The 10th-century political significance of a sacred iconic relic in Byzantium.

What is it about?

The mandylion was a famous relic said to bear the miraculous image on cloth of the face of Jesus Christ. It was long preserved in the city of Edessa and finally taken from there by the Byzantine general John Kourkouas in 944. It was brought to Constantinople and exhibited to the then emperor, the usurper Romanos I, his two sons, and the legitimate inheritor of the throne Constantine VII. By legend only the last was able to recognize aspects of the image of Christ, a recognition giving him still greater legitimacy to inherit the throne. The image early in its history had also been reproduced miraculously on a brick or tile that had come into contact with the mandylion. This relic was retrieved by the emperor Nikephoros Phokas in his siege of Hierapolis. The article provides the first English translation of a homily in Greek dedicating the tile or brick in a chapel in Constantinople. It includes a description of Nikephoros Phokas as a devout Christian man who defeated the Muslims. This latter characterization is put quite bluntly, as Phokas is described as crushing like the mud of the streets the Hagarene dogs who opposed him, and consigning to complete oblivion the <Arabs> of Crete, terrible and untamable beasts and <henchmen> of the devil.” The parallel recovery of the tile or brick may be seen as adding to Phokas’ legitimacy as emperor.

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Photo by Raimond Klavins on Unsplash

Photo by Raimond Klavins on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The homily provides a clear indication of the value of religious symbolism in the establishment of authority to rule in Byzantium as well as the role of Nikephoros Phokas as a militaristic defender of the Christian faith. It also provides clear evidence of the bitterness of the religious differences between Christian and Muslim in the mid-tenth century.