Gregory Nazianzen emphasizes how the deity of the Holy Spirit is
shown by his activity as the one who deifies. Gregory refers to the
image of 'a truly golden chain of salvation' (Or.31.28). Basil of
Caesarea (Hex.2.8) verifies a cosmological interpretation of the 'one
day' of creation and utilizes 'the image of eternity'. The succession of
days and the change of time signify one circular movement that begins
of itself and ends on itself. Gregory of Nyssa (Beat.) separates
ontologically the change (τροπή) of everything created from that without
change (ἄτρεπτον) reserved for God only. Yet, in In Hexaemeron, Gregory
underlines the order (τάξις) and cyclic regularity of the movement of
Heaven that imitates God's immobility. The Heaven's ordered change is
opposed to the Earth's material change. Good movement/change does not
loose itself in the indefinite, but bridges between God and
humankind,serves for eternal life.
Based on Cappadocian vindications for cyclic divine activity, the
paper argues that cyclic shapes in Byzantine aesthetics signify divine
activity and immobile order, but also uncircumscription, salvation,
resurrection, and return to eternal life. Geometric designs built around
cyclic shapes highlight atemporal order and perfected activity, since
circles and spheres contain order, tension, but also movement. The
cyclic shape of a dome, a nimbus, a medallion, or a tondo has either
beginning or end; neither has interacting stylized or elaborated borders
in Byzantine sacred narratology.
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