Icons in black and white

Crucifixion scene with clouds in background. A series of titled photographs by Christopher JL. Ordered according to my own understanding of the chronology of events on that day.

Figure 1: Calvary

Figure 2: Love

Figure 3: "I thirst"

Figure 4: "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit"

Figure 5: Redemption

A late medieval chapel points east

Some notes on this delightful little chapel on Binġemma ridge, overlooking the ancient village of Mġarr, on the northern part of Malta. The photos were taken with my old Blackberry six months ago on the 24th of February 2013:

Figure 1: View of the village of Mġarr in Malta, the 
counterpart to the Mġarr in Gozo (Mġarr is derived from 
the Arabic word meaning "place where things are carried 
from"). 

The original chapel was built around 1600 by a Giovanni Maria Xara on Binġemma ridge overlooking Bronze Age tombs east of the chapel [1].  

This chapel was adorned with a single stone altar, above which was an icon of Our Lady of Constantinople. The annual feast day of Our Lady was celebrated on the third Sunday after Pentecost, the bronze bell calling out to the farmers and herdsmen who lived and worked in the surrounding area. The heirs of Giovanni Maria Xara were obliged to maintain the chapel but it fell into disuse in 1658. In 1680, Giovanni's grandson the Baron Stanislaw Xara who was responsible for the defense of Mdina between 1671 and 1673 (as "Captain of the Rod") decided to further develop the chapel, siting the new building some yards away from the original.

Figure 2: Our Lady of the Way chapel rebuilt by Baron 

Stanislaw Xara around 1680. 

Our Lady of Itria as the chapel is known locally, Itria being the Italianised versiion of Hodegetria (Greek: Ὁδηγήτρια, Russian: Одигитрия) literally: She who shows the Way; is an depicted iconographically as the Blessed Virgin who holds and points to the Child Jesus at her side [1].

Figure 3: Icon of Our Lady of the Way. This beautiful 

Polish example came into the possession of the author's 

family in 1997. 

Several chapels were devoted to the Hodegetria, including the Greek chapel located at the Greek door in Mdina. The Binġemma example is the only chapel to retain the devotion in Malta 1].   

The prototype icon was originally displayed at the Monastery of the Panagia Hodegetria in Constantinople which was built specifically to house it. Unlike most later copies it showed the Blessed Virgin standing full length. It was said to have been brought back from the Holy Land by Eudocia, the Empress of Theodosius II (408-450) and to have been painted by Saint Luke. The icon was double-sided, with a crucifixion on the other side and was "perhaps the most prominent object of veneration in Byzantium [2] [3].

The original icon appears to have been lost, although various traditions claim that it was carried to Russia or Italy. There are a great number of copies of the image,  which have themselves acquired their own status and tradition of copying [3].

The chapel remains a living community served by the ecclesiastical community of St.Agatha in Rabat, a few miles north of Binġemma. 

The Punic burial site only a stone's throw away has been dated to between B.C. 3,800 and 3,600. A Greek cross on one of the tombs suggests that the community living in the area were practicing Christians. As the cross in question is regular in shape (it is not an early Constantinian cross or Chi Rho monogram), it was probably inscribed sometime after the Peace of the Church in A.D. 314 [4].  

The  Peace of the Church is a reference to the period immediately after the Edict of Milan in 313 by the two Augusti, western Roman Emperor Constantine I and his eastern counterpart Licinius, which accorded Christians the liberty to practice their religion without state interference [5].

References 

[1] Kapelli Maltin 

http://www.kappellimaltin.com/html/ta__itria.html 

[2] Vasilakē, Maria. Images of the Mother of God: Perceptions of the Theotokos in Byzantium, p. 196, Ashgate publishing Co, Burlington, Vermont, ISBN 0-7546-3603-8 (accessed via Wikipedia website titled Hodegetria) 

[3] Cormack, Robin (1997). Painting the Soul; Icons, Death Masks and Shrouds. Reaktion Books, London. p. 58 (accessed via Wikipedia website titled Hodegetria).

[4] Buhagiar M (1998). Four new late Roman and Early Byzantine sites on the island of Malta (accessed 24th August 2013)

[5]  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Peace of the Church". Catholic Encyclopedia. 

Icon and motif [part 1]

The dominant motif in the votive art collection of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mellieħa is the Blessed Virgin and Child Jesus "in the clouds of glory". This is true, irrespective of whether the supplicant experienced mortal peril at sea or on land [1] [2].


