The Novgorod Sophia Icon as a Deesis

The structure of the Novgorod Sophia icon is similar to that of the Deesis, a fundamental image of Byzantine art showing Christ flanked by the Theotokos and John the Baptist. This chapter unravels the ecclesiological meaning of the Deesis, hitherto overlooked in scholarship, to explore the ecclesiological content of the Novgorod Sophia icon. The Wisdom icon derives from a later version of the Deesis, the so-called Royal Deesis, which shows Christ and the Theotokos in imperial insignia. The second half of the chapter examines the link of late-Byzantine Royal Deesis with the Western image of the Coronation of Virgin, both showing the Mother of God in royal attributes. It stresses the polemical dialogue between the two images, highlighting the anti-Greek tenet of the Western iconography and the corresponding anti-Latin agenda of the Byzantine one. By integrating the Royal Deesis, the Novgorod Sophia icon amalgamates all these polemical ecclesiological undertones of the Byzantine image. But by placing a sophiological iconography into the ecclesiological structure of the Deesis, the Novgorod Sophia also modified the ecclesiological message of the Royal Deesis. As a result, the Wisdom icon visualizes the same ‘sophiological synthesis’ which found expression in the Sophia commentary.