Page 59 - Uros Todorovic Byzantine Painting Contemporary Eyes

Chapter I
John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word.”45 Also, the meaning of Christ’s words “I am not of this world”46 could be related to the position of Christ’s head within the com- position of this icon. Christ’s head is depicted as almost completely upside-down, which can be understood to mean that He is simultaneously within and beyond space and time. Accordingly, as seen in image 53, if this icon is turned so that Christ’s head looks at the observer in a normal position, the icon becomes positioned entirely upside-down. There are other examples of the theme of the Virgin with child of this particular type. We note the following two, which are most characteristic: a small fresco rendering, also at Chi- landar (inside the church), and a 14th century (double-sided) icon of the Virgin “Pelago- nitisa” at the Monastery of Dečani, in Kosovo and Metochia. The characteristic motif of this type of the icon depicting the Virgin with child, is the head of the Virgin being in empathic motion over the child Christ, and Her sad expression which denotes the future sufferings of her child.
The spiral expansion of form noted above, is also observed in the detail of the scene of The Second Coming at the church of Chora (image 50). In this scene the angel of the Eighth Day seems to be simultaneously unfolding and rolling-up the scroll of time, on which we discern the depiction of the moon, the son, and the stars. Thus, in the act of simultaneous unfolding and rolling-up the scroll, the earthly notion of time is transcend- ed. More specifically, in the realm of time as we know it on earth, the Creation (Uni- verse) appears to begin and thereafter continue its existence from a certain point – which is the basic theory of the “big bang.” However, according to Orthodox theology, Creation does not actually start to exist in the realm of time, because, within the realm of God’s volition, which does not have a beginning and is timeless, Creation has always existed, and therefore it is also timeless and endless. Thus, the manifestation of Creation within the realm of time is simply understood as the manifestation of God’s volition in history – without that meaning that His volition ever underwent a point of changing. To put it simply, although we experience the process of changing throughout the course of histo- ry, in the realm of God’s volition, things always were and are the same. Because of this, according to Orthodox theology, since not only God but Creation too is timeless, the term “timeless” remains as simply one of the many insufficient attributes that man as- cribes to God. In fact, to say that God exists as infinite or timeless, conditions His exist- ence by the notions of space and time. Saint Gregory of Nyssa thus points out the differ- ence between the notion of beginningless and the notion of endless, and he emphasises
45 Gospel according to St John, 1:1.
46 Gospel according to St John, 8:23. The complete verse is: “And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.”
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