SUMMARY

19th Century Greek Orthodox Churchesin the Townships of Didymoteicho and Soufli,

Eastern Thrace

I.

The five churches of two neighboring towns in eastern Thrace under

study date from the middle of the 19th century and were built during

a twenty-year period between 1834 and l854.They are

a. The Church of Saint Athanasius of Didymoteicho, 1834.

b. The Church of Saint Athanasius of Soufli, 1840-1843.

c. The Church of the Virgin Mary of Didymoteicho, 1843.

d. The Church of Christ the Savior of Didymoteicho, 1848.

e. The Church of Saint George of Soufli, 1854.

All five churches are triple-naved basilicas, with a squared "lJ"-

shaped narthex which is wider than the width of the building itself.

According to N. Moutsopoulos this feature can be traced to Constan-

tinople. The Diakonikon and the Prothesis niches inside the sanctua-

ries have led G. Velenis to speculate that three Saints were venerated

in these churches.

Notable differences among the churches are:

1. The Church of Christ the Savior, in Didymoteicho, is built of sto-

ne. and is vaulted. The rest have wooden roofs.

2. The masonry of the Church of Saint George of Soufli uses dressed

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rectangular stones, whereas the walls of the other churches are builtwith random ruble except for the apse. This same church is the lar-

gest of the group, exhibiting a higher center nave, and boasting oftlvo superimposed "gynaikonites," lbalconies reserved for women]

also. Except for the Church of Christ the Savior, the interior con-

struction method shared by all the churches is the mortared-over

wooden lattice ["bagdati"], used for the columns as well as for the

shaping of the arches. The columns of all churches initially rested

on a low, 1.50 m. wooden partition placed between the standing

pews along the northern and southern colonnades. The pews used

to be arranged back-to-back . Since the completion of the lower

sections of the columns, the old pews have been removed.

The interior decoration is primarily stucco. \7ith the exception ofthe stone capitals in the Church of Christ the Savior of Didymoteicho,

all the other churches display gilded stucco decorations ranging from

the simplest (the Church of Saint George of Soufli) to the most com-

plex (Saints Athanasius of Didymoteicho and of Soufli; the Church ofthe Virgin Mary of Didymoteicho). The front and underside of arches

beween the columns, and also the walls, (e.g., Saint George of Soufli)

are covered with intricate gilded stucco garlands and other motifs. Itis a style that can be found in other churches of the same period, for

example St. Menas ofThessaloniki.

il.

The carved wood decoration in these churches (the iconostases; pul-

pits; altar table canopies -wherever

extant- and bishop's thrones)

employ a unified repertory of complex themes and symbols that can

be traced to late rococo. Two of the sanctuary gates of carved wood

carry the signature of the same craftsman only twenry six years apart.

On the sanctuary gates of Saint Athanasius of Didymoteicho -they

are sdll kept in the balcony of the church- we can read "Stamatis

Nikolaou fson of Nikolaos?] a Madiatinos? 1835." On the altar gates

of the Church of Saint George of Soufli, which are sdll in their initialposition, we can make out "The hand [ofl Stamatis taliadouros [a car-

ver ?], a Madytinos ffrom Madytos] a Madltinos yr 1861." As for the

iconostasis of the Church of Saint Athanasius of Soufli, although the

carver remained faithful to the same motifs, these appear rather degra-

ded because the technical skill is radically difitrrent from the other

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rbur and the overall effect is poorer in qualiry than the wood carvingsof the other churches. The carvings of the chr,rch of saint Athanasiusof soufli were made, according to the church records, by stratis Kele-douros-stamatiadis, from Kessani, and can be dated to the beginnineof the 20th Century (1908-1913).

