most appealing
is the one in monastery Krepičevac (fig. 7).66 There the death of the monastery elder Joseph is painted in arcoso-
lium made up in the south wall of the nave, close to the templon. What makes this fresco important is not only
inscription painted between the angel and the dying hermit which says that “angel is taking the soul of Joseph,
the elder of this holy site”, but also the fact this is the only known death scene of an anchorite representing his
actual dwelling place, a modest wooden cabin as usual form of the forest hermitages.67
In its basic form the images of the dead royalty were quite similar to these depictions since it was a body
laid on a deathbed, surrounded by members of the royal family and by the court dignitaries who with emphasi-
zed gestures express their grief and sorrow, although such a behavior was regarded inappropriate by the Church
according to the ecclesiastical canons and patristic exegesis.68 The illustrated manuscripts of chronicles such is
the lavish Bulgarian Manasses Chronicle abound with imagery of dying monarchs. Following historical facts there
are examples of peaceful passing away such are those of the Byzantine emperor Theophilus,69 or of the Bulgarian
Tsar Symeon,70 but also politically motivated executions, the most notable of which being the murder of young
Tiberius, son of Justinian II, who was killed on orders of Emperor Philippicus,71 or the regicide of Romanus III, who
was shown being strangled.72 The small cycle was devoted to the outcome of the military clash between Byzan-
 Cvetković, The Living (and the) Dead

tines and Bulgars, when after having captured and killed Emperor Nikephoros,73 khan Krum had his skull turned
into a drinking cup.74
Among dozens of battle scenes with hundreds of mutilated bodies of soldiers in the Manasses Chronicle the
one representing the battle of Belasica captures special attention. The first part shows the actual military disaster
of Bulgarian Tsar Samuel by the Byzantine army. This is followed by dramatic sequel when the Byzantine Emperor
Basil II the Bulgarslayer orders blinding thousands of Samuel’s soldiers, which eventually led to the latter’s death
by a heart stroke (fig. 8).75
Premature deaths of royal children led to creation of death cycles, as was the case with the Death of Prince
Ivan Assen, pictured on first folios of the Bulgarian copy of the Manasses Chronicle. The death scene proper of the
young prince laid on a bier and surrounded by the court,76 is followed by another miniature of his entering into
Paradise, where his soul ascends into Heavens through the widely open doors, while his body, being greeted by
Abraham, the Virgin and the Good Robber, enters the Garden of Paradise.77
The only preserved painted scene of a royal death in medieval Serbian art, the Death of Queen Anna Dando-
lo, painted in the narthex of Sopoćani, not only follows iconography of the Virgin’s death, but is built on meeting
of the two courts, the terrestrial and the celestial one, since the dying queen is accompanied from one side by
members of the Serbian royal court, and from the other even by Christ and his mother, the Virgin Mary.78
Of special interest for iconography studies are rare examples of nuanced variables as were artistic rendi-
tions of actual events. For instance, it is important to note in what way the illuminator of the Manasses Chronicle
presents a failed assassination attempted at Byzantine Emperor Leo VI, in 903, with Leo shown standing and tal-
king to a group of people, while his unsuccessful assassin approaches from behind with his raised arm holding a
weapon.79 On the other hand, murdering Strez, a Balkan rebel from the beginning of the 13th Century, is shown in
the Chilandari refectory according to the Vita of St Sava the Serbian, with Sava clad in monk’s habit, praying in his
tent to God for a help against Strez, and with Archangel Michael fulfilling the prayer by having pierced sleeping
Strez with his sword (fig. 9).80 This artistic version, though founded on hagiography text, does not fit actual event
since the political execution of Strez happened to be a well organized assassination, only to be retold later as the
intervention coming from above.81
But to be rated as citizens of the future blissful heavenly kingdom has been constant feature of the death
imagery. The Byzantine iconography did not favor representing Christ’s own rising from the grave but preferred
instead his salvific conquering of the death itself and along with this the triumph over original sin of the proto-
plasts.82 By inclusion of Adam and Eve the iconography of death uses nuanced garment symbolism in order to
transpose the most important dogmatic premise: Christ’s calling of the righteous from Matthew 25, 34: “come
ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World” was best inter-
preted with the protoplasts being originally clothed in the royal vestments, then being naked after their sinful
behavior, and eventually being dressed in the garments of skin. The scriptural and theological sources vividly
emphasize conversion of a neophyte as clothing upon Christ (Gal. 3, 27), and dying as resurrecting with Christ (Rom.
6, 3-5).83 This complex symbolism is explained by exegesis in that the Resurrection of the just is referred to as their
return to Adam’s original form (1 Cor. 15, 35-54), because, while still in Paradise, Adam had on the royal, bright
clothes. So, Origen, Philo, Augustine, Ephraem Syrus, John Chrysostome, Theodoret of Cyrus, Gregory of Nazian-
zus, Cyrill of Jerusalem, Gregory of Nysse, and John of Damascus, all develop subtle interpretations of the garment
symbolism.84 In their exegetical works John Chrysostom and Theodoret of Cyrus emphasize that the resurrected
would have to have proper clothing on in which to step before God.85 By bringing together the dogmas of Incar-
nation, Baptism and Resurrection they say: “mystery of Baptism is type of resurrection… it is mantle of salvation,
tunic of gladness, a garment of light, because the entire purpose of Incarnation is to reclothe Adam, and prepare
him for eschatological Wedding banquet”.86 The most convincing rendition of such garment symbolism is found in
monastery Dečani, in the Anastasis fresco: at the moment of Christ’s triumphal Harrowing of Hell the two angels
IKON, 4-2011

2. The Righteous in God’s Hand, Monastery Resava, 1418

1. Weighing of the Souls (Balance of Justice), Monastery

Veluće, ca. 1375

3. The Cup of Death, Tomič Psalter, Cod. Muz. 2752, fol. 3r,
ca. 1360

4. The Entombment and Portraits of Abbots, Hosios Loukas in

Phokis, 1000/50
 Cvetković, The Living (and the) Dead

6. Tomb of Archbishop Sava II,

Sts Apostles,
Patriarchate of Peć,
13-17th c.

5. St Sisoes Mourns Alexander the Great, St Athanassios in

Arbanassi, 1667

7. Death of Elder Joseph,

Monastery Krepičevac,
end of 15th c.

