Кръстът – символ във византийското и българското монетосечене

The Cross – a symbol within the Byzantine and Medieval Bulgarian coinage

Abstract

The work presents a brief though synthesized chronological review on the appearance and affirmation of the Christian Cross as a basic and leading symbol on the Byzantine and Bulgarian Medieval coins in the course of the 7th – 14th c. From a means of execution during the Principate in the Roman Empire (1st – early 4th c.), the Cross became a symbol of the martyrdom of God-Man Christ, the Son of God, the second face of God, an irrevocable and integral part of the triune, consubstantial, without beginning, eternal and infinite Holy Trinity – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Gradually, with the confirmation of the Orthodox Christianity and mostly from the reign of Constantine the Great (306 – 337) onwards, along with the writing of the main dogmatic-theological canons both in philosophical and practical terms, they were paying attention to the ways in which all liturgical texts related to the prophecies of the long-awaited Messiah, the Saviour of all sinners of the first-time sin committed by Adam and Eve.
After the crucifixion of Christ on the Cross, on the vertical pillar of the scaffold, the Roman soldier attached a transversely short wooden board with the mocking inscription of Jesus of Nazareth King of Judea in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Later this small board would become not only an element of the artistic reproductions of some types of crosses, but also an instance for establishing the dogma that the Holy Christian scripts (the Old and New Testaments, Nomocanon, Liturgics, etc.) are allowed to write and preach only in these three languages.
The universal imposition of Christianity as an official religion in the entire Roman state under Theodosius I (379 – 395) helped to establish the new philosophical ideology in both theological and dogmatic terms, as well as the decoration of the churches, the layout of icons, the church plate, the priestly and royal garments, the imperial and patriarchal ceremonial, and the imperial insignia. They began to impose the theological doctrines on the vertical order of subordination of the Heavenly Kingdom, headed by the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) and the three-degree angelic hierarchy as each degree was composed of three ranks. The life on earth should be organized in the same way, with the Byzantine Emperor heading all subjects, his everlasting divine power believed to be transmitted mostly through Jesus Christ, Theotokos, angel of Heavens or a Saint. The imperial insignia, clothing, and ceremonial became one of the strongest means of expression that emphasized the supreme power of the Roman Basileus. Among these insignia, the cross was the most important symbol of Christ Himself, the Heavenly King. This is evident from the iconographic design of the Byzantine golden, silver and copper coins from the 6th – 7th c. On them the Emperor bears a diadem with a cross or holds a globe with a cross as an Autocrat similarly to Christ Pantocrator, an image affirmed in the church fresco, mosaic or portable icon. The Empresses are depicted in the same way though bearing three-point crowns. In the beginning (6th – 7th c.) images of Christ were yet missing. The most repeatedly presented was the pagan Victoria/ Nike transformed as an angel of the Lord, holding a large single or double cross combined with the Christogram and multi-stars. From the time of Emperor Heraclius (610-641), on the reverse of the golden solidi and silver coins they began to represent a single or a double cross over three steps, a symbol of Christ Saviour and His road to Golgotha as well as of an allusion of climbing the ladder to spiritual perfection.
The first images of Christ on Byzantine coins appeared under Justinian II Rhinotmetos. The peculiar feature of this initial portrait of the Son of God is the absence of a halo although a large single cross behind the head is emphasized – a symbol of His self-sacrifice. Around the image of Christ they engraved the title of Rex regnantium (King of the Kings) in Latin and this legend will remain as constant on all golden byzantine coins representing Christ till the monetary reform of Alexios I Komnenos (1081 – 1118). The same royal title formula has been accepted also with the Byzantine state ceremonial.
During the period of Iconoclasm the Cross took its constant position on both coin sides on both the imperial insignia and the substantive image on the reverse. From Michael III (842 – 867) to the late 14th c. the Cross was entirely approved as a basic royal sign meaning the symbolic acceptance of the supreme intransitive Divine power by the mortal temporary monarch transmitted through Christ, Theotokos or a certain saint.
The Cross is present also on all silver and copper coinages of the Bulgarian Monarchs from the 14th c. in variants to illustrate the symbolic connection between Heavenly and earthly power and who can hold it. In search of this connection, it was not by accident that almost all Bulgarian coins of that time show the king or the queen holding scepters with a cross or the same symbol in variants on the reverse.