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Nektarios Terpos and the iconographic programme of Ardenica Monastery1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2017

Konstantinos Giakoumis
Konstantinos Giakoumis*
Affiliation:
University of New York Tiranakgiakoumis@unyt.edu.al
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Abstract

This article demonstrates the link between Nektarios Terpos and the decorative programme of Ardenica Monastery, Myzeqe, central Albania. An early eighteenth-century preacher against Islam and conversion to Islam, Terpos emphasized the importance of undergoing suffering, and even death by martyrdom, in the conviction that suffering leads to salvation and glorification, while conversion to Islam to damnation. Terpos was abbot of Ardenica Monastery. The analysis of its decorative programme, which emphasizes salvation and glorification through suffering and passion, in conjunction with the writings of Nektarios Terpos, concludes that he must have been the mastermind behind the inception of the decorative programme of the katholikon.

Keywords

Post-Byzantine paintingconversion to IslamAlbaniaNektarios TerposMyzeqeMouzakiaOttoman studiesOttoman domestic interreligious affairsArdenica Monastery
Type
Articles
Information
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , April 2017 , pp. 81 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham, 2017 

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Footnotes

1

I would like to thank Professor Peter Mackridge and the two anonymous reviewers for helping me sharpen my points and polish my arguments.

References

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18 Glavinas, ‘Η Εκκλησία στην Ήπειρο’, 248–9.

19 From the rich literature regarding Saint Kosmas the Aetolian and his contribution, see Giakoumis, G., Ο Άγιος Κοσμάς και το μοναστήρι στο Κολικόντασι (Marousi 1996)Google Scholar; Glavinas, ‘Η Εκκλησία στην Ήπειρο’, 252–4.

20 Ibid.

21 For the southern branch of the Via Egnatia see Ceka, H., ‘Dega Jugore e Rrugës Egnatia’, Monumentet 2 (1971) 25–32 Google Scholar; Baçe, A., ‘Rrugët Shqiptare në Mesjetë’, Monumentet 1 (1984) 59–65 Google Scholar; cf. Gega, R., ‘Arkitektura dhe Restaurimet në Manastirin ‘Fjetja e Shën Mërisië’ në Ardenicë’, Monumentet 1 (1988) 141 Google Scholar; Mihalçka, S., ‘Piktura e Ardenicës’, Monumentet 48 (2006) 86–101 Google Scholar (87).

22 Tritos, M., ‘Νεκτάριος Τέρπος, ο μοσχοπολίτης διδάσκαλος του γένους’, Ηπειρωτικό Ημερολόγιο 20 (1999) 228–9Google Scholar, n. 7.

23 Bardhyli, ‘Historia e Bibliotekave në Shqipëri’, Ylli i Dritës 1 (1938), 162–9; Kule, N., Rrefimët e Ardenicës (Tirana 1999) 31–43 Google Scholar; Lorenzoni, G., ‘Në Myzeqe’, trans. Çabej, Eqrem, Myzeqeja 4 (May 2006) 28–9Google Scholar; Sinani, S., Kodikët Kronografike të Shqipërisë. Shkrime dhe Dorëshkrime prej Rilindjes Europiane deri në Rilindjen Kombëtare (Tirana 2014) 87 Google Scholar.

24 Cf. Popa, T., Mbishkrime të kishave në Shqipëri, ed. Nepravishta, N. and Gjakumis, K. (Tirana 1998) 96–7Google Scholar (No. 115).

25 This is the date of the firman granting permission to the peasants of Ardenica to rebuild their monastery; Giakoumis, K. and Egro, D., ‘Ottoman pragmatism in domestic inter–religious affairs: the legal framework of church construction in the Ottoman Empire and the 1741 firman of Ardenica Monastery’, Ηπειρωτικά Χρονικά 44 (2010) 103–5Google Scholar; Giakoumis, K., ‘Dialectics of pragmatism in Ottoman domestic interreligious affairs. Reflections on the Ottoman legal framework of church confiscation and construction and a 1741 firman for Ardenica Monastery’, Balkan Studies 47 (2008–12) 110–13Google Scholar.

