Regarding the recently discovered murals in the Moscow and Vladimir Assumption Cathedrals

Regarding the recently discovered murals in the Moscow and Vladimir Assumption Cathedrals Ancient frescoes on the pre-altar wall of the Moscow Assumption Cathedral. Attempts to resolve the issue when they are written. Method of creating an iconostasis. What are Deesis, holidays and prophets? The time of appearance of the iconostasis in the Assumption Cathedral. How could the images of the saints end up on the pre-altar wall? The Lord Pantocrator in the middle dome of the Annunciation Cathedral is supposedly from Rublev's letter. Other frescoes discovered here. Ancient murals of the Vladimir Assumption Cathedral. Chronicle news about his schedule. Description of the frescoes. The image of the Last Judgment and its fate in iconography. Description of this image based on Vladimir frescoes, and its iconographic features. Images of holidays and one-person figures. In what order were our ancient churches painted? Plan of mural painting based on surviving frescoes in the Spaso-Nereditsky Church and others. Questions asked by the history of the iconostasis. The past year brought several wonderful discoveries from the field of ancient Russian painting. News about them penetrated the press and aroused keen interest not only among specialists, but also among educated society. These finds convincingly showed how many more treasures of ancient Russian art are stored in our ancient churches, and how much can be expected in this regard with skillful and attentive treatment of ancient monuments. Amid the unsightly picture of the gradual disappearance of objects of our ancient life, it is pleasant to dwell on these exceptions and wish that public and private initiative would pay more attention to bringing the monuments of our ancient art to fame, and that more opportunities would be presented for such happy discoveries. We mean the frescoes discovered on the pre-altar wall of the Moscow Assumption Cathedral, ancient murals in the Annunciation and, especially in the Assumption Vladimir Cathedral. When the iconostasis was renewed in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral, behind it there was a stone wall the entire width of the altar, painted with frescoes. In the bottom row, on both sides of the royal doors, were images of the saints, above them were images of holidays, and at the very top were various paintings of later times. In itself, this wall does not represent anything special: separating the altar from the church with a blank stone wall was very common in the architecture of stone churches of the Moscow period, and this was done, of course, in technical interests. It is enough to point to the Trinity Cathedral in the Sergius Lavra, where the altar is blocked by a stone wall that reaches almost to the vaults and serves as a support for them. This wall is contemporary with the construction of the cathedral, which is proven by its identical masonry with the outer walls, and the Trinity Cathedral was built in 1422. A similar wall is located in the Savino-Zvenigorod Monastery, the main cathedral of which was built according to the same plan as the Trinity Cathedral by Prince Yuri Dmitrievich of Zvenigorod. (S.K. Smirnov. Historical. Description. Savvina. Guard. monastic ed. 3. p. 133 pr. 19). These walls were not of the same size: in some churches they were higher, in others lower, but in any case they were not low partitions, but covered the altar to a considerable height. The chronicles did not say anything about the time of construction and the type of this barrier in the Assumption Cathedral, but there can be no doubt that it was contemporary with the masonry of the cathedral under Aristotle, and was not something new in the architecture of that time. If it were the latter, the chronicles, of course, would not have missed the opportunity to mention it: they noted the features of the new cathedral in comparison with its previous structure, not forgetting to mention the extra pair of pillars erected by Fioraventi, the covered stone porch and the Latin roof carved over the high place. The later inventories of the cathedral are also silent about it and are concerned with the list of belts or panels of the iconostasis: it is clear that at that time it was already lost from sight and covered by the iconostasis. As for the frescoes, they were no secret, at least for those involved in Moscow antiquities. The late Snegirev, in his description of the Assumption Cathedral, made the following remark: “the frescoes and faces of saints, he says, were discovered in 1812, when sacrilegious hands moved the iconostasis from its place.” Then they were encountered during the renovation of painting in 52, but, unfortunately, without any benefit for science and, apparently, without any thought about their archaeological significance. The current commission for the restoration of the Assumption Cathedral brought them into the light of God for the first time and subjected them to careful examination. We owe it to her for accurate photographs of this wonderful mural and for ensuring its future future. What time does this painting date from? G. Sorokin, a well-known expert on our ancient icon painting, dates it to the end of the 15th and 16th centuries, based on the technical features of writing and on the vertical inscription of the word ἅ γιος in images of saints. Then he determines the time of its origin even more precisely and coincides it with the consecration of the Assumption Cathedral at Metropolitan. Gerontia, in 1479, since in 1482 the chronicle already mentions the writing of a Deesis with holidays and prophets, i.e., an iconostasis, for the Assumption Cathedral. (A. Forty. Moscow. Ved. March 1882) Prof. S. A. Usov, who devoted several messages to this subject in the Moscow Archaeological Society, dates the origin of the mural painting that occupies us to 1482, and what is said under this year in the chronicle about the writing by icon painters Dionysius, Timothy, Yarts, and the Horse of the Deesis with holidays and prophets, refers to open images on the altar barrier. Prof. A.S. Pavlov relates this news not to the Assumption Cathedral, but to the Rostov Cathedral, or the Church of the Annunciation at the Rostov Metochion in Moscow 1, since the customer of these icons is the Rostov ruler, the famous Vassian, and in the Sophia temporary church, for which this deesis was made, very wonderful, is not called the Moscow Cathedral, but vaguely says: “to the new Church, St. Theotokos." On this basis, he dates the iconostasis frescoes to 1517, when the general schedule of the cathedral was produced, under Metropolitan Varlaam. In our opinion, which we have already had the opportunity to express openly, the solution to this question is both logically and historically connected with the solution to another, inseparable from it - about the time of the appearance of the iconostasis in the Assumption Cathedral. It was possible and necessary to paint the pre-altar barrier only if it remained open; and as soon as it was completed, mural painting turned out to be superfluous. We imagine the development of the iconostasis of the Assumption Cathedral, as well as other iconostases in large churches, in this way. At first it consisted of the lower row of what are now called local icons. They were also called worship, on bow, and were icons attached to the altar barrier 2, and then they were slightly raised and inserted into icon cases, but so that they could be freely taken out from there, which remained with them to this day. Chronicles and spiritual stories tell how local icons rose from their places and moved to others. Then came the addition to that bottom row; it probably began from the royal doors and gradually grew to the entire length of the altar partition. Its seed