The Cult of the Mother of God in Byzantium: Texts and Images

This volume, on the cult of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) in Byzantium, aims to expand and complement the previous volume edited by Maria Vassilaki, Images of the Mother of God: Perceptions of the Theotokos in Byzantium (Ashgate, 2005). The emphasis in our volume is more textual and historical, whereas Vassilaki stresses above all the development and cult of images of the Mother of God in Byzantium.The papers presented here, by an international cast of scholars, consider the development and transformation of the cult of the Theotokos in Byzantium from approximately the fourth through the twelfth centuries. It opens with discussion of the origins of the cult, and its Near Eastern manifestations, including the archaeological site of the Kathisma church in Palestine, which represents the earliest Marian shrine in the Holy Land, and Syriac poetic treatment of the Virgin. The principal focus, however, is on the 8th and 9th centuries in Byzantium, as a critical period when Christian attitudes toward the Virgin and her veneration were transformed. The book re-examines the relationship between icons, relics and the Virgin, asking whether increasing devotion to these holy objects or figures was related in any way. Some contributions consider the location of relics and later, icons, in Constantinople and other centres of Marian devotion; others explore gender issues, such as the significance of the Virgin's feminine qualities, and whether women and men identified with her equally as a holy figure.The aim of this volume will be to build on recent work on the cult of the Virgin Mary in Byzantium and to explore areas that have not yet been studied. The rationale is critical and historical, using literary, artistic, and archaeological sources to evaluate her role in the development of the Byzantine understanding of the ways in which God interacts with creation by means of icons, relics, and the Theotokos.