8. Death of Tzar Samuel, Vat. Slavo 2, fol. 183v, 1345

IKON, 4-2011

bring to Jesus the two spheres with frontally painted busts of young persons, being clad in the royal garments,
representing reclothed and redeemed Adam and Eve.87 Such an interpretation mirrors the garment symbolism al-
ready established by St Paul that upon the resurrection, the perishable old body is changed into the new glorified
one, clothed in a proper sort of clothing (I Corinthians 15, 47-53).
The iconography of Parables has followed the garment symbolism too. One of the best known moralizing
ones, the Parable of the Rich and Poor Lazarus (Luke 16, 19-31), usually found in paintings as single composition
centered around a feast table, is rendered instead as the short cycle in the monastery Dečani.88 The central part of
the cycle is a rather misbalanced scene showing respective deaths of the poor and of the rich Lazarus (fig. 10).89
The difference between them is not only emphasized by the robes they wear, but also on what they were laid, the
poor Lazarus on a reed rug, while the rich one is inside marble sarcophagus. But while the poor one has met good
death, his soul being taken towards heavens by an angel, death of the rich one has been painful because another
angel pierces his mouth with a trident, in a similar way Archangel Michael kills Strez. The rich Lazarus is further
shown in the flames of Hell, while the poor Lazarus is seated among the righteous in the Abraham’s Bosom.90
Though quite rarely encountered in medieval art, the Parable of the Imperial Wedding (Matthew 22, 1-14)
is undoubtedly the one with the most convincing rhetorical instruments.91 The example from monastery Resava
operates in using highly developed garment symbolism: in order to reveal the point of this Christ’s parable that
“many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22, 13), the chosen ones are clad in the robes of light, intentionally
contemporary costumes of aristocracy, while the one without proper clothes, in shepherd’s woolen dress, is drag-
ged towards black gate with the blazing flames.92 In monastery Dečani this same parable was again conceived
not as a single scene but as a short cycle.93 The first part is composed in a traditional way with the participants
gathered at the wedding feast table where the king from the parable, in guise of Christ himself, addresses the
guest in improper clothes: “Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22,
12).94 Unlike some other examples of this illustrated parable, its second part is here made into a separate com-
position. The king’s words: “Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22, 13) are also inscribed as caption of the scene where the
one without proper costume is being dragged away from the table by the two angels and is cast into the flames
of Hell, shown as large fortified city with towers, filled by blazing lake with dozens of human skulls (fig. 11).95
Of particular interest for studying Byzantine iconography of death are also images of the so-called ano-
nymous dead rising from their graves, often encountered in compositions of the Last Judgment and Anastasis,
since Christ’s redemptory death on the cross includes also the figures of redeemed humanity.96 These additional
groups of resurrected disclose garment symbolism in having specially decorated clothes, as in the manuscripts
Par. gr. 74, Par. gr. 543, or Vat. gr. 752.97 This is often connected to the casting lots of soldiers for the Christ’s robes,
as in Anastasis in the monastery Sopoćani.98 The decorated garments are not images of a textile pattern only,
but are meant to be a statement, pregnant with meaning. Until recently semantic values of lavish robe of the
personification of the Church in the Crucifixion scene in monastery Studenica remained unnoticed, as that it has
corresponding pendants in identically decorated garments of the resurrected.99 Following results of Herbert Kes-
sler’s research of the origin and meaning of the diapered fields of the Mandylion and of its relationship to how the
Tabernacle and Temple veil were designed, it is now clear in what way the medieval people understood and used
the paradigms as signifiers of Divine presence.100 The newly discovered fragments of the Anastasis fresco in the
monastery Mileševa reveal once more that the lavish garments of the resurrected had special meaning; their ro-
bes are not only white, but decorated with ribbons of green, yellow and red colours, and a number of ornaments
the most notable of which are lilies (fig. 12).101 These robes of light carry symbolism founded on Scriptures, but the
anonymous dead also symbolize the Last Judgment following Gospels: “At that moment the curtain of the temple
was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies
of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection
 Cvetković, The Living (and the) Dead

9. G. Mitrofanović, Death of Strez, Refectory in Monastery Chilandar, 1622

10. Parable of the Rich and Poor Lazarus, Monastery Dečani, 1347/8
IKON, 4-2011

they went into the holy city and appeared to many people” (Matthew 27, 51-53).102 But what attracts attention is
that the one among the anonymous dead received much more decoration on his gown than others, the one in the
middle.103 It is possible, according to the characteristic portrait features of this face, to assume it may have been
disguised self-portrait of a painter, as there were a number of similar cases of inserted portraits of donors in the
compositions of the Last Judgment.104
In the Byzantine funerary art there is one unique example that made scholars dispute whether it represents
portrait of the dead or of the living person. This is the only known royal portrait of a ruler executed on a tomb slab.
This low relief is on the front side of St Theodora of Arta’s monument in the eponymous church in Arta, capital of
the Greek region of Epirus. It has been long believed that the portrait should be identified as the funeral likeness
of basilissa Theodora Petraliphina and her son future despot Nikephoros since the slab belongs to her very tom-
bstone.105 This identification was challenged on a number of issues and a new proposition was reached that the
relief most probably represents St Theodora’s daughter-in-law, basilissa Anna Cantauzene Palaiologina as regent,
and her minor son future despot Thomas, as actual Epirote rulers and main promoters of the newly established
cult of St Theodora of Arta.106
In hitherto much quoted Bulgarian copy of the Manasses Chronicle the last miniature in this highly valuable
manuscript is of greatest interest for studying iconography of death. It terminates this lavish chronicle with the
portraits only of male members of the royal Assenid family.107 Standing in front of the architectural screen, Tsar
Ivan Alexander is in the middle with his three sons surrounding him, all shown frontally, clad in imperial sakkoi
and with all the insignia of power (fig. 13). The striking feature of this miniature with much flaked paint is in that
it includes figure of the dead Prince Ivan Assen whose premature death was described in images at the begin-
ning of the volume; that he was not alive at the moment is suggested by an angel who approaches from the left
and takes him by the hand.108 The composition thus presents both dead and living Assenids at the same time
together, all being blessed by Christ whose bust appears from the sky segment. The architectural background
encompassing all of them may be understood therefore as the celestial city or palace, the Heavenly Jerusalem, as
much as analogous architecture at the Esphigmenou charter of despot Djuradj Branković.109
It is possible to add one more example to this category of nuanced depictions of death in Byzantine art,
only recently published the icon with St Makarios and a Cherub from the treasury of St Catherine’s Monastery on
Sinai, the work of a gifted 13th Century painter (fig. 14). As in the previous instance with Ivan Assen and angel, here
too one finds gestures in the compositional focus, since the fiery cherub with his right hand holds wrist of abba
Makarios. But in his catalogue entry, Glenn Peers argues that such an original iconography may rest on a quota-
tion from St Makarios’ vita where it says an angel showed him a place where to erect his monastery.110 Bearing
in mind the analogy with Prince Ivan Assen’s figure and the hieratical atmosphere of the relationship between
cherub and abba, I would argue instead that a different passage from the same text more convincingly alludes to
Makarios being led by the cherub to the other life, especially taking into account the cherub’s gesture with his left
hand, pointing “outside” of the icon’s area, and literally alluding to the other side.111
Among recent discoveries of great importance for the topic of Byzantine iconography of death one must
note the hapax fresco uncovered in Karbala, Cappadocia, in 2006.112 This unique fresco shows two officers of the
Byzantine army, named Leon and Michael, depicted on horseback while attacking an infantryman. Careful analy-
sis of both its iconography and the remaining captions has revealed the two symmetrically depicted horsemen,
who in this way resemble the holy warriors on horsebacks, disclose a commemorative representation of the two
soldiers who most probably died in a battle.113
This survey of the iconography of death in Byzantium and the Balkans may be closed as it was begun, with
the wall paintings from Veluće. This late medieval monastery church has not been dated precisely due to com-
plete lack of all supporting historical sources. But the analysis of the royal portraits from the nave gave grounds
for general dating to cca. 1375.114 Quite modest painterly work matches such dating and reflects volatile political
 Cvetković, The Living (and the) Dead