was the so-called deesis, or the three-faced icon of Christ with those present: the Mother of God and the Baptist. From this icon the entire iconostasis began to be called the Deesis. Greek news from the 13th – 15th centuries already mentions the Deesis as a necessary component of the iconostasis; icons of the Lord's feasts, prophets, apostles and other saints 3 were added to it. Of these, first one row was formed, followed by another, then thirds, etc., according to the increasing number of icons. The growth of the iconostasis in Rus' took place in a similar way. The matter began with the fact that they began to place the Deesis in three icons above the royal doors. The iconostasis remained in this form in small churches until late times, as can be seen from the inventories of churches of the 17th century, and from the drawing when describing the wedding of Mikhail Fedorovich. The painting shows the inside of the cathedral where the wedding took place. Three images are painted above the royal doors: the Savior with the Mother of God and the Forerunner on the sides. This limits the weight of the iconostasis, and in the bottom row you can see images of the Mother of God and the Savior in icon cases. The drawing, of course, does not convey the appearance of the iconostasis at that time, but, in any case, it retains an indication of its simplest form, from which its formation actually began. New ones began to be added to this trinitarian icon, so that from the trimorph a pentamorph was formed through the addition of two archangels, an eptamorph - two more apostles, etc. In contrast to the small deesis (i.e., a simple three-person icon), such complex rows of icons near the central deesis began to be called the large deesis. It goes without saying that it extended beyond the middle altar arch and stretched along the entire length of the altar barrier. In the inventory of ancient churches in the Tver province, the last half. XVI century, the tibla is mentioned opposite the left wing, where the cubit image stood, and on it the holidays of Pentecost and Pentecost are written (i.e., holidays that fell on the Lenten and Colored Triodion) 4 . The Deesis in the chapel of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem in the Moscow Annunciation Cathedral also belongs to this type of single-tier iconostasis. It consists of three local icons on the sides of the royal doors and seven small ones or pyadyats on the cornice above the royal doors. The middle between them is occupied by a trimorph, the pair of images closest to it on the right and left sides represents the archangels, and the next one represents the apostles. Since the royal doors in the old days were low and fit the size of an ordinary person - and even earlier - they were just doors without a cornice, level with the low altar partition - the first row of the iconostasis lay also low, and very tall people could reach it with their heads. About Alexander Nevsky in one of his life it was noted that he was so tall that he could kiss the Deesis 5. In Novgorod, in the half of the 16th century, similar single-tier iconostases were apparently in use, even in large churches. Thus, Archbishop Macarius, having replaced the previous doors of the St. Sophia Cathedral with ones twice as large in size, in relation to the iconostasis he limited himself to increasing the number of icons in the Deesis row, placing them along the entire length of the altar barrier, but it is not clear that this was a multi-tiered iconostasis. The chronicle says that Macarius, having built new doors, decorated them with icons “starting from the divine icons of Scripture on the ark above the doors, and on the doors themselves and on the pillars” (i.e., door ones), so that the number of icons reached 66 6 . Of course, at that time there were also multi-tiered iconostases or icon cases, consisting of several rows of icons. In the Pskov Chronicle under 1396 it was noted that in the Church of St. Boris and Gleb there were two “icons: the Holy Trinity and the Mother of God descended from the upper tibla,” and this suggests that there were also lower tiblas 7 . In addition, the tyabla or belt of the iconostasis are mentioned in plural, as for example. in the following expression: “St. images are local and in tyablah.” Whether special images were assigned to each tyabl, or whether indifferently different icons were placed in them, nothing positive can be said about the most ancient iconostases, but already in the large iconostases of the 16th century. Our chronicles distinguish three groups of images: Deesis, festivals and prophets. This division then passed into the inventory of churches and began to correspond to the three belts of the iconostasis, occupied by icons of the Deesis, the twelve feasts (or gospel stories) and the prophets. Neither the apostles nor the saints are mentioned, because the former were included in the Deesis belt, and the latter were depicted on the pillars of the royal doors, on the sides of the high place and on the walls of the altar. Based on these exact data, we have the right to conclude that in the most ancient chronicle news about the Deesis with holidays and prophets, we are talking about an iconostasis consisting of three rows or belts. Moving now to the Assumption Cathedral, we will have to accept that at the end of the 15th century. he already had a three-tiered iconostasis, because under 1482 it is said that for the Assumption Cathedral, by order of the Rostov Bishop Vassian, a Deesis with holidays and prophets was written, and this Deesis is called Velmi wonderful. From this opinion in relation to the newly discovered frescoes, it only follows that they were painted earlier than this time, that is, in the interval between 1489, when the cathedral was completed and consecrated. The three-tiered Deesis velmi marvelous, for the construction of which Vassian spent 100 rubles - a very significant sum at that time - did not consist, of course, of pikes or small icons, but was in its own way a monumental structure that covered the pre-altar wall to a considerable height and obscured its painting. We find it impossible to attribute these news to the schedule of the altar wall itself for the following reasons: a.) in the open mural there is neither the Deesis nor the prophets, which are discussed in this place, but opposite there are such images that were not used in our iconostasis - namely: saints, b.) The expression: “Deesis with holidays and prophets” has a special characteristic meaning and is used about the iconostasis, and not about murals. Technically, the language of the 17th century, of course, was formed on the basis of the understanding that was associated with this expression in the 15th - 16th centuries, and in the inventories of the Assumption Cathedral, the earliest of which came to us from the first quarter of the 17th century. - in these inventories the lower row of the iconostasis is called the Deesis, the second row is called holidays, the third row is called prophets. c.) Under 1508 (P.S.R.L. vol. VI - 247) it is said about Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich that he “commanded in his yard the church ... of the glorious Annunciation (Annunciation Cathedral) to be signed in gold.” It's about mural painting. Then it reads: “he also commanded that all church icons be decorated and covered with silver and gold and beads.” What kind of icons? "Deesis, Feasts and Prophets." We are talking about the iconostasis, which here is separated from the murals under the name of Deesis, holidays and prophets. It is impossible to classify these expressions as icons in general, because there were, without a doubt, much more of them, and not just these three groups 8. A curious feature of the open mural is its content. Here we see a whole series of saints from the ranks of