4457213-BYZANTINE-AESTHETICSBYCHKOV-VICTOR.pdf

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BYZANTINE AESTHETICS

(BYCHKOV VICTOR)

[ Enciclopedia of Aesthetics, ed. M.Kelly. Vol.1. N.Y.-Oxford, 1998. Pp.

321-323 ]

BYZANTINE AESTHETICS-- one of the trends in medieval aesthetics

that has been formed within the Greek-speaking culture of Byzantium (4-

15th c.). It is based on the aesthetic ideas of Antiquity (first of all,

Neoplatonism) and early Patristics. Early Patristics, in fact, rejects the

majority of aesthetic values of the ancient (pagan) world -- the so-called

"aesthetics of negation" -- and focuses around spiritual beauty and the

ideas of Christian symbolism which just start to take root at that time.

B.a. develops in several directions.

1.Patristic aesthetics -- the main theoretical trend in B.a. Its formation starts

already in the pre-Byzantine period (the 2-3rd c. Church Fathers) within the new

Christian ideology on the basis of Graeco-Roman and old Hebrew aesthetics: the

process which is mainly completed towards the 6th c. Substantial contributions to the

development of B.a. are made by Athanasios of Alexandria, Basil the Great, Gregory

of Nyssa, John Chrysostom, and pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. The most

significant categories of Patristic aesthetics are the beautiful, light, image, symbol,

allegory, sign, name, art. The transcendent ideal of B.a. is the incomprehensible and

indescribable God in the antinomical unity of his three hypostaseis. He is the source

of beauty which surpasses all beautiful things. All the universe (material as well as

spiritual) is a system of images, symbols and signs (omens) which point at him and

uplift to him. In particular, all the beautiful things of the material world, including the

hand-made -- light, colour, and the innumerable images of literary, musical, and

(Christian) representational arts -- bring spiritual joy to the perceiver and are,

ultimately, the images (eikon), symbols (symbolon) and signs (semeion) of God andthe heavenly spheres, i.e., the non-conceptual forms of expression of spiritual


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essences. The anonymous Christian Neoplatonist who is active sometime around 500

and enters the history of culture under the name of pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite

develops most fully the concept of the symbol in B.a. in its most general form. He

sees the universe (including social formations) as a hierarchical system of the ascent

(uplifting) of man to God and the conveyance of supreme knowledge from God to

man through the steps of this hierarchy of celestial and terrestrial orders, or taxeis.

According to pseudo-Dionysius, aesthetic elements have an important role in both

processes. The spiritual "uplifting" (anagoge) is accomplished by means of

antinomical "likening" to (homoiosis), and "imitation" of (mimesis), God. As for the

transfer of "knowledge" downwards from above, it happens in the form of

"illuminations," or progressive "light-giving" (photodosia). Symbols, images, signs,

and representations perceived by the senses -- including the sphere of art almost in its

etirety -- are one of the forms of conveyance of spiritual light to a human person. For

his time, pseudo-Dionysius elaborates the theory of symbolism most fully. His treatise

"Symbolic Theology" has not survived until our days, but he gives a rather detailed

account of this theory in other works and letters. Symbols, both natural and artificial,

serve at the same time the purpose of concealing (from the non-initiated) and

revealing truth. Men must learn to "see" and correctly decipher the symbol. Pseudo-

Dionysius distinguishes between the two main categories of symbols: the "like" which

have a certain likeness with the ptototype, and the "unlike," or "unlike likenesses"

(anomoia homoiotes). It is the latter that he esteems most highly, for it is with their

help that the ascent to the spiritual essences is accomplished with greater ease. The

human spirit which perceives the "unlike likenesses" does not stop at their external

form -- as the one that clearly has nothing in common with the object it designates --

but goes on to search for the true prototype. Their main goal is to stir the soul by the

"dissimilarity of representation" as such and direct it towards the perception of

something quite removed from any representation, i.e., supreme spiritual values.

Thus, according to pseudo-Dionysius, who develops the ideas of Philo, Origen, and

Gregory of Nyssa -- his predecessors in the field of allegorical exegesis -- many

sensible and even ugly and obscene phenomena and objects can serve as symbols of

high spirituality. By their own nature, symbols are polysemantic. A complete

comprehension of a symbol causes ineffable pleasure. Pseudo-Dionysius understands

the beautiful in the material world as the symbol of absolute transcendent Beauty,

which , in its turn, is the "cause of consonance and lustre in all that exists." The ideas


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of pseudo-Dionysius have had a significant impact on medieval Christian aesthetics,

both in the East and in the West.

It is the period of iconoclasm (8-9th c.) which sees further development of

Patristic aesthetics: when the theory of the image in representational arts (or the

theory of the icon, see:Icon) is being elaborated in detail, together with several other

related questions on art. John of Damascus, Theodore of Stoudios, Nikephoros

patriarch of Constantinople, and the Fathers of the 7th Ecumenical Council assign a

number of functions to the icon. Their ideas later form the foundation of Orthodox

aesthetics, including the theories of Russian religious thinkers of the beginning of the

20th c. In particular, the icon is understood as a representation of the ideal visible

appearance (the "inner eidos," according to Plotinian terminology) of the prototype.

The process of active formation of Patristic aesthetics, which becomes a certain norm

for the Byzantine -- and even broader Orthodox (including Russian religious

aesthetics, q.v.) -- culture, comes to its completion towards c.850-900. In the

following period (10-14th c.), only the theory of light receives further development

(by Symeon the New Theologian and Gregory Palamas). The discussion of the

problem of "Taboric light" (Christ's transfiguration, or shining, on mount Tabor, cf.

