Art and Miracle in Medieval Byzantium: The Crypt at Hosios Loukasand its Frescoes (review)Maureen A. Tilley

Journal of Early Christian Studies, Volume 1, Number 1, Spring 1993,pp. 105-106 (Article)

Published by The Johns Hopkins University PressDOI: 10.1353/earl.0.0150

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BOOK REVIEWS 105

Pythagorean basilica underground at Porta Maggiore. Possibly over time Guarduc-ci's theory will be vindicated. More likely, it will remain a theory.

Paul Corby Finney, Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton University

Carolyn L. ConnorArt and Miracle in Medieval Byzantium: The Crypt at HosiosLoukas and its FrescoesPrinceton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1991Pp. xiii + 132 + 100 color and black-and-white plates.$65.00

In 1981 Peter Brown set up a model for the examination of the social function of theveneration of the saints in his masterpiece The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise andFunction in Latin Christianity. Now Carolyn Connor provides an example ofBrown's thesis for the Greek-speaking medieval Christianity. She examines the cultof St. Luke the Younger (d. 953) through the social, political, economic, andmilitary contexts of the art and architecture of the crypt of the Katholikon or GreatChurch of the monastery of Hosios Loukas at Phokis in Greece.

Connor has already explored the life of the holy man in her work (with W.Robert Connor) on his vita, The Life and Miracles of Saint Luke of Steiris: ATranslation and Commentary (Hellenic College Holy Orthodox Press, forthcom-ing). But in this book she takes a step further.

While the mosaics of structure above the crypt in the Katholikon have been thesubject of many studies, the frescoes and furnishings of the crypt have received lessattention. Connor remedies this lack. First she presents the art of the crypt. Here sheis at her best technically and imaginatively. This should be no surprise for hertraining is in the history of art. With the author the readers descend the steps andexamine the crypt. With the help of architectural diagrams and the author's ownphotographs of the interior, the readers stand in the crypt with the tombs of Lukeand of the founders, the abbots Theodosius and Philotheus. Only once the readersare well-oriented are they ready to gaze upward at the frescoes of the vaults. Connorelucidates her catalogue and photographs of the frescoes with an interpretive essayon the style of and program for the selection of the portraits in the frescoes.Apostles, ascetics, and warrior martyrs adorn the vaults. The apostles echo theconventions of the time; the ascetics correspond to the life of the holy monk Luke;the portraits of the warrior martyrs follow The Painter's Manual but also mirror theinterests of the retired military officers who built the crypt and whose portraits aspatrons are enshrined nearby.

The frescoes on the upper walls guide the visitors through the events surroundingthe passion and death of Jesus. The order of the scenes along the walls supports themeditation of those participating in burials in the crypt. The proximity of thecrucifixion and the burial of Jesus to the altar and the scene of the Deesis abovethe altar with the Dormition on the opposite wall lead the contemplative mournersto the theological truth about the death of their earthly companions.

Once the readers have a clear picture of the frescoes and their program, Connor

106 JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES

leaves the world of art and returns her readers to the floor of the crypt to considerarchitecture and liturgy. She thoroughly describes the tombs of Luke and of thefounders, the furnishings of the crypt, the altar and the ossuary vaults for thecenturies of monks who finished their lives at the monastery. Once the readersappreciate their surroundings Connor can discuss the actions which took place inthis decorated space. Since no distinctive liturgical books survive from the period ofthe foundation to tell what happened in this particular space, she uses contempo-rary typika from other nearby monasteries and the Great Euchologium, the ritualeof the East, to describe the burial rites for which the crypt was built. Relying on thevita of Hagios Loukas, she supplements this picture with a recreation of the pil-grimages and of the healing cult at the saint's tomb. She describes incubation,instantaneous cures, and healing which took place only after many months. Themeans of cure included the use of oil from the lamps near the tomb and washingwith the moisture exuded from the tomb, perhaps as condensation. Connor'sintimate familiarity with the vita and her careful handling of historical liturgicaltexts make this portion of the book illuminating reading. The explanatory foot-notes are very helpful for the reader who is less an historian than an artist.

In the final portion of the work, "Context and Patronage," Connor situates thebuilding of the crypt and its decoration in its political, social, and economic andmilitary setting. She identifies the builder patrons of the monastery as military menwho retired to asceticism during the lifetime of the saint himself. With this evidenceand her consideration of the burial society rules of the eleventh century she providesa new dating for the Katholikon and crypt. Against the majority dating in the firsthalf of the eleventh century, Connor argues convincingly for the decade imme-diately after Luke's death. Here her work must be given a mixed review. Given thepaucity of materials dealing directly with the foundation of monastery of HosiosLoukas, she is at a grave disadvantage in constructing the precise situation. Shedoes select material applicable to the time and the general area. But her delicatehandling of the suggestive material vitiates the strong conclusions she makes aboutthe circumstances of the foundation of Hosios Loukas. Still this section includes awealth of information about the various roles played by monastic foundations inthe military, economic and religious lives of their localities.

Practitioners of many disciplines will appreciate this book. Philologists mayquestion why quotations from the same sources appear alternately in Greek andRoman characters. The plates and catalogue of the frescoes are sure to attract arthistorians. Social historians will want to read the latter parts of the book as modelfor the work which can be done with evidence from hagiography and the arts. Inthis respect Art and Miracle in Medieval Byzantium: The Crypt at Hosios Loukasand Its Frescoes will provide methodological food for thought for scholars workingat the edges of previously well-defined and well-segregated disciplines.

Maureen A. Tilley, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida