Aural Architecture in Byzantium: Music, Acoustics, and Ritual by Pentcheva Bissera;

Author:Pentcheva, Bissera;
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Routledge

6 Transfigured

Mosaic and liturgy at Nea Moni

Lora Webb

The Transfiguration mosaic in the southwest corner of the eleventh-century katholikon, or main church, of the monastery of Nea Moni, on Chios, Greece, invites its viewer to Mount Tabor (Figure 6.1). In an area of striking blue, the figure of Christ curves in and up toward the apex of the space, following the shape of the conch in which the tesserae were set. His divinity is made visible to his apostles, though the damage of centuries has clouded his face to us. To either side of Christ we see the Old Testament prophets Elijah and Moses, while at his feet Peter, John, and James gesture toward the miracle taking place above their heads. The forms of the three apostles follow the outline of the blue circle, which reads like a void in the golden field of mosaic, adding greater depth to the already curved image. We could read the large blue mandorla as a receding space—like a portal opening up to the heavens—and it appears that Christ is pulled upward through this opening. However, at the same time as the mosaic opens up and away, the golden beams crisscrossing the blue catch Christ and push him forward. We might, then, see Christ in front of the blue and coming toward us. The layering of the pictorial elements makes it unclear whether Christ is receding or advancing. At one moment he seems to be floating up into the void and at another he appears to come out and into the space of the church; the mind toggles back and forth between the two. Thanks to the arrangement of the shimmering mosaic, Christ looks as he must have to the apostles on the mountain—at once stunningly, unspeakably divine but also close to the earth and nearly tangible.

Figure 6.1

Transfiguration, Nea Moni, Chios, eleventh century.

From Doula Mouriki, The Mosaics of Nea Moni on Chios, 2 Vols. (Athens: Commercial Bank of Greece, 1985, 2: pl. 24) © Photographic Archive of Alpha Bank Publication.

The walls of Nea Moni were richly decorated with mosaic scenes of Christ’s life, saints, and angels. The Transfiguration comes about halfway through the life of Christ cycle that adorns the eight conches of the naos.1 These conches are the lowest level of mosaic decoration, placed just above the marble-covered walls where the architecture starts to round, turning inward and upward toward the now-reconstructed dome. Though the mosaics are studied in their own right as dazzling and rare examples of eleventh-century Byzantine monumental art, they were once only one part of a vibrant monastic community. In the main body of the church, the mosaics were originally experienced as a part of the daily offices. They are the sole tangible survivors of the ephemeral ritual life of the monastery. Just how the Transfiguration and the liturgy worked together is the subject of this paper.

In an attempt to grasp the vital experience of Nea Moni, I focus on one mosaic— the Transfiguration—and one liturgical day—August 6, the Feast of the Transfiguration.

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