The icon of the miraculous and miraculous relic of Saint Mandelius of Ι. Monastery of the Holy Trinity – Saint Nektarios in Aegina, is of great interest not only because of its undoubtedly high artistic value, but mainly because of its calligraphic inscription in the lower right section, which classifies it as a work of historical importance. According to the inscription, the work in question was donated to “His Grace Metropolitan Nectarios of Pentapolis” in memory of his visit to the famous iconographic house of the Iosafaia on Athos in 1898.
The House of the Josephs was founded in Kausokalivia in 1859 by the Asia Minor monk Ioasaf (1832-1880). In 1887 the brotherhood settled in the church of St. George in Kausokalivia, which was established by Patriarch Joachim III. The fame of their iconography spread rapidly throughout the Ottoman Empire and was crowned with the award of the gold medal of fine arts by Sultan Hamit in 1900.
The Josephite artists dared a radical renewal of the means of expression in Athonite iconography by adopting an artistic language that drew from the Western academic Nazarene naturalistic style. Its main characteristics are idealization and ornamentation in the rendering of naturalistic forms with pure forms and contemplative aspects. This new artistic idiom, with its strong western origins, was expressed through the technique of oil painting on canvas and responded to the aesthetics and aspirations of the numerous Russian pilgrims to Mount Athos in the second half of the 19th century.
Similarly, Agios Mandilio also brings together all the characteristics of the “Russian-Nazarene” school of the House of Josephia. The well-designed face of Christ with its perfect proportions, the glowing flesh and the idealized style are some of the basic features that are repeated identically in all the holy figures that are artistically included in the above school. To the above characteristics should be added the intense naturalism, evident in the folding of the manila and the technique of light-shading.
The icon of Saint Mandelios is a visual testimony of the divine Incarnation, since, according to tradition, it bears the miraculously painted figure of Christ. The holy relic was transferred from Edessa in Syria to Constantinople on 16 August 944 during the reign of Constantine Porphyrogenitus.
But also in terms of its iconographic characteristics, the Mandylion of I. Monastery of the Holy Trinity follows models, as formed and disseminated by Russian iconography in the post-Byzantine period. Indicative in this respect is the method of hanging the fabric through two knots, which is followed by a large number of Russian works.
Athanasios Semoglou
Professor of Byzantine Archaeology and Art
Department of History – Archaeology
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