My firm favourite is the very attractive and unique niche painting of a crowned Blessed Virgin standing atop the crescent moon with serpent beneath her feet, heavenly host in the background. Provenance is attributed to a certain farmer from the village of Naxxar, whose wife and daughter almost perished when the horse drawing their cart in the vicinity of Aħrax tal-Mellieħa suddenly bolted and made for the cliff edge. The farmer prayed to the Blessed Virgin whereupon the horse stopped right at the edge. The painting has been dated to circa 1733. The coat of arms of Grandmaster Manoel de Vilhena (1722-1736) and Bishop De Bussan (1728-1757) are visible at bottom left and right.

The ruins of the original niche were still in situ in the late 1980s but have since been carted away. The painting itself can be viewed in the Sanctuary [3].

Figure 1: Oils on wood.
Niche painting of the
Blessed Virgin.

The end of the 18th Century and start of the 19th was a tumultuous period in Malta. In a span of two years, the island was governed by three different administrations. The ousting of the Knights Hospitallers in 1798 by Napoleon and the subsequent capitulation of the French garrison under General Vaubois two years later, took its toll on civil society. Trade and a sense of normality resumed only after the island was ceded to the British Crown (Article 10 of the Treaty of Amiens laid down the conditions of return to the Order of St John but such were never complied with owing to internal disarray of the Order).

Nonetheless by 1813, the well regulated quarantine system was breached and an epidemic of the plague ensued. More than 3,000 deaths were reported between 4th May and the 19th August, a third of whom were inhabitants of Valletta. The villages of Birkirkara, Qormi and Zebbug were particularly affected but we are told outlying areas such as Gozo and Mellieħa largely escaped [4].

As the votive art from the period suggests, the Blessed Virgin was once again uplifting souls and healing the sick. In Figure 2, a man who appears to be suffering from haematemesis (the vomiting of blood) a symptom of the plague is seen surrounded by caregivers while an intercessor pleads with the Blessed Virgin on his behalf. V.F.G.A. Votum Fecit Gratiam Accepit or Voto Fatto Gratia Avuta tells us that the man survived. Vow Made and Grace Granted [5].

Figure 2:  Oils on wood, circa 1810. An unidentified man 

seriously ill. V.F.G.A tells us he was cured.

In another painting, Anna Lungaro and her relative Giovanni Portelli from Floriana made a pious vow on the 17th August 1813 after Anna discovered two swellings on her left thigh, another classic symptoms of bubonic plague. She survived the ordeal, one of only three to do so out of a hundred and sixty at the hospital (See Figure 3). Giovanni delivered the painting to the Sanctuary on the 26th August 1813.

Figure 3: Oils on wood, 1813. Anna Lungaro survives the 

plague.

References

[1] Definition of motif according to the Oxford Dictionary online: a dominant or recurring idea in an artistic work. Accessed 20th August 2013.

[2] Sixty-three paintings at the Sanctuary have a maritime theme. Twenty-seven are related to various illnesses, three of which are bubonic plague, a further six to accidents on land and fourteen to miscellaneous events. Muscat J., Ex Voto, p. 112, ISBN 978-99932-0-720-7

[3] Muscat J., Ex Voto, p. 7, ISBN 978-99932-0-720-7

[4] Staines P., Essays on Governing Malta (1800 - 1813) pp. 559-608, ISBN 978-99909-0-493-2

[5] Muscat J., Ex Voto, p. 113, ISBN 978-99932-0-720-7

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Orthodox roots [part 1]

The Sanctuary of Our Lady at Mellieħa.

St. Luke was very much on my mind as I set off in the late afternoon yesterday to contemplate anew the wonder of the foremost of Marian shrines for it was St. Luke, who, according to tradition, wrote the icon of the Blessed Virgin and the Child Jesus on the rock face of a cave that is today the altarpiece at the Sanctuary.

Background to the icon

Recent research suggests that the paint visible today and which was uncovered only in 1971, has been dated to the 12th Century. More recent studies point to the 9th Century (circa A.D. 800) [1]. It seems likely that the "first" undocumented restoration of the icon was the work of Augustinian monks who appear to have been present at the Sanctuary from at least the 5th Century, as evidenced by traditional iconography dated to this period.

Augustinians were also present in the 16th Century, when Bishop Tommaso Gargallo commissioned the "second" round of restoration during a pastoral visit on 21st November 1587 [1].

The "third" alteration took place in 1614, when the icon was purposely damaged following a Turkish incursion [3]. The damaged lower part was quickly covered by a silver dress which allowed the holy faces to be venerated. Our Lady is depicted with a broad round face, large dark eyes and small lips, with the child Jesus wrapped in the blue veil of tradition [1].

The authorities have elected to retain the 9th and 12th Century layers due to uncertainty surrounding the state of the older layers. 

Back to the Sanctuary

Saints Paul and Luke established a Christian presence on Malta around A.D. 60 [1]. 

