Presbeia Theotoku. The Intercessory Role of Mary across Times and Places in Byzantium (4th to 9th century)

The idea behind the collection of essays in this volume is to bring into focus one main aspect of the Marian cult the invocations of Mary across the Byzantine Empire from the fourth to the ninth century. Over the span of the five centuries with which this volume is concerned, the empire turned into a thoroughly Christian society and at the end of Iconoclasm (843) the figure of Mary is found as the intercessor of the entire empire. Why and how this development took place is a question that challenges not only the study of the Byzantine cult of Mary but the study of Byzantine society in general. Our volume will be a contribution to the search for an explanation. It is agreed that regional diversity was an inherent element of the cult of Mary; the cult neither developed nor was established at the same time and in the same manner throughout the empire. The glimpses, given here, of different religious landscapes in Byzantine territory show first of all the cultural contexts where Marys intercessory role manifested itself. The selected regions Palestine, Egypt, Constantinople, Syria, Antioch, Armenia, Albania (Dyrrachium [modern Durrs]), Rome, Italy, and North Africa cover a great part but not all of the territory that was under East Roman or Byzantine rule, for vast areas show no particular traces of the cult of Mary. All contributors represent expertise in early Christian, Late- Antique and Byzantine Studies. The sources objects, texts and documents are examined from vantage points of archaeology, art history, papyrology, sigillography, patristics, religious studies, and theology. After a general introduction by Leena Mari Peltomaa and Andreas Külzer there are the following contributions: On PALESTINE: Stephen J. Shoemaker: The Ancient Dormition Apocrypha and the Origins of Marian Piety: Early Evidence of Marian Intercession from Late Ancient Palestine; Rina Avner: Presbeia Theotokou, Presbeia meteros: Reconsidering the Origins of the Feast and the Cult of the Theotokos at the Kathisma, on the Road to Bethlehem; On EGYPT: Arne Effenberger: Maria als Vermittlerin und Fürbitterin. Zum Marienbild in der spätantiken Kunst Ägyptens; Antonia Atanassova: The Theme of Marian Mediation in Cyril of Alexandrias Ephesian Writings; Theodore de Bruyn: Appeals to the Intercessions of Mary in Greek Liturgical and Paraliturgical Texts from Egypt; On CONSTANTINOPLE: Leena Mari Peltomaa: Cease your lamentations; I shall become an advocate for you. Mary as Intercessor in Romanos Hymnography; Mary B. Cunningham: Mary as Intercessor during the Iconoclast Period: The Textual Evidence; On SYRIA: Cornelia Horn: Ancient Syriac Sources on Marys Role as Intercessor; Pauline Allen: Antioch-on-the-Orontes and its Territory: A terra dura for Mariology? On ARMENIA: Annegret Plontke-Lüning & Armenuhi Drost-Abgarjan: Die Jungfrau Maria als Fürsprecherin in Literatur und Kunst Armeniens bis zum 8. Jahrhundert; On ALBANIA: Galina Fingarova: Mary as Intercessor in the Decoration of the Chapel in Durrs, Albania; On ROME, ITALY, NORTH-AFRICA: Henry Maguire: What Is an Intercessory Image of the Virgin? The Evidence from the West. An APPENDIX shows THE CONTRIBUTION OF SIGILLOGRAPHY: Alexandra-Kyriaki Wassiliou-Seibt: Die Sigillographische Evidenz der Theotokos und ihre Entwicklung bis zum Ende des Ikonoklasmus. A complete bibliography, serving as a working tool for further studies on the Marian cult, and an index will be included in the volume.