Justinian II

Christ Pantocrator

One icon that clearly might have been sourced from the image found on the Shroud of Turin is the Christ Pantocrator, an icon at St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai.

The Sacred and Imperial Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount of Sinai, more commonly called The Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine, sits at the base of Mount Sinai, a mountain in the southern-most region of the Sinai dessert. Many believe that it was at this spot where Moses saw the Burning Bush and on this mountain that he received the Ten Commandments. The Monastery, now Greek Orthodox, dates back to the 4^th century and is claimed to be the oldest, continuously active Christian monastery in the world. Today, the monastery includes a 6^th century church and fortifications built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian the Great, a Muslim Mosque, buildings and gardens beyond the old fortifications and a scattering of nearby hermitages.

Justinian II and the Golden Pavilion

In 685, Justinian II, at the age of sixteen took the throne. He was the first Byzantine emperor to introduce a likeness of Christ on coinage of the realm. His image was on one side and Christ’s was on the reverse. Some have argued, and it seems quite possible, that the image on the coin was sourced from the Edessa image. It does seem to have many similarities. But the Philip Grierson writing in the Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and Whittemore Collection argued that was derived from an image of Christ in the Chrysotriclinos, The Golden Pavilion in Constantinople. The Golden Pavilion served as a church and a throne room for the emperor. The problem is that don’t know exactly when this was built or  when a Christ image was installed. The original image was replaced later and we don’t know anything about the original image.  It is possible that original pavilion image was created about the time that the St. Catherine icon was painted and we might speculate that it might have been inspired by the Image of Edessa.  The basic historical problem is that we don’t have enough information.

Justinian II and His Troubles

The image on the coin caused a great deal of trouble for Justinian. It may have contributed to his downfall. Noted art historian John Beckwith tells us:

At the same time, even after the first two centuries of the Christian era there had always been the seeds of opposition to images. When the Empress Constantia, stepsister of Constantine I and wife of the Emperor Licinius, asked Eusebius of Caesarea for an image of Christ, she was sharply snubbed. From the 4^th century onwards there had always been a minority among the intellectuals and the upper classes who disapproved of the cult of icons and the superstitious practices so often attached to them. Moreover in the Byzantine Empire near the eastern frontiers strong iconoclastic tendencies had been fairly constant. There is no period between the fourth and the eighth centuries in which there is not some evidence of opposition to images within the Church. (21)  

Leontius

Justinian II was only on the throne for ten years when he was overthrown by Leontius. How much the image of Christ on his coin had to do with it is only speculation. He was sent to a monastery in the Crimea, but only after his nose had been slit. The importance of this cannot be overlooked for one of the rules of succession to emperor was that an emperor had to be attractive looking. Justinian appealed to Tervel, the king of Bulgaria for help. He offered him lavish gifts, the title of Caesar of the empire (there were several) and the hand of his daughter Anastasia (meaning she who is perfect in every way) in marriage. Tervel agreed and sent an army of 15,000 horsemen. But this massive force was not enough to prevail against the walls of Constantinople and so Justinian resorted to sneaking into the city through a water conduit following the example of King David almost 2000 years earlier when he conquered Jerusalem. He then gathered his supporters within the city and captured the palace. Justinian Rhinotmetus (the Slit-nosed) was emperor again. He wasn’t succeeding to the thrown this time so the nose was not a problem.

Leontius was already in prison having been overthrown by Tiberius III. So Justinian had both of them executed. He also blinded and exiled Callinicus I, the Patriarch Archbishop of Constantinople, then considered second only to the pope in Rome, for his complicity in Leontius’ coup d’état. 

Justinian’s Ecumenical Council

During Justinian’s first reign he had called an ecumenical council together to promote certain religious policies that were not popular with the papacy. Justinian did not like restriction on the saying "Alleluia" in Lent, depicting Christ as a lamb, and a growing trend towards celibacy for priests. When Pope Sergius I refused to consent to the council’s findings, Justinian ordered him arrested. But the militia, mostly from Rome, Ravenna and elsewhere on the Italian peninsula sided with the pope.  Now, the Rhinotmetus was back in power and he demanded that the new pope, John VII, consent. He refused. This time Justinian sent his own troops to Italy to squash the militia loyal to the pope. A new pope , Constantine (not to be confused with all the emperors who had that name) travelled to Constantinople and consented to some of the emperor's demands in order to improve relations between the church and the state.

Philippicus led a popular revolt against the tyrannical unpopular Justinian and seized the city. Justinian fled but was captured and beheaded. Fearing for his son’s life, being that he was the rightful heir, Justinian’s mother sought sanctuary for him in the church of St. Mary's of Blachernae. Nonetheless the boy was dragged from the church and also beheaded. Thus ended a dynasty.

Leo III

Leo III, who had served Justinian II as a diplomat, ascended to the throne in 717. Then sometime between 726 and 729 he launched an iconoclastic campaign to prohibit the veneration of icons. He had an image of Jesus removed from the ceremonial entrance to the palace and replaced it with a cross. He destroyed the image of Christ in The Golden Pavilion, which is why we have no idea what it looked like. He issued an edict against the use of icons. But this was not well received among clerics in the eastern part of the empire or by pretty much anyone in the West. Pope Gregory III condemned his actions as heretical and in 730 excommunicated the supporters of iconoclasm.