ABSTRACT
ABBOT SUGER is an example of the way in which symbolism might work in the West. The East was different. There were three basic types of church symbolism in the East: first, the theological with language derived from the theology of the Holy Trinity or of the nature of Christ. St Maximus the Confessor was an exponent of this tradition. Second, a scriptural and almost topographical symbolism in which the church mirrored the symbolism of the Liturgy which itself was a symbol of the life of Christ on earth. This life was not just a story; every episode brought sanctification and grace into the world. The twelfth-century Nicholas Mesarites gives an example of this approach. Third, the cosmic in which the church was an icon of the universe, the tradition which we see in Josephus’ exegesis of the Tabernacle. Maximus again expounds this symbolism. All this meaning is recognised, the court poet, Corippus, would say, by the internus oculus, the inner eye, the eye of the soul. 1 The meaning is discerned symbolically.