the saints, including 20 images, of which eighteen have inscriptions, and two faces remain unknown. They are located on both sides of the royal doors: 9 on the right and 11 on the left side of the viewer, in the following order. On the right side: an unknown saint - without an inscription, - then Savva (sanctified), Simeon (pillar), Arseny, Pimen, Joasaph Tsarevich (tsr. Sisoy. On the left side: Anthony (the Great), Euthymius, Ephraim the Syrian, Isaac the Syrian, Theodosius (the Great), an unknown saint without a signature, Paul (Thebean), John (the busher. Represented as a young man and with a book in his hand), John the Climacus, Parthenius (Lampsacian) and Alexios the man of God. There are 20 images in total, of which the outermost one on the left side goes behind the northern door of the altar, above which is depicted the Savior, “good silence,” or a half-length image of Christ in a youthful form, with his arms folded crosswise on his chest and a Cherub on the right side (away from the viewer). Above this row are images from the Gospel story: the Annunciation, the Nativity of Christ, etc. The monks are depicted in ordinary monastic clothing: in a mantle, from under which a belt and part of the paramand are visible. Their heads are mostly open, and the kukul is placed on their shoulders, with the exception of Rev. Ephraim the Syrian, Anthony the Great, Nile and Simeon the Stylite, which are presented in a pointed kukul (schema), with a four-pointed or six-pointed cross sewn on it and the inscription on its sides Is-55; XcV55;. Some of the saints are represented with a blessing hand, others with an outstretched palm, others holding a scroll in both hands, or with one, while others have them attached to their chests. John Kushchnik, according to his life, is represented as a young man and holds a book in his hands. Alexy, a man of God, is dressed in a shirt with an open collar and short sleeves, with his head open, as befits a wanderer who has taken refuge in the black half of his father’s house. Parthenius - the only person in the month of the month under this name - is Parthenius the bishop. Lampsakian, and he is presented in a monastic robe, probably because in the calendar he is called a venerable one. Prince Joasaph is depicted in a jagged royal crown, as a handsome young man, in conversation with the elder Varlaam, who, turning his face to him, preaches about Christ and holds in his left hand an open scroll with the following inscription: “tell your child the priceless beads that are Xc-55; walk on his light yoke.” A similar image is on the altar column of the Zvenigorod Cathedral, only on the scroll are the words of St. Varlaam is read differently: “the story of the generation of priceless pearls is XsV55;V55; and I see you deeply and attentively with faith X.” (For an exact photograph, see the article by Arch. Leonid. Collection of General Dr. R. Art 1873, p. 115.) The Savior, good silence, is a symbolic plot in which Christ is presented as the embodiment of mercy and kindness, in accordance with the words of the prophet about the Messiah: he will not speak, nor cry out, and no one will hear his voice at the crossroads. Thus, the overwhelming preponderance of images remains on the side of the saints: they are brought to the fore and occupy the most prominent place. In comparison with the current composition of the iconostasis, where the saints are bypassed, such a choice of subjects seems exceptional, and involuntarily raises the question: how to explain their appearance in such a prominent place as the pre-altar wall, which was later replaced by the iconostasis? Prof. Usov offered a very witty explanation on this score, the essence of which is that the memory of the saints depicted here coincides with the days of remarkable historical events that took place in Rus' and had a special relationship to Moscow and its cathedral. Without denying this coincidence, even allowing for the participation of the deliberate choice of famous names of saints over others, we think, however, that it will be much easier to deduce the content of the mural painting that concerns us from the direct requirements of the original and from the customs then accepted when painting churches, than from historical parallels. The altar barrier, until it was covered with an iconostasis, formed the front wall of the church and, with regard to painting, had to follow the accepted order of mural painting. And this order is explained in the Greek original and comes down to dividing the church along the walls into several horizontal belts, from which each is assigned a special circle of images. In the first - the uppermost zone - above the mountain place, the Virgin Mary is depicted, and from her along the walls - holidays. In the second - lower down - the liturgy, and along the walls - the miracles of Christ; in the third - the Last Supper and parables; in the fourth and fifth - saints, martyrs, saints and warriors 9. The pre-altar frescoes of the Assumption Cathedral correspond in their position to the last two belts, and there is nothing strange if they correspond to them in the content of the painting. After all, in this row, only on the side walls, images of various saints are placed. From the rich material of subjects attributed by the original to this belt, it was possible to choose one or another class for the front wall, taking into account the conditions of place and time. In the Moscow cathedral they placed the saints in the foreground, and this is very understandable in view of the respect that ascetics enjoyed in Rus', and how high monasticism stood in the consciousness of that time. In warlike Byzantium, preference was given to the patrons of the empire - warriors: the Great Martyr George, Procopius and others. Of the saints on the Assumption frescoes, the main ones were chosen, with the exception of three or four names. However, all of them, both more and less well-known, coincide with the list of saints in the original we named, where the saints of this group are recorded separately, and we find here the names of Barlaam, Joasaph, Sisoes, Pimen, not to mention other more famous ones 10. Only Parthenius of Lampsacia, who is listed among the martyr bishops, does not fit into this group. We do not deny the coincidence of these memories with certain events from the history of Moscow at that time, but we do not think that this coincidence - and it alone - gave the right to qvasi rejected images to get into such a prominent and at the same time place that did not belong to them. It would be strange to allow an anomaly in the exemplary cathedral of Russia and in such an outstanding place if these images did not have ecclesiastical grounds for themselves and were contrary to practice. This issue could be positively resolved on the basis of the surviving painting on other altar barriers, but, unfortunately, in some it was destroyed, and in others it was not made known. Let's point out what we know. On the altar pillars of the Annunciation Cathedral, now covered by the iconostasis, frescoes depicting the Saints were unveiled this summer. There are several of them placed on the front side of the pillars facing the people. Thus, before the existence of the high iconostasis, these images were open and occupied the same position as the frescoes of the Assumption Cathedral. One had only to connect these pillars with a blank partition and continue the tabletop images to the middle of the pre-altar wall to get the same row of images and the same wall painted with frescoes as in the Assumption Cathedral. The late Snegirev noticed, behind the abandoned local icons in the Zvenigorod Cathedral, images of some saints with charters and, by the way, “an angel in a cloak or mantle with a cone on his head, similar to a Phrygian cap.” Fr. Archimandrite Leonid, checking this