San Mauro at Parentium, Saint Sergius at Gaza, Hagia Sophia in Kiev, and the Protevangelium of James

The Church of San Mauro at Parenzo/Poreč (late antique Parentium c. 550) preserves mosaics in its central and two side apses which are contemporary with and comparable to better known ones in Ravenna from the Age of Justinian. Such a three-apsed architectural form-dubbed Syro-Palestinian by Krautheimer-does not appear in Rome until the eighth century during the period of the "Greek" (often Syrian) popes. This paper explores the "Eastern" connections between San Mauro and the slightly earlier Saint Sergius in Gaza, as well as similarities with medieval Hagia Sophia in Kiev. Saint Sergius is no longer extant, but we have a detailed description of the architecture and decoration from the ekphrasis of Choricius of Gaza. All three of these churches have Annunciation and Visitation pairs that, while ostensibly based on the Gospel of Luke, also contain motifs from the apocryphal Protevangelium of James. San Mauro and Saint Sergius also have non-figural decoration that can be interpreted as alluding to the Annunciation in the Protevangelium.