For citation: Manukyan E. «Ideal» Bishops in Late Antiquity: Visualization of the Image [Digital resource] // Vox medii aevi. 2017. Vol. 1(1). P. 50–70. URL: https://voxmediiaevi.com/vol-1-manukyan

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Eduard Manukyan

Post-Graduate Student, Faculty of History, Ivanovo State University

«Ideal» Bishops in Late Antiquity: Visualization of the Image

The article traces the transformation of the image of bishop Martin of Tours in the works of Sulpicius Severus, Gregory of Tours and Venantius Fortunatus. While Sulpicius and Gregory attempted to defuse his simple background, Venantius’ image of Saint Martin obtains a clear aristocratic form. Defining the reasons of this construction we must consider that three authors were connected by the cult of Saint Martin who was their heavenly patronus. Venantius’ verse is a dialogue with his heavenly patron.

In order to understand the essence of what Venantius and Sulpicius wanted to convey to their audience we must turn from a text to visual image, in particular, to the mosaic «procession of the martyrs» led by Saint Martin in Sant’Apollinare Nuovo. Martin appears to late antique spectator as a pious nobleman, patronus for the whole exarchate. A bishop becomes the central figure of a late antique city, be he in this world or stay he in the other world.

The cult of saints is a remarkable point of contact between classical aristocratic and monastic-ascetical traditions. The patronus of a late antique man (moreover, of a nobleman) could not be a commoner. For this reason, Sulpicius (followed by Venantius and the mosaicists of Ravenna) deliberately «aristocratized» Saint Martin’s image. It was necessary for the ecclesiastical aristocracy which has gained strength, especially in the 5th-century Gaul, to build their Christian communities according to the socialauthoritative values habitual for their class mentality, and the type of a pious protector of feeble men and a wonderworker in the person of the bishop of a community perfectly suited the role of the saint patron of Christians. In the 6th century Gaul and its Church were under the power of Merovingians, and the men like Gregory and Venantius needed to emphasize the belonging of bishops to the old senatorial aristocracy which experienced hard times. Hereof appears the idea to «aristocratize» the image of Saint Martin who (unlike Sulpicius, Gregory and Venantius) had no aristocratic background. The creation of an ideal image was indissolubly connected with the cult of saints. This construction relied on nobility and ascetic merits of a saint and aimed to strengthen leadership and authority of the community of ecclesiastical aristocracy, popularize the worship of relics which were owned by them, create an instructive representative image, both for simple Christians and for the powers that be.

Keywords: Late Antique West; ecclesiastical aristocracy; image of ideal bishop; cult of the saints; aristocratism; asceticism; visual image.

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