At some point during the three month visit (or perhaps within a reasonable time frame of their departure from the island), the Sanctuary of Our Lady in Mellieha began to serve as a locus of worship for converts. It seems plausible that the Augustinian presence in Malta was ushered in by the consecration of the Sanctuary by visiting Bishops in A.D. 409 (see Figure 1) [1].

The original setting of the Sanctuary is very much in evidence. The sacristy which houses the beautiful votive art (see Figure 2) as well as the outer rooms have been excavated out of solid rock, in what was then the highest point on the hill and which today is 100m above sea level. While the Sanctuary is still very much a living Church, a larger building in baroque style was built over the Sanctuary in the 19th Century to provide for the pastoral needs of the growing population.

Figure 1: The visiting Bishops complete the celestial
backdrop to Rocco Buhagiar's Eternal Father which
overshadow's the Holy Altar and altarpiece.

Figure 2: The museum is home to an impressive array of well documented

votive art, works of art commissioned to commemorate the miraculous

intervention following intercession of the Blessed Virgin. Examples abound,

one of the better known ones include a woman Liberata Calleja, a widow from

Floriana who together with her daughter contracted bubonic plague, a

condition almost always fatal. Following treatment by a Jewish doctor from

nearby Sicily and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, both recovered [3]

Introduction to the iconography of the Sanctuary

The Sanctuary is an excellent example of how ("western") sacred art and traditional ("eastern") iconography can work together to create a sanctified environment suitable for veneration and worship. 

Figure 3: The "first", "second" and 

"third"heavens are represented by 

the three arches, under which hang

the seven "lampstands" (of which

four are visible in this photo). 

One of the first things that one notices in the Sanctuary are the "seven lampstands" reminiscent of the lampstands of the churches in the boom of revelation. In the Sanctuary, for practical reasons they are cast out of silver rather than gold and hang on silver chains beneath the lower third arch (see Figure 3).

The arches themselves are suggestive of the three heavens spoken of by St. Paul [4]. They provide a convenient "separation" between spaces inhabited by the congregation and the special place reserved for the Blessed Virgin. In the Sanctuary, she is shown with the Archangels with whom she appears in holy scripture, that is, with the angels Gabriel [5] and Michael [6] . 

Above these blessed and holy representations we see a statue of the risen and glorified Christ who provides complete access to the first (and highest) heaven. 

In the inner section of the Sanctuary, the Eternal Father by Rocco Buhagiar, (see Figure 1 and 4) overshadows the Holy Altar and the icon of the Blessed Virgin and Child Jesus (see Figure 5). 

Figure 5: The icon of the Blessed

Virgin and the Child Jesus, 

altarpiece at the Sanctuary

Figure 4: The oil on stone Eternal 

Father attributed to Rocco Buhagiar 

(1723 - 1805).

The aesthetic impact of the iconography and sacred art on the spiritual environment is the result of nearly two millennia of consecrated thought. 

A brief theology of icons

What is an icon? According to the teachings of the ancient Church, icons are as much a part of the oral tradition as holy scripture. They were (and remain) one of the primary means by which faith is handed down.

In the words of Russian theologian Vladimir Lossky:

"Icons affirm the possibility of the expression through a material medium of the divine realities (which are) symbol and pledge of our sanctification.  The issue at stake [...] is always the possibility, the manner, or the means of our union with God. 

The same principle lies at the root of the cult of the holy images which express things in themselves invisible and render them present, visible and active. An icon or cross does not exist simply to direct our imagination during our prayers . It is a material centre in which there reposes an energy a divine force, which unites itself to human art ".[7]

Eastern Orthodox priest Father Stephen offers a good explanation of What an Icon is Not:

"An icon does not become other than what it is – but its existence points towards something (or someone) else – and makes them present in a representational manner. The precise theological language of iconic representation is that an icon is a hypostatic representation [....] 

In pointing us towards the Truth, an icon shows us what we might not see otherwise. Thus the icon of a saint, more than mere biography or photography, points us towards the reality of the risen life in Christ. It bears witness to the glorification in Christ of a person." [8]

While neither icons nor sacred art are considered Sacraments, the spaces they define are holy and point to eschatological fulfillment  in the coming age.

References

[1] The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mellieha - Malta,  booklet published by the Church, p. 3-4

[2] Acts 28:1-10. 

[3] Muscat J., (2009) Ex Voto p. 1;27

[4] 2 Corinthians 12:2

[5] Luke 1:19

[6] Revelation 12:7

[7] Lossky V., The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, p.  10; 189

[8] Fr. Stephen Freeman, What an Icon is Not, 18th August 2009