26 Forestier, S. (ed.), Trésors d'art albanais. Icônes byzantines et post–byzantines du XIIe au XIXe siécle (Nice 1983)Google Scholar No. 45; Nasllazi, K., ‘Mbi veprimtarinë artistike ikonografike të piktorit të fundit të shek. XVII murgut Simon i Ardenicës’, Monumentet 47 (2005) 143–52Google Scholar; Drakopoulou, E., ‘39. The Archangel Michael’, in Tourta, A., Icons from the Orthodox Communities of Albania. Collection of the National Museum of Medieval Art, Korçë (Thessaloniki 2006) 118–19Google Scholar. Symeon was erroneously referred to as Simon in the first two editions and was mistakenly reported as a painter.

27 The register is kept in the Central Archives of the State, Tirana. The relevant note reads: + Καὶ ἀπὸ τὰ ἄνωθεν χίλλια τριακόσια τριάντα πέντε ἄσπρα ἐδώσαμεν εἰς τὴν / Παναγίαν Θ(εοτό)κον τῆς Ἀρδεβούτζας . . . ἄσπρα 300 / ἦγουν τριακόσια (Central Archives of the State, Tirana, F. 149, D. 2, f. 12v).

28 Terpos, Πίστις, 196; cited in Tritos, ‘Τέρπος’, 229 and n. 10.

29 This date was carved on a stone placed in the south wall of the monastery's kitchen: Popa, Mbishkrime, 94 (No. 110); cf. Gega, ‘Arkitektura’, fig. 7 on p. 145, mistakenly read as 1770. This stone cannot be traced today.

30 This date appears in the famous inscription of the Theotokos Ἀρδεύουσα written in Albanian, Greek, Romanian and Latin by Nektarios Terpos: Popa, Mbishkrime, 94–5 (No. 111).

31 Op. cit., 99 (No. 122).

32 Alexoudis, A., Σύντομος ιστορική περιγραφή της Ιεράς Μητροπόλεως Βελεγράδων και της υπό την πνευματικήν αυτής δικαιοδοσίαν υπαγομένης χώρας (Corfu 1868) 74 Google Scholar; Gega, ‘Arkitektura’, 157; Popa, Mbishkrime, 96 (No. 113). Unfortunately, these bells no longer exist in the monastery.

33 Gega, ‘Arkitektura’, 157.

34 Simoni, Z., ‘Kodiku i 98të i Ardenicas’, in Sinani, S. et al. (eds), Kodikët e Shqipërisë (Tiranë 2003) 175–6Google Scholar.

35 Gega, ‘Arkitektura’.

36 The building of new churches in old monasteries was not uncommon; see for instance the case Zograf monastery in Mount Athos: Gradeva, R., ‘Ottoman policy towards Christian church buildings,’ Etudes Balkaniques 4 (1994) 25 Google Scholar.

37 For the contributions of merchants from Voskopoja, see Giakoumis and Egro, ‘Pragmatism’, 96, n. 87 and three other inscriptions on the icons of the katholikon’s iconostasis patronized by the guilds of haberdashers, grocers and coppersmiths: Popa, Mbishkrime, 98–9 (No. 119–120). Such ties with the region around Voskopoja are also indicated in conjunction with the work of the monk Symeon of Ardenica for the church of the Dormition of the Virgin at Vithkuq: see Giakoumis and Egro, ‘Pragmatism’, 97, n. 89. It is worth mentioning that merchants from Voskopoja conducting trade with Venice passed nearby the monastery, which, given that the area was densely forested until the 1940s, must have provided a sense of security. For the protective role of monasteries’ sites in non–rational societies, see Giakoumis, ‘The Monasteries’, 325–7. Trade relations between Voskopoja and Venice can be traced in historical records from the end of the 17th century; this thriving trade lasted until 1761, after which date the trading focus of Voskopojar merchants appears to have totally switched to central Europe through the Balkan North: P. Kilipiris, ‘Μοσχοπολίτες έμποροι στη Βενετία και στις χώρες της Αυστρουγγαρίας (18ος–19ος αιώνας)’, in Διεθνές Συμπόσιο «Μοσχόπολις» (Θεσσαλονίκη, 31 Οκτωβρίου – 1 Νοεμβρίου 1996) (Thessaloniki 1999) 99–102; A. Koltsidas, ‘Οι οικονομικές δραστηριότητες των Μοσχοπολιτών ως παράγοντας διαφωτιστικής και πολιτισμικής μετακένωσης στον Ελληνισμό’, in Διεθνές Συμπόσιο «Μοσχόπολις», 115–16 (the author moves the date of the switch from Venice to Austria–Hungary to 1774, yet, without providing any evidence, other than a 1761 report of the Venetian Consul in Durrës); for an insight into the trading posts of the network, see C. Papastathis, ‘Από την αλληλογραφία Μοσχοπολιτών εμπόρων’, in Διεθνές Συμπόσιο «Μοσχόπολις», 191–6. As a matter of fact, trading relations between Venice and Voskopoja coincided with the dates of the gradual reconstruction of Ardenica monastery. For a more complete overview of Voskopoja, see Konstantakopoulou, A., Η Ελληνική γλώσσα στα Βαλκάνια (1750–1850). Το Τετράγλωσσο Λεξικό του Δανιήλ Μοσχοπολίτη (Ioannina 1988) 16–31 Google Scholar; Peyfuss, M. D., Die Druckerei von Moschopolis, 1731–1769. Buchdruck und Heiligenverehrung im Erzbistum Achrida (Vienna 1996)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Kahl, T., ‘Wurde in Moschopolis auch Bulgarisch gesprochen? Überlegungen zur Slawophonie im Südalbanien des 18. Jahrhunderts’, Probleme de filologie slavă 15 (2008) 484–94Google Scholar.

