Β Ι BLIOGHAPIIIE 269

Eflhalia (λ Constantiniimïs, The Wall Paintings of the Panagia Olympiotissa al Elasson in Northern Thessaly. Preface by Prof. Doula Mouriki (Publica- Lions of the Canadian Archaeological Institute at Athens 2). Athens

1992. 29,5 X 22,5. 2 vol. : 401 p. (1), 24 p., Ill plates in colour, 144 plates in black and while (II).

Byzantine art historians have long appreciated the importance of the church of the Panagia Olympiotissa at Elasson. They are fortunate to have now availahle this lavish and exhaustive presentation, the fruit of years of research on the part of the author. Her study begins with two introductory chapters, one a general survey of the monastery and its site (p. 23-43), the other a description of its architecture (p. 45-79, followed by ten plans). She notes that, while Elasson was not an important city in the Byzantine period, it was nevertheless readily accessible from Ohrid and Thessaloniki. She attributes the church to the period when the two sebastocrators Theodore (died 1300) and Constantine (died 1303) dominated Thessaly. She also considers that the surviving Byzantine doors, on which the inscription may be read as 1295/6 or 1304/5, were made specifically for the church, and opts for the earlier date.

After presenting the iconographical layout of the decorative programme (p. 79-84 with three plans), she proceeds to the main part of her study : a detailed analysis of all the surviving Byzantine paintings, accompanied by a wealth of comparative material and bibliography (p. 91-259).

At the top of the tall, narrow cupola the bust of Christ is accompanied by the legend Ο ΩΝ, which is repeated on the halo of the Christ Child in the scene of the Vision of saint Peter of Alexandria and again on Christ's halo in the illustration to Oikos 17 of the Acathistos. This is one of the earliest examples of the use of this legend, which later would become commonplace on portraits of Christ. Below the angels who sustain the medallion with Christ's portrait, others, in imperial dress, four of whom carry candles, converge on a throne ; upon it are placed relics of Christ's Passion including, exceptionally, the Seamless Robe. The Acathistos cycle in this church is the earliest one to have survived.

While the author's description of these pictures, as of the others — the biographical cycle of Christ, the officiating bishops and the portraits of saints — is impeccable, her theological interpretation of the overall programme is in some respects controversial. She sets it in the tense polemical climate of the Byzantine Church after the Second Council of Lyon, detecting the influence of Ilesychasm which inspired an affirmation of orthodox Christological doctrine against the «heresy» of the Filioque. The issue of Hesychasm and its possible influence on Palaeologan iconography is an old one, and too complex to be treated in a short review. See, however, the succinct but balanced appreciation by A. Papadakis, Hesychasm, The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 2, New York/Oxford 1991, p. 923-924.

It is possible, however, to examine briefly the Ghristological elements of the programme of the Olympiotissa which seem to be original. There is, first, the title ό ών attributed to Christ. This has a respectable lineage, being attested in Patristic texts. Nicephorus Blemmydes gave this title to the monastery which he founded in 1241. J. Munitiz (Nikephoros Blemmydes. Λ Partial Account, Louvain 1988, p. 23116 11?) suggests that the propagation of this title is to be seen in the light of the Christological controversies which had divided Byzantine theologians since the late eleventh century, quite independently of their differences with the Latins. It affirms the uncreated (divine) being of the Son.

Secondly there is the «throne» on which are exposed the relics of Christ's Passion. The author rightly draws attention to the processions of angels towards the Hetoimasia (in which the dove is present) in the cupolas of the Panagia Lou Arakou (dated 1192) and other churches in Cyprus. The peculiarity of the «throne» in the Olympiotissa is that it refers only to Christ. Thanks to the author s excellent photographs, it is now