Ecclesia and Synagoga
[1] The two female figures are usually young and attractive; Ecclesia is generally adorned with a crown, chalice and cross-topped staff, looking confidently forward.
[3] Attributes sometimes carried by Synagoga include a male sheep or goat or just its head, signifying Old Testament sacrifice, in contrast to Ecclesia's chalice which represents the Christian Eucharist.
[7] The pair, now with a female Jewish partner, are then found in several later Carolingian carved ivory relief panels of the Crucifixion for book covers, dating from around 870,[8] and remain common in miniatures and various small works until the 10th century.
Another common comparison made is to equate the Synagogue with a concubine or female slave, and the Jews to her illegitimate offspring, while the Church is the true Bride, sometimes employing the story of Abraham's children by Hagar and Sarah to complete the metaphor.
[13] The blind covering Synagoga's eyes derived from the letter of Saint Paul at II Corinthians 3:13-16:[14] We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.
The blindfold is also symbolic of this, but other indications can include presentation in a prone position, or possessing a broken staff, or a crown or scroll that is slipping.
[15] The sculpted portal figures are generally found on the cathedrals of larger cities in northern Europe that had significant Jewish communities, especially in Germany, and apart from their theological significance, were certainly also intended to remind Jews of their place in a Christian society, by projecting "an ideal of Jewish submission within an ideally ordered Christian realm".
[19] A horned Moses has usually been thought to be purely the result of a mistranslation by Jerome, but some of the medieval depictions have been interpreted as overtly antisemitic.
This made Christian theologians, mostly monastic, much more aware than previously of the existence of a vibrant Jewish theological tradition subsequent to the writing of the Hebrew Bible.
Previously, Early Medieval Christians had likened the Jews to, as they were described by Augustine, "librarians" or "capsarii", a class of servant that was in charge of carrying books, but did not actually read them.
[24] The increased contacts therefore had the paradoxical effect of making monasteries more aware that there was an alternative tradition of exegesis and scholarship, and stimulating them to counter this.
[25] Usage of the figures declined in the Renaissance and later periods, as the religious dimension of antisemtism receded, but continued in Passion plays up to the present.
[27] There are examples on the portals of the cathedrals at Minden, Bamberg and Freiburg Minster in Germany, as well as Notre Dame de Paris and Metz in France.
Surviving from the chapter house of York Minster are over life-size paintings on oak from a group of 48 supporting the roof vault and stained glass figures from the vestibule.
[30] Synagoga and a horned Moses without Ecclesia appear in the window of the north choir aisle at Canterbury Cathedral, while a number of English church figures, screens and fonts also present the pair.
The interpretation of the parable in terms of wise Christian and foolish Jewish virgins, the latter missing the wedding party, long remained common in sermons and theological literature, and has been argued to be present in Handel's oratorio Messiah (1741).
Synagoga stands upright, holding the Ten Commandments, while Ecclesia is portrayed as the Lady of Liberty, complete with crown and torch.
[39] The sculpture was commissioned to mark the 50th anniversary of the Nostra aetate declaration that called for a more cooperative approach to the relationship between Catholicism and Judaism.