original message from Snegirev, found instead on the right pillar an image of Prince Joasaph in conversation with the monk Varlaam, and on the left - Pachomius the Great with an angel who appeared to him in the form of a schematic. On the charter, which the angel holds in his hands, is written the content of the conversation that took place between them, and, by the way, his famous words addressed to the hermit are read: “Tune ubo sit in this cave” 11. Here we have, therefore, three images - the Monks Pachomius, Barlaam and Joasaph - identical with those that are found on the frescoes that occupy us. Let's move on. In the Vladimir Assumption Cathedral, on the right altar column, there was an image of a triumphal cross, and above it two saints in princely attire. We, however, have not seen the last two images, but we are talking about them from the words of the head of the restoration of the cathedral, Fr. Vinogradova. On this occasion, we cannot help but recall an indication thrown in passing when describing one abandoned church in Constantinople, in the apse of which there were traces of a mosaic σύν τοῖς μετ ώ ποις μοναχῶν τεσσὰρων 12 . While offering these considerations, we are, however, far from thinking of attaching decisive importance to them, especially in the question of the time of origin of the frescoes that occupy us. To determine the nature of this mural painting, broader analogies and comparisons with homogeneous monuments of Old Russian icon painting are needed. The technical information of our painters, the considerations of experts in our ancient art and the bringing to light of new historical data are the means by which a competent solution to the question of the frescoes of the Assumption Cathedral is possible. For our part, we have outlined only the path that, in our opinion, should be followed in the historical solution of questions of the kind now posed. Several remarkable discoveries were made during the restoration of paintings in the Annunciation Cathedral. Behind the removed iconostasis, as we just said, ancient frescoes with images of saints in monastic robes, with scrolls and inscriptions were discovered on the altar pillars. There were three of them in a row from the side of the church, but they were probably also located on the back side of the pillars, as can be concluded from the renewed faces of the saints, which are still visible on the pillars from the side of the altar. We don’t know whether the tracings were taken from these wonderful examples of painting, but we cannot help but regret if this was not done. It would be very important to have these photographs for comparison with similar frescoes of the Assumption Cathedral and for determining their mutual relationship. In the main dome, under several layers of later writing, a half-length image of the Lord Pantocrator was revealed, which has now been restored to its original form. It was suggested that this image dates back to 1405 when, under V. Prince Vasily Dmitrievich, the Annunciation Cathedral was painted by the famous Andrei Rublev with Feofan Grechin and Elder Prokhor 13. But this assumption cannot be accepted. In the 2nd Soph. The chronicle directly states that in 1483, the cathedral was broken to the ground and painted in 1508. Under 1483 it is said: Great Prince, destroy the Annunciation in your courtyard, signed only, according to the treasury and on the basement and lay the treasury (room for church property) near that basement and the brick floor with the treasuries. Under 1482 in the 2nd Soph. The chronicle records: that same summer they began to demolish the church on Annunciation Square, tearing off the top and basting the roof (P.S.R.L. VI, 234). In 1489, on August 9th, the Annunciation Cathedral was consecrated, and in 1508 it was painted with murals, and the icons were equipped with frames and decorations made of gold, silver and precious stones. (Ibid. pp. 335, 239, 247). Currently, on the porch of the Annunciation Cathedral, the top layer of painting is being cleared, under which the image of the Praise of the Mother of God or “Every grace-filled creature rejoices in you” is revealed. Even more remarkable is the mural, traces of which were discovered in the spring of last year, during the restoration of the interior of the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir, and which we had the opportunity to examine on the spot. Solntsev also noticed on the southern side of St. Andrew's porch and brought to the light of God a fresco depicting paradise and righteous souls in the bosom of Abraham. According to Artleben, the frescoes have been preserved on two vaults under the choir and behind the iconostasis on the front side of the altar pillars 14 . Quite some time has passed since then. It was natural to assume that under the later plaster there was also a continuation of this mural painting - an assumption that was brilliantly confirmed last summer. When the top layer of the piece was cleared, underneath there were frescoes that stretched along the western arch of the middle and southern sections of the cathedral, above the southern bay of the southern section, on adjacent arches, on the north side of the church, on the altar pillar, in one of the side domes and on the outer wall of St. Andrew's Church. Thanks to the care of the Right Reverend Theognostos Arch. Vladimirsky and the diligence of those in charge of the restoration: Archpriest Vinogradov and church warden Mr. Vasilyev, all this painting was taken in exact photographic copies, the number of which extends to 29. - Some of these images have been completely preserved, but most of them are in a badly damaged form, and from others only small fragments remain. Despite the energetic and skillful conduct of the work, only a very small part of the ancient painting was reproduced, approximately an eighth - tenth of it, and everything else disappeared without a trace. In this regard, the murals of the Spaso-Nereditsky Church in Novgorod, and, perhaps, St. George’s Church in New Ladoga, have been preserved much more happily. These precious monuments of church painting from the end of the 12th century provide rich material for characterizing the iconography and artistic technique of this period of time and can serve as an example of how and in what order it was customary to paint our churches in the old days. In addition, the painting itself was better preserved compared to the Vladimir frescoes, which, although made according to ancient sketches, were renewed at different times, so it is very difficult to determine the degree of their antiquity. There is no doubt that ancient writing has also been preserved between them, perhaps from St. Andrew’s time, but in the paintings of the Last Judgment a later style is visible and some iconographic features clearly indicate the techniques of Stroganov writing. Chronicle news does not give positive indications on this matter. They say that the cathedral was painted several times. Founded in 1158 by Andrei Bogolyubsky, it was completed in 1160, and the following year “the golden-domed church in Volodymeri was quickly started, and finished in August 30” 15. In 1185, during a great fire that took place in Vladimir on April 18, the cathedral burned out inside, with patterns, chandeliers, gold and silver vessels, wonderful icons forged in gold, “all the fire was taken without leakage.” At the same time, without a doubt, painting also had to suffer greatly. The restoration of the cathedral after this disaster lasted about 10 years. In 1189, on August 14, on the eve of the Assumption Day, the cathedral church of the Holy Mother of God was consecrated with a great consecration by blessed Bishop Luke 16, and was finally renewed and completed already in 1194, when, according to the chronicle, in the month of August (probably the day of