CONSTANTINOPLE, TRADITION OF THE AVAR SIEGE IN 626 AND SACRED RELICS (Konstantinopol, tradicia avarskeho utoku z roku 626 a posvatne relikvie)

The Avar siege of Constantinople was one of the most important events in the history of the Byzantine Empire and particularly its capital. The presented study deals with the history of liturgical objects which were considered to be a part of the sacred arsenal of Constantinople during the Avar siege in 626. The sacred relics played an important role in Constantinople. Some of them were used in the liturgical processions as important palladia and carried round the city walls. The eye-written sources, however, reveal that it was only an acheiropoieton (not-hand-made) portrait of Christ which was used in the liturgical procession during the Avar's attack. Other famous relics (True Cross, Virgin's robe and the icon of Hodegetria) were carried in the procession only in the later sieges of Byzantine capital. According to the author their use during the Avar siege is only a product of the later Byzantine hagiography.