Св. Йоан Рилски в Боянската църква –иконография и археология
St. John of Rila in the Boyana Church – Iconography and Archaeology

Summary/Abstract: The image of st John of rila in the narthex of the boyana church is the oldest known picture of the saint. it is unique with the very concrete realia of his monk’ s clothes. the most interesting of them is the hardly recognizable on the analabion mysterious cross. This cross is of irregular „soft” form as a knitted lacing and its two tags are hanged over his belt. Such a detail has no parallels in art, but the are analogous finds from Ukraine and russia dated in thirteenth century. Here we have an so called paraman of polystaurion. When one analyzes the particular image, there is obvious that the painter reproduced with a maximum accuracy the separate elements of the monk of great schema’ robes, who is an abbot, which we can understand from the tape in light ochra in the end of the mantle of the hermit, which is not peculiar to the images of the other monks in the church. The image in the boyana church is an evidence for the fact that in the middle of the thirteenth century there is a bulgarian iconographic tradition for depicting st. John of rila as a monk of the great schisma of the highest range. the study of this image is also a contribution to the reconstruction of the monk’ s clothes of the age.

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