The Homilies of James of Kokkinobaphos

The manuscript in Paris (gr. 1208) was sent by the French ambassador, Pierre Girardin, from Constantinople to Paris in 1688. It was part of a group of Greek manuscripts in the Library of the Serail in Istanbul, and was acquired for the king’s library through the purser, Guillaume Marcel, and the Jesuit missionary, Pierre Besnier.

The manuscript contains six Homilies on the life of the Virgin, written by the monk James from the Kokkinobaphos monastery in Bithynia. In these six sermons, the monk of Kokkinobaphos writes a commentary on an apocryphal text from the third century, the Gospel of James, part of which is devoted to the childhood of the Virgin. This apocryphal text enjoyed remarkable success and contributed to the development of major iconographic cycles of the Life of the Virgin.

The manuscript in Paris is decorated with almost eighty miniatures illustrating the many stages in the Life of the Virgin, whose iconography is inspired by the Gospel of James and also texts in the Old and New Testaments. The miniatures attest to the artistic revival that characterized twelfth-century Byzantine art.

The illustrations in the manuscript begin with two full-page miniatures that are the frontispiece of the manuscript. In fol. 1v, the monk James is represented twice: once before Saint John Chrysostom, who is holding his hand; and in another instance he is shown kneeling before Saint Gregory of Nyssa.

In fol. 3v, the scene of the Ascension is represented in a setting with richly decorated architecture, while the scene of the Pentecost is represented in a lunette in the upper part of the composition. According to a generally accepted theory, the choice and position of these two scenes and the presence of five cupolas are related to the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, which is only known through textual sources. However, the presence of five cupolas isn’t just a reference to the Church of the Holy Apostles—it evokes the perfect architectural form of the Byzantine church, an idealized image of the Ecclesia. The choice of the scenes of the Ascension and the Pentecost may also be a reference to the decorations in Byzantine churches—the two scenes were always given pride of place, because of their importance in the liturgical calendar—and the missionary work of the apostles, who had to teach the Gospels. Moreover, the Ascension places the Virgin—who is the principal figure in the Homilies of James of Kokkinobaphos—in a central position. Although she isn’t mentioned in the hymnology of the Ascension, the Virgin is considered as indispensable to the scene of the Ascension to emphasize her role as witness of the Theophany (revelation of God). David and Isaiah are also represented in the Ascension holding scrolls, on which are written the Ascension (Psalm 46:5) and the beginning of Isaiah’s prophecy of the Passion of Christ (43:1).

Another illustrated example of the Homilies of James of Kokkinobaphos is held in the Vatican Library (Vat. gr. 1162). The miniatures are iconographically very similar to those in the manuscript in Paris (gr. 1208).