The doctrinal background to the apse decoration of the church of Agios Panteleimon, Velanidia the Annunciation - the Dead Christ sacrificed - Saint Panteleimon

Abstract

The church of Saint Panteleemon at Velanidia in the province of Epidauros Limera, Laconia exhibits special interest for its painted decoration which, albeit limited in the apse, has been dated in the last quarter of the 13^th century. The iconographic programme of the apse is formed as follows; at the conch there's a depiction of the Virgin in the type of Blachernitissa, while on the hemicycle there is the scene of Melismos, which occupies two registers. The homonym saint has also been included in the lower register among the officiating bishops. The iconographic theme of Melismos pertinent to the Holy Eucharist was fairly widespread in Laconia after the mid 13^th century because of its doctrinal content. Both the presence of the Franks in the Peloponnese and the doctrinal disputes between the Orthodox and the Latin Church may have contributed to Melismos’s development and dissemination.