P. 51. History of the Civilization and Arts of Armenia from the Bronze Age to Present. By Maximillien de Lafayette. The Globe Weekly News

ARMENIAN ICONOGRAPHY

By Maximillien de Lafayette

Multi-Icons sequences depicting Apostles and Saints centered by Jesus Christ, Circa 1,704

THE GREATEST EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF ARMENIA

Photo: Icon of Saint Peter.

At the dawn of the 5^th century, after Armenia has been divided between the Byzantine empire and the Persian empire, the greatest event in the history of Armenia happened. It was the creation of the Armenian Alphabet by a monk named Mesrop Mashtots in 406 A.D. This “God Sent” gift was blessed and protected by King Vramshapu and Catholicos Sahak Par-Tev. The first Armenian Alphabet is referred to as the Mesropian Alphabet, evidently, named after its inventor. It contained thirty-six original letters still in use today exactly in the same way they were used and created in the 5^th century without any modification or variation. This great event in the form of a great invention preserved the history, culture and civilization of Armenia. Many historians believe that the Armenian alphabet was created for the sole use of the clergymen and a selected number of dignitaries from the Armenian nobility. At the beginning, alphabet was not put in use as a religious tool to convert more Armenians to the new religion of Christianity. In addition, the overwhelming majority of the Armenian people did not know how to write and read for many years to come. Thus, the Armenian church had to come up with some means or an instrument to preach its teachings and bring the population closer and closer to Christianity. Inevitably, iconography had to come to life. And it did, in so many forms, shapes, media, illustrations, drawings, styles, materials, scopes and genres. Early and mid-medieval Armenian iconography was not limited exclusively to illustrations and drawings on wood blocks, vellum and similar materials. It embraced several media and materials such as rugs, carpets, ceramics, linens, parchments, metallic covers and various objects. Armenian iconography is a fascinating subject for, it reveals a major part of the history of Armenia from the bronze age to present and sheds light on traditions, beliefs, folklore, mythology, occult, metaphysics, astrology, astronomy, church-populace interaction and so many other facets that shaped the way of life of Armenians and cemented the characteristics and ethnicity of Armenia as a nation, as a Christian state and as a center for culture, arts and religion. At the time, iconography came to life, the majority of the Armenian population could not read or write. Reading, writing and copying manuscripts, documents, gospels, records were a monopoly of the church and a very small privileged fraction of the population. Exclusively, the very rich and the monks in Armenia were able to read and write. The Armenian church was so eager to preach and promote Christianity at a large scale by reaching first, almost every Armenian in the homeland and second, every Armenian living abroad through missionaries and monasteries to be erected. Iconography seemed to serve this purpose. Those who could not read the gospels and understand what it was written in the biblical texts, now they can understand several passages from the New Testament, the works of the Apostles, the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, his miracles, his resurrection and the eternal life through Jesus and the Holy Church by looking at those icons carefully selected, drawn and presented to the general public. Iconography became the teaching tool and propaganda instrument of the church.

Early Armenian iconography was extremely useful to the church as well as to the educated artists who painted those fabulous icons. Like the large frescoes, icons mesmerized the early Christian Armenians. They had an enormous psychological, emotional, religious and social impact on the population, including the rich and the powerful. To a certain degree, those icons can be considered as the world’s first printed material to promote a cause and popularize an ideology. Yes, you can look upon them as the world’s first flyers and brochures. But, they had something very special that no other religious or artistic publications in the world had! The icons had an immediate impact on the mind of people. They were beautifully illustrated, easy to understand, they depicted short biblical passages, they were simple in substance and they contained symbols, objects and figures which were so familiar to the Armenian population. Even though, many of those symbols and forms were originally pagan and based upon astrology, the occult and pre-Christian mythology. Everything blended perfectly.

P. 52. History of the Civilization and Arts of Armenia from the Bronze Age to Present. By Maximillien de Lafayette. The Globe Weekly News

SYMBOLISM IN ARMENIAN ICONOGRAPHY

WHY DO WE SEE PAGAN SIGNS, BESTIAL SYMBOLS, ANIMALS AND PLANTS IN ARMENIAN RELIGIOUS ICONOGRAPHY?