38 The 18th–century architectural phases of the monastery's reconstruction can be observed through the help of inscriptions placed on monastic buildings and denoting the date of their construction: 1) 1730, date on the south wall of the monastery kitchen: Popa, Mbishkrime, 94 (No. 110); cf. Gega, Arkitektura, fig. 7 on p. 145 and n. 30 above. 2) 1743, date of the inscription on the east wall of Ardenica's katholikon: Popa, Mbishkrime, 96–7 (No. 115). 3) 1744, date of the inscription on the west wall of the katholikon’s naos, above the entrance: op. cit., 97–8 (No. 117). This must have been the progress of the katholikon’s construction at the time that abbot Antonios of Ardenica wrote the letter to ‘all Christians’: Giakoumis and Egro, ‘Pragmatism’, Appendix II. 4) 1754, date of an inscription carved on a stone placed in the first arch of the west colonnade: Popa, Mbishkrime, No. 128, 101. 5) 1777, date of the rebuilding of the monastery's main gate: op. cit., 106 (No. 145). 6) 1778, date of reconstruction of several monastic buildings, as shown in an inscription placed externally on the south wall of the Holy Trinity chapel: op. cit., 106–7 (No. 148).

39 For the 18th–century churches and monasteries in Myzeqe see Thomo, P., Kishat pasbizantine në Shqiperinë e Jugut (Tirana 1998) 206–34Google Scholar.

40 The sultan became involved in the process of repair at the Orthodox Christians’ behest, either because after obtaining a first permit by local authorities they were being prevented from completing the task at hand, or as a matter of procedure: K. A. Leal, ‘The Ottoman State and the Greek Orthodox of Istanbul: Sovereignty and Identity at the Turn of the Eighteenth Century’, Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University, 2003, 253–5. The sultan's order for an investigation for verification purposes was not unusual: cf. Gradeva, ‘Ottoman policy’, 24–5 and n. 63; Leal, ‘Ottoman State’, 252, 258–60 and 252 (n. 35). Nothing in the case of Ardenica's firman indicates that there was a prior ruling from a kadi.

41 St James the Intercisus (the dismembered) or the Persian (known in Greek as St Jacob the Persian); although the saint's vita in the Synaxarion (27 November) does not mention him as a military officer, he is often portrayed and quoted as such. See Corrie, R. W., ‘75. Icon with the Virgin and Child (front) and Saint James the Persian (back)’, in Evans, H. C. and Wixon, W. D. (eds), The Glory of Byzantium. Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era. A.D. 843–1261 (New York 1997) 127–9Google Scholar (128); cf. M. L. Menendez, ‘The leadership of the dead: notes towards a Weberian analysis of charisma in narratives of martyrdom’, in D. Chalcraft, Howell, F., Menendez, M. L. and Vera, H. (eds), Max Weber Matters: Interweaving Past and Present (Furnham and Burlington 2008) 233 Google Scholar.

42 G. Tsigaras, ‘Οι ζωγράφοι Κωνσταντίνος και Αθανάσιος από την Κορυτσά. Το έργο τους στο Άγιον Όρος, 1752–1783’. PhD. diss., Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 1997, 199–205.

43 The iconography of the saint is similar to the same subject encountered at the Skete of the Xenophontos Monastery on Mount Athos and follows late Palaeologan models: Tsigaras, ‘Οι ζωγράφοι’, 192–3 and Figs. 178a.