Mth. 17.2, Lc. 9.29) leads Gregory Palamas and his followers to the assertion of the

possibility, in a certain situation, of sensible perception of non-created divine light.

2.Aesthetics of asceticism -- interior and implicit rigoristic aesthetics which is

being formed in the milieu of Byzantine monasticism on the basis of the "aesthetics of

negation" of the early Christians and has an influence on the development of many

aspects of Byzantine culture and church art. The main themes of the aesthetics of

asceticism, which sees its aesthetic object, as a rule, in the inner world of the aestheticsubject himself, are: total rejection of sensual pleasures in favour of spirituality, the

ideal of poverty, the system of special spiritual psycho-physical exercises in

combination with prayer ("intelligent making") which leads to the contemplation of

various visions -- mainly of lustrous character -- and to the state of highest spiritual

delight. The main theorists and practitioners of this aesthetics are monks Makarios the

Egyptian, Neilos of Ankyra, John Klimax, Isaac of Nineveh (Syros), and Symeon the

New Theologian. The aesthetics of asceticism has, on the one hand a clearly

expressed ethical, and on the other -- mystical orientation.


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3.Liturgical aesthetics -- a trend in the late Patristic aesthetics which is mainly

aimed at the comprehension of liturgical action as a mystical wholeness which unites

the believers with God and spiritual orders in the process of liturgy. In particular,

much attention is paid to the elaboration and understanding of the symbolic character

of the ritual, including all artistic elements of church arts. In this context, the symbol

(or liturgical image -- typos) is understood by the late Church Fathers (with particular

consistency by Symeon archbishop of Thessaloniki, 15th c.) as a "real" (more

precisely -- sacred) carrier of divine energy, or the spiritual power of the prototype.

The symbol is seen not only as a semiotic unit, but also as a sacred and ontological

phenomenon which "manifests" in reality its spiritual prototype to the participants of

liturgical action.

4. Numerous descriptions of the works of art -- ekphrasis -- occupy a distinct

place in B.a. Their authors (Eusebius of Caesarea (Pamphilos), Prokopios of

Caesarea, Romanos the Melode, Asterios of Amaseia, Chorikios of Gaza, Nicholas

Mesarites, and others) give a very clear notion of medieval understanding of art, thus

laying the foundations of European art criticism. The most common view among them

is the mimetic understanding of representational art, i.e., considering it a naturalistic

copy of the original which produces a strong impression on the beholder precisely

through its likeness to the material reality (here they continue the ancient traditions of

the interpretation of art). The symbolic understanding of art to them is only of

secondary importance.

5. The trend which aims at imitating Antiquity preserves, throughout the

whole history of Byzantium, the traditions and main notions of the Hellenistic-Roman

aesthetics, with its particular taste for luxury, artistic elaboration, increased

ornamentation, illusionism, and clearly manifested sensuality. This trend is especially

favoured at the Emperor's court, and, starting with c.850-900, finds supporters among

Byzantine historians, philosophers, philologists, novelists, secular poets, and even

well educated urban clergy. The main representatives are: patriarch Photios (9th c.)

who starts to collect, and comment on, ancient texts systematically; Symeon


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Metaphrastes, Michael Psellos, Theodore Prodromos, Theodore Metochites. It is to

this trend that European culture owes the preservation of many ancient texts and their

primary textual and philological analysis.

Bibliography:

Bychkov, Victor V. L'estetica bizantina, Problemi teorici. Bari, 1983.

Bychkov, Victor V. "Die sthetischen Anschauungen des Patriarchen

Nikephoros." Byzantinoslavica T. L. Fasc. 2 (1989): 181-192.

Bychkov, Victor V. "Das Licht geistiger Verklrung, Einblick in die

Lehre Hesychasten." Stimme der Orthodoxie (May / June 1991): 42-46.

Bychkov, Victor V. Malaya istoriya vizantiyskoy estetiki (A Concise

History of Byzantine Aesthetics). Kiev, 1991.

Bychkov, Victor V. AESTHETICA PATRUM, Estetika ottsov tserkvi, vol. 1,

Apologety, Blazhenny Augustin (The Aesthetics of Church Fathers). Moscow, 1995.

Grabar, Andr. Plotin et les origines de l'esthtique mdivale. Paris, 1945.

Hertzman, Evgenij. Vizantijskoe muzykoznanie (Byzantine musicology).

Leningrad, 1988.

Hunger, Herbert. Aspekte der griechischen Rhetorik von Gorgias bis zum

Untergang von Byzanz. Wien, 1972.

Hunger, Herbert. Die hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzantiner. Vols. 1-2,

Mnchen, 1978.

Kitzinger, Ernst. "The Cult of Images in the Age before Iconoclasm."

Dumbarton Oaks Papers 8 (1954): 83-150.


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Ladner, G. "The Concept of the Image in the Greek Fathers and the

Byzantine Iconoclastic Controversy." Dumbarton Oaks Papers 7 (1953):

1-34.

Mango, Cyril A. The Art of the Byzantine Empire, 312-1453. Sources and

Documents. Toronto, 1986.

Mathew, Gervase. Byzantine Aesthetics. London, 1963.

Michelis, Panaiotis A. An Aesthetic Approach to Byzantine Art. London,

1955.

Thmmel, Hans G. Bilderlehre und Bilderstreit: Arbeiten zur

Auseinandersetzung ber die Ikone und ihre Begrndung, vornehmlich im

8. und 9. Jahrhundert. Wrzburg, 1991.

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