Three questions of a primordial importance might haunt your intellect. 1-Why does the Armenian religious art of iconography contain animalistic-bestial symbolism since it is a purely traditional Christian art firmly founded and based upon the rigid teachings of Armenia’s Patron Saint and Founder of Christianity in Armenia Saint Gregory who decimated all Non-Christian, Pre-Christian, pagan icons, images, symbols and statues which existed in Armenia at the time he began to preach Christianity?! 2-Why did the Armenian Christian church keep non-Christian, PAGAN symbols in its sacred art of iconography and explain many of its liturgy, dogma and biblical scenes by using pagan symbols and signs? 3- What did they represent and mean those pre-Christian and PAGAN symbols to early Armenian Christians and why were they considered extremely important in their daily social and religious life, and equally necessary and important to be included in religious icons and illuminated manuscripts? Here is the whole story…

Pagan animal figures in Christian Armenian iconography

We do frequently see in Armenian icons, illuminated paintings and on Armenian bas-reliefs, top of columns, niches, arches, arcades and churches walls and facades motifs and illustrations of grapevine, pomegranates, fruits, birds and most particularly, very visible and specific animalistic figures . And we do wonder why bestial symbolism and animal heads and bodies prominently and predominantly appear in Armenian religious artworks. Because, those symbols and bestial figures have an extra profound meaning to early Armenian Christians who clearly understood and believed what they represented and meant to them some few years or maybe some few months or weeks ago before they were converted to Christianity. They were part of the fabric and structure of their life, society, strength and traditions, regardless whether, they symbolized a cult, a religion or a super-natural message. Consequently and inevitably, the fathers of the early Armenian church felt the need and absolute necessity to incorporate those signs, symbols and animalistic figures into Christian pictures, drawings, illustrations, icons, you name it, just to appeal to the population and convey a message that those pagan symbols and figures product of their tradition have been transformed by the power of Jesus Christ the Savior into good symbols and forms symbolizing the strength, the power and the absolute divine majesty of God, the creator of the universe and the father of the only one divine son he had, Jesus Christ. So, it was fine with the early Armenian church to adopt those pagan sign as a “geste of rapprochement” and convert them into Christian symbols. Those symbols adaptation was not exclusive to the early Armenian church. The early Catholic church in Ireland did the same thing by adopting a considerable number of pagan traditions and religious ceremonies and festivities to appeal to a larger audience.

Iconographic illustration on an ancient Armenian rug depicting Apostles and Saints around Jesus Christ, circa 1,686 .

P. 53. History of the Civilization and Arts of Armenia from the Bronze Age to Present. By Maximillien de Lafayette. The Globe Weekly News

We saw the same thing happening again in Haiti, when early Christian missionaries and bishops accepted many of the local pagan-occult-supernatural suspicions, practices, beliefs and traditions, and particularly the purification ceremonies in Voodoo into the new Haitian Christian religion. And vice versa, Haitians began to use and incorporate the photographs of Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ in their Voodoo sessions , practices and ceremonies, including- if we can believe that- in their bizarre and strange Zombie séances and sessions. It appears that adopting and incorporating old symbols into a new faith is nothing new under the sun. It had its numerous advantages, merits and good points. Almost all religions practiced to a certain degree, the adoption of previously accepted and venerated symbols pertaining to other faiths and religions, except Islam! In many instances, Christian symbols, Theistic or Judaic symbols and pagan symbols represented the same thing. For example, the tree as a symbol of life was accepted and represented as such in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and the religions of the Hittites, Assyrians, Mesopotamians, Phoenicians, many Semitic tribes, the people of the lands of Akkad, Minoans, Etruscans, etc. The tree of life is a very old pagan symbol. The early Armenian church was not reluctant at all to accept pagan symbols as and to engrave them on the walls of its churches, monuments and on the facades of its religious edifices. Pre-Christian Armenian and pagan symbols which decorated the temples and palaces of pagan Armenia such as eagles, dragons, lions and bulls represented the power of the conquering master and his domination of the defeated and enslaved opponent. Early Armenian Christian church accepted those symbols, especially the symbol of the lion and the eagle. Of course, the early fathers of the church had to twist a little bit the tail of the story and bring some ecclesiastic jurisprudence. For instance, the lion and the eagle became the symbol of the strength of the religious faith, the seal of the Christian state, the symbol of the legitimate territorial authority and legal ownership blessed by the Lord. The pagan lamb became the symbol of Christian sacrifices, martyrdom and peace. The pagan lamb symbol was very a propos, because Armenians considered themselves as the permanent and regularly slaughtered lamb by the Persians, the Arabs, the Greeks, the Turks and the Mongols. The pagan lamb symbol has been adopted by the Christian church as the “Lamb of the Lord”, the “Lamb of Jesus Christ” our savior and shepherd. Many other animalistic symbols were incorporated in the popular beliefs of early Christians which found their roots in antiquity, particularly the bestial demoniac world. Those pagan pictures of demonic creatures depicted in pre-Christian Armenia enriched the imagination of the doctors of the church and medieval Christian painters and iconographers. Henceforth , the devil is represented as a terrible, ugly and atrocious beast with a lethal smell, sometimes appearing as a bull with a terrible odor, long tail in the shape of a snake and sometimes like a phantasmagoric devilish body composed of two parts, half human and half lion-scorpion look alike hunting human souls.

Iconographic illustration on an ancient Armenian rug, 1,788

Animal Symbolism and Religious Interpretation by the Early Armenian Christian Church

Early Christian Armenians looked to the New Testament for their animal symbolism, meanings, conveyed messages and interpretation. The icons and illuminated manuscripts paintings marked a continuous association with symbols and figures which were deeply rooted in their pre-Christian background and past, before they converted to Christianity. The example of the lamb is categorically affirmative. This very particular animalistic symbol which frequently appeared in the Near and Middle Eastern religions including the early Israelites became the major and predominant symbol of Jesus Christ who sacrificed his life to save us. He was the slaughtered lamb. Early Armenians could identify themselves with this picture. Their familial situations, life condition and the many lives they lost on the hand of the invading Persians, Muslims, Arabs and Turks were easily symbolized by and portrayed as a slaughtered lamb. Jesus Christ as a sacrificed lamb fit perfectly in the line and way of thinking and feeling of early Christian Armenians. It was a perfect ideological and metaphorical match! The early church interpretation and justification of the use of the symbol of the white dove as the incarnation of the holy spirit pleased the early Armenians. The griffin which was highly regarded in pagan mythology and looked upon as the keeper of the light retained its place and kept its guidance role in the Christian faith. In antiquity, the griffin was the guiding light and companion of Apollo as well as the faithful road escort of Ashtarout. In Christianity, the griffin became the guardian of departed souls and the guiding light for the dead. Furthermore, the Muslim Arabs who occupied Armenia contributed enormously to the frequent use of animal symbols and non-human creatures like the Afrit and Jins in early Armenian icons and paintings. Consequently, many Arab motifs and figures of animals, half human-half beast and spirits began to appear in early Armenian sculpture, church architecture and facades of religious edifices from the very beginning of the 11^th century. Henceforth, animal iconography commenced and continued to represent Christian saints, martyrs, Disciples and Apostles on the exteriors of Armenian churches and monasteries. Many of those icons and religious sculptured columns and stones went further; Depicting saints and Apostles surrounded by animals and birds became an Armenian artistic and religious tradition in illustrating manuscripts, frescoes and icons.

In early Christian Armenian iconography, sculpture, rugs, carpets, seals, shields, stained glasses, parchments, churches facades and exteriors, manuscripts and frescoes, animal forms and symbols occupied a place of a great importance and probably of a far greater importance than the one they enjoyed in antiquity and in the art of the pagan world. Four reasons are attributed for this phenomenon and extensive interest in animal symbolism.

1- Animal figures and forms were and can be used as means or an easy tool to express good or evil. The tender and sweet animals and birds represent goodness, peace and human sacrifices. The ugly and smelly beasts represent the devil, evil, Satan and the creatures of the underworld.

2- Animal bodily forms and shapes constitute a vivid and a rich variety of ornamental patterns and decoration. They have a decorative value in art.

3- Direct and vital relationship between humans, the animal kingdom and the world of plants.

4- The eternal quest for, and the continuous admiration and fear of the sacred, the divine, the unknown which need to be expressed and constantly be felt.

Four reasons that combine, constitute and define the elements of the universe of the medieval man.

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