11. Parable of the Wedding Feast, 12. The Resurrected, Monastery Mileševa, ca. 1225
Monastery Dečani, 1347/8

13. The Living and the Dead Assenids,

Vat. Slavo 2, fol. 205r, 1345

14. St Makarios and Cherub,

Monastery of St Catherine
on Sinai, 13th c.

15. The Nobleman

(present state),
Monastery Veluće, 16. The Noblemen (fieldwork photograph), Monastery Veluće,
ca. 1375 ca. 1375
IKON, 4-2011

context after demise of the last reigning emperor of the Nemanide dynasty in 1371. Apart from the portraits of
royalty and donors in the nave, there is also an additional gallery of portraits of the nobility in the narthex compli-
cating full and right understanding of this church’s function and place in history of the post-Nemanide period.
What is certain is that among the portrait gallery in the narthex there is one originally painted to represent
an already deceased member of the noble family. This is the portrait of a young boy Oliver, depicted on narrow
area of the north-west pillar, holding a burning candle in hands.115 But what attracts much more attention are
figures on north wall of the narthex, the group consisted of three young men and a woman. Already during the
conservation works it was noticed that parts of figures of the two young noblemen from the west part of the
group were over painted not long after the fresco decoration was finished.116 The portrait of a young nobleman
on west side of the north-west pillar has unique appearance since he holds a bow in his right hand and three
arrows in his left (fig. 15).117 By investing him with weaponry, usual features of the holy warriors’ iconography
were thus intentionally appropriated.118 Moreover, it has been shown long ago by Elizabeth Zachariadou that in
medieval painting it was often St Demetrius who was depicted holding three arrows in one hand and the bow in
the other, as one of many eastern influences on Christian societies evident in the late medieval period.119
What is of major interest here is that in one moment the portrait has been turned into a posthumous image
by being over painted: the lower part of the young man’s right arm and the arrows were covered over with new
layers of paint, while the missing limb holding now small white cross was painted anew but in another position,
diagonally across the chest. The modern conservators unfortunately removed the newly painted arm, but its
traces can still be detected today. Luckily one old photograph of the fresco made in fieldwork research during
1930s may clearly reveal how subsequently added arm with the white cross looked like (fig. 16).120 This photogra-
ph shows that the anonymous painter of the frescoes in Veluće also intervened at the next figure by eradicating
outstretched fingers of a nobleman’s right hand raised in the gesture of supplication. Having wiped out the long
fingers, the painter thus turned the hand look as if it holds something, and as with the previous figure, he also
added the small white cross. In this way both of the noblemen received not only signs they were not only alive
anymore, but that they most probably perished in war. By being invested with small white crosses they became
identical to the iconography of the martyrs who were designated exactly by holding a small cross.121 In all proba-
bility, the two noblemen must have been killed in 1389 at the Battle of Kosovo, after which their portraits received
such most interesting and rare interventions.122

***

The number of instances discussed above have disclosed how rich and distinct is the treasury of the By-
zantine and medieval Balkan iconography of death. In multiple ways it by far surpasses general idea of steady
typological scheme of a deathbed with the dying on it. In its variety it corresponds to omnipresence of death in
medieval society and in its abundant artistic production.

Abbreviations:

DChAE – Deltion tēs Christianikēs Arhaiologikēs Etaireias, Athens

ODB – The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, New York – Oxford, 1991
PG – J.P. Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus. Series graeca, t. 1-161, Paris, 1857-1866
 Cvetković, The Living (and the) Dead