renewal coincided with the church holiday), the church of the Holy Mother of God of Volodymeri was renewed, even though it had fallen down. in the great fire, by the blessed Bishop Ivan and under the faithful and Christ-loving prince Vsevolod Yurevich, and it was like a new 17. It is known that this renovation refers not only to the restoration of the cathedral after the fire, but also to its expansion under Vsevolod, who supplemented the original plan of St. Andrew's Cathedral with the addition of vestibules on the north, south and west sides. The Bogolyubsky Cathedral had one dome, and after the extension under Vsevolod, four more domes were added to it. The now open painting is limited to the boundaries of St. Andrew's Cathedral and in one place goes out onto its outer wall in the vestibule. In 1237, shortly before the catastrophe that befell the city and the cathedral from the Tatars, the second bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal, Mitrofan, placed an ark over the meal, decorating it with gold and silver... “the same summer the porch of the Holy Mother of God was painted.” By the porch, it seems to me, we should mean the western porch of the cathedral, built by Vsevolod. Whether it was poorly painted, or whether the murals had deteriorated over time, it is difficult to say anything definite, but, in any case, it clearly follows that not the entire church was painted, but only one vestibule. Inside the cathedral, a new ciborium was placed above the throne and, perhaps, some other improvements were made. Who and when painting was resumed after the Tatar pogrom remains unknown. Open frescoes fall into three groups according to their content: a) multifaceted images (or scenes), b) individual images of saints, and c) ornaments. The first includes a whole series of paintings depicting scenes from the Last Judgment on the western and southern sides of the cathedral, the Transfiguration of the Lord on the northern, Baptism on the southern, the Entry into the Church of the Mother of God and the Presentation on the western. The second group includes an image of an unknown martyr in the northwestern dome of the cathedral and two saints there, in the spaces between the windows; in the arches of the arches are depicted in full size: on one - St. Abraham and Artemy, separated by a six-pointed cross in a circle, on the other two saints, separated by a four-pointed cross, an image of saints in one of the side domes, and many more. etc. As for the ornaments, very few of them are open, and in their nature they resemble the patterns from the Church of the Nereditsky Savior. Of particular interest in iconographic terms is the image of the Last Judgment. It has been preserved better than other frescoes, represents a whole series of individual episodes and is second only to the Nereditsk murals. In the absence of ancient Greek translations of this plot, it is difficult, of course, to judge their relationship to our ancient examples. We can only say one thing that the frescoes that occupy us do not leave the circle of apocryphal sources of Greek origin, do not contain original folk features and remain essentially repetitions of the Byzantine type. This plot penetrated into our iconography very early, but probably a little later, when its full translation was established in the east and the custom of placing it on the western wall of the church was formed. This custom has remained in the east to this day, as can be seen from the instructions of Didron, Rev. Porfiry and other experts. As for early Christian art, it did not know this plot and developed only a few accessories, which later entered the picture of the Last Judgment and took a certain place in it. Eg. ἑτοιμασία του θρόνου, heavenly Jerusalem, as the dwelling of the righteous, four heavenly rivers and friend. In the 8th century, the Last Judgment was already depicted as a special plot, and its treatment took place on the basis of prophecies, apocalypse and eschatological writings, which were so rich in church literature of that time. The expectation of the coming of Christ, at the beginning of the first millennium from the birth of Christ, and a similar confidence that appeared in the east at the end of the sixth thousand years from the creation of the world, contributed to the spread of this plot. He responded to the sincere convictions of the time and represented with his own eyes what pious souls learned from the apocalypse, homilies and apocryphal stories. According to Texier, the judgment of souls is often depicted in the underground graves of Urgub, but to what time these paintings date remains unresolved 18. In the time of Damascus - and of course before him - the Last Judgment was presented in the form of a dramatic picture, the main content of which was the image of Christ the judge on the throne, surrounded by myriads of angels; a river of fire flowed from his throne, consuming sinners, and the righteous stood on the right side of Christ with joy and gladness on their faces 19 . The Greek philosopher, at the conclusion of his conversation with Vladimir about faith, showed him “the cuff on which the Judgment Seat of Christ was written, showing him on the right hand the righteous in joy going to heaven, and on the left the sinners going to torment” 20 . Neither here nor there is a complete picture given: only its outstanding features are captured, and at that, taken from memory. From the 11th century we already have complete translations of the Last Judgment in miniatures and mosaics. Let us point out a miniature of the Four Gospels of the 11th century. from the Paris Library 21 and the famous image in the Torcelli Cathedral, near Venice, the Torcelli mosaic is one of the oldest and more complete images of this subject. It occupies a space of up to 50 feet and is placed in six horizontal belts on the western wall of the local cathedral 22: Förster considers this mosaic to be the work of Byzantine masters, from which it follows that a complete translation took shape earlier than this time, and not in Italy, but in the East. From the 12th – 13th centuries, many of these images have been preserved on the tympanums of Western churches, and, by the way, in the sculptures of the Parma Baptistery of the 13th century. 23, which became especially famous thanks to the research of Pieper and F.I. Buslaev. Here, in the Novgorod and Vladimir churches, the Last Judgment was a very accepted image and took its place on the western wall of the churches, near the entrance. In Vladvmir, its remains are preserved in the Dmitrov Cathedral, at the gates of the Nativity Monastery, in the Assumption Cathedral, in Novgorod - in the Staraya Ladoga and Spaso-Nereditsky churches, then it goes into the murals of the Moscow period and until recently remains in large churches here and in Greece 24. In the Vladimir Assumption Cathedral, the image of the Last Judgment, as we said, occupies the western and southern parts of St. Andrew's Cathedral and is divided into several separate paintings, which fall into two main parts: the image of the coming of Christ and the court itself with its consequences. The first includes the appearance of Christ Pantocrator, with the setting, and the resurrection of the dead, the second includes details of the judgment, the righteous going to heaven, the image of heaven and some others. Christ is represented sitting on a rainbow in a halo, or better yet, a circle composed of cherubs, in a cross-shaped halo, in the arms of which the letters V21 are read; He. The location of these letters raises doubts about the antiquity of the image and strongly argues against its appearance in the 12th – 13th centuries. These letters were generally rarely depicted in ancient crowns and were originally located in the following order: o V21; n, as can be seen from the mosaics of Kiev - Sof. cathedral Archim. Antonin did not see the most ancient halos with these letters in Athonite painting in the early 13th – 14th centuries. The ancient painting here has obviously been updated, as we will see further from other iconographic features. Above Christ, two angels hold a strip of blue material on which the sun, moon (in double form, similar to how medals are now printed on labels) and stars are painted. Obviously, it is the angels who twist the sky, (ἄγγελος Κυρίου τιλίων τὸν οὐρανὸν ὥ σπερ χὰρτην) 25, but the original meaning of this detail is already lost, and it turns into a simple image of the sky, completely unnecessary in view of Christ depicted on the rainbow. Above the sky and angels are symbols of the four kingdoms, followed by the kingdom of Christ. The Resurrection of the Dead occupies part of the vault above the western arch and represents the moment when the earth and sea give up their dead. The earth is personified as a young woman holding a coffin in her left hand and a staff in her right. To her left is a row of resurrected men and women dressed in shrouds. The sea is personified as a woman with long flowing hair, as if emerging from the water. She holds a ship with rigging and depicts those who died at sea. Therefore, one involuntarily recalls the formulas of ancient synodics, which list different groups of people who did not die a natural death. Animals, fish and reptiles are scattered between the land and the sea. Apparently, the intention is to represent the ἀποκατάστασις of all nature. – Two angels, one of which blows a trumpet on the sea, and the other on the earth, should have taken a place near this scene, but, due to lack of space or something else, they are moved under the arch to the side. The trial itself with its setting is illustrated by a number of scenes. The starting point for them is the process of judgment or weighing of sins. In the middle of the picture is the throne or seat of the Almighty, like a judge (βήμα), covered with a veil; on it is an open book, and nearby are the instruments of the Savior’s suffering: a cross with a spear and a cane, above it several crowns of thorns, below there is some kind of vessel without handles - probably a vessel with a father, which was sometimes depicted in medieval crucifixes. In a word, in this throne we have nothing more than a detailed image of the preparation of the throne, or a plot known as “ἑτοιμασία τοῦ θρόνου”. Its origin is derived from the words of the psalm “righteousness and judgment are the preparation of your throne” and is attributed to the image of that tribunal or judgment seat at which Christ will judge the living and the dead 26 . At the foot of the throne are scales with empty cups, of which the right one is greatly outweighed, and this should mean the preponderance of good over evil and mercy over truth at the judgment of God. Near the scales, falling on their knees, Adam and Eve, as representatives of the human race, beg God for mercy. On either side of the scales the apostles are represented, sitting on two long benches, as judges of the twelve tribes of Israel. The names of the eight apostles are indicated by initials on the books they hold; namely: mt, lk, mr, an, io, cm, vr, s - the rest are not indicated; most likely the letters have been erased. The motif of the image is very ancient and can be found in mosaics. In the Ravenna mosaics, the Apostles sit on thrones near Christ; In the same place, the Apostles in the form of lambs go to Christ standing on a rock from which four heavenly rivers flow. This shows how early Christian art began to depict the apostles in connection with the representation of paradise and the future bliss of the righteous. Angels stand in several rows behind the apostles. A distinctive feature of their costume is a tunic with a himation; in the right hand there is a long rod with a rosette of several leaves at the top; the left one is open. The two angels standing on either side of the throne of judgment have in their left hands a ball with the initial letter of Christ X - Signaculum Dei - the seal of God. Angels are depicted with these staffs by analogy with the weapons of the court guard, and therefore in the Byzantine period they were given banners or labarums as an attribute. Already in the time of Dionysius the Areopagite, angels were depicted with rods. Simeon of Thessaloniki, having in mind the iconographic examples of his time, explained what μανδύλιον means or the bandage with which the angels’ hair is picked up (these are toroki and rumors, as our originals put it), and the cloudy circle with the letter X in the middle, which they hold in their hand 27 . In Kiev-Sof. In the cathedral of the Archangel Gabriel, the staff is topped with a cross. The continuation of the judgment scene to the right represents the leading of the righteous to paradise. In our frescoes this scene is represented in two paintings: on the vault of the southern wall and in the corner under the choir. The first depicts several groups of righteous people heading to heaven under the leadership of the apostles Peter and Paul; in the second, a group of saints consisting of women. The designer was obviously constrained by the small size of the western and adjacent walls and did not place the drawing quite consistently, taking advantage of free space. So for this women’s group, he took advantage of a piece of wall near the earth and sea, giving away the dead - and he used it with great right that near this scene and near the angels blowing trumpets on the earth and sea, the righteous going to heaven were placed on the wall of the Demetrius Cathedral with the inscription: Agios Peter leads everything; stiv27; lies This coincidence becomes even more remarkable when we imagine that in the Dmitrov fresco ap. Peter walks at the head of a group consisting of women, in front of whom stands the half-naked figure of some ascetic, and on the Assumption fresco the same group appears, only placed in the opposite direction with an ascetic in the tail, but without the apostle. It can be seen that it forms part of the whole picture, torn from it due to lack of space and placed separately. Returning to the main picture, we see ahead of the apostles Peter and Paul, heading towards paradise with rapid movement and leading groups of the righteous behind them. Peter - with a key in his right hand, Paul - with a characteristic bald spot on his forehead and in a dramatic half-turn - in his left hand holds a scroll with the following words: “come with me good people.” In the first group, following Peter and Paul are the apostles, behind them - closer to the viewer - are the kings, on the other side of the kings are the saints, behind that is the face of the martyrs, the saints, and behind all the faces of the holy women. These groups are remarkable for their costumes and, above all, the face of the kings: it consists of four figures - two of old age, one of middle age and one of a youth. Three of them are presented in red caps, in the form of a truncated cone, similar in appearance to our buckwheat. They are not put on or pulled over the head, like hats and caps, they do not cover the entire head, but seem to be placed on top, so that the forehead, churches and front of the head remain open; the clothing consists of three parts: the lower one - a tunic, another with wide sleeves, short, intercepted by a belt, and an upper cape or cloak, buttoned in the front. The young man also has wide ports. There is nothing Russian in this costume, nor does it fit with the Byzantine royal ornate, the typical features of which are the stemma, or crown, dalmatic and lor. These figures are more reminiscent of the Three Magi with their Phrygian caps, but certainly not of the Russian princes with their typical Russian hat, the cut of which is so well known to us from