44 For this local saint, see Alexoudis, Ιστορική περιγραφή, 85–7, 113. For the Nicaenean saint, cf. N. Kastrinakis, ‘Nicaea (Byzantium), Cult of St. Tryphon’, Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=8511>, accessed 6 August 2016.

45 Full analysis of this in Giakoumis, ‘Preparing for martyrdom’. The iconographic programme of the four Athonite monuments in Tsigaras, ‘Οι ζωγράφοι’, 33–42.

46 Popa, Mbishkrime, 96 (No. 114), 98 (No. 119); 98–9 (No. 120).

47 Giakoumis, ‘Preparing for martyrdom’.

48 Hall, J., Illustrated Dictionary of Symbols in Eastern and Western Art (Boulder, CO 1996) 33–4Google Scholar (34).

49 For the variants of the theme, see Giakoumis, ‘Preparing for martyrdom’.

50 Ross, L., Medieval Art: A Topical Dictionary (Westport, CO and London 1996) 57–8Google Scholar.

51 Hall, Illustrated Dictionary, 116–17 (116).

52 For its counterpart in theological texts, see Argyriou, A., ‘Η eλληνική πολεμική και απολογητική γραμματεία έναντι του Ισλάμ κατά τους χρόνους της Τουρκοκρατίας’, Θεολογία 1 (2013) 133–65Google Scholar.

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54 M. Polyviou, ‘Ανέκδοτο συμφωνητικό σχετικά με την αγιογράφηση του καθολικού της Μονής Ξηροποτάμου’, Paper read at the ΣΤ’ Συμπόσιο Βυζαντινής–Μεταβυζαντινής Αρχαιολογίας και Τέχνης, Athens, 23–25 May 1986: Πρόγραμμα και Περιλήψεις Ανακοινώσεων (Athens 1986) 56–7; M. Polyviou, ‘Άλλα αρχειακά στοιχεία με την αγιογράφηση του καθολικού της Μονής Ξηροποτάμου’, Paper read at the Ζ’ Συμπόσιο Βυζαντινής–Μεταβυζαντινής Αρχαιολογίας και Τέχνης, Athens, 24–26 April 1987: Πρόγραμμα και Περιλήψεις Ανακοινώσεων (Athens 1986 [1987?]) 67–8; cf. Tsigaras, ‘Οι ζωγράφοι’, 19–24; Tsimboukis, G. D., Η Αποκάλυψη του Ιωάννη στη μνημειακή ζωγραφική του Αγίου Όρους (Athens 2013) 63–5Google Scholar.

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56 Polyviou, M., ‘Ο Καισάριος Δαπόντες και οι απεικονίσεις νεομαρτύρων στο καθολικό της Μονής Ξηροποτάμου’, Ελληνικά 46 (1996) 115–25Google Scholar.

57 Giakoumis and Egro, ‘Pragmatism’, 73–127; Giakoumis, ‘Dialectics’, 73–132; synopsis on pp. 238–239.

58 For the case of Ardenica Monastery as a case–study, see Giakoumis and Egro, ‘Pragmatism’, and Giakoumis, ‘Dialectics’.

59 Kourilas, E., ‘Γρηγόριος Ἀργυροκαστρίτης’, Θεολογία 11 (1933) 45 Google Scholar (4).

60 For his paths to monasticism, see op. cit., 45–6 and Tritos, ‘Τέρπος’, 227–52 (228).

61 Terpos, Πίστις. Cf. Garitsis, K., Ο Νεκτάριος Τέρπος και το έργο του. Εισαγωγὴ – Σχόλια – Κριτική έκδοση του έργου Πίστις (Thera 2002) 169–526 Google Scholar.

62 Terpos, Πίστις, 9–11, non–numbered pages of his prelude to the book; Shuteriqi, D., Shkrimet Shqipe në vitet 1332–1850 (Tirana 1976) 107 Google Scholar; Lazarou, A. G., Η Αρωμουνική και αι μετά της ελληνικής σχέσεις αυτής (Athens 1986) 183–5Google Scholar; Kekridis, E. N., Θεόδωρος Αναστασίου Καβαλλιώτης (1718;–1789). Ο διδάσκαλος του Γένους (Kavala 1991) 153 Google Scholar (n. 7); Exarchos, G., Αυτοί είναι οι Βλάχοι (Athens 1994) 54 Google Scholar; Popa, Mbishkrime, 94–5 (No. 111); cf. Detrez, R., ‘Pre–national identities in the Balkans’, in Daskalov, R. and Marinov, T. (eds), Entangled Histories of the Balkans, I (Leiden and Boston 2013) 52–3Google Scholar.