The carved decoration of the church of the monastery of Kor-nofolia

-founded, according to the inscription above the main

enuance to the church, by Polykarpos of Didymoteicho in lg57_belongs to the same group as that of the four churches mentionedabove. Both in terms of technique and in terms of the motifs, i.e.,basket weave, angels holding up crowns, miniature columns withspiralling ribbons around them but no floral design in-between, are

similar to the iconostasis decorations of the other four churches. (Theolder lower panels of the iconostasis have been replaced by new oneswirh painted crosses on them). This kind of iconostasis decorationmust have been rather widespread at the time since it appears on rwocarved oratories [Proskynetaria] in the church of Saint Menas ofThessaloniki.

The canopies hanging above the altar table are a special feature ofrhe carved decoration still preserved in the church of the virgin Maryof Didymoteicho, and in the Church of Saint George of Soufli. Thehanging loops are still in place in the church of Saint Athanasius ofDidymoteicho, while the canopy in the church of saint Athanasius ofsoufli has been replaced by a simple wooden consrruction. AIso inplace, and in use to this day, are the bishops' thrones set inside nichesunderneath the altar arches of the rwo Soufli churches.

The dearth of publications on 19th century iconosrases makescomparative study difficult, (determining their kinship in terms oftheme and construction techniques, or their origins and occurence inGreece and throughout the Balkans). As far as the woodcarver Sra-matis is concerned there is no particular mention of him in theregisters of the Didymoteicho Metropolitan seat. And even if therewere works of his in his native Madytos (present-dayTirrkey), access is

impossible. our knowledge of him is limited to the insrances men-tioned above. one thing is certain: there are no similarities with thewoodcarving ensembles found in Mt. Athos, the provinces of Thes-saly, Epirus, or the Dodecanese. As mentioned earlier, there is a certainrelationship to the oratory of saint Menas of rhessaloniki, and towooden decorations found in Serbia.

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Open fretwork in the carvings of the churches of Didymoteicho

and Soufli occur mosdy in the higher friezes of the iconostases, the

pediments, and the domes of the bishops' thrones and the canopies.

Relief work against a solid background is employed in the lower

register of the icons, illustating the 12 chief feasts of the Orthodox

calendar. Apart from angels, no other figures appear in the carvings.

The motifs are primarily floral with occasional birds in contorted

poses. On the other hand, elaborate wicker baskets and horns-of-

plenry abound, with a noticeable tendency towards a symmetrical and

harmonious unfolding of the program. These decorative elements in

combination with the shapes of the bases, the miniature columns, and

the frequent corinthian capitals of the iconostases mid-sections in-

dicate the influence of western European 18th century decorative arts

and ofthe neo-classical revival.

The painted panels below the main iconostasis icons in the

Church of Saint Athanasius of Didymoteicho portray architectural

subjects that are very similar to the iconostasis of the Church of the

Reception of the Virgint at the Temple in Thessaloniki, and to the

Church of the Virgin in the monastery of Sisani. The motif of painted

drapery partitions, itself of 18th Century western European classi-

cizing origins, appears both in churches and in homes of this period

from Siatista to Molyvos, from Grevena to Ambelakia, from Mount

Athos, and from the villages in the Zagori ranges to Bulgaria.

III.

The painted decoration of the churches is basically limited to the

oratories and to the four large icons, two on each side of the Gate

Beautiful, of the iconostasis. Apart from these four, the smaller icons

on the upper registers of the iconostasis, the medallions with the

aposdes between the arches, and the Pantocrator on the ceiling are ofno particular interest.

The icons of the churches in Didymoteicho are worth studying

both as paintings and as records of sociological importance. Two well-

known painters, Nikolaos of Adrianople and Panagiotes of Aino were

the ones who received these important commissions, not local artists.