Svyatoslav’s collection, from the Ryazan barmas, the image of Yaroslav in the Nereditsky Church of the Savior, from the Life of Boris and Gleb and other sources. This means that we have here neither Byzantine kings nor Russian princes. But who? S. A. Usov made an assumption with which one cannot but agree that these three persons mean the three wise men, who are called in the apocrypha the Persian kings and on this basis had every right to be included in the group of holy kings. In our originals, these caps are adopted by the Old Testament priests, some prophets and those rulers who did not have the dignity of βασιλεως, in the meaning of the Byzantine autocrat. Thus, in the image of the erection of the cross, according to Stroganov’s original, on the right side of the bishop stand the Byzantine king and queen in a crown, sakkos and lore, and on the left is a figure in a fur coat with a cap, which means either a Russian prince, or, by analogy with him, a courtier. The nobles standing behind Tsar Theodosius in the depiction of the seven youths of Ephesus are represented in the same caps and fur coats, as well as the Russian princes at the tomb of Peter the Metropolitan, Anthony, John and Eustathius of Lithuania, the martyrs Manuel, Savel and Ishmael. In general, these caps became known in our painting from the 15th to the 16th centuries, and therefore their presence on the Vladimir frescoes serves as a sign of later renovation, or that they were painted again in the 15th to 16th centuries. The fourth in the group of kings, wearing a hat similar to the present-day bishop's miter, depicts some Byzantine emperor; in correspondence with it, the figure of a Byzantine queen is represented in the group of righteous wives. The ranks of the Saints include bishops in cross-shaped phelonions and the typical head of Chrysostom; in the middle between them one can see one person in a cap or miter, in whom one cannot help but recognize Cyril of Alexandria, who alone was awarded in ancient times the right to use the miter in service. In the Stroganov original, most of the saints are depicted with an open head. The exceptions are the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Cyril and Peter of Alexandria, Averky of Hierapolis and two or three more persons. The group of martyrs is characterized by their right hand raised to their chest and their youthful years. The absence of the cross is a sign of the later origin of the frescoes, when this symbol of martyrdom had already been forgotten and lost its internal meaning. The monks and ascetics are depicted with their heads open, except for one, whose head is covered with a bandage like a cap. This is probably the lower skufya or the current sukamilavka, on which they later began to put crepe with voskriya. The image of heaven occupies three paintings: the first shows the entrance to heaven, or the door of heaven, guarded by a cherub with a flaming weapon; behind it is the interior of paradise in the form of schematically arranged trees with wide green foliage, between which, closer to the door, a prudent robber with a large eight-pointed cross in his left hand stands bending over (due to lack of space for a straight line). In this form and with the signature Rakh, the prudent robber is placed on the northern altar doors, which is why they received the name robber. The bliss of the righteous in paradise is represented under the guise of souls in Abraham's womb. Following the literal understanding of the Savior’s words, casuistic painting of the Middle Ages depicted souls in the form of little men (or simply children), dressed as boys were then dressed, in white shirts with bare legs and no shoes. Some of them stand near Abraham in a whole group, raising their hands with a prayer gesture, while others, thanks to the naive realism of the draftsman, stand behind Abraham’s bosom, half-covered by his tunic. Isaac and Jacob sit next to Abraham. The last picture of heaven is occupied by the image of the Mother of God, between two angels, as the queen of heaven. Separately from the others, in the western arc, the hand of the Almighty is presented, in which little people are crammed, obviously allegorical souls of the righteous. It was torn out of the whole picture and placed under the arch, probably due to lack of space. That's all that was preserved in the Assumption frescoes from the painting of the Last Judgment. But this is only one half of it, the other with the image of the trial of sinners and hellish torment, which should have been on the left side of the western wall, disappeared without a trace, and an empty tabula rasa remained in this place. Fortunately, we have the opportunity to reproduce the content of this part of the picture from the surviving ancient murals, the first place among which should be taken by the mural of the Nereditsa Church. Her painting has been preserved more integrally and better than the Vladimir frescoes and introduces us to the style and iconographic side of our ancient icon painting much better than these latter. What is remarkable here is the depiction of hellish torment: instead of those terrifying pictures in which our and Greek icon painters practiced their cysts, following the instructions of the original, we see here schematically a technique alien to any clarity and artistic significance. Namely, different types of torment are marked here with inscriptions (fire, tar, gnashing of teeth) above the quadrangular cells, where four heads are drawn. This is a very original technique that we have never encountered in Western and Eastern painting, nor in descriptions of this plot based on the originals. In general, from a comparison of images of the Last Judgment based on its surviving fragments in the churches of Vladimir and Novgorod, one cannot help but notice that their general composition was the same, but in details, setting of faces and costumes, almost every scene had its own characteristics. It is clear that the icon painters had in mind the general plan of the picture and its development in individual scenes, but not a template approach like the descriptions of the original, where not only the sequence of scenes was determined, but also the processing of details. In the Dmitrov Cathedral, the leading into heaven of the righteous and the Council of the Apostles are written differently than in the Assumption Cathedral, the Spasonereditsky frescoes are even more different, and the Last Judgment in the Trinity Cathedral (Sergius Lavra) and the Moscow Assumption Cathedral presents such differences even more. If we go further and look at the front psalms, we will see a lot more new things, but this new thing is created on a common old basis and represents an understanding of the finished plot on the basis of contemporary concepts for the painter. Let's take such an insignificant detail as the drawing of the door of heaven: what changes did it undergo in monuments of church art in different eras and among different peoples? In the front manuscript of the book of Genesis or Genesis, from the Vienna Library, the door of heaven is depicted in a quadrangular, rather deep frame, with two wings made up of transverse, obliquely laid panels, and a cherub in the form of a young man with wings stands near the door; a fiery weapon in the form of two flaming wheels blocks the path to the door. In the Torcelli mosaic, the door is also quadrangular, but a cherub in the form of a six-winged creature is written on the door and seems to be attached to it; in his hand he holds a long staff. In the Vladimir fresco, the quadrangular door is covered with a triangular pediment. In the Nereditsky mural, the top above the door is semicircular, and a flaming weapon is depicted on it, and a cherub occupies the same place as in the two previous ones. Finally, in our facial psalters of the 16th-17th