The Moveable Canopy. The Performative Space of the Major Sakkos of Metropolitan Photios
The Moveable Canopy. The Performative Space of the Major Sakkos of Metropolitan Photios

Summary/Abstract: The elaborate Major sakkos of Metropolitan Photios of Russia (1408-1431) is one of the finest surviving examples of medieval liturgical vestments. In this paper, the shape, architectonics, and decoration of this canopy-like object is compared to the church and to the holy tent known from Mosaic traditions, thereby raising questions of materiality and conceptual framing of the sacred. By analyzing ritual performance within a Byzantine-rite church and practices of defining sacred space with specific materials, this paper suggests the transferability of the architectonics of textile and masonry canopies into sakkos. When Metropolitan Photios wore this conspicuously superb “garment of glory and beauty”, he reenacted the “living icon of Christ”, Jesus as the High Priest, and His mystical re-birth in the sanctuary. Within this “spatial living icon”, the sakkos framed the ritual and spiritual transformation of the human body as well as the dynamics within the performative spaces of God’s manifestations.

• Details
• Contents