The iconostasion of the greek Orthodox Church in Karcag

Abstract

According to the evidence of archival documents, Greek merchants
arrived in Jászkunság (a district of Central Hungary) in the 16th century
following the Turkish conquerors. Their imigration went on even in the 17th
and 18th centuries. They had a multisided commercial activity: they were
shopkeepers, money-lenders, rented taverns, meat houses, lodging houses.
According to 18th century censuses, their number was low, about 70 persons.
They were welcome by local residents, as their trading activity was important
for the people of Jászkunság dealing primarily with agriculture and animal
husbandry.
The Greeks, getting into a strange country tried to accomodate to the
conditions in their new homeland, their attachment to their motherland,
however, was very strong. Their loyalty manifested itself in cultivating their
vernacular, and even more in their unconditional sticking to the ancient
Eastern Orthodox Church. The Greek Diaspora in the Jászkunság had the
master builder, Károly Rábl build their church, who carried out the plans
of József Jung. The inner decoration of the church and the erection of the
iconostasion was finished in 1811, as it is testified by a Greek inscription on it.
On the screen there are 58 icons arranged in 7 rows, which visualize
stories from the Old and the New Testaments. The Deisis tier and the Church
Feasts tier are missing from the iconostasion. Two masters, probably of Greek
origin, left the mark of their work on the icons. One of them had closer connections
with Oriental traditions : he produced icon-like compositions making
use of Baroque elements. The other master worked in the spirit of Western
Baroque, composing his picture in accordance with Western iconography.
Both masters strongly stuck to a common idea: every composition was subordinated
to the pictorial formulation of the idea emerging from the whole
iconostasion. The sculptor planned both the panels and the whole screen to
fit place-determined variations of one form, the apse arch. The master may
have come from the workshop of Miklós Jankovics (νικολαος ιωαννου
ταλιδορος), wood-carver in Eger. The Iconostasion in Karcag, inlike other
Baroque screens, does not disintegrate into separate compositions, that is
why it takes a distinguished place among Hungarian iconostasions.