Aesthetics and Theurgy in Byzantium PDF
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Aesthetics and Theurgy in Byzantium Byzantinisches Archiv Begründet von Karl Krumbacher Als Ergänzung zur Byzantinischen Zeitschrift herausgegeben von Albrecht Berger Band 25 De Gruyter Aesthetics and Theurgy in Byzantium Edited by Sergei Mariev and Wiebke-Marie Stock De Gruyter ISBN 978-1-61451-327-8 e-ISBN 978-1-61451-261-5 ISSN 1864-9785 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2013 Walter de Gruyter Inc., Boston/Berlin Printing: Hubert & Co. GmbH und Co. KG, Göttingen ∞ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Acknowledgments The present volume assembles the papers presented at the round table “Aesthetics andTheurgyinByzantium”atthe22ndCongressofByzantineStudies,whichtook placeinSofia,Bulgaria,inAugust2011. In the first place, I would like to express my gratitude to the Association In- ternationale des Études Byzantines (AIEB) and the organizers of the congress for includingthisroundtableintheprogram. IwouldalsoliketothanktheDeutsche ArbeitsgemeinschaftzurFörderungByzantinischerStudien(DAFBS),theInstitute of Byzantine Studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich and the Münchner Universitätsgesellschaft (Verein der Freunde und Förderer der Univer- sität München e.V.) for both academic and financial support they provided. My specialthanksareduetoalltheparticipantsoftheroundtableandthecontributors tothepresentvolume. I owe a debt of gratitude to Prof.Dr.Albrecht Berger both in his capacity as the President of the Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft zur Förderung Byzantinischer Studien (DAFBS), for all the guidance and support he provided in the process of organizingthisroundtable,andastheDirectoroftheseriesByzantinischesArchiv, for accepting the volume into this series. Special thanks are due to Dr.Sabine Vogt, Michiel Klein-Swormink, Florian Ruppenstein, Emily Hough and all the other staff members of the publishing house De Gruyter who have accompanied this book through the publication process with so much dedication and skill. I amespeciallygratefultoDr.PhilipRanceforhisscholarlyexpertisebutalsoforhis exactnessandpatienceincorrectingseveralcontributionsinthepresentvolume. Lastbutnotleast,IwouldliketomentionDr.Wiebke-MarieStock,whogra- ciouslyacceptedmyinvitationnotonlytoco-organizethisroundtableinSofia,but alsotoundertakethearduoustaskofco-editingtheproceedingsafterthecongress. It was through her participation in the work of the round table that the original topic of Aesthetics in Byzantium was enhanced by a ‘theurgic’ perspective, as it wasthankstohereffortasaco-editorthatthevolumehasacquiredsomevaluable contributionsonthissubject. Munich,June2013 SergeiMariev Contents Introduction: Byzantine Aesthetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Sergei Mariev Theurgy and Aesthetics in Dionysios the Areopagite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Wiebke-Marie Stock Nikephoros Chumnos’ Treatise On Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Monica Marchetto Proklos and Plethon on Beauty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Sergei Mariev Toward a self-determined and emotional gaze: Agathias and the icon of the Archangel Michael . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Aglae Pizzone Book and Image in Byzantine Christianity: Polemics or Communication? . . . 105 Barbara Crostini Transcendent Exemplarism and Immanent Realism in the Philosophical Work of John of Damaskos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Alberto del Campo Echevarría ‘Fire Walk With Me’: an attempt at an interpretation of Theurgy and its Aesthetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Lutz Bergemann Contribution of Church Slavonic Translations to Understanding of Byzantine Anti-Iconoclast Polemics (The Case of the Letter of the Three Patriarchs to Theophilos) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Dmitry Afinogenov Historical Memory of Byzantine Iconoclasm in the 14th c .: the Case of Nikephoros Gregoras and Philotheos Kokkinos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Lev Lukhovitskij Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Introduction Byzantine Aesthetics SergeiMariev The first comprehensive work dedicated to the history of aesthetics during the MiddleAgeswasB’sÉtudesd’esthétiquemédiévale.1 Eventhoughthismonu- mentalworkwasprecededbyalargenumberofminorstudiesdedicatedtocertain specific issues, it is generally acknowledged that “B’s study established the subjectasalegitimatefieldofinquiryandlaunchedawaveofresearchthatcontin- uestothisday.”2 Some of the most important contributions to the study of medieval aesthetics in the years following this publication were made by A,3 T4 and E.5 This list of major contributions to the subject would be incomplete withoutB.6 1 E.deB.Étudesd’esthétiquemédiévale.Vol.1–3.Brügge,1946.Thisbookisalsoavailable inseveraltranslations: E.deB. TheEstheticsoftheMiddleAges, translatedbyEileenB. Hennessy.NewYork,1969andE.deB.Estudiosdeesteticamedieval.Bibliotecahispanica defilosofia.Madrid,1958. 2 M.C. Aesthetics. In: Handbookofmedievalstudies: terms-methods-trends. Ed.byA. C.2010,1421–1429,1429. 3 R.A. DieTheoriedesSchönenimMittelalter. Köln,1982andR.A. Lacritica d’artenelpensieromedioevale.Milano,1961. 4 W.T. Historiaestetyki. Wrocław,1960–1967. Thisworkisavailableinavariety of translations: W. T. History of aesthetics. The Hague, 1970–1974, W. T- . Geschichte der Ästhetik. Basel, 1979–1986. Cf. also his W. T. Dzieje sze´sciupoj˛e´c: sztuka,pi˛ekno,forma,twórczo´s´c,odtwórczo´s´c,przez˙ycieestetyczne. Warszawa,1975, translatedinto, amongotherlanguages, English: W.T. Ahistoryofsixideas: an essayinaesthetics. TheHague,1980,German: W.T. GeschichtedersechsBegriffe: Kunst, Schönheit, Form, Kreativität, Mimesis, ästhetisches Erlebnis. Frankfurt am Main, 2003, andItalian: W.T. Storiadiseiidee: l’arteilbellolaformalacreativitàl’imitazione l’esperienzaestetica. 5thed.Palermo,2004. Cf. alsoW.T. TheGreatTheoryof BeautyandItsDecline.TheJournalofAestheticsandArtCriticism31.2(1972),165–180. 5 Cf. U. E. Sviluppo dell’estetica medievale. In: Momenti e problemi di storia dell’estetica. Milano,1959,116–229,translatedintoEnglishasU.E. ArtandbeautyintheMiddleAges. NewHaven,1986,cf.alsotheGermantranslationU.E.KunstundSchönheitimMittelalter. Darmstadt,2002.Someofhisotherpublicationsdedicatedtothesubjectincludehisearlywork U.E.IlproblemaesteticoinTommasod’Aquino.Milano,1970. 6 H.U.vonB.Herrlichkeit:einetheologischeÄsthetik.Einsiedeln,1961–1969. Introduction MostoftheseworksarededicatedtothehistoryofaestheticsintheLatinWest and pay very little, if any, attention to Byzantium.7 The only two scholars that havedevotedanentiremonographtothesubjectareM8 andB.9 Taking into consideration that the adjective “aesthetic” was introduced in the 18th century by Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, who used it in reference to a specific kind of knowledge (cognitio sensitiva), which he identified as knowledge ofthebeautiful,andnamed‘aesthetics’thebranchofphilosophywhichconcerned with this sphere, it must be admitted that most of the works mentioned above speakofaestheticsinanextendedsenseoftheword. In an attempt to recapitulate a general sense in which the term aesthetics has been frequently applied to the Middle Ages, or, more broadly, to any period pre- ceding the 18th century, H remarked that the word ‘aesthetics’ in these works “means the theoretical consideration of the phaenomenon ‘beauty’, with or with- out the consideration of the fine arts, including poetry as well as their explicit or implicit self-understanding”.10 This remark not only identifies two main areas of interestonwhichresearchinthehistoryofaestheticshasfocusedinthe20thcen- tury (i.e. on the one hand, metaphysical theory, most frequently the Neoplatonic theoryofbeautyinthebroadsenseofthewordanditsvarioustransformationsina 7 OnlyT,Historyofaesthetics,seen.4,vol.2,1–45dedicatesanentirechapterofhis worktotheByzantineEast. Theotherworkslimitthemselvestomentioningafewprominent Byzantinenames,suchasPs.-DionysiostheAreopagiteorMaximosHomologetes. 8 G.M.ByzantineAesthetics.London,1963. 9 Only a few of Bs books are available in translation, cf. V. V. B. L’Estetica bizantina: problemi teorici. [Galatina], 1983. The most important publications in Russian are:V.V.B.Малаяисториявизантийскойэстетики.Киев,1991andV.V.B. Византийскаяэстетика.Москва,1977. 10 Cf. W.H. GabeseinemittelalterlicheÄsthetikausplatonischerTradition? In: Neuplaton- ismusundÄsthetik: zurTransformationsgeschichtedesSchönen. Ed.byV.OL. Berlin,2007,19–42,19:“WennmantrotzdemvonÄsthetikimMittelaltersprechenwillund auchimmerwiedergesprochenhat,mussmaneinenerweitertenBegriffverwendenundunter ÄsthetikallgemeindietheoretischeBeschäftigungmitdemPhänomendesSchönenverstehen, unterVernachlässigungwieunterEinbeziehungderschönenKünste,einschließlichderDich- tung,sowiederenexplizitemundimplizitemSelbstverständnis.” Hisremarksexplicitlyreferto B,Étudesd’esthétiquemédiévale,seen.1,A,DieTheoriedesSchönenimMittelalter, seen.3andT,Historyofaesthetics,seen.4,vol. II:MedievalAesthetics,butare equallytrueoftheapproachchosenbyM,ByzantineAesthetics,seen.8,whichisinfact an attempt to write a history of Byzantine art while making at the same time references to a varietyoftheoreticaldiscoursesofthetime(theNeoplatonictheoryofthebeautiful,butalso mathematics,coloursymbolismetc.).TheaestheticsofBoperatewithadifferentconcept. Inthepreface,B,Малаяисториявизантийскойэстетики,seen.9definesthe“sphere oftheaesthetical”asthesummaofthenon-utilitarian(‘не утилитарные’)relationsbetween manandtheworldwhichleadtospiritualenjoyment(‘духовное наслаждение’). Obviously suchabroaddefinitionof‘theaesthetical’leadsBtowriteaculturalhistoryofByzantine civilizationwithastrongemphasisonByzantinespirituality.
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