6533b7cffe1ef96bd1259752

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Słowo, które staje się obrazem, w tradycji chrześcijan syryjskich

subject

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Word which becomes an image in the tradition of Syriac Christians. The paper examines the subject of figurative art in the theological space of the tradition of Syriac Churches. Even if in the early stage of their existence those communities were an integral part of Byzantine Empire, they developed a totally different pattern of the imaging, which didn’t consist in icons or in the other forms of the traditional art. The main focus of the Syriac theological painting was to use the written word. Such an approach wasn’t a result of any prohibition inherited from the Jewish tradition or of an internal iconoclasm, but it arises from the mentality and spiritual sensitivity of the people from the Middle East. The author recalling a few works of Ephrem the Syrian, Aphrahat and Jacob of Serugh shows some examples of texts where the word assumed function of the painting brush