This book offers the first systematic treatment of divine inspiration in the intellectual and artistic production in Byzantium. It is learned, well-researched, and well-written, tracing ideas about divine inspiration from early Christianity to late Byzantium. The approach is interdisciplinary with art history, theology, and philology playing equally important roles in formulating persuasive arguments. The first four chapters deal with divinely inspired texts and their authors, while the last three are dedicated to icons and artists, amongst whom is Christ himself. This review provides only a glimpse into a very complex argument about writing and art production in the Christian East and beyond.
The book begins with a treatment of early representations of the evangelists in relation to Roman and late antique images of intellectuals. Krause notes that the Christian figures, unlike their pagan counterparts, are inevitably represented writing, their texts displayed for the audience to see and read. Commonly, the inspired evangelists are depicted faithfully recording the words given to them from above; their agency is thus limited insofar as they are the mediators in the transmission rather than the sole authors of the Gospels. In the Christian milieu, the interventions of holy figures—whether through the image of Holy Wisdom, Christ, or the hand of God—guarantee the authenticity of the Gospels while singling them out as the containers of divine truths. The evangelists, however, are not random figures; they are both distinguished intellectuals and worthy individuals who are chosen to transmit the word of God.
Krause examines also representations of the Apostle Paul and certain Church fathers such as John Chrysostom and Gregory of Nazianzus. She ushers them into the Byzantine story of divine inspiration, which makes their intellectual legacy into a depository of Christian truths. The author sees visual representations as fundamentally dependent on written evidence—Saint John Chrysostom, for example, is consistently visualized with Saint Paul who, as early as the seventh century, was described in Byzantine sources as the Golden Mouth's main inspiration. The images are even more informative; occasionally, John could take on Paul's facial features— indicating a near collapse of identity and bringing the former into the holy ranks of the Biblical authors (see Figure. 3.1).
Krause looks also into images of inspired emperors and prophets, buttressing her argument that the divinely inspired written word had acquired the status of law in Byzantine church and society.
In the fifth chapter, Professor Krause considers the status of inspirited icons. According to her, Byzantine authors wrote about living icons in order to respond to persistent iconoclast accusations that icons are dead matter. She discusses several Byzantine sources that attest to how certain icons collapse the difference between image and prototype and come to life. This was made possible, according to Krause, because they were imbued with a particular kind of naturalism, which eased the identification of their subject matter with living beings. The agency of gifted painters who, like the evangelists, would have been divinely inspired further allowed for some icons to acquire the status of holy texts.
The last two chapters are dedicated to the quintessential artist—Christ—and the image he created by wiping his face on a towel—the Mandylion. These chapters offer valuable insights into the history and theology of this important icon. The main premise of Krause's argument is that the Mandylion is not concerned with the appearance of Christ but rather with the Incarnation and, more specifically, the relationship between Christ and God the Father. The author argues that there was nothing on the textile as it was imprinted with Christ's divine essence and not with his portrait! This notion had profound repercussions for the Byzantines who, after the transfer of the Mandylion to Constantinople, felt that it should be enclosed and hidden from view in the palatial Pharos chapel. A word of caution: Byzantine sources insist that certain individuals—an imperial candidate and a holy man among them—have seen an outline of Christ's face on the towel. The author is certain that this was not true. However, not only do we need to evaluate this information critically, as she does, but we should also accept that there are ways of seeing that we do not practice anymore but that are equally valid.
This exemplary multifaceted treatment of the theme of divine inspiration in Byzantium should be read and discussed by anyone interested in questions of authenticity. The mechanisms and paradigms established by the Byzantines to promote the truthfulness of certain texts and images can enrich our own understanding of what it means for something to be real.
