Пану Эрини
Иерусалимский университет гебраистики, Израиль
The Egyptian god Horus was known from the second millenium BC as ‘the child with the finger in his mouth’. Hieroglyphics show that the placement of fingers onto the lips pertains to the believer’s responsibility to stay silent in the presence of the divine out of respect [Put good words on your tongue, but the bad (words should be kept) hidden in your body]. In Hellenistic Greece, god Harpocrates represented the same values. By contrast, the favete linguis ( = holding of the tongue) of Latin poetry had more to do with inner calmness and religious obedience rather than staying silent during prayer. In Eastern Christianity, the ancient Egyptian prohibition of speaking when God is present – now effectuated in churches – was revived in both texts and iconography. In general,
the significance of the gesture of silence is defined as the appropriate behaviour that the faithful should adopt when confronting god in their prayers or when entering religious spaces. However, textual and iconographical evidence shows that this particular gesture was multilayered and could be explained on a theological or philosophical level based on the era and region it appears. Iconography, texts and epigraphy from the second millenium BC until the Medieval period will bring forward the implications that come with the silence gesture and will justify its role in religious art.