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“Part of my interest in teaching art history is to help people see the profound, rich, cultural heritage of the Catholic Church and, even in the secular world, to understand how the church really did give rise to great art and architecture and that art can be a wonderful aid for devotion,” she said. “It can also help us learn more about our past, not only as human beings, but as Catholics.”
The Compendium was prepared by a commission of cardinals, led by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), and Avakoff was delighted when he named the use of art in catechesis as one of the book’s three principal characteristics. She noted the range of art included suggests an ecumenical effort to bridge the Eastern and Western church, with his inclusion of Coptic and Byzantine pieces.
In the pope’s introduction to the Compendium, she said, he points out that, in a culture of images, a sacred image can express much more than what can be said in words and be an extremely effective and dynamic way of communicating the Gospel message. This is especially relevant in today’s image-driven culture, she added, where many learn history, even the history of their faith, through movies or television shows.
For the Compendium’s opening artwork, the pope chose a Byzantine icon, The Icon of Christ, by Theophanos of Crete (1546), which depicts Christ the Pantocrator, meaning “ruler over all.” Icons (the Greek word for images) have always been a tradition in the Eastern church and are supposed to draw in the viewer. “Ratzinger uses this (icon) because the Catechism is supposed to draw us into a communion with Christ,” said Avakoff.
In this image, as with all icons, the eyes of the subject engage you and there is a blending of the natural and the symbolic. Typically, icons have no landscape or background pictured and, instead, have a flat, gold background and geometrical shapes. “It doesn’t look like a photograph. You’re not invited into this window into another world,” Avakoff said.
She mentioned that the first ecumenical councils devoted much deliberation to Jesus’ hypostatic union, meaning his being fully God and fully man. They ultimately defined Jesus as truly God from the moment of conception in Mary’s womb, which gave rise to many beautiful works of art, as depicted in icons.
People often refer to the faces in icons as being flat and unnatural, said Avakoff, “but then you ask yourself, ‘Was it their intent to create a naturalistic photographic portrait, or were they trying to create an image of their God?’”
Icons originated from the Egyptian practice of making death masks on wood, and she described these images as being made from pigment mixed with wax for a translucent and very rich effect. “These portraits, these death masks, these ‘mummy portraits’ are likenesses of the loved one,” she said, “who stares out at you from the afterlife or eternity.”
In ancient Egypt, the word for sculptor means “He who keeps the memory alive.” “So it is fitting,” said Avakoff, “that this kind of image, the function of it, was actually translated into the church in the East through the use of icons, the recording of likenesses.”
A movement arose in the eighth century church in the East that sought the destruction of images in churches, in the belief that they were violating God’s laws by promoting idolatry. A false iconoclastic council was held decrying images and denouncing as anathema anyone who attempted to depict “the substance or person of the Word.”
Contributing to this belief was the Islamic culture, which prohibited the use of images, Avakoff noted. In addition, Byzantium at this time was being threatened by the Persians and, in casting about for a reason for their tribulations, the residents decided God was punishing them for their images, so they destroyed them.
However, the Second Council of Nicaea, one of the ecumenical councils, emphatically contradicted this, stating: “We salute the venerable images. We place under anathema those who do not do this. Anathema to them who presume to apply to the venerable images the things said in Holy Scripture about idols.”
Another major iconoclastic movement (one advocating the destruction of icons) occurred at the time of the Protestant Reformation, Avakoff related. Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, held that the elevation of the host at Mass was idolatry and there was a radical removal of images from churches. “If you look at paintings of Protestant churches in the 16th century,” Avakoff said, “you will see no images. The only image he allowed was the Last Supper. And he said that that would be fitting for an altar because it didn’t smack of sacrifice.” She noted that for Catholics, there is always a crucifix to remind it is Calvary “re-presented” each and every Mass.
The Second Council of Nicaea stated, “The honor paid to sacred images is a respectful veneration, not the adoration due to God alone.” The words “veneration,” “honor” and “adoration” came up for much discussion during the council, with the final consensus being that adoration was to be given to God alone, while veneration or honor was due the saints and the most honor was to be given Mary.
Since an icon is a prototype that brings you to the person portrayed, the council approved their veneration, noting that since “the veneration of sacred images is based on the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word of God, it is not contrary to the first commandment.”
The early councils’ declaration that Christ was fully both God and man, even in Mary’s womb, meant that she could be called the Mother of God, hence the Greek title Theotokos, or “God-bearer.” “She’s the ark of the New Covenant,” said Avakoff, who illustrated this by showing an early image of Mary. In this icon Mary looks out at the viewer while holding the infant Jesus, who clasps the book of the Gospel and looks at her as he blesses those she gazes out at.
Here, Avakoff pointed out, Jesus is shown as the Emmanuel or “God among us,” a re-assertion of the Incarnation. Mary’s sorrowful look in the icon, she said, is a foreshadowing of Jesus’ death, something more fully expressed in an icon shown of Mary presenting Jesus to Simeon at the temple and culminating later in the Pieta.
An image of Mary is used to announce the section “Man’s Vocation: Life in the Spirit,” in the Compendium, and Avakoff noted this is because Mary is not only a model for us but, like us, is fully human. She is often pictured in the apse (the curved center behind the altar) in Eastern churches, serving symbolically as the altar for Christ and the “throne of wisdom.”
To introduce “The Profession of Faith” in the Compendium, Pope Benedict chose an Italian Renaissance altarpiece, Adoration of the Magi by Gentile Da Fabiano, saying this work “portrays the revelation of Jesus to all peoples.” The connection here with the Mass, Avakoff observed, can be found in the Magi’s gifts, with frankincense and myrrh being used today in the censers during the Mass and chalices being made of gold.
Speaking of this scene’s use in other churches as well, she noted it serves as a homily on Scripture — “not just the literal interpretation of the three Magi coming to visit Jesus, but its deeper symbolic significance.”
Pope Benedict’s choice for the beginning of Section One of the Compendium is an image of the six days of creation from an illuminated Bible, something frequently pictured in such Bibles. This, said Avakoff, is because the story of creation embodies God’s plan for human beings, as well as the promise of a redeemer and of a “new Adam and Eve.”
To elaborate on this imagery, she showed scenes of the creation from the Sistine Chapel, noting that the Book of Genesis is depicted in the center of the ceiling, with the creation of Eve at the exact center. She pointed out that this is more than a mere retelling of a Bible story, but has a deeper spiritual or allegorical meaning, with Mary symbolizing the church and serving as the “new Eve.”
There is much detail and imagery in Michelangelo’s depiction of Genesis, and Avakoff noted its trinitarian image, with God the Father pointing to Adam, who foreshadows Jesus, and the Holy Spirit being the exchange of love between God the Father and God the Son. “So that God is a communion of persons,” she said, “eternally exchanging love.”
Avakoff observed that there is almost an image of Christ on the cross seen in Michelangelo’s Adam clinging in sleep to a dead tree in the scene of Eve’s creation. Eve here symbolizes the church, being born from the side of Christ on the Cross. Avakoff displayed a more literal depiction of this in a detail from a medieval manuscript in which a little “Ecclesia” is seen coming out of Christ’s side. The birth symbols of water and blood represent baptism and Eucharist.
An image of the Annunciation by Fra Angelico was used by Avakoff to again illustrate this prefiguring of the coming of a “new Adam and Eve,” with parallels drawn between depiction of the angel casting Adam and Eve out of paradise and that of the angel appearing to Mary (the new Eve) at the Annunciation, who bears in her womb Jesus (the new Adam). |