IN
CONCLUSION ON THE HYPERTEXTUALITY OF THE THEODORE PSALTER
The three marginally illustrated pages reveal the
multiplicity of functions played by the Theodore Psalter. In contrast,
the earliest illustrated Psalters, e.g., the Utrecht Psalter (7th
to 8th century), provided word illustrations of the text. However,
the Theodore Psalter marginal illustrations rarely repeated the Psalm
text, but added a new layer of meaning to it, interpreting it as
a foreshadowing of the events of Christ's life (Psalm 8), with historical
events from the life of the Church (Psalm 25:1-6) including recent
historical events such as Iconoclasm, or events of Israel in Exile
(Psalm 32:9-16). These illustrations served as visual glosses and
links to particular liturgical activities, for example, Palm Sunday.
The artist sometimes used similar illustrations with only a small
detail, such the warrior god figure (Psalm 8:3) to provide visual
clues for the user of the Psalter to distinguish its use for one
specific feast and not another.
Within the overall complex system of marginal illustrations, each illustration
category (polemical, liturgical, and typological) helps us to discover the use
of the Psalter passage, its intended audience, and its hypertextual character.
For the user, the illustrations linked the text of the Psalter with external
liturgical textual sources. For the artist and scribe, the illustrations linked
the Psalter text with previously revered sources for their program of illustrations,
such as the Chludov Psalter, the Menologion, Gospel Lectionaries, Homilies, and
even Old Testament apocrypha. Typological illustrations such as the Entry into
Jerusalem provided not only external links with Patristic exegetical writings
and early iconography, but also links to a particular liturgical feast celebration
such as Palm Sunday.
Polemical illustrations were intended to remind the patron, Abbot
Michael, of his role as a keeper of the tradition established by
St. Theodore the Studite
and of his function within the monastic community as its divinely appointed father,
responsible for transmitting the knowledge of the history of the Church. The
Theodore Psalter remained faithful to the history of the Stoudios monastery and
its role in the Iconoclastic controversies. It preserved the text and illustrations
of its exemplar, the Chludov Psalter, a witness and a product of the Iconoclastic
controversies. Yet, the differences from its textual predecessor reflect a new
function and audience and the creative genius of the scribe Theodore. The "aura" of
the manuscript page as reflected in the illustration, Nichols reminds us (Nichols,
13), emphasizes the authenticity of the manuscript as a historical document with
all the psychological and sociological forces behind it.
The three examples, although limited, reveal the hypertextual nature
of the Theodore
Psalter. The Psalter is "multi-linear" because of its complex composition
of texts, its composite page layout, and especially for its elaborate multi-layered
and multi-symbolic marginal illustrations. This multi-linearity appears also
in the complex system of linking of images and texts. The Psalter is "intertextual" because
of its dependence on various external textual sources for its style, organization,
and program of illustrations. The Psalter is "decentered," because
it offers multiple paths of choice of texts through its page organization and
system of internal references and connections. The Psalter is "multivocal," because
each marginal illustration augments its adjacent text, adding new dimensions
of tonality and layers of meaning. The Psalter triggers the memory of the reader
and inspires him to ascend, singing those hymns of Divine glory, or to descend
into his heart by reading and contemplating upon their meaning. The Psalter,
as a collection of various texts, rearranges "non-linearly" for specific
functions and uses. Each of its pages displays situational connectedness between
text and illustrations, between illustration and annotation, and between decoration
and text. In addition, the Psalter is hierarchically based upon a system of prioritized
colors, scripts, and size of letters and images, similar to HTML script.
Influences on the creation of the Theodore Psalter's hypertextual
design include the multiple functions of the Psalter, the patron's
wishes, the historical context,
and the life and personal genius of the scribe Theodore himself. In doing so,
the scribe fulfilled the most important role of the Psalter as a vision of
King David singing his Psalms next to Christ and God.
Beyond the similarity of form and function of the Theodore Psalter
to contemporary HTML texts, the hypertextual nature of the work
implies what Dzhurova calls
a transcendence of the mere functionality of its text (Dzhurova, 22). The
Theodore Psalter serves as a sacred monument to the Word of God,
a reincarnation of
the
Word itself.
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