Iconic space

This article by Anca Vasiliu focuses on the theology of the image in the frescoes of the sanctuary of the Neamț Monastery (Moldavia, early sixteenth century), particularly on the vaults and the apse hemicycle. Drawing on theological study and iconographic analysis, the article examines how the Moldavian decorative program operates a reconversion of the status of the image, moving from a political and mnemotechnical function to a mystagogical and performative one. The central idea is that the iconic space of the sanctuary articulates two hierarchical structures — ecclesiastical and celestial — around the Theotokos Platytera, whose Moldavian variant, surrounded by deacon-angels rather than archangels, expresses an economy of liturgical mystery rather than a cosmology of power. The theological contribution lies in demonstrating that this iconographic innovation, far from breaking with the Byzantine Tradition, renews its coherence by integrating the eschatological dimension, monastic prayer, and the dynamic resemblance of the soul into the very heart of figurative language.