This essay filters the mechanisms of perception and creation of late Antiquity and of the Byzantine era. It is structured in two parts. The first one is an attempt to analyze the function of sight in the context of the philosophical theories of Antiquity. The role of the eye is inextricably linked to the intellect as the eye leads to a form of interactive knowledge of the world visible and existence. Subjectivism, self-knowledge, dedication and consciousness are included in the mechanism of perception itself, as it is described in the old Greek philosophical texts. The early Christian anthropology is the direct heir of those theories. Christian thinkers shape the theology of Incarnation and the divine knowledge after the models of classic anthropology and gnoseology, adding a particular form of reflexivity, which leads man to self-improvement through knowledge and communion with the other.

The second part of the essay embodies a structural reading outline of the architecture and painting of Byzantine tradition in the Romanian monastic space, using as background, primarily but not exclusively, the monasteries in Northern Moldavia. The thesis is: eastern Christianity functioned for more than a millennium (from the division of the Roman Empire between East and West at the end of the fourth century until the fall of Constantinople in the mid-fifteenth century) on a voluntary identification between secular power and spiritual power. This blend led to an instrumentalization of all forms of expression of the sacred. Exit this form of unity imposed by the political power of Christian spiritual life, stepping somewhat forced into another political structure, led to transformation of the intimate mechanisms of reception of the Christian message and produced inevitable transformation of life and religious practices. One of the most spectacular effects is that of the Romanian monasticism in the XV^th-XVII^th centuries. It generated exemplary forms of spiritual life almost exclusively translated into art forms (architecture, paintings, icons, liturgical embroidery), expressions of high quality theological concept, about which, however, texts are very discreet. The reading scheme presented in this article is an attempt to reconstruct the mechanisms and suggest possible sources of this important moment of Eastern Christianity, where the fundamental patterns are updated in a manner that is both faithful and original.

Keywords:

Visible, Byzantium, image, monasteries of Moldavia, anthropology

ANCA VASILIU