1 G.T. DENNIS, Death in Byzantium, in: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 55, Washington D.C., 2001, pp. 1-7.
2 Death, in: ODB, 1, p. 593; G. T. DENNIS, op. cit., p. 2.
3 G.T. DENNIS, op. cit, pp. 1-2, 7. Also, see: G. PODSKALSKY, Death and Resurrection in Byzantine Theology, in: Studi
sull’Oriente Cristiano 6, 2, Roma, 2002, pp. 35-57.
4 For some of the Western scholarship on this topic, see: P. ARIÈS, L’homme devant la mort, Paris, 1977; P. HUNTINGTON,
P. METCALF, Celebrations of Death, Cambridge, 1979; T.S.R. BOASE, Death in the Middle Ages, London, 1985; P.J. GEARY,
Living with the Dead in the Middle Ages, Cornell University Press, 1994; P. BINSKY, Medieval Death: Ritual and Representa-
tions, British Museum Press, 1996; J-C. SCHMITT, Ghosts in the Middle Ages. The Living and the Dead in Medieval Society,
Chicago-London, 1998; The Place of the Dead: Death and Remembrance in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, B.
GORDON, P. MARSHALL (eds)., Cambridge, 2000.
5 For a portion of literature, see : D. ABRAHAMSE, Rituals of Death in the Middle Byzantine Period, in: Greek Orthodox The-
ological Review, 29, 2, Brookline MA, 1984, pp. 125-134; Burial, in: ODB, 1, pp. 340-341; Funeral, in: ODB, 2, pp. 808-809;
E. VELKOVSKA, Funeral Rites according to the Byzantine Liturgical Sources, in: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 55, Washington
D.C., 2001, pp. 21-51; S. MARJANOVIĆ-DUŠANIĆ, Smrt i svetost, in: Privatni život u srpskim zemljama srednjeg veka,
S. MARJANOVIĆ-DUŠANIĆ, D. POPOVIĆ (eds.), Beograd, 2004, pp. 586-615; J. ERDELJAN, Pogrebni obredi i nadgrobna
obeležja, in: ibid., pp. 419-443.
6 See the selected bibliography: P. GRIERSON, The Tombs and Obits of the Byzantine Emperors (337-1042), in: Dumbar-
ton Oaks Papers, 16, Washington D.C., 1962, pp. 3-63; N. TETERIATNIKOV, Burial Places in Cappadocian Churches, in:
Greek Orthodox Theological Review, 29, 2, Brookline MA, 1984, pp. 141-157; Th. PAZARAS, Anaglyphes sarkophagoi
kai epitaphies plakes tes meses kai ysteres byzantines periodou sten Ellada, Athens, 1988; D. POPOVIĆ, The Royal Tomb in
Medieval Serbia, Beograd, 1992; J. ERDELJAN, Medieval Funerary Monuments in the Region of Ras, Belgrade, 1996; S. T.
BROOKS, Commemoration of the Dead: Late Byzantine Tomb Decoration (c. 1261-1453), PhD. diss., New York University,
2002; J. ERDELJAN, Stećci – A View of the Iconography of Popular Funerary Art in the Balkans, in: Zbornik Matice srpske za
likovne umetnosti, 32-33, Novi Sad, 2003, pp. 107-119; S. T. BROOKS, Sculpture and the Late Byzantine Tomb, in: Byzan-
tium: Faith and Power 1261-1557, H.C. EVANS (ed.), New York, 2004, pp. 95-103; eadem, Poetry and Female Patronage
in Late Byzantine Tomb Decoration: Two Epigrams by Manuel Philes, in: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 60, Washington D.C.,
2006, pp. 223-248.
7 To mention only: G. BABIĆ, Les chapelles annexes des églises byzantines. Fonction liturgique et programmes
iconographiques, Paris, 1969; R CORMACK, Painting the Soul: Icons, Death Masks, and Shrouds, London, 1997; F. BACHE,
La fonction funéraire du narthex dans les églises byzantines du XIIe au XIVe siècle, Histoire de l’art, 7, Paris, 1989, pp. 25-34;
B. PENKOVA, Von der kommemorativen Funktion der Kapelle im zweiten Stock der Kirche von Bojana, in: Art Studies Quar-
terly, 1, Sofia, 1995, pp. 29-41, 63; V. KOLAROVA, The Ossuary Church of the Bachkovo Monastery, in: E. BAKALOVA et
all., The Ossuary of the Bachkovo Monastery, E. BAKALOVA (ed.), Plovdiv, 2003, pp. 28-52; E. BAKALOVA, Function of the
Ossuary, in: ibid, pp. 53-58; B. CVETKOVIĆ, Robes of Light and the 13th Century Frescoes in Boyana, in: The Boyana Church
Between the East and the West in the Art of the Christian Europe, International Conference, Sofia, 16-17th April, 2010,
Summaries, p. 22.
8 S. RADOJČIĆ, Der Kanon der mit dem Tode ringenden in der Malerei des 14. Jahrhunderts, in: Zbornik radova Vizantološkog
instituta, VII, Beograd, 1961, pp. 39-52; B. IVANIĆ, L’Akoloutheia pour la séparation de l’âme et du corps à Sainte-Sophie à
Ochrid, in: Zbornik Matice srpske za likovne umetnosti, 26, Novi Sad, 1990, pp. 47-88.
9 D. MILOŠEVIĆ, The Last Judgement, Vaduz, 1964; B. BRENK, Tradition und Neuerung in der christlichen Kunst der ersten
Jahrtausende. Studien zur Geschichte des Weltgerichtbildes, Wien, 1966; M. GARIDIS, Études sur le Jugement dernier post-
byzantin du XVe - la fin du XIXe siècle. Iconographie - Esthétique, Thessaloniki, 1985; Last Judgement, in: ODB, 2, pp. 1181-
1182; A. DAVIDOV-TEMERINSKI, Cycle of the Last Judgement, in: Mural Painting of Monastery of Dečani. Material and
Studies, V.J. DJURIĆ (ed.), Beograd, 1995, pp. 191-211. Also, note the forthcoming paper : V. KONTOUMA-CONTICELLO,
L’Enfer et le Royaume céleste dans leurs dimensions théologiques, in: 22nd International Congress of Byzantine Studies
(Byzantium Without Borders), Sixième séance plénière (vendredi, 26 août 2011) Le sacré : la théologie et l’art à Byz-
ance, Sofia, August 22-27, 2011.
10 Ch. WALTER, Death in Byzantine Iconography, in: Eastern Churches Review, 8, Oxford, 1976, pp. 113-127.
11 Ibid., pp. 114-115.
IKON, 4-2011

