Byron Jack Gaist
27-12-2007, 02:31 PM
Dear all,
Yesterday I had the good fortune to visit a medieval church in the Nicosia district, known as Panagia Asinou (1105/6 AD), a world heritage monument protected by UNESCO (some general photographs may be viewed here: http://campus.belmont.edu/honors/Cyprus/Asinou.html).
It interested me to discover that on one of the colourful walls of this ancient building, there were iconic representations of "earth"(Gr. "Gi") and "sea" (Gr. "Thalassa").
I was particularly struck by the mural icon representing "earth", which consists of a male figure seated on a lion (not St Mamas, and not St Gerasim of Jordan). In his hands this male figure held a serpent by the tail in his left hand, which formed an arc over the man's head. The serpent appeared to be drinking from a cup, which the man was also holding up in his right hand. There were snakes in the rest of the picture (friendly-looking squiggly ones, not the hellish variety which could be seen in other icons of the Last Judgment etc on the other walls), as well as other creatures wild and domesticated. The Bible of course reveals to us that man is God's most precious creation, and He gave man "dominion over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:26).
Unfortunately, the guide in the church couldn’t say very much about this image, other than the obvious fact, written in Byzantine Greek on the image itself, that it is a representation of “earth”; nor does the tourist booklet containing the history of the church do more than mention the image in passing. Yet I am deeply fascinated, because today I discovered that the image of a snake drinking from a cup is a symbol of Hygeia, the ancient Greek goddess of health and daughter of Asclepius; hence this image may also be found adorning pharmacists' shops worldwide. The actual cup which is drawn on the image looked much like a chalice for Holy Communion, but of course that’s stretching things rather wildly. Can it however, be a coincidence that another figure depicted on an adjacent wall of the same church is St Anastasia the “Farmakolytria” (Anastasia the Curer, provider of antidotes to poisons), who is not such a common saint to find on church walls?
The area surrounding the church was inhabited around 1400 B.C. by Greeks from Peloponnesus, the "Asinoi". The church is dedicated to Panagia “Forviotissa”, and it seems that it was the catholicon of a monastic complex (which has since disappeared) known as the monastery of the “forvioi”. Yet the guide also mentioned something about the etymological root of the name “forviotissa” as linked to an herb with therapeutic qualities. All this fires the imagination of course: could the church, for instance, have been built on an ancient Greek pre-Christian site where some sort of healing shrine previously existed?
That’s as much as I can muster from my own brief researches. If anyone knows more about icons of “earth” with snakes drinking from chalices, or about Panagia Forviotissa, I would be very grateful to be informed – I’d rather not just fantasize!
In Christ
Byron
Yesterday I had the good fortune to visit a medieval church in the Nicosia district, known as Panagia Asinou (1105/6 AD), a world heritage monument protected by UNESCO (some general photographs may be viewed here: http://campus.belmont.edu/honors/Cyprus/Asinou.html).
It interested me to discover that on one of the colourful walls of this ancient building, there were iconic representations of "earth"(Gr. "Gi") and "sea" (Gr. "Thalassa").
I was particularly struck by the mural icon representing "earth", which consists of a male figure seated on a lion (not St Mamas, and not St Gerasim of Jordan). In his hands this male figure held a serpent by the tail in his left hand, which formed an arc over the man's head. The serpent appeared to be drinking from a cup, which the man was also holding up in his right hand. There were snakes in the rest of the picture (friendly-looking squiggly ones, not the hellish variety which could be seen in other icons of the Last Judgment etc on the other walls), as well as other creatures wild and domesticated. The Bible of course reveals to us that man is God's most precious creation, and He gave man "dominion over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:26).
Unfortunately, the guide in the church couldn’t say very much about this image, other than the obvious fact, written in Byzantine Greek on the image itself, that it is a representation of “earth”; nor does the tourist booklet containing the history of the church do more than mention the image in passing. Yet I am deeply fascinated, because today I discovered that the image of a snake drinking from a cup is a symbol of Hygeia, the ancient Greek goddess of health and daughter of Asclepius; hence this image may also be found adorning pharmacists' shops worldwide. The actual cup which is drawn on the image looked much like a chalice for Holy Communion, but of course that’s stretching things rather wildly. Can it however, be a coincidence that another figure depicted on an adjacent wall of the same church is St Anastasia the “Farmakolytria” (Anastasia the Curer, provider of antidotes to poisons), who is not such a common saint to find on church walls?
The area surrounding the church was inhabited around 1400 B.C. by Greeks from Peloponnesus, the "Asinoi". The church is dedicated to Panagia “Forviotissa”, and it seems that it was the catholicon of a monastic complex (which has since disappeared) known as the monastery of the “forvioi”. Yet the guide also mentioned something about the etymological root of the name “forviotissa” as linked to an herb with therapeutic qualities. All this fires the imagination of course: could the church, for instance, have been built on an ancient Greek pre-Christian site where some sort of healing shrine previously existed?
That’s as much as I can muster from my own brief researches. If anyone knows more about icons of “earth” with snakes drinking from chalices, or about Panagia Forviotissa, I would be very grateful to be informed – I’d rather not just fantasize!
In Christ
Byron