centuries. the door of heaven is presented in the style of semicircular doors of that time with slanting transverse panels, and a fiery cherub is written in its upper part. Moving on to the images of holidays in the Vladimir Cathedral, we must say that they ran along the upper edge on the northern, western and southern sides, but very few of them have survived, and even those are in a badly damaged form. The descent of the Holy Spirit has been preserved better than others. It is represented by 12 apostles sitting in a semicircle on a bench, six on each side. All of them are depicted with scrolls in their left hands, with the exception of one, the first on the viewer's right side, represented as bald and with a book in his hand. In this figure one cannot help but recognize the typical face of Paul, whom both ancient descriptions and our original show with a large bald spot. Above the apostles in the middle of the picture there is a semicircular vault in which the figure of the cosmos should be painted. There are no tongues of fire, no Mother of God, no firmament with a soaring dove. This fresco has been preserved better than others and, based on the nature of the writing, can be attributed to the oldest painting of the church. In pendant it is impossible not to include an identical picture in the Kiev St. Sophia Cathedral, painted, apparently, from the same sample. The Sophia image differs only in that three concentric semicircles depicting the sky are visible on top. Of the fresco depicting the introduction of the Virgin Mary into the church, only the upper half has been preserved, from which, however, it is easy to reconstruct the details of the translation. Zechariah receives the Holy Virgin before the throne, above which rises a ciborium with a semicircular top, on which the curtains with which it was drawn, and which replaced the present altar curtain and the high iconostasis, are visible from above. To the side of the church there is a high chair on which the Mother of God sits and takes food from the hands of an angel flying up to her - a well-known detail borrowed from the apocrypha. The general content of the drawing does not represent anything outstanding; This is the usual iconographic translation of the Introduction; but we cannot help but note on this occasion a curious feature of the same picture in the Sophia-Kyiv mural. Here is typically represented a low altar barrier with the same altar doors, which do not reach half a man’s height, as can be seen in comparison with the figure of the high priest standing near them. A similar design of the royal doors is presented in the miniatures of Vasily’s menology and in one photograph depicting the dedication of Gregory the Theologian by Ducange. Our ancient altar barriers were, without a doubt, built on this model, and in view of this circumstance, the remark of Cyprian’s missal becomes clear that the Deacon, standing on the pulpit, must look closely at the actions of the priest serving in the altar and adapt his exclamations to them. On the same wall there are remains of paintings, which, in our opinion, should represent the Presentation. But it would be useless to judge the details from these pitiful fragments. The baptism of Christ on the southern wall is no better preserved. Only the head of the Savior, the upper part of the Forerunner and part of the crown at the edge on the right side are visible. But, despite this insignificant degree of preservation, the energetic profile of the Baptist, who bent over to the Savior and laid his right hand on his head, involuntarily catches the eye. On the northern wall, the upper part of the fresco depicting the Transfiguration of the Lord has survived. Of the individual figures, the following have survived: St. Artemius (ο αρτεμιος), depicted in bishop's vestments with the Gospel, which he holds with both hands on his chest. This Artemius is the Seleucian Bishop Artemon, celebrated on March 24th. According to the instructions of Stroganov's original, he is depicted in priestly vestments and in a cross phelonion. But this last feature cannot be noticed in the original drawing. St. Abraham (ο αβραμησ). Of the general church saints with this name, three are known, of which one is a recluse, October 29. Our fresco depicts the latter, judging by his attire. The personality of this saint could also have local significance due to its coincidence with the memory of Abraham of Rostov, which falls on this day. St. Anthony is, of course, Anthony the Great, and the other saint depicted on the same arc probably means Theodosius the Great. In addition, images of the prophets David and Isaiah, several saints in the side dome, and on the altar column there is a triumphal cross with two images above it have been preserved in the circles. That's all the main thing that has been preserved from the ancient murals of the Vladimir Assumption Cathedral. Compared to what was lost, this constitutes a very insignificant part of the wall writing and leaves very large gaps that must be filled in by restoration. But in order to replenish them properly, it is necessary to understand in advance how our ancient churches were painted, and what rules existed in this regard. To resolve this issue, we, fortunately, have a lot of preserved murals and mosaics in the Kiev - St. Sophia Cathedral, in the Nereditsky church, in Staraya Ladoga, Kirillovskaya in Kyiv, and samples of later murals in some large cathedrals. The latter, one can confidently assume, were painted on the basis of the custom accepted in the old days and repeated the ancient murals only in an updated form. In this way it is possible to restore, at least approximately correctly, the iconographic canon that our icon painters followed when signing large churches. There was room for the draftsman’s hand to turn in such large spaces, but this same circumstance naturally required a model or norm with which the icon painter had to comply when applying his art to the work. Having excluded small churches and those options that depended on the special conditions under which a famous church was built, and on the features of its plan, this canon can be imagined in this way. Old Russian churches, as regards their architectural plan, fell into the following main parts: the altar projection or apse, the domed top with a tribune or lantern serving as a support for it, the tetrahedron or middle of the church formed by the pillars on which the lantern rests, the side compartments formed by the line of pillars and the walls opposite it, and, finally, the space from the pair of rear pillars to the western wall and the entrance door. Using these sections, we will monitor the arrangement of paintings in our ancient churches, taking as the basis the murals of the Nereditsa Church of the Savior, as the best and most fully preserved. And to get acquainted with the options, let’s take parallel images in the Kyiv Sophia, in the Old Ladoga Church and other sources. Let's start with the dome. In the lampshade it was customary to depict either the Almighty or the Ascension of the Lord, as a plot similar in setting. In the latter case, Christ was represented in a halo, surrounded by rainbow radiance and supported on all sides by angels. The ceiling thus represented the sky. Below him, on the vault of the dome, are the apostles, and if the Ascension was depicted, then in the middle of them is the Mother of God with two angels on Her sides. The apostles were separated from one another by palm trees or some other schematic trees. The motif is very ancient. In Sophia of Constantinople, the middle of the plafond was occupied by Christ on the throne, and around him were 12 full-length apostles, on whom light rays descended from Christ, like radii from the center. The Ascension was placed in the rotunda of the Basilica of Constantine on the Mