The painting of icons is an inheritance of the Russian Orthodox Church from its predecessors in the Byzantine Empire. Along with the Greek-inspired Cyrillic alphabet, it is an example of...
The painting of icons is an inheritance of the Russian Orthodox Church from its predecessors in the Byzantine Empire. Along with the Greek-inspired Cyrillic alphabet, it is an example of the claim of the Russian Orthodox Patriarchs in Moscow to be the legitimate successors to the Byzantine Emperors as head of the Eastern Church. The expressive personal innovation of the European Renaissance, which so dominated the Western artistic tradition from the Fifteenth Century AD onwards, were largely lacking in Russia before the Eighteenth Century AD. Instead, the talents of Russia’s best artists were directed towards the stylised and programmatic form of the icon. These were weighed down with centuries of tradition – indeed, there was (and remains) a faction of the Russian Church known as the ‘Old Ritualists’ (starovery), who oppose any innovation at all in icon-painting – but great masters, like Andrei Rubev, existed within the constraints of the medium. And, indeed, as European influences entered Russia in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries AD, the desire to incorporate Western approaches into Orthodox icon-painting, grew and became accepted by the State Church. The apogee of the Russian Orthodox icon was the Nineteenth Century AD, when icon-painters across Russia met with a growing market consisting both of the state-sponsored churches, which were a vital propaganda tool for the divine right of the reigning Tsar, and the growing middle classes who wished to own their own icons. However, with the Bolshevik Revolution of AD 1917, and the subsequent oppression of the Russian Church under Communism, the importance of the icon declined, and, indeed, the skill nearly died out entirely.
This remarkable icon depicts three saints. On the left, is a saint labelled ‘the Holy Prince’ (Sv. Knz’dvd), a reference to Prince Daniil or Daniel of Moscow. A son of Alexander Nevsky, a Grand Prince of Kyiv, who is revered both as a Russian national hero and a saint himself, Daniil was credited with founding numerous monasteries in Moscow, the most famous being the Danilov Monastery, which is named after him. He also constructed the first stone church in the Moscow Kremlin, that of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki. His Christian devotion was also shown on the battlefield, where he defended the Principality of Muscovy against the non-Christian forces of the Mongol Hordes. He became a monk shortly before his death, and gave up his worldly possessions, insisting in his will that he be buried in a common cemetery rather than a state mausoleum. He was canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church for local veneration in the Moscow area around AD 1791, which provides a terminus post quem for this icon. On the right hand side is another royal saint, Constantine the Great. Famously, Constantine was Emperor of Rome during a period of great strife. His co-emperors, Maxentius and Maximian, both rebelled against him, and led Constantine to constant war in the early years of his reign. At one battle between Constantine and Maxentius, at the Milvian Bridge in AD 312, it is thought that Constantine saw a vision, the details of which vary. Most versions indicate that the Emperor saw a flaming cross in the sky, or else a cross in the sun, alongside which were the words, in Greek, en toutoi nika (‘in this sign, victory’). This was apparently the beginning of his conversion to Christianity; certainly, after his victory in the battle, Constantine decriminalised Christianity, and later made it the state religion of the Empire. The Catholic Church, in Western Europe, took Constantine’s murderous sinning, including dispatching most of his own family, as reason not to canonise him; the Eastern Churches had no such qualms, and Constantine remains a popular saint to this day. Both Daniil and Constantine are depicted as Mediaeval monarchs, with ermine-lined cloaks which express both their spiritual and temporal power.
The central figure is labelled as Saint Nestor, a figure also known as Nestor the Chronicler. A monk from the Kievan Rus, he was known for his hagiographies of the lives of other saints, and his authorship of the so-called Primary Chronicle, the most important history of the Kievan Rus. His role as hagiographer and chronicler is expressed through his holding of a long scroll bearing fragments of his work. He was canonised alongside other saints of the Kyiv Caves, following his death in AD 1114. Nonetheless, his role as a chronicler may give a clue as to his presence on this icon; Constantine was the founder of Eastern Christianity; Daniil was the defender of Eastern Christianity; and Nestor was the Chronicler of this history. Through looking at this remarkable icon, a viewer is invited to meditate on the long history of Christianity in Russia, and the martyrs lost in defending it. Above the three saints sits Christ in splendour, sat on a cloud with the rays of the sun behind him. He holds before him a book, the Holy Bible, which is the expression of the word of God, for which he was the intercessor. The icon is richly decorated with a textured background and a border reminiscent of Byzantine mosaic.