Did Byzantine Christian Icons Conceal Pagan Gods?

Early Christian icons whitethorn person derived immoderate of their stylistic elements from pagan spiritual portraits, according to immoderate historians. Credit: Ministry of Culture

Religious icons of Christ, the Blessed Mother Mary, and the saints are integral to the spiritual practices of Orthodox Christians. The contented was mostly handed down to modern Christians by the iconographers of the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire.

However, the signifier whitethorn person evolved from earlier pagan spiritual rituals. That the peoples of the past satellite worshipped statues and figures of their gods is good known, but newer grounds suggests that they besides commissioned portraits of their gods to beryllium venerated successful their ain homes, not dissimilar Orthodox Christian icons.

Moreover, during the transitory play betwixt precocious antiquity and the aboriginal Medieval period, pagan worshippers whitethorn person concealed their spiritual practices by commissioning pagan portraits that could beryllium mistaken for Christian icons.

The improvement from pagan portraits to Christian icons

The astir notable proponent of the mentation that Christian icons evolved successful immoderate mode from earlier pagan practices is Thomas Mathews, a Professor successful the History of Art astatine New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. His enactment mostly focuses connected the Byzantine Empire.

Mathews’ viewpoint is that “The corpus of aboriginal Christian icons constitutes a benignant of echo oregon reflector of the corpus of pagan sheet paintings of Roman Egypt, sharing galore of the aforesaid conventions”.

Panel paintings were typically attached to upper-class mummies from Roman Egypt. The benignant of the paintings was naturalistic, often with ample expressive eyes, not wholly dissimilar to aboriginal Christian examples.

A mummy representation discovered successful Faiyum. It was made sometime earlier 300 AD. Credit: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

Panel paintings person been discovered crossed Egypt, particularly successful the past metropolis of Faiyum. However, historiographer Judith Herrin has suggested that the portraiture signifier whitethorn person been acold much wide dispersed crossed the Roman Empire, but the paintings survived amended successful Egypt due to the fact that the adust conditions preserved them.

It was communal crossed the past satellite for the Greeks, Romans, and different peoples, to support shrines to the household gods. These gods were usually venerated with statues oregon statuettes, but during the aboriginal periods of antiquity, families whitethorn person begun to grant their gods with icons painted connected woody panels.

According to Herrin, “Inside backstage homes, the household lares (household gods) were besides venerated; women successful peculiar attended to these successful home shrines and made offerings to the gods. This beardown contented of seeking extortion wrong the location provided a discourse successful which Christian icons gradually replaced past ones.”

The oldest known icon of Christ Pantocrator, 6th-century encaustic icon from Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Mount Sinai. Credit: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

Ancient inspiration?

Mathews argues that depictions of Christian figures connected icons were mostly derived from earlier pagan depictions of their gods, mostly from the Greek, Egyptian, and Roman pantheons.

According to Mathews, iconographic depictions of Christ whitethorn person been based connected paan portraits of the Greek deity Zeus and the Greco-Egyptian deity Sarapis. Icons featuring a clean-shaven Christ whitethorn person been derived from depictions of the Greek deity Apollo.

Mathews besides argues that icons of the Virgin Mary and the babe Jesus were inspired by the pagan Egyptian iconography of Isis with Harpocrates. Similarly, haloed divinities of the past polytheistic religions, peculiarly images of Sobek, whitethorn person influenced aboriginal Christian iconographic schemes, successful which saints and angels are usually depicted with their heads surrounded by halos.

Isis breastfeeding Horus Harpocrates, c. 664 – 332 BC. Credit: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

Hiding successful plain sight

Although definite Roman emperors had brutally repressed Christians, the religion dispersed passim the empire and was gradually accepted. In 313 AD, Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which decriminalized Christianity.

Later, successful 380 AD, emperor Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica, which made Christianity the authoritative religion of the Roman Empire. Just 2 years later, helium outlawed paganism and made definite pagan practices punishable by death.

Following the Theodosian decrees, it became progressively unsafe for pagans to signifier their polytheistic religions. Nevertheless, determination were holdouts and immoderate pagans continued to worship their gods successful secret.

One mode for the pagans to conceal their faith, but inactive support backstage shrines successful their homes, was to committee icons, ostensibly successful the Christian benignant to fool the authorities. If a pagan icon was discovered, they could simply assertion that the icon was of Christ oregon 1 of the saints.

Herrin points retired that “Even arsenic precocious arsenic the 580s, pagans were discovered commissioning icons truthful that they could look to venerate Christ when, successful fact, they were devotees of Apollo.”

Ultimately, this deception did not work. It provoked a bid of trials which resulted successful the condemnation of the Apollo worshippers, who were subsequently enactment to death.

Byzantine and Greek Orthodox icons connected show astatine the Museum of Byzantine Culture successful Thessaloniki. Credit: Alexander Gale