Church of the Buckle (Tokalı Kilise)

Tokali Kilise (Turkish; Buckle Church) was the principal sanctuary of a large monastic center in Byzantine Cappadocia, now central Turkey. This cave church was carved into the soft volcanic stone of the region and decorated with frescoes in several stages between the mid-ninth and mid-tenth centuries, and is one of the richest ensembles of painting to survive from the early Middle Ages.

Buckle Church Just outside the museum exit on the right is the Buckle Church, the largest of the cave churches at Goreme. It can be entered with the same ticket as the main complex and should not be missed.

The frescoes are also the finest in Göreme, with the richest colors and the most detail. It dates from the10th and 11th centuries and was restored in the 1960s. Crucifixion, early 10th century fresco in the Buckle Church is comprised of four chambers, which are known as the Old Church, New Church, Paracclesion and Lower Church. The Old Church (10th century) has asingle nave with a barrel vault. The frescoesgive a comprehensive account of the life of Christ, from the Annunciation through the Baptism and Miracles and ending with thePassion, Resurrection and Ascension. The Transfiguration is painted over the entranceand the vault has portraits of saints. Holy Marry and Baby Jesus.
The Old Church now acts as a narthex for the New Church, which was added to the formers east sidearound 990-1010 AD. Its barrel-vaulted nave tells the story of Christ in deep red and blue hues.

The transverse nave has frescoes of saints, scenes from the life of St. Basil, and the miracles of Christ.The largest church in the region, it is situated on a slope a few hundred metres from the group ofc hurches within the Goreme open air museum. The entrance, today, opens onto a long, barrel-vaulted atrium which leads to a transverse nave, somewhat larger in scale. The nave is separated from an apse by a series of four columns supporting five arches. The apse is high and narrow. The narthex and atrium are known as the “old church” and the large flanking nave as the “new church.”Both parts of the church date from various periods, as do the frescos.

Those on the walls of the oldchurch are dated to the beginning of the 10th century and are executed in a primitive provincial style. The frescos of the new church, which date to the second half of the 10th century, however,possess a quite well-developed realism. The use of blue pigment as in these frescos isiconographically unique for the region. The walls are decorated with frescos of scenesfrom the New Testament, in frieze form,particularly scenes from the life of Christ.There are also representations of saints and scenes from the iconography of the saints. Among the frescos are those illustrating anaccount of the life of Basilius, archbishop of Caesareia.

Among the rock churches in Cappadocia, Buckle Church has the best paintings narrating the life of Christ in most detail. The church is decorated with the Infancy (childhood of Christ), Ministry and Passion cycles, with several episodes from the life of St. Basileios.

A series of now barrel vaulted chambers leading towards a triple apse with a small dome.  On some of other vaults there are paintings.  Scenes of christ’s life above, saints below.  Regsiters, and in both directions.  Below is row of standing saints.  Proliferation of saints like this become very common.  Exact arrangement of narative and images in barrel vault are fairly unique to cappadocia.  What you find somewhere are very early examples of images that do become popular elsewhere.  They haven’t survived quite well.  At one point were plastered over. Two more phases of construction were carried out at tokali kilise.  New church, 10th century.

This has retained a great deal of its painted decoration.  Paintings on virtually all the vaults and upper walls.  Once again this does approximate a plan of a more standard church, but with some weird irregularities.  Central vault of the naos (nave) is painted with christ’s ascension.  We will see images of christ’s ascension in domes, but rather unusual for it to occupy a barrel vault.  Not completely unknown, but still a fairly rare iconography for a barrel vault at this time.  Other scenes of christ’s life.

Upper east wall of nave. – more scenes from his life, baptism.  More standing saints.  Standard elements of church decoration but in an unusual combination.

One of most unusual parts is in the apse.  Once inside one can see a crucifixion decorating the apse, which is a highly unusual decoration in a byzantine church.  A time when church decoration themes had not yet been formalized.  Very early decoration from after iconoclasm.

Also some rare examples of images that do pop up later in byzantine art.  One of them is Virgin Eleousa, or virgin of mercy.  Another of standard images of virgin and child that crop up quite commony later on.  One of first surving images of it, from early 10th century.  Virgin is holding child closely against her, and their cheeks are toughing, his arms around her neck.  A tender image meant to evoke an empathetic reaction.  Maternal affection.

This sort of image is not only new its empathetic aspect, its also new in according human traits instead of divine ones to christ.  Not an image of son of god, but as a real human baby with human affections.  A more emotionally engaged response.For now subject matter did not become common until 12th century.

Buckle Church (Turkish; Tokali Kilise)

The Representation of Christ in Byzantine Hermitages:

A common feature among the church decoration of Byzantine Cappadocia is the depiction of Christ in human form. It is primarily within hermitages, where ascetic monks dwelled that there was a demand for this particular kind of image. During the Middle Byzantine period, Christological narratives became the standard for mural decoration since the images could stand for the theology and history of the church. Two crucifixion scenes, one at the hermitage of Niketas the Stylite and the other at the New Church of Tokali Kilise give special emphasis to the dual nature of Christ while providing evidence of the historical event as told by the scriptures. The Crucifixion scenes found at the chapel of Niketas and the New Church at Tokali Kilise correspond to the function of the church, primarily as a space to celebrate the liturgy in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice. Situated near the altar, the paintings convey a central theme of transformation as witnessed by the monks celebrating the Eucharistic liturgy. Expressing the divine through the human experience, that is through the senses, is a vital part of the spiritual encounter and as such requires a particular kind of imagery that promises salvation and eternal life.

The spread of Christianity had a tremendous effect on the culture and life of Cappadocia. Christianity was prevalent throughout the region as early as the 2nd-century A.D.  During the 8th and 9th-centuries Arab invasions began to deplete the population and threatened to overcome the empire. Miraculously, the eastern provinces were regained and the prominence that Christianity once had was restored. The period marks the gradual uprising of monasticism particularly in the Tufa valleys of Kizil Irmak.  The area proved to be a desirable location for monks seeking a landscape that resembled those described in the narratives of the prophets in the Old and New Testaments. As a result, many hermits assumed an ascetic life in the desert where pilgrims would travel to visit them. These same pilgrims doubled as donors who funded the decoration of numerous rock churches throughout Cappadocia.

Inscriptions such as the one found at the hermitage of Niketas the Stylite were included as a way of celebrating the pious acts of wealthy donors. The patron associated with the decoration of the chapel of Niketas is commonly known as Eustratios the Kleisourarch, commander of a military division. There has been some speculation about Eustratios’ reasons for commissioning the chapel, the general belief being that he wanted to commemorate a military victory that had been supplied to him by the prayers of a monk.  A second inscription was also found in the chapel and reveals the identity of the monk as being Niketas, a follower of St. Symeon the first hermit to establish himself on the top of a column. It has been speculated that directly below Niketa’s column was a chapel decorated with a program and style of painting that is more or less dated to the early eighth-century.  It has been assigned an early date on the basis of composition, which emphasizes a narrative cycle recounting the lives of Christ and the saints. On the nave of the chapel is a Crucifixion scene that is flanked by representations of St. Symeon and the apostles. The inscriptions were placed alongside each figure to identify them but also to call attention to the sanctity of both human and divine forms. For instance, an inscription found inside of Niketa’s chapel reads “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.”  The meaning behind the passage gains more strength when paired with the actual image. In order to fully describe the imperceptible details of Christian theology, artists and patrons in Cappadocia turned to art to express their beliefs and ideas.

Representing these complexities in visual form became problematic and resulted in the institutionalization of a standardized code for image production. The Quinisext Council of 692 enforced a litany of canons that affected art directly. The 82nd canon, for example, declared that the representation of Christ should be shown in human form instead of symbolically as a lamb.  There were numerous changes made to the pictorial schemes of churches throughout the region.

In the Goreme valley in particular, where the New Church of Tokali Kilise is located, there was a gradual shift towards depicting Christ in human form. Tokali Kilise underwent several stages of construction, the first being as a functional hermitage. A vast amount of wealth went into the decoration of the interior if one considers the cost of the materials used such as lapus lazuli. Once again a great deal of emphasis had been placed on the narrative cycle which features scenes from the lives of Christ and his disciples. The Crucifixion scene at the chapel of Niketa’s is one example of a composition that uses a saintly figure such as John the Baptist to underscore Christ’s human nature. At Tokali Kilise the figure of Jeremy points to the Crucifixion as if to reinforce the sacrifice of the lamb.  To commemorate their pious act, the patrons, Constantine and Leon, instructed the workshop of Nikephoros to include the inscription: “Your (most holy church) was completely decorated by Constantine out of love for the monastery (of the heavenly angels). He adorns his new work with twenty venerable images….”  As the inscription implies, the church contains a number of Christological scenes as well as hagiographic depictions, but it is the image of the Crucifixion in the main apse of the church that bears mentioning. The Crucifixion, in addition to showing Christ in human form, seems to be referencing liturgical events such as the transubstantiation.

Illustrating the conversion of Christ’s body and blood into bread and wine proved to be just as difficult as explaining verbally, in theological terms, his dual natures. The problem of representing Christ’s two natures was fiercely debated all throughout the 8th and 9th-centuries, the period commonly known as Byzantine Iconoclasm. Consequently, leaders of the church began to deeply criticize all acts of spiritual worship. Any material aid that might assist in pagan rituals such as sacrificial victims, shrines, and images were immediately renounced.  Spiritual aids were prohibited for contradicting the second commandment which forbids graven images. If, however, the decoration was in any way symbolic or narrative then it was deemed acceptable.

In response to these changes, images of the Crucifixion along with non-figural images such as the crucifix became the standard motifs for church decoration of the period.  The chapel of Niketas exemplifies the artistic style of the eighth-century since a prevalence of crosses dominates much of the scheme. There has been some debate about the influence of crucifixion imagery on religious groups such as the Cult of the Cross.  The cult encouraged the production of images that might help heretics “understand…the depths of the humiliation of the Word of God…that we may recall to our memory his conversation in the flesh, his passion and salutary death, and his redemption which was wrought in the whole world.”  As the passage implies, Christological scenes became a popular theme among the interiors of churches since it was the historical events of Christ’s life that provided the model for monks like Niketas.

The development of Christological narrative in church programming may have begun with single isolated figures and evolved into complex narrative cycles by the Middle Byzantine period.  In general, the predisposition towards narrative was common both before and after iconoclasm. Historical narratives were appropriate subjects for church decoration since the themes were derived from Christian traditions and could not be traced back to paganism. In addition, the architectural space of the church could allow continuous narratives to be extended throughout the interior without disruption.

This seems to be the case with the New Church of Tokali Kilise where the space from the eastern side of the barrel vault to the entrance of the apse is covered with registers of Christological scenes. The conch of the central apse features the image of the Crucifixion, which is unusual for a Byzantine church. The novelty of the image also comes from the fact that because the artist painted the scene on a curved surface he had to add a slight modification to the arms of the cross so that it could be read horizontally.  To ensure legibility, the scenes are presented in sequential order with organizational divisions that are provided by the architecture. Not all of the figures are neatly arranged since there are clearly saints that stand isolated from the larger scheme. The combination of narrative with single figures was not introduced until later on and can only be explained in terms of the specific liturgical needs of the particular region. In all probability, the purpose of the narrative was to represent a liturgical calendar of the Christian feast cycle.

If Middle Byzantine mural decoration was meant to represent a calendar of feast cycles, then perhaps the most important dates would be those that occured during Lent. Literary evidence suggests that stylites venerated the life of St. Symeon since it was during Lent that he practiced severe mortification.  Each year he would go without food until he became deathly ill. By celebrating the Eucharistic liturgy, Symeon broke his fast and was restored back to life. Like the transubstantiation, Symeon and his followers were transformed. One may postulate that placing an image of the Crucifixion over the altar, like at the New Church of Tokali Kilise, indicates the need to express these ideas.

By observing the decoration of the church it becomes clear that a great deal of thought was put into the arrangement of the figures, perhaps signifying the importance of the space as place for worship. Compared to Tokali Kilise, the chapel of Niketas the Stylite contains a much more ambiguous program of Christological and hagiographic scenes. Niketa’s chapel differs from the New Church in that it reserves the most significant space, the conch, for the Virgin and Child. In addition, the Crucifixion scene is placed on the east wall lunette and is accompanied by the solitary figures of St. Symeon and John the Baptist. Paired with each figure is an inscription that identifies the saints and a passage that reads, “For the prayer and salvation and the forgiveness of sins of Niketas, stylite, by the faith of the ascetic….”  It seems as though Niketas wanted to redeem himself and ensure his salvation through a lifetime of pious devotion and ritual worship. Redemption and salvation were thought to be attainable through enacting the Eucharistic liturgy, which would explain why so much attention was given to the space where this ceremony took place. The mural decoration of Niketa’s chapel reflects the intended function of the church as a sacred space to celebrate and remember Christ’s sacrifice.

A ceremonial practice such as the Eucharistic liturgy involves each and every one of the senses, which makes an encounter with the divine ever more conceivable. The incense, chants, and processions all contribute to the feeling of being a witness to the events transpiring in the liturgy. Viewing the panels of Christological narratives painted on the walls of the church, holy men like Niketas may have been inspired to devote themselves to being witnesses and practitioners of spiritual worship. After all, the body and senses are the means for bridging the human and the divine. By practicing asceticism, the monk’s body was transformed into a vessel for containing the divine within the earthly realm. It is not surprising that themes of resurrection, victory over death, and redemption dominated the interiors of Byzantine churches.

Perhaps the reason why Christ is portrayed in such a triumphant manner in Byzantine church interiors is because he was meant to embody both the physical and spiritual hardships that monks like Niketas endured for much of their lives. The extent to which they would dedicate themselves to performing pious acts such as praying for the forgiveness of sins for others or commissioning expensive church decoration suggests that these holy men were on a quest for salvation. Based on the evidence that remains from texts and architectural decoration, the hermitages of Cappadocia were sacred spaces with a form and function that provides some insight into the cultural and artistic developments of the period.

The hermitages of Niketas the Stylite and the New Church at Tokali Kilise are but two examples of the painted decorations that remain from the Byzantine era; both depict the figural representation of Christ at the moment of Crucifixion. Contemporary theological debates resulted in the intervention of the church on matters concerning the representation of Christ. In response to these ongoing changes, mural decoration was modified to accommodate liturgical needs. Christological scenes became the standard for church programs since the images were didactic symbols of Christ’s mission on earth. As a historical account of Christ’s sacrifice and triumph over death, these murals inspired the pious acts of ascetic monks eager for forgiveness and salvation.

Buckle Church Goreme, Cappadocia-Turkey