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The Catholic Historical Review 88.1 (2002) 108-110



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Book Review

Subtle Bodies:
Representing Angels in Byzantium


Subtle Bodies: Representing Angels in Byzantium. By Glenn Peers. [The Transformation of the Classical Heritage, Vol. XXXII.] (Berkeley: University of California Press. 2001. Pp. xv, 235. $37.50.)

From the earliest centuries Christian art produced images of angels, but by the fourth century theologians argued that their spiritual nature made impossible their material representation in art. Not until the period of Iconoclasm was a theologically grounded justification of angelic images formulated. While the iconography of angels has been well reported, this is not so for the intellectual underpinnings of the debate; and this is what Glenn Peers traces in Subtle Bodies: Representing Angels in Byzantium. Going well beyond the standard theological sources (quoting some not familiar even to those reasonably acquainted with the iconoclast-iconophile debates), Peers draws on a wide range of texts embracing theology, polemics, hagiography, legends, poetry, and narratives of cults. Peers's text is particularly valuable in his account of the evidence leading [End Page 108] up to iconoclasm; but even after the iconophile triumph in 843, the nature of the representation of angels remained a subject of discussion.

Angels, "messengers of God," indeed present iconographic problems. Biblical texts describe them as spirits, companions of God, and denizens of heaven; but they also appear on earth in the form of men, as well as columns of fire or smoke. In his introduction, Peers cites some of the basic scriptural texts describing the appearance of angels, as well as examples of pre-Christian, pagan, and Jewish angelolatry. Chapter One discusses early representations of angels and their sources in pagan images, with figures of Nike probably the origin of the image of angels as winged youths. Chapters Two and Three, perhaps the central section of the book, carry the story forward to the onset of Iconoclasm. In the fourth and early fifth centuries Bishop Epiphanius of Salamis on Cyprus and the monophysite Philoxenus of Mabbug voiced strong objections to the use of images, "material aids," to what should be intellectual worship. Only in the sixth century did texts in support of images appear, with the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite providing the foundation for a symbolic interpretation of images. An epigram by Agathias, referring to an image of St. Michael offered by four law students, demonstrates, if proof were still needed, that veneration of angels was not merely a 'popular' aspect of religion.

Iconophile theory of images, based on the relation of image and prototype, was discussed by John of Damascus and was fully developed by the Patriarch Nicephoros (Chapter Four). The chapter then turns to Peers's paradigmatic example of the cult of angels, the case of the Archangel Michael and particularly his miraculous intervention at Chonae. The cult of Michael is further discussed in Chapter Five, but the archangel is mainly represented as agent, and the specific forms of his cult are hardly addressed. Throughout, Peers speaks of the 'worship' of angels and icons (p. 132) when 'veneration' might be more appropriate; in iconophile theology, 'worship' (latreia) was reserved for God; veneration (proskynesis) only was due to the Theotokos, angels, and saints. Some confusion is caused in the early chapters by the various implications of a "literal reading" of scripture. Such a reading leads to the representation of Abraham's three visitors at Mamre as men, but it is also cited as ground for the rejection of "material, allusive representation" in art. Peers never makes clear what texts are referred to in the latter case, whether the description of angels as "formless voices" (Gen. 21:17), cited on page 9, or the Second Commandment, not cited explicitly until page 110. His Conclusion carries the discussion beyond the triumph of orthodoxy and shows that the problem of combining spiritual nature and earthly appearance was still alive in later centuries.

In its abundant citations of a wide variety of early texts largely ignored in previous iconographic discussions, Peers provides a valuable and path-breaking resource. The translations given appear to be...

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