The Holy Table of St Sophia
According to legend, when the Venetians tried to kidnap it the Holy Table of St Sophia in Constantinople made a dramatic escape.
1261
King Henry III 1216-1272
According to legend, when the Venetians tried to kidnap it the Holy Table of St Sophia in Constantinople made a dramatic escape.
1261
King Henry III 1216-1272
In 1204, Crusaders sacked and desecrated Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire and most honoured See of the Greek Orthodox Church. For almost sixty years thereafter, the communion Table in the grand basilica of Holy Wisdom (Agia Sophia) suffered itself to be used for Roman Catholic services, but in 1261 the retreating Latins tried to carry it away with them to Italy, and enough was enough.
IN the thirteenth century,* the Franks, pursued by the Greeks, retreated from Constantinople. As they went, however, they looted the city and stripped it of all its riches. Among other precious objects, they uprooted the costly Holy Table of the basilica of St Sophia.*
The ship which transported this precious treasure capsized on reaching the middle of the Sea of Marmara.
According to another version, the ship broke open, and the Holy Table sank to the bottom of the sea between the three headlands of Heraclea, Chora in Thrace and the Isle of Marmara, at a distance of eighteen miles from each.*
During the very worst storms, the sea remains (so we are assured) always calm at the place where the Holy Table sank. In summertime, one may see there an oily substance with a very pleasant scent, which would be nothing other than the holy chrism exuding from the Table.*
The authors, Henri Carnoy and Jean Nicolaïdès, wrote ‘11th century’ but when quoting this passage Greek folklorist Nikolaos Politis (1852-1921) inserted an exclamation mark to draw attention to their mistake. Politis identified the earliest possible historical background as the Latin Occupation of Constantinople from 1204 to 1261, during which time the Roman Emperors and their Greek Patriarchs were exiled to Nicaea, and Agia Sophia served as a Roman Catholic church.
According to the oldest sources gathered by Nikolaos Politis, it was the Venetians who smuggled the Holy Table out. The Crusaders had ransacked the City back in 1204 too, raping and murdering thousands and stripping churches and homes, but the Venetians were a restraining influence; they also came to the aid of the Greeks of Constantinople when the Turks captured the City in 1453, and the rest of Europe looked the other way. See The Fall of Constantinople.
That is, Herakleia (now Marmara Ereğlisi) and Hoşköy in Turkish Thrace, and the Isle of Marmara. All lie in the narrow Sea of Marmara that, together with the Hellespont (Dardenalles) to the west, joins the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, and also separates Asia Minor from Europe. See Google Maps.
When an altar Table is consecrated for first use, it is anointed with chrism or myrrh, a preparation from olive oil and aromatic herbs based on Exodus 30:22-33, while parts of Psalm 133 are read. The miracle suggests that such oils continue to stream from the sunken Table.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Where according to legend does the Holy Table of St Sophia lie today?
Beneath the Sea of Marmara in Turkey.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
The Franks retreated from Constantinople. They put the Holy Table aboard a ship. They set sail for Italy.