FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134  
135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   >>   >|  
e, topon apokismenon kai hesychon].[194] Furthermore, the monastery of Lips borrowed its name from its founder or restorer, Constantine Lips;[196] and in harmony with that fact we find on the apse of one of the two churches which combine to form Phenere Isa Mesjedi an inscription in honour of a certain Constantine.[197] Unfortunately the inscription is mutilated, and there were many Constantines besides the one surnamed Lips. Still, the presence of the principal name of the builder of the monastery of Lips on a church, which we have also other reasons to believe belonged to that monastery, adds greatly to the cumulative force of the argument in favour of the view that Constantine Lips is the person intended. But, if necessary, the argument can be still further strengthened. The church attached to the monastery of Lips was dedicated to the Theotokos, as may be inferred from the circumstance that the annual state visit of the emperor to that shrine took place on the festival of the Nativity of the Virgin.[198] So likewise was the sanctuary which Phenere Isa Mesjedi represents, for the inscription it bears invokes her blessing upon the building and its builder (Fig. 42). Would that the identity of all the churches in Constantinople could be as strongly established. It remains to add in this connection that while the monastery of Lips and that of the Panachrantos associated with Veccus were different Houses, the churches of both monasteries were dedicated to the Theotokos under the same attribute--Panachrantos, the Immaculate. The invocation inscribed on Phenere Isa Mesjedi addresses the Theotokos by that epithet. But to identify different churches because of the same dedication is only another instance of the liability to allow similarity of names to conceal the difference between things. The distinction thus established between the two monasteries is important not only in the interests of accuracy; it also throws light on the following historical incidents. In 1245 permission was granted for the transference of the relics of S. Philip the Apostle from the church of the Panachrantos to Western Europe. The document authorising that act was signed by the dean of the church and by the treasurer of S. Sophia.[199] The intervention of the latter official becomes more intelligible when we know that the monastery of the Panachrantos stood near S. Sophia, and not, as Paspates maintains, at Phenere Isa Mesjedi. Again, the Patria
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134  
135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
monastery
 

churches

 

Phenere

 
Panachrantos
 

Mesjedi

 

church

 

inscription

 

Theotokos

 

Constantine

 

monasteries


argument

 
dedicated
 

builder

 
Sophia
 
established
 

liability

 

instance

 

connection

 

conceal

 

similarity


remains

 

attribute

 

Veccus

 

Houses

 

Immaculate

 
Patria
 

identify

 

dedication

 

epithet

 

addresses


invocation

 

inscribed

 
accuracy
 

signed

 

Paspates

 

authorising

 

Europe

 

maintains

 

document

 

treasurer


intelligible
 
official
 

intervention

 

Western

 

Apostle

 
throws
 

interests

 
important
 
things
 

distinction