Oksident (Jun 2023)
Bizans İkonoklazm Tartışması (726-843) ve Ayasofya: Tasvir İhtilafının Mabedin Tezyinatına Etkisi/yzantine Iconoclastic Controversy (726-843) and the Hagia Sophia: The Impact of the Controversy of Images on the Ornaments of the Church
Abstract
When the Byzantine Emperor Justinian inaugurated the Church of Hagia Sophia in 537 AD, mosaic icons did not exist. Instead, Justinian’s program included non-figurative and abstract decorative motifs and lots of crosses. The first appearance of the mosaic icons was dated to the late ninth century, after the final victory of the Iconodule theology in 843. The Orthodox church doctrine venerates icons as an object of worship in both public and private devotion. This doctrine mainly resulted from the Iconoclastic Controversy (726-843). It was a doctrinal controversy over the legitimacy of the employment of the pictures of Christ, Mary, and other holy people in worship in Christianity. The controversy took place mainly in Constantinople, where Hagia Sophia stood as the largest church of the entire empire. Therefore, the church witnessed the controversy as its outcome found its place on her walls and ceilings. In other words, when the traditional Iconoclastic view was dominant in the church, Hagia Sophia’s decorations included only non-figurative motifs and crosses. In contrast, icons began to appear in the Hagia Sophia after the vindication of Iconodulism as the official doctrine of the church. The purpose of this essay is to shed some light, with the help of modern studies, on the Iconoclastic and Iconodule theologies underlying these two kinds of alternative decorations. In this context, we will refer to Horos of the Iconoclastic Council of Hiereia in 754 for the Iconoclastic theology, and to the theological writings of John of Damascus for the Iconodule theology. By doing this, we will show how these alternative theological standpoints translated into the walls and ceilings of the Hagia Sophia.
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