Lavishly illustrated and meticulously researched, Icons and Power examines the development of the cult of the Virgin Mary as it was linked to icons in Constantinople from the fifth through the thirteenth centuries. Based on an examination of a broad range of sources that include imperial seals, homilies, hymns, and monumental painting, the book traces the rise and establishment of the public cult of Mary in Constantinople in two sections. The first section explores the relationship between Mary and ideas related to imperial power and empire. It reexamines such well-known products of and stimuli for Marian devotion as the Akathistos hymn, the image of Maria Regina, the Avar siege in 626, and the historical and legendary narratives associated with these and other Marian-related phenomena. According to Pentcheva, while Mary's central role in the civic culture of Constantinople can be traced through liturgical texts to the late fifth and early sixth centuries, her presence in visual civic culture emerged more gradually, with an icon-centered state cult of the Mother of God becoming fully established only during the tenth and eleventh centuries. Given that military triumphs provided an impetus for the inclusion of Marian iconic panels in public rituals, Icons and Power situates the notions of virginal motherhood and motherly sacrifice within the military context. The book's second section examines the iconographic types of Marian images and public rituals associated with icons of the Mother of God in the tenth through the twelfth centuries as can be gleaned from sources associated with three of Constantinople's most well-known monasteries—Hodegon, Blachernai, and Pantokrator. In this section, too, Pentcheva emphasizes the post-iconoclastic development of much of what icon-related stories and legends have dated to an earlier period, such as the account that Empress Eudokia sent the original Hodegetria icon to her sister-in-law, Pulcheria, from Jerusalem in the fifth century. This section reconstructs such well-known practices as the Tuesday procession with the Hodegetria image and the ritual of the “usual miracle” that took place on Fridays at the Blachernai monastery. It also considers the origins and rise to prominence of two of the most well-known Byzantine Marian icon types, the “Hodegetria” and the “Blachernitssa.”
Pentcheva's study questions several aspects of standard historical accounts of Marian devotion in Byzantium. It maintains, for instance, that iconically focused public displays of Marian devotion emerged in Constantinople only after iconoclasm. Unlike in Rome, public civic rituals in Constantinople were initially relic-based. According to Pentcheva, there is little evidence that icons of the Mother of God were carried in public processions in Constantinople before the second half of the tenth century. In part, Pentcheva claims, this was because icons before this time were not associated with the notions of personal presence in the same way relics had been and therefore lacked “popular perception of them as transparent conduits to the divine” (59). Very broad with far-reaching implications for the history of icons, this claim might have been better substantiated or at least better qualified. In addition, Pentcheva shifts the history of Byzantine Marian devotion away from Pulcheria, elder sister of the Emperor Theodosius II, whom historians frequently credit with inspiring the imperial cult of the Mother of God during the Christological controversies in the first half of the fifth century. Instead, the book focuses on the role of Emperor Leo I (457–474) and the subsequent Isaurian and Macedonian dynasties in shaping the collective public expression of Marian iconic devotion in the capital of the Byzantine empire.
Icons and Power is an ambitious project, the results of which are a welcome and significant addition not only to the study of Byzantine culture and society, but more broadly to Marian studies as a whole. The book brings much-needed contour to the study of the image of Mary in the Byzantine east. For those used to associating Mary in Byzantium primarily with the Christological controversies and with a rich, though somewhat nebulous, iconic heritage, Pentcheva's study brings added perspective by focusing more on ritual and practice in its reconsideration of the history of imperial involvement in the shaping of Constantinople's cult of Mary. Although not entirely ignoring the Christological dimension of Marian devotion, the book's bracketing of that dimension is both a strength and weakness. While it allows readers to appreciate more fully the processes by which Mary and her icons became so closely associated with notions of military might and empire, it sheds little light on the concurrent Christological features of the resulting political theology, features that might in fact have significant implications for the interpretation of Mary's role in that theological worldview. Finally, undoubtedly because of limitations with regard to available sources, Icons and Power engages the broad fields of ritual, devotion, and visual culture somewhat one-dimensionally. It is a study that views the development of the Marian cult from the top down with little discussion of the role that more common believers may have played in either promoting or thwarting its evolution. Similarly, there is little consideration of private iconic devotions and their role in and relationship to the emergence of the public civic processions and rituals involving icons of Mary. Despite these caveats, those interested in the history of Mary and in Byzantine culture and society will have much to cull from this engaging and important new study.