In spite of M. Hadzidakis's claim that icon painters are scarce in

the last quarter of the 1 Bth Century in Adrianople, Konstantinos is at-

tested in 1786 and, according to professor B. Katsaros, so is Nedelkos

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who decorated the official guest house of the monastery of John the

Baptist fProdromou: of the Forerunner] in Serres. Both men are fromAdrianople. Nikolaos, the painter of refinement and high esthetic

standards, is a member of a workshop rhar became active around the

middle of the 19th Century. Nikolaos's renown reaches well beyond

the borders of present day Greek Thrace into southern Bulgaria. P

Toteva suggests that he could well be the most represenrarive painter

for that area and for that time period. As far as the formal conventions

of his kind of art are concerned, they appear to be shared by many

artists of the time, including the painter Alexandros who signs the

icon of Saint Menas.

Nikolaos works in the churches of Didymoteicho between 1827

and 7845. His earliest icon is datable to 1827: it is ofJohn the Baptist,

in the Church of Christ the Savior. His next, the Elevation of the

Cross, in the Church of Saint Athanasius, dates from 1828. Folowing

these is the 1838 set of the six main icons on the iconostasis of the

Church of Saint Athanasius, and the 1844 set on the iconostasis of the

Church of the Virgin as well as the icon of Saint Joseph on the orarory

of the same church. In my opinion even the icon of Saint John in the

Church of Saint Athanasius of Soufli may be by Nikolaos, or by some

other artist of the same school, considering the similarities with the

icons of the Church of the Vrgin. Chief among Nikolaos's rrairs are

the grave and noble features of the figures he paints, as well as his

adherence to the traditional style which is, not infrequently, embel-

lished by western European elements, as in the case of the picture ofthe Virgin, or that of the Holy tiniry.

The time difference between Nikolaos's early pieces and the late

ones allows us to observe the development of his craft. \7e norice that,

by degrees, the pictorial values become more linear, decoration begins

to dominate, his colors are brighter, and their juxtaposition sharper.

This is a fairly represenrative painter whose art is rypical of the ten-

dencies in the icon-painting of urban centers of Eastern Thrace and

one who is able to adopt western European motifs without watering

down the hieratic and doctrinal qualities of his traditional composi-

tions.

Stephanos, also of Adrianople, is credited with a picture of the

Archangel Michael (dated to 1854; in the Church of Christ the Sa-

vior). His technique results in stiffer and more austere-looking figures.

His name appears on an orarory of Saint Athanasius (dated to 1864;

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in the Church of Saint Athanasius of Didymoteicho), and on an icon

of the Virgin's Entrance to the Temple in the Metropolitan Church ofAdrianople. Still another Adrianopolitan, Moschos, does the wall

paintings of the Church of the Dormition of the Petritsonitissa Virgin

(dated to 1850; in Philippoupolis).

Panagiotes from Aino, the painter of the iconostasis of the

Church of Christ the Savior, at times states he is "from Aghiasma."

He is a scholar whose signature is accompanied by metrical composi-

tions. He is open to more \Testern European effects than Nikolaos,

and it is possible that he was also influenced by Russian icons.

Other icon painters in the Church of Christ the Savior, known by

name only but with no indication of their place of origin, are the

monk Agapios (with a heavily stylized picture of Saint John the

Baptist, 1847); Eustratios (with a highly westernized Birth of Christ,

tB55); and Charaiambos (with a pronounced folk-art rendition of

Saint George, 1848).

Adrianople, second only to Constantinople in beaury in the tra-

veler's Eblia Celebi's words, an important city of the Ottoman empire,

served also as the second residence of the Sultans. A city famous for its

public buildings (the mosque of Selim II was built in 1754), Adria-

nople was also the lively hub to a Greek population, counting no fewer

than 25 Greek Orthodox churches. The high quality of architecture

and the other arts in Didymoteicho may be attributed to the fact that

it served as a link between Adrianople and Constantinople.

The town of Ainos, where Panagiotes, the second Didymoteicho

painter, comes from, is famous already since the end of the 1Sth Cen-

tury for its shipping. The Ainos ship owners commissioned the build-

ing of churches and other public utilities. The humanities flourished

also. As Anthimos Roussas recounts, the town of Ainos boasted 17

Greek Orthodox churches and two well-known monasteries, its Greek

schools also achieving great distinction. The rather modest painter

Zacharias Chrestou is mentioned about the middle of the 19th

Century (1840) who hails from the town of Samokovo, of the wider

area of Ainos, known for its school of icon painters whose alumni had

been apprentices on Mount Athos.

In the Soufli churches the signed icons are few If surmises are

confirmed, then these should be examples, primarily, of Panagiotes of

Ainos's idiom or some other unknown painter, and possibly one icon

by Nikolaos of Adrianople. One signed icon of the Virgin in the

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't

Church of Saint George is certainly attributable to the monk Diony-

sios of Constantinople, and so is his Christ, beside the numerous main

iconostasis pictures, all of which show western European traits that

have been adapted to the strict rules of the eastern tradition. Some ofthese traits occur in engravings originating on Mount Athos. The que-

stion arises, naturally, whether Dionysios brought his art with himfrom his native Constantinople or from Mount Athos where it is

possible he lived as a monk. Similar conditions obtain in the case ofthe painter-priest Paschales, whose icons are also to be found in the

Church of Saint George.

Around 1900, Papaelias of Soufli painted two icon -the

En-

trance of the Virgin to the Temple and a Saint George- for the

Church of the Virgin in Didymoteicho. Papaelias's work has all the

characteristcs of folk arr.

It bears repeating that both the Didymoteicho and the Soufli

churches exhibit the kind of art that is rypical of the middle of the

19th Century with some elements thar can be traced to western Euro-

pean techniques, i.e., the exclusive use of the oil medium. The folktendencies in the art works occur less frequently here than in the rest

of Greece (i.e., the painters from Chioniades, Koulakia, and Gala-

tista). \Torkshops in Epirus, \(/estern and Central Macedonia, and

Thessaly employ western European pictorial elements yet manage to

maintain a strong folk quality about them. The art of the Churches ofThrace, on the other, hand aspire to represent radiant and dignifiedfigures of high esthedc pretensions, the result, perhaps, of their clo-

seness to large cultural centers. But here too, the repeating oftraditio-nal forms has caused, as in the rest of Christianiry the loss of the

benefits of individual creativity in icon painting and has often ended

up as mere decoration.

A number of iconographic rypes (e.g., the icon of John the

Baptist) seem to have features originating in the Cretan school ofpainting. Constant use, however, has eroded these features. Some

features, on the other hand, appear like those described or, rather, pre-

scribed by Dionysios of Fourna (e.g., the Three Hierarchs fBasil the

Great, John the Chrysostom, and Gregory of Nazianzus], Saint Atha-

nasius, Saint Spyridon, Saint Nicholas, and the prophet Elijah).

The images of the Virgin, of Christ, the Archangel Michael, and

of the Holy Tiinity show imitations of printed icons that were widelycirculating among Greek populations of the time, and whose signi-

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ficance in the shaping of icon painting cannot be underestimated.

Croup pictures and other complex compositions are rare. Most

icons were donated to the churches by guilds invoking their patron

saint. This explains the representation of isolated saints whose icons

reappear in all the churches. In addition to the usual repertory, though,

we notice saints who are specifically associated with the occuparions ofthe countryside. Saint Modestos, protector of cattle raisers, is found in

both Soufli churches. Saint Tiyphon, protector of the fields, is in the

Church of Christ the Savior of Didymoteicho. Saint Joseph, the

protector of constructors, appears in the Church of the Dormition ofthe Vrgin of Didymoteicho, and in the churches of Soufli, a fact that

illustrates the power of the only guild that is mentioned by name in the

inscribed icons of Soufli.

Specific pieces of information are lacking as to the painters

themselves, their apprenticeships, their general output and their tra-

vels, all of which would have enabled more accurate evaluations of the

icons under investigation. Still, we may say that it is a body of work

from the middle of the 19th Century and from the area of Adrianople

and Constantinople which, together with the areas of Didymoteicho

and Soufli, until 1922 (the year of Greece's defeat in Asia Minor) were

a single, culturally unified territory.

IV During the entire period of the Tirrkish occupation, in both

the urban and the rural contexts, the churches were centers ofnational

as well as cultural activity. This can be easily inferred from the icons

donated to the churches by the various trade guilds. Following the

emergence of the Greek state (post-l821), about two thirds of Balkan

Greeks were still under Tirrkish domination. These Greeks, encou-

raged in part by the example of the newly independent state, and inpart by the passing of Ottoman legislature regarding the autonomy oftheir regions (the Hati Serif, 1839, and the Hati Humay'un Acts of1856), took increased economic and cultural initiatives. Manufactu-

rers and home businesses were the first to assert themselves; farmers

and commodities producers followed. The organization of trade guilds

in Thrace, and more particularly in cities such as Constantinople,

Adrianople, Philippoupolis, Ainos, and Selybria, proved to be the

richest in all of European Tirrkey.

Thade guilds, the Orthodox Church, and the local communities

were institutions that the occupying Tirrks looked upon favorably be-

cause they facilitated exchanges with all their other subjects. Tlade

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SuLil& however, played an important role in the fashioning of urban

ffiifre and regional self-determination of Greeks everywhere. Together

miffi rhe Orthodox clergy and the community elders the guilds con-

mributed gready in the establishing, the maintainance and repair ofreligious and educational foundations in Thrace, not to mention their*"-bers' participation in the straggle for independence.

The founding of a guild was governed by charters that were

,rrpproved by the general assembly of its members and subsquently

r,pprorrd by church authorities. Guilds were run hierarchically order

and strict distinction was made between assistants, apprentices, aspir-

i'rg crafismen and, finally, at the top of the pyramid, rhe master

crafrsman himself. It was the chief artisans who represented the guilds

hefore the Turkish authorities. The master craftsmen were often elec-

d communiry elders and together with other elected supervisors saw

ro the functioning and management of schools and their finances, also

to rhe hiring of teachers, and to the founding of other community

instirutions.

Splendid annual celebrations on the day of their patron Saint

aimed at promoting the prestige of their members who also chose that

day to announce large donations thar, in turn, advanced a feeling ofnadonal solidarity. For the preservation of trade secrets, and in order

to communicate without fear of being overheard, guilds elaborated

jargons under such names as Kalantzidika ftin welders], Koudaritika,

Dortika, etc.

Tiade guilds contributed also to the enrichment of such folk arts

as architecture, wood carving, painting, gold and silver smithing. This

they did by their training, and by executing orders of excellenr

ll'orkmanship.

The power that guilds wielded was considerable. Gardeners

formed one of the earliest guilds in Constantinople.Other trades fol-lowed suit, and soon there were about 150 Greek guilds in the ciry, the

most important among them being the furriers which was incor-

porated by the middle of the 16th Century. By the mid-1Bth Century,

Adrianople had32 guilds, chief among them being the furriers, tailors,

lumber merchants, and millers.

Didymoteicho trade guilds were called by the Arabic names

(designating groups of people of the same social class and occupation)"esnaf" or "roufet". According to D. Manakas, the Didymoteicho

guilds, through acts of chariry and benevolence, rhey contributed

,aa

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t

immensely to the development of the city financially, culturally, intel-

lectually, and patriotically.

The archives of one Didymoteicho guild [sandal makers] alone

provides invaluable information cncerning its members as well as its

assets and activities from 1831 through 1957.E. g.,"January 8, 1831,

the sacred guilds of sandal- and shoe-makers are presenting by name

their properry of all kinds, extant to this day, so that our Most Mer-

ciful God may keep them safely in perpetuity and so that they may

grow and multiply, through the intercessions of our Holy Saint

Spyridon, Amen."

The guilds list their donations to national causes in 1851, and to

schools and other charitable causes in 1856. One is moved to read

proceedings during times of war. "The I9l4 Breaking of Bread took

place in the home of Nikolaos Vasileiou of Saint Spyridon, the chief

artisans and the apprentices being drafted in the Turkish Ar-y,therefore only their narnes were mentioned. During the l9l5 Break-

ing of Bread, only 8 craftsmen were in attendance; the others were

away."

From 1838 onwards Didymoteicho icon inscriptions testify to the

existence of numerous other guilds as well: tailors, cloth merchants,

goldsmiths, grocers, furriers, oil merchants, coopers, carpenters and

stonemasons, hawkers, house painters, bakers, farmers, shepherds,

gardeners, clay tile makers, stovepipe menders, tavern keepers,

butchers, watchmen etc. \Thenever the painting was expensive, guilds

joined in footing the bill. In the Church of Saint Athanasius, the icons

ofthe Pantocrator and ofJohn the Baptist (1838) record the tailors and

the shoe-makers; the icon of the Three Hierarchs in the Church of the

Vrgin (1,844) mentions the grocers and the bakers.

The inscribed icons in the Soufli churches are precious few The

icon of Jacob, David, and Joseph (1848) in the Church of Saint Atha-

nasius mentions carpenters and stonemasons. Farmers are mentioned

on the icon of Saint Modestos (1864) in the same church. 'Water

millers are mentioned on the icon of Saint Nicholas (1862) in the

Church of Saint George.

Soufli flourishes financially in the I879's, and it is only during

this period that it metamorphoses from a chief rural center to an

urban one.'When its churches acquired the inscribed icons, Soufli had

not reached the social coherence and organization of Didymoteicho.

As a general rule, guilds tended to offer icons of their patron

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Saints to the churches. Here, however, are some exceptions. Clothmerchants are mentioned in all three Didymoteciho churches on the

icon of the Holy tinity. Butchers and meat sellers are menrioned on

the icon of the Archangel Michael in the churches of Christ the Savior

and of the Holy Virgin. Grocers are mentioned on the icon of the

Three Hierarchs in the churches of Saint Athanasius and of the HolyVirgin in Didymoteicho. Gardeners are on the icon of Saint Tiyphon

in the Church of Christ the Savior. \7hile John the Baptist is the

patron Saint of furriers, they install an icon showing the Prophet

Elijah to the Church of Saint Athanasius in Didymoteicho. Farmers

donate the icon of the Entrance of the Virgin to the Temple in the

Church of the Holy Virgin, and the icon of Saint Modestos to the

Church of Saint Athanasius of Soufli. Hawkers appear on the icon ofSaint Nicholas in the Church of Saint Athanasius of Didymoteicho,

and so do the water-millers in the Church of Saint George in Soufli.

The history of these churches and their icons outline esrheric

tendencies and styles favored at various times for a wide variety ofreasons. They also hint at the life-styles, as well as the economic and

social structures of the communities surrounding them. The combi-

ned factors of reforms coming from the High Porte and from Euro-

pean interventionism in the area contributed to the economic advan-

cement of the Greek populations iq Turkish occupied Thrace. The

new conditions resulted in the cultural and educational development

-coupled with expanding activities- of the Greek communities

under Tirrkish rule, in the shadow of the local church, clearly, but ulti-maltely under the aegis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Con-

stantinople.-S7'hen

the broader rural Christian populace of the rest of Greece

suffered persistent oppression, persecution, and onerous taxation

under the Turkish dynasts, the urban centers of Thrace, thanks to a

conjuction of favorable circumstances, did relatively well. It was pre-

cisely these circumstances that allowed the building and decorating ofthe churches of Didymoteicho and Soufli this study has been about.

tanslated from the Greek

by Stavros Deligiorgis

t;:.f

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