@conference{
author = "Stevović, Ivan and Erdeljan, Jelena",
year = "2018",
abstract = "This text discusses the interrelated issue of spatial forms and the symbolism of space,
i.e. spatial units, of the katholikon of Žiča monastery, the church of the Holy Saviour, raised
in the early XIII century through the joint efforts of Sava Nemanjić, irst archbishop of
Serbia, and his brother, the irst crowned king of Serbia, Stefan Nemanjić. In its original
form, the ground plan of the church was cross-shaped, with an apse the width of the nave
and rectangular bays on either side of the space under the dome, extending further west into
a western bay and narthex lanked by parekklesia. This archaic silhouette was reminiscent of
Early Christian transept basilicas, an ideal form of ecclesiastic space in a confessionally polyvalent
milieu, between Orthodox East and Catholic West. The evocative, archaic nature of
the church was further enhanced by the appearance of lateral chapels as annexes which were
usually found by the western side of Early Christian churches. Taking into consideration the
concepts of apostolic tradition and the theology of the Cross, two constants of St. Sava’s
theological thought and practical mission, it is possible that from the very start Sava saw
Žiča as the center of a new Serbian sacral topography, as can be gleaned from his biographer,
Domentijan, from passages referring to his irst concepts of formulating the institution of the
Serbian autocephalous church. By all means, the miraculous healing of the paralytic which
Sava performed in the course of completion of works on the church (both Christomimetic
and evocative of the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem as the place of resurfacing of the wood
of the Cross according to the Legend of the Cross) certainly demonstrated the incomparable
sanctity of this space, its chosen status as the nucleus of the state, and, thus, its predestined
status as the repository and reliquary of the most highly venerated Christian relics later deposited
there by Sava himself.
Yet another Early Christian or Early Byzantine spatial feature of the Saviour’s church
in Žiča, likewise deeply imbued with theological and ideological symbolism, is the fact that
the only entrance to the building was the western portal – resulting from the fact that the two
spaces on either side of the bay under the dome, the so-called “low transept of the Raška
school”, ended in solid walls (and not, as in earlier Serbian churches, Nemanja’s endowments
from the end of the XII century, Đurđevi Stupovi and Studenica, in vestibules with pertaining
portals). The functional novelty of having all movement, whether the regular liturgical or
the specially ordained adventus, come from the one main (western) entrance, associated the
church in Žiča with Early Byzantine practice, most recognizably and highly organized in the
case of the Great Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.
Moreover, it appears that the space under the dome in Žiča, including the two lateral
bays as well as the altar space, i.e. the entire eastern part of the church was separated from
the western bay by a low barrier. Traces of installation of similar screens have been discovered
on the western pilasters of Studenica and the Holy Apostles in Peć. Therefore, the
sacral space at the eastern end of the church was not accessible to the general congregation.
The long history of such barriers can be traced throughout Byzantine history, from the early
days (Egeria’s account of priests intra cancellos in the Anastasis) to the fact that chancel
panels of one such barrier were still preserved (although not in situ) in the Hagia Sophia of
Thessaloniki in the XV century. Its symbolic meaning and function is related to the sorag of
the Jerusalem Temple.
In fact, as a result of Sava’s concepts and engagement in the structuring of this building,
the entire eastern part of the church of the Saviour in Žiča became, symbolically, a sublimation
of all key loci of sacral topography and Judeo-Christian history of Jerusalem. This
was achieved by spatial articulation, a speciic choice of subjects represented in fresco on
the most prominent parts of this space (including the Deesis in the apse, the Acension in the
dome, prophet Zachary under the dome, Cruciixion on the western face of the eastern wall,
the exterior of the diaconicon) and, most explicitly, by placing the relic of the True Cross in
the diaconicon-skeuophilakion which was (subsequently) constructed by the apse. A movable
proskenetarion for the veneration of this relic may well have been located in the south arm of
the transept. This translatio Hierosolymi was modeled on Constantinopolitan types.
Thus, in a synergy of spatial articulation, symbolism of form and material of its formation
as the chôros i.e. chorós of liturgical ambulation/circulation, and with the presence of
the relic of the True Cross and a speciic program of fresco decoration, the transept of Žiča,
and therefore the entire church (the space of which was additionally activated by the miracle
working of Saint Sava), was transformed into an image of the (New) Garden of Eden and
(New) Temple redeemed by the sacriice and the Cross of Christ. The Orthodox land of the
Nemanides with the cross shaped temple rising in its midst was thus metaphorically likened
to Gan Eden amidst which stands the Tree of Life. The presence of the crowned Serbian king
along with that of the Serbian archbishop as the head of the autocephalous church in such
a space, invested legitimacy into the king’s eternal royal body as the Christomimetic, messianic
ruler and warranted dynastic continuity granted by Divine Providence. Soon after, this
concept was presented in fresco in the narthex of Mileševa. Symbolically (including spatial
articulation and relics) and functionally (liturgically and through the coronation rite), the
space of the katholikon of Žiča was an echo in the Nemanide state of the Great Church of
Divine Wisdom from Constantinople.",
publisher = "Ниш : Град Ниш, Универзитет у Нишу, Православна епархија нишка, Нишки културни центар",
journal = "Niš i Vizantija - Šesnaesti međunarodni naučni skup, Niš 3-5. jun 2017, zbornik radova",
title = "Oblici i simbolika prostora Spasove crkve u Žiči, Spatial Forms and Symbolism of Space of the Saviour's Church in Žiča",
pages = "182-169",
volume = "16",
url = "https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_5361"
}
