Niki Tsironis: The Theological Dimension of Rhetorical Ekphrasis in Performance

The Liturgy of the Orthodox Church, as well as its hymns and sermons, encompass the rhetorical tradition as it developed in antiquity and evolved during the Byzantine era. Ancient rhetorical figures and devices acquired new meaning and function within the liturgical ritual context of the Church. Ekphrasis will be examined here in order to detect the ways in which the vivid description of things or events, initially used mainly for works of art, during Christian times extended to all sort of narratives. In the context of Christian narratives, ekphrasis enabled people to experience the events recounted with all the emotional intensity necessary for the purpose of catechism and conversion to the ontological mode of existence of Christianity.