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Ecclesia and Synagoga ✝ ✡

Thursday, 26 December 2024 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union
Category/Kategorie: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post Ecclesia and Synagoga, or Ecclesia et Synagoga in Latin, meaning “Church and Synagogue” (the order sometimes reversed), are a pair of figures personifying the Christian Church and the Jewish synagogue, that is to say Judaism, found in medieval Christian art. They often appear sculpted as large figures on either side of a church portal, as in the most famous examples, those at Strasbourg Cathedral. They may also be found standing on either side of the cross in scenes of the Crucifixion, especially in Romanesque art, and less frequently in a variety of other contexts.

The two female figures are usually young and attractive; Ecclesia is generally adorned with a crown, chalice and cross-topped staff, looking confidently forward. In contrast, Synagoga is blindfolded and drooping, carrying a broken lance (possibly an allusion to the Holy Lance that stabbed Christ) and the Tablets of the Law or Torah scrolls that may even be slipping from her hand. The staff and spear may have pennants flying from them. In images of the Crucifixion, Ecclesia may hold a chalice that catches the blood spurting from the side of Christ; she often holds the chalice as an attribute in other contexts. Attributes sometimes carried by Synagoga include a male sheep or goat or just its head, signifying Old Testament sacrifice, in contrast to Ecclesia‘s chalice which represents the Christian Eucharist. The Ram also signifies alleged Jewish lustfulness and supposed Judaic focus on the flesh, in contrast to the Lamb, signifying the importance of the spirit in Christianity. In turn, Synagoga‘s female vulnerability and blindness suggest a raped woman and untrustworthiness. If not blindfolded, Synagoga usually looks down. Other elements suggest defeat. Ecclesia has an earlier history, and in medieval art Synagoga occasionally appears alone in various contexts, but the pair, or Ecclesia by herself, are far more common. Further subjects where the pair may sometimes be found are the Tree of Jesse, and the Nativity.

The figures of Ecclesia and Synagoga are sometimes traced to the influence of the 5th-century Altercatio Ecclesiae et Synagogae, a Latin dialoge from Roman Africa. The first appearance of such figures in a Crucifixion is in a historiated initial in the Drogo Sacramentary of c. 830, but though Ecclesia already has most of her usual features already present, the figure representing the Jews or the Old Covenant is here a seated white-haired old man. The pair, now with a female Jewish partner, are then found in several later Carolingian carved ivory relief panels of the Crucifixion for book covers, dating from around 870, and remain common in miniatures and various small works until the 10th century. They are then less common in Crucifixions in the 11th century, but reappear in the 12th century in a more strongly contrasted way that emphasizes the defeat of Synagoga; it is at this point that a blindfolded Synagoga with a broken lance becomes usual. The figures continue to be found in Crucifixions until the early 14th century, and occur later in various contexts but are increasingly less common. The surviving portal figures mainly date from the 13th century.

The relationship between Church and Synagogue was discussed for a long period, ultimately influencing the depictions found in later visual representations. The tone of these varied in their tolerance or otherwise. Augustine, for example, depicts the Old Testament as being the same as the new, but “covered with a veil”. The Altercatio Ecclesiae et Synagogae is in this tradition, popularised in Europe much later as larger numbers of Jews arrived. The idea of Synagoga as blind can be found in this literature. Another common comparison made is to equate the Synagogue with a concubine or female slave, and the Jews to her illegitimate offspring, while the Church is the true Bride, sometimes employing the story of Abraham’s children by Hagar and Sarah to complete the metaphor.

The medieval figures reflect the Christian belief, sometimes called Supersessionism, that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, and that Judaism as a religion was therefore made unnecessary, by its own tenets, once Christianity was established, and that all Jews should convert. Today opposed by dual-covenant theology, this belief was universal in the medieval church. Synagoga‘s blindfold reflected the refusal of medieval Jews to “see” this point, which was regarded as stubborn. The Gospel of Matthew (27, 51) related that the Veil of the Temple, covering the entrance to the Holy of Holies, tore at the moment of Christ’s death on the cross, which was taken to symbolize the moment of the replacement of Judaism by Christianity as the true religion, hence the presence of the pair in Crucifixion scenes.

Read more on Wikipedia Ecclesia and Synagoga (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.

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