63 Terpos, Πίστις, 411–12.

64 Tritos, ‘Τέρπος’, 229.

65 Garitsis, Ὁ Νεκτάριος Τέρπος, 70.

66 Georgiadis, T., Μοσχόπολις (Athens 1975) 69 Google Scholar.

67 Valetas, G., ‘Νεκτάριος Τέρπος, ο αγνοηµένος µεγάλος εθνοδιαφωτιστής, πρόδροµος του Κοσµά Αιτωλού (1690–1740)’, Νέa Εστίa 89 (1971), 577–88Google Scholar.

68 By ‘consumerist model’ Spyros Asdrachas refers to a new fashion in the early eighteenth century, according to which the purchase of new and fancy clothes made from expensive materials was an indicator of high status and prestige: Asdrachas, S., ‘Η οικονομία και οι νοοτροπίες: Η μαρτυρία του «Χρονικού των Σερρών», του Νεκταρίου Τέρπου καὶ του Αργύρη Φιλιππίδη,’ Τετράδια Εργασίας 7 (1984) 102–3Google Scholar.

69 Terpos, Πίστις, 212–13.

70 Op. cit., 164–5.

71 Op. cit., 203.

72 Op. cit., 245.

73 Op. cit., 225–6.

74 Op. cit., 241–50, 392–5.

75 Valetas, ‘Νεκτάριος Τέρπος’.

76 Tritos, ‘Τέρπος’, 85–111 (234).

77 Terpos, Πίστις, 204.

78 Among other regions, Shpat, Elbasan, is well known for practising crypto–Christianity; see Nikolaidou, E., Οι Κρυπτοχριστιανοί της Σπαθίας, aρχές 18ου αι. – 1912 (Ioannina 1979)Google Scholar.

79 Krstić, T., Contested Conversions to Islam: Narrative of Religious Change in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire (Stanford 2011) 124 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

80 Terpos, Πίστις, 185, 220.

81 Asdrachas, ‘Οικονομία’, 101; Krstić, Contested Conversions, 134, 153–5.

82 Terpos, Πίστις, 221.

83 Op. cit., 221–2.

84 Op. cit., 221, 250–1 and passim.

85 Op. cit., 213, 217–18, 220, 226–8 and passim.

86 Op. cit., 247–8.

87 Op. cit., 214–15.

88 Op. cit., 249.

89 Op. cit., 212. His prescriptions regarding clothes might be a testimony to the perception that good clothes were only suitable for converts to Islam, on account of the new clothes traditionally allotted to new converts to Islam, or the respective cash equivalent; see Krstić, Contested Conversions, 124 for the former and Minkov, A., Conversion to Islam in the Balkans: Kisve Bahası Petitions and Ottoman Social Life, 1670–1730 (Leiden 2004)Google Scholar.

90 Terpos, Πίστις, 211.

91 Op. cit., 214, 222.

92 Op. cit., 246–7.

93 Op. cit., 358.

94 For Terpos’ ‘revolutionary’ activities in the region see Glavinas, ‘Η Εκκλησία στην Ήπειρο’, 250–2; Glavinas, ‘Η συμβολή,’ 29–43; Glavinas, A., ‘Ο μοσχοπολίτης ιερομόναχος Νεκτάριος Τέρπου, ένας οικουμενικός χριστιανός’, in Εικοσιπενταετηρικόν αφιέρωμα στον μητροπολίτη Νεαπόλεως και Σταυρουπόλεως κ. ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΟ (Thessaloniki 1999) 341–64Google Scholar; Tritos, ‘Τέρπος’, 85–111; Garitsis, Ὁ Νεκτάριος Τέρπος; Glaros, A., ‘Εσχατολογικές προεκτάσεις στο Βιβλιάριον καλούμενον Πίστις του Νεκταρίου Τέρπου’, Altarul Banatului 1–3 (January–March 2014) 106–14Google Scholar. For his hostile attitude towards Islam and Mohammed in the context of other such scholarship see Argyriou, A., ‘Angélologie et démonologie en Byzance: formulations théologiques et représentations populaires,’ Cuadernos de CEMYR 11 (2003) 157–84Google Scholar.