Scourging, Herod

Scourging

After hearing the accusations from the Pharisees and yielding to the demands of the crowd stirred up by them, Pilate “released Barabbas to them, but he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified” (Matthew 27:26; Mark 15:15). The soldiers then took Jesus to the Praetorium, where they mockingly dressed Him in royal robes and taunted Him. A flying angel with a tablet expresses the complaint of the Scourged Son of Man. He brings Jesus’ prayer to the Father, continuing the prayer of the suffering and tormented Servant of God: “Rescue me from the lion’s mouth” (Psalm 22 [21]:22).

The Column of the Scourging has symbolic significance. Its base is a lion’s mouth, and at the capital, there is a large bird resembling an eagle. This would be the Roman eagle, used as an emblem by the imperial army. Meanwhile, the lion can also symbolize an empire hostile to God. In moral symbolism, the eagle—like the lion—also represented Satan because it seizes its prey. Hrabanus Maurus (10th century) encapsulated this with the statement: “Aquila diabolus vel Antichristus” (Hrabanus Maurus, De universo VIII, 6). The scene is framed by an arch of rope ornamentation, symbolizing betrayal and bondage.

Herod

Though Herod is depicted separately, he must be considered in this context. The Wise Men ask Herod: “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?” In the account of the massacre of boys under two, he appears again as an angry ruler, panic-stricken about his throne (Matthew 2:16). His image should be understood historically in connection with the Gospel description and typologically as a figure of a wicked ruler. Apocryphal texts describe his terrible end and damnation in hell.

Płock Doors

The Płock Doors, also known as the Magdeburg Doors, Korsun Doors, or Sigtuna Doors, were bronze doors once located in the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Płock. This is a relic of Romanesque art. Currently, the original doors are in the western portal of St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod, Russia, and a bronze casting (copy) has been in the Płock Cathedral since 1982.

Research indicates that the doors were probably in Płock for about 250 years before they adorned St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod. It is unclear how the doors ended up in Novgorod. According to a 15th-century legend, they were brought from Byzantium by Prince Vladimir the Great via Korsun in Crimea (hence the name Korsun Doors), although this is unlikely.

According to some historical hypotheses, they were looted in the 13th century by Lithuanians during their raid on Masovia. Other historians believe they were given as a gift by the Polish clergy or the dukes of Płock to Prince Lingwen Olgierdovich of Novgorod, brother of Władysław II Jagiełło. Some sources say they arrived in Novgorod as early as 1170, shortly after being made, while others suggest before the mid-15th century. According to a version announced in 1823 by Friedrich von Adelung, the doors are a military trophy of the Novgorodians (specifically Karelians, Estonians, Izhoras, and northern Russians), who captured them in 1187 during an expedition to the then-capital of Sweden, Sigtuna (hence the 19th-century name Sigtuna Doors).

The doors for the Płock Cathedral were ordered by Bishop Alexander of Malonne (died 1156). Master Riquin, with assistant Waismut, cast them in bronze using the lost-wax technique between 1152 and 1154 in one of the Magdeburg foundries. It is uncertain whether it belonged to the local fabrica ecclesiae, operating at the cathedral, managed by Bishop Wichman of Wettin (c. 1110–1192).

Figures of bishops and craftsmen are among the reliefs, to which in the first quarter of the 15th century, the representation of a Russian caster, Master Abraham, was added. He also adapted the doors to the western portal of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod, adding Cyrillic inscriptions translated from Latin. It is hypothetically assumed that the doors were looted from Płock at the end of the 13th century and, after various fates, were hung as a “copper icon” in an Orthodox church at the beginning of the 15th century.