Triumph of Orthodoxy icon
Type:
Icons
Date:
Ca. 1400
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Turkey
Dimensions:
39 × 31 × 0.54 cm
Description:
This icon painted around 1400 commemorates the end of Byzantine iconoclasm in 843. At the upper center, the Hodegetria icon of the Theotokos and Christ child is displayed atop its decorative cloth (called a podea). The Byzantines believed that this icon, housed in the Hodegon Monastery in Constantinople, had been painted by St. Luke, one of the four evangelists. The two winged figures who support the icon stand in for its earthly guardians, who also wore distinctive red garments and tall hats when they carried the panel in a procession every Tuesday. By the time this icon was painted, the Hodegetria was considered the protector of Constantinople, credited with saving the city even from attacks that predated the image.
The Hodegetria icon is flanked on one side by Empress Theodora (r. 842–56) and her young son (the future emperor Michael III) and on the other by additional supporters of icon veneration, led by the Byzantine patriarch Methodios (r. 843–47). At Theodora’s behest, Methodios (wearing a cross-covered sakkos) had convened the ecumenical council that decreed an end to iconoclasm on March 11, 843. This “triumph of Orthodoxy” was commemorated thereafter in the Orthodox Church on the first Sunday of Lent.
In the bottom row are more supporters of sacred images. At the far left is the eighth-century saint Theodosia of Constantinople, who intervened in the attempted destruction of an image of Christ and was martyred as a result. In the center, saints Stephen the Younger (d. ca. 765) and Theodore the Stoudite (d. 826), abbot of the Stoudios Monastery, share a portable (circular?) image of Christ.
The Hodegetria icon is flanked on one side by Empress Theodora (r. 842–56) and her young son (the future emperor Michael III) and on the other by additional supporters of icon veneration, led by the Byzantine patriarch Methodios (r. 843–47). At Theodora’s behest, Methodios (wearing a cross-covered sakkos) had convened the ecumenical council that decreed an end to iconoclasm on March 11, 843. This “triumph of Orthodoxy” was commemorated thereafter in the Orthodox Church on the first Sunday of Lent.
In the bottom row are more supporters of sacred images. At the far left is the eighth-century saint Theodosia of Constantinople, who intervened in the attempted destruction of an image of Christ and was martyred as a result. In the center, saints Stephen the Younger (d. ca. 765) and Theodore the Stoudite (d. 826), abbot of the Stoudios Monastery, share a portable (circular?) image of Christ.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
10
Repository and Online Resources:
• Read more about this icon on the British Museum website.
Image Credits:
British Museum