12 Ibid., pp. 116-118.

13 Ibid., pp. 118-123.
14 Ibid., p. 125.
15 Ibid., pp. 124-125.
16 L. WRATISLAW-MITROVIĆ, N. OKUNEV, La Dormition de la Sainte Vierge dans la peinture médiévale orthodoxe, in: By-
zantinoslavica, 3, Praha, 1931, pp. 134-174. Also, see : A. DAVIDOV-TEMERINSKI, Cycle of the Dormition of the Virgin, in:
Mural Painting of Monastery of Dečani. Material and Studies, pp. 181-189.
17 Ch. WALTER, op. cit, pp. 123-124.
18 Ibid., pp. 125-126.
19 For these, see: M. HEINZELMANN, Translationberichte und andere Quellen des Reliquienkultes, Turnhout, 1979; A. AN-
GENENDT, Heilige und Reliquien. Die Geschichte inhres Kultes von frühen Christentum bis zum Gegenwart, München,
1997; P. BROWN, The Cult of the Saints. Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity, London, 1981; The Byzantine Saint, S.
HACKEL (ed.), Birmingham, 1981; Eastern Christian Relics, A. LIDOV (ed.), Moscow, 2003.
20 E. PILTZ, Trois sakkoi byzantins. Analyse iconographique, Uppsala, 1976, pp. 28-31, 44-45, 58, 65, figs. 5-9; W. T. WOOD-
FIN, Vatican Sakkos, in: Byzantium: Faith and Power, pp. 300-301.
21 S.G. VILINSKI, Zhitie sv. Vasiliya Novogo v russkoi literature, 1, Odessa, 1911, p. 333, 13-23.
22 P. MIJOVIĆ, Ménologe. Recherches iconographiques, Beograd, 1973; S. KESIĆ-RISTIĆ, D. VOJVODIĆ, The Menologion, in:
Mural Painting of Monastery of Dečani. Material and Studies, pp. 377-434.
23 A. XYNGOPOULOS, Les miniatures du Roman d’Alexandre le Grand dans le Codex de l’Institut Hellénique de Venise,
Athènes-Venise, 1966, figs. V, 24, 26, 48, 61, 73, 94, 97, 125, 183, 225.
24 I. DUJČEV, Minijature Manasijevog letopisa, Sofija, 1965, figs. 17, 18, 41, 42, 47, 52-55, 60-63, 65-66.
25 A. GRABAR, Les illustrations de la Chronique de Jean Skylitzès à la Bibliothèque Nationale de Madrid, in: Cahiers archéo-
logiques, XXI, Paris, 1971, pp. 191-211; A. GRABAR, M. MANOUSSACAS, L’Illustration du Manuscrit de Skylitzès de la
Bibliothèque Nationale de Madrid, Venise, 1979, passim; V. TSAMAKDA, The Illustrated Chronicle of Ioannes Skylitzes in
Madrid, Leiden, 2002, passim. Also, see: J. WORTLEY, John Skylitzes: A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811-1057: Translati-
on and Notes, Cambridge University Press, 2010, passim (s.v. battle).
26 See n. 9.
27 Lj. POPOVIĆ, Personifications in Paleologan Painting (1261-1453), Ph.D diss, Bryn Mawr College, 1963, pp. 123-140; Soul,
in: ODB, 3, pp. 1931-1932; Psychomachia, in: ODB, 3, pp. 1755-1756.
28 B. BRENK, Tradition und Neuerung, pp. 100-101; Balance Scales, in: ODB, 1, p. 247.
29 S.M. PELEKANIDIS et all., The Treasures of Mount Athos, 1, Athens, 1974, p. 117, figs. 121, 122. For Dionysiou 65, see:
G.R. PARPULOV, Text and minatures from Codex Dionysiou 65, in: Twenty-fifth Annual Byzantine Studies Conference.
Abstracts, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999, pp. 124-126. Also, see: idem, Toward a History of Byzantine Psal-
ters, Ph.D diss., University of Chicago, 2004; idem, Psalters in Personal Piety in Byzantium, in: The Old Testament in By-
zantium, P. MAGDALINO, R. NELSON (eds.), Washington D.C., 2010, pp. 77-105.
30 B. TODIĆ, M. ČANAK-MEDIĆ, Manastir Dečani, Beograd, 2005, p. 455, fig. 372.
31 V.R. PETKOVIĆ, Le monastère de Veluće. Histoire et peinture, in: Starinar, III-IV, Beograd, 1955, pp. 47-48, fig. 5.
32 B. CVETKOVIĆ, König Milutin und die Parakklesiai des Hl. Joachim und der Hl. Anna im Kloster Studenica, in: Balcanica, XXVI,
Beograd, 1995, pp. 251-276; idem, Icon in the Context: Towards its Functional Adaptability, in: Liceum, 7, Кragujevac,
2002, pp. 44-46.
33 R. NELSON, The Discourse of Icons, Then and Now, in: Art History, 12, 2, Oxford, 1989, p. 151, fig. 3 ( idem, Later Byzantine
Painting: Art, Agency, and Appreciation, Ashgate Variorum, 2007); L. BRUBAKER, Originality in Byzantine Manuscript Illu-
mination, in: Originality in Byzantine Literature, Art and Music. A Collection of Essays, A.R. LITTLEWOOD (ed.), Oxford,
1995, pp. 150, 157, fig. 12.6.
34 A. CUTLER, The Hand of the Master: Craftsmanship, Ivory and Society in Byzantium (9th-11th Centuries), Princeton, 1994,
pp. 22-29.
35 Lj. POPOVIĆ, op.cit., pp. 139-140.
36 B. TODIĆ, Manastir Resava, Beograd, 1995, pp. 105-107, figs. 85, 88.
37 V.J. DJURIĆ, Vizantijske freske u Jugoslaviji, Beograd, 1974, p. 81, figs. 86-87.
 Cvetković, The Living (and the) Dead

38 M.V. SHCHEPKINA, Miniatury Chludovskoi psaltiri, Moskva, 1977, fol. 5 recto.

39 G.T. DENNIS, op. cit., 1-7.
40 Lj. POPOVIĆ, op. cit., pp. 404-419.
41 A. DŽUROVA, Tomič Psalter. Volume Two, in: Monumenta slavico-byzantina et mediaevalia europensia, vol. I, Sofia,
1990, fig. 1, fol. 3 recto.
42 J. STRZYGOWSKI, Die Miniaturen des serbischen Psalters der Königl. Hof- und Staatsbibliothek in München, Wien, 1906, pp.
XIII-XIV, fig. I, 1; J. MAKSIMOVIĆ, Srpske srednjovekovne minijature, Beograd, 1983, fig. 41; Der Serbische Psalter, Faksimile-
Ausgabe des Cod. Slav. 4 der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek München, H. BELTING (ed.), Wiesbaden, 1978-1983, fol. 1 verso.
43 On such manuscripts, see : A. CUTLER, The Aristocratic Psalters in Byzantium, Paris, 1984.
44 C.L. CONNOR, The Crypt at Hosios Loukas and its frescoes, New York, 1988, pp. 43-58.
45 N. CHATZIDAKIS, Hosios Loukas, Athens, 1997, pp. 71, 75, 82, fig. 84; H. LIAPIS, The Monastery of Hosios Loukas in Boeo-
tia, Athens, 2005, pp. 79-87.
46 R. CORMACK, Writing in Gold: Byzantine Society and its Icons, Oxford, 1985, pp. 215-251; C. GALATARIOTOU, The Making
of a Saint: The Life, Times and Sanctification of Neophytos the Recluse, Cambridge, 2004, pp. 128-148.
47 Digenis Akritas, E. JEFFREYS (ed.), Cambridge, 1998, bk. 8, pp. 218-220, 226.
48 A. SEMOGLOU, Contribution à l’étude du portrait funeraire dans le monde byzantin (14e – 16e siècle), in: Zographe, 24,
Belgrade, 1995, pp. 5-11.
49 B. CVETKOVIĆ, The Ktetors’ Portraits, in: M. POPOVIĆ et all., The Church of St Nicholas in Staničenje, Belgrade, 2005, pp.
79-111, 208-209, figs. 31-44.
50 L. BRUBAKER, Vision and meaning in ninth-century Byzantium: Image as exegesis in the homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus,
Cambridge, 1999, pp. 48, 286-289, 420, 422, fig. 44.
51 E. BAKALOVA, The Frescoes and Their Program, in: E. BAKALOVA et all., The Ossuary of the Bachkovo Monastery, pp. 81-82,
85, fig. 2, 9.
52 On this see the seminal study written by R. STICHEL, Studien zum Verhältnis von Text und Bild spät- und nachbyzantinis-
cher Vergänglichkeitsdarstellungen, Böhlau, 1971, pp. 83-112.
53 T. M. PROVATAKIS, Meteora. History of the Monasteries and Monasticism, Athens, 1991, p. 49.
54 For manuscripts and Campo Santo in Pisa, see: F. DEUCHLER, Looking at Bonne of Luxembourg’s Prayer Book, in: The
Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 29, 6, New York, 1971, pp. 267-278, figs. 14-15.
55 S. RATSEVA, “St. Athanasios” Church in Arbanassi and the Traditions of the Epirus Studio, Veliko Tarnovo, 2005, pp. 62, 87, fig. 54.
56 D. RAJIĆ, M. TIMOTIJEVIĆ, Monasteries of Ovcar-Kablar Gorge, Čačak, 2004, p. 98.
57 B. KNEŽEVIĆ, Arcosolia in Hilandar and in Medieval Serbian Monasteries, in: Huit siècles du Monastère de Chilandar.
Histoire, vie spirituelle, litterature, art et architecture, V. KORAĆ (ed.), Beograd, 2000, pp. 595-610. For the arcosolia in
Chora, see: R. OUSTERHOUT, The Art of the Kariye Camii, London - Istanbul, 2002, pp. 86-88 (with bibliography) and S.
T. BROOKS (works quoted in n. 6).
58 V.J. DJURIĆ, Compositions historiques dans la peinture médiévale serbe et leurs parallèles littéraires, in: Zbornik radova
Vizantološkog instituta, XI, Beograd, 1968, pp. 99-127; A. EASTMOND, “Local” saints, art and regional identity in the
Orthodox world after the Fourth Crusade, in : Speculum, 78, 3, Cambridge MA, 2003, pp. 707-749.
59 B. TODIĆ, Gračanica. Slikarstvo, Beograd, 1988, pp. 168-169, 258, figs. 117, 126-127, XXIX.
60 D. POPOVIĆ, The Tombstone of Archbishop Sava the Second in the Church of Saint Apostles in the Patriarchate, in: Zbornik
za likovne umetnosti Matice srpske, 21, Novi Sad, 1985, pp. 71-90, figs. 1-2.
61 D. VOJVODIĆ, Wall Paintings of the Church of Saint Achilleios in Arilje, Beograd, 2005, pp. 148-150, 299, fig. 31.
62 B. TODIĆ, Sopoćani and Gradac. About the Relation of Funerary Programmes of the Two Churches, in: Zographe, 31, Bel-
grade, 2006-2007, pp. 59-77.
63 D. POPOVIĆ, Under the Auspices of Sanctity. The Cult of Holy Rulers and Relics in Medieval Serbia, Belgrade, 2006, pp. 27-
118, 337-342.
64 J.R. MARTIN, The Death of Ephraim in Byzantine and Early Italian Painting, in: The Art Bulletin, 33, New York, 1951, pp.
219-225.
65 S. GABELIĆ, The Monastery of Lesnovo. History and Painting, Beograd, 1998, pp. 109-112, figs. 42-44.
66 B. KNEŽEVIĆ, Gesellschaft und Kunst in Ost Serbien von 1455 bis 1586, in: Zbornik Matice srpske za likovne umetnosti,
29-30, Novi Sad, 1993-1994, pp. 190-193, fig. 8.
IKON, 4-2011

67 D. POPOVIĆ, Deserts and Holy Mountains of Medieval Serbia: Written Sources, Spatial Patterns, Architectural Designs, in:
Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta, XLIV/1, Beograd, 2007, pp. 271-274.
68 G.T. DENNIS, op. cit., pp. 1-7.
69 I. DUJČEV, op. cit., fig. 56, fol. 155 verso.
70 Ibid., fig. 62, fol. 175 recto. On various issues concerning this particular iminiature, see: B. CVETKOVIĆ, On the Two Mi-
niatures in Codex Vat. Slavo 2, in: Art Studies Quarterly, 1, Sofia, 2000, pp. 11-16, 64; ibid, in: Kruševački zbornik, 9/10,
Kruševac, 2003, pp. 115-128.
71 I. DUJČEV, op. cit., fig. 46, fol. 131 recto.
72 Ibid., fig. 67, fol. 188 verso.
73 Ibid., fig. 50, fol. 145 recto.
74 Ibid., fig. 51, fol. 145 verso.
75 Ibid., fig. 66, fol. 183 verso.
76 Ibid., fig. 2, fol. 2 recto.
77 Ibid., fig. 3, fol. 2 verso.
78 V.J. DJURIĆ, Sopoćani, Belgrade, 1991, p. 134, figs. 6, 92; B. CVETKOVIĆ, Franciscans and Medieval Serbia: Evidence of Art,
in: IKON, 3, Rijeka, 2010, pp. 249-251, fig. 3.
79 I. DUJČEV, op. cit., fig. 59, fol. 168 recto.
80 D. BOGDANOVIĆ, V.J. DJURIĆ, D. MEDAKOVIĆ, Hilandar, Beograd, 1978, pp. 154-160, fig. 131.
81 For discussion, see: R. RADIĆ, St Sava and the Death of the Local Ruler Strez, in: Saint Sava in Serbian History and Tradi-
tion, S. ĆIRKOVIĆ (ed.), Belgrade, 1998, pp. 51-61.
82 A. KARTSONIS, Anastasis. The Making of an Image, Princeton, 1986.
83 R.M. JENSEN, Understanding Early Christian Art, Routledge, 2000, pp. 156-182.
84 SAINT EPHRAEM, Hymns on Paradise, S. P. BROCK (ed.), St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1990, pp. 45-72; Ch. BUCK, Para-
dise and Paradigm: key symbols in Persian Christianity and the Bahái Faith, SUNY Press, 1999, pp. 100-110; A. GOLITZIN,
Recovering the “Glory of Adam”: ”Divine Light” Traditions in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Ascetical Literature of
Fourth-Century Syro-Mesopotamia, in: The Dead Sea Scrolls as Background to Postbiblical Judaism & Early Christian-
ity, Papers from an International Conference at St. Andrews in 2001, J.R. DAVILA (ed.), Brill, 2003, pp. 275-308; R.M.
JENSEN, The Fall and Rise of Adam and Eve in Early Christian Art and Literature, in: Interpreting Christian Art: reflections
on Christian art, H.J. HORNIK, M.C. PARSONS (eds.), Mercer University Press, 2003, pp. 25-52; W.N. WILDER, Illumination
and Investiture: The Royal Significance of the Tree of Wisdom in Genesis 3, in: Westminster Theological Journal, 68, Phila-
delphia, 2006, pp. 51-69; G. BARTHOLEYNS, Naissance d’une culture des apparences. Le vêtement en Occident XIIIe-XIVe
siècle, Thèse de doctorat, Université libre de Bruxelles, 2008, pp. 125-154.
85 The Homilies of S. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, on the Gospel of St Matthew, Tome 3, John Herring
Publishing, 1851, p. 1017. For survey of the sources, see: SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, Catena aurea: Commentary on Four
Gospels. Tome 4, Part 2, J.H. PARKER (ed.), Oxford, 1845, pp. 580-583; Y.C. ELOWSKY, Ancient Christian Commentary on
Scripture. New Testament. John 11-21., InterVarsity Press, 2007, pp. 313-315; E. FERGUSON, Baptism in the Early Church:
History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2009, p. 715.
86 THEODORET OF CYRUS, Haereticarum Fabularum Compendium, 5:18, in: PG 83:512; SAINT CHRYSOSTOME, On the
Priesthood, in: Ascetic Treatises, Ressinger Publishers, 2009, pp. 179, 262.
87 Z. GAVRILOVIĆ, Discs Held by Angels in the Anastasis at Dečani, in: Byzantine East, Latin West: Art Historical Studies in
Honor of Kurt Weitzmann, Ch. MOSS, K. KIEFER (eds.), Princeton, 1995, pp. 225-230.
88 V.R. PETKOVIĆ, Đ. BOŠKOVIĆ, Manastir Dečani, II, Beograd, 1941, T. CCXXXII; M. MARKOVIĆ, The Cycle of Christ’s Public
Ministry, in: Mural Painting of Monastery of Dečani. Material and Studies, pp. 142-143 (with bibliography); B. TODIĆ, M.
ČANAK-MEDIĆ, op. cit., pp. 383-384.
89 V. R. PETKOVIĆ, Đ. BOŠKOVIĆ, op. cit., figs. CXCV, CCXXXII.
90 Ibid., fig. CCXXX.
91 A. GOLITZIN, On the Mystical Life: the Church and the last things, St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1995, pp. 60-63.
92 B. TODIĆ, op. cit., 1995, pp. 91-94.
93 M. MARKOVIĆ, op. cit., pp. 141-142 (with bibliography); B. TODIĆ, M. ČANAK-MEDIĆ, op. cit., p. 383.
 Cvetković, The Living (and the) Dead

94 V. R. PETKOVIĆ, Đ. BOŠKOVIĆ, op. cit., fig. CCXXXI.

95 Ibid., fig. CCXXXIV.
96 For iconography of the Resurection, see : J. RADOVANOVIĆ, Les représentations rares de la Descente du Christ au Limbes
dans la peinture serbe du XIVe siècle, in: Zographe, 8, 1977, pp. 34-47; A. KARTSONIS, op. cit., pp. 12, 60, et passim (s.v.
anonymous dead, “The Just”).
97 S. DER NERSESSIAN, Two Slavonic Parallels of the Greek Tetraevangelium: Paris. gr. 74, in: The Art Bulletin, 9/3, New York,
1927, p. 240, fig. 17; B. MILJKOVIĆ L’illustration de la deuxième homélie pascale de Grégoire de Théologien, in: Zbornik
radova Vizantološkog instituta, XLI, Beograd, 2004, pp. 108, 110; A. KARTSONIS, op. cit., pp. 157-158, fig. 56.
98 V.J. DJURIĆ, op. cit., 1991, p. 31, fig. 10; D. POPOVIĆ, op. cit., 1992, pp. 74-75. For casting lots and for the resurrected,
see : G. MILLET, Recherches sur l’iconographie de l’évangile aux XIVe, XVe, et XVIe siècle d’après les monuments de Mistra, de
la Macédoine et du Mont Athos, Paris, 1916, pp. 425, 441; 433, 448.
99 B. CVETKOVIC, Semantics and Ornament: An Essay in Methodology of Research of Medieval Decoration, in: Art Studies
Quarterly, 3, Sofia, 2009, pp. 3-9, 62-63; idem, On Function of Ornament in a Sacral Context, in: Kruševački zbornik,
Kruševac, 2009, pp. 35-65.
100 H. KESSLER, Gazing at the Future: The Parousia Miniature in Vatican Cod. gr. 699, in: Spiritual Seeing. Picturing God’s
Invisibility in Medieval Art, Philadelphia, 2000, pp. 88-103, figs. 5.4, 5.7, III, IVa. Also, see: L. BRUBAKER, The Christian
Topography (Vat. gr. 699) revisited: image, text and conflict in ninth-century Byzantium, in: Byzantine Style, Religion and
Civilization: In Honour of Sir Steven Runciman, E.M. JEFFREYS (ed.), Cambridge, 2006, pp.3–24 (with bibliography).
101 On this discovery, see: M. STANOJLOVIĆ, Slikarsko-konzervatorski radovi na delu živopisa Vaznesenjske crkve manastira
Mileševe, in: Glasnik Društva konzervatora Srbije, 26, Beograd, 2002, pp. 96-101.
102 On this, see discussion in: A. KARTSONIS, op. cit., pp. 157-158.
103 M. STANOJLOVIĆ, op. cit., figs. 5, 12.
104 I. SPATHARAKIS, The Portrait in Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts, Leiden, 1976, 61-67, figs. 29, 31, 33, 36; D. MOURIKI, The
Mosaics of Nea Moni on Chios, I-II, Athens, 1985, pp. 136-138, figs. 48, 189; E. DIMITROVA, The Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexan-
der, London, 1994, pp. 36-41, figs. 31-33, 58; Trésors de Byzance. Manuscrits grecs de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, Pa-
ris, 2001, p. 15, fig. 23; S. PEJIĆ, Pustinja Monastery, Beograd, 2002, pp. 79-80, fig. 50; B. CVETKOVIĆ, Towards the Research
of the “Disgusied Portrait” in Medieval Painting, in: Kruševački zbornik, 11, Kruševac, 2005, pp. 91-110, esp. 94-95, fig. 2.
105 A. GRABAR, Sculptures byzantines du Moyen âge (XIe – XIVe siècle), II, Paris, 1976, pp. 144-145, figs. CXXI, a, b (with biblio-
graphy); Th. PAZARAS, op. cit., pp. 42, 79-80, 90-91, 170-172, 174-175, figs. 36-37; M.G. PARANI, Reconstructing the rea-
lity of images: Byzantine material culture and religious iconography (11th-15th centuries), Brill, 2003, p. 324; S.T. BROOKS,
op. cit., 2004, pp. 94-95, 98-100, figs. 4.1, 4.7.
106 B. CVETKOVIĆ, The Investiture Relief in Arta, Epiros, in: Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta, XXXIII, Beograd, 1994, pp.
103-114; D. VOJVODIĆ, Portraits des despotes serbes en qualité de souverains, in: Resava Monastery. Its History and Art, V.
J. DJURIĆ (ed.), Despotovac, 1995, p. 87, n. 89; A-M. TALBOT, Life of St. Theodora of Arta, in: Holy Women of Byzantium.
Ten Saints’ Lives in English Translation, A-M. TALBOT (ed.), Washington D.C., 1996, p. 333, n. 53; V.N. PAPADOPOULOU,
Byzantine Arta and its Monuments, Athens, 2007, pp. 51, 163; P. VOCOTOPOULOS, Art in Epiros in the Thirteenth Century,
in: Byzantine Art in the Aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, P. VOCOTOPOULOS (ed.), Athens, 2007, pp. 54, 61, n. 40.
107 I. DUJČEV, op. cit., fig. 69, fol. 205 recto.
108 E. BAKALOVA, Ktitorskite portreti na car Ivan Aleksandr kato izraz na politicheskata i religioznata ideologia na epohata, in:
Art Studies Quarterly, 4, Sofia, 1985, pp. 47-48.
109 B. CVETKOVIĆ, The Esphigmenou Chrysobull of Despot Djuradj Branković: Fantastic Architecture, Žiča, Esphigmenou or
the Celestial Dwellings?, in: Simmeikta. Institute of Art History, I. STEVOVIĆ (ed.), Belgrade, (forthcoming). Also, see: The
Esphigmenou Charter of Despot Djuradj, P. IVIĆ, V. J. DJURIĆ, S. ĆIRKOVIĆ (eds.), Beograd - Smederevo, 1989.
110 G. PEERS, Saint Macarius and a Cherub, in: Holy Image, Hallowed Ground. Icons from Sinai, R.S. NELSON, K.M. COLLINS
(eds.), Los Angeles, 2006, pp. 236-237.
111 Also, see: S. TODA, The Ethiopic Version of the Life of Saint Macarius the Egyptian and Its Arabic Model, in: Hitotsubashi
Journal of Arts and Sciences, 48, Tokyo, 2007, pp. 23-42.
112 N. THIERRY, Portraits funéraires inédits de deux officiers byzantins morts au combat sur les frontières de la Cappadoce.
Etude préliminaire, in: DChAE, 30, Athens, 2009, pp. 169-176.
IKON, 4-2011

113 C. JOLIVET-LÉVY, Les cavaliers de Karbala, in: Zographe, 33, Belgrade, 2009, pp. 19-30.
114 G. BABIĆ, Les insignes de souverain du Prince Lazar, in: Le Prince Lazar. Symposium de Kruševac 1971, I. BOŽIĆ, V.J. DJU-
RIĆ (eds.), Beograd, 1975, pp. 65-79. On the church and the portraits, see now : B. POPOVIĆ, Attire and Insignia of the
Serbian Nobility, II, MA diss, University of Belgrade, 2006, pp. 62-63, 96, fig. 35; T. STARODUBCEV, Serbian Wall Paintings
at the Time of Lazarević and Branković Dynasties (1375-1459), II, Ph.D diss., University of Belgrade, 2007, pp. 5-8.
115 V.R. PETKOVIĆ, op. cit., 1955, pp. 48-49, fig. 7. For the analogous portrait of a boy with the burning candle, see : G.
GEROV, A. KIRIN, New Data on the Fourteenth-Century Mural Paintings in the Church of Sveti Nikola (St. Nicholas) in Kalo-
tina, in: Zographe, 23, pp. 51-64, figs. 7, 14.
116 V.R. PETKOVIĆ, op. cit., 1955, pp. 48-49, figs. 8, 8a.
117 B. CVETKOVIĆ, op. cit., 2002, pp. 53-54, fig. 6.
118 On holy warriors, see: Ch. WALTER, The Warrior Saints in Byzantine Art and Tradition, Ashgate, 2003.
119 E.A. ZACHARIADOU, Les nouvelles armes de Saint Dèmètrius, in: Eupsychia. Mélanges offerts à Hélène Ahrweiler, II, Paris,
1998, pp. 687-693.
120 V.R. PETKOVIĆ, La peinture serbe du Moyen âge, II, Beograd, 1934, p. 60, fig. CLXXXIV.
121 Martyr, in: ODB 2, p. 1308.
122 R. MIHALJČIĆ, Kosovska bitka, in: Istorija srpskog naroda, II, Beograd, 1982, pp. 36-46; J. KALIĆ, Les Serbes au bas Moyen
âge, Beograd, 1994, pp. 46-53; S. ĆIRKOVIĆ, The Serbs, Blackwell Publishing, 2004, pp. 82-87.
Cvetković, The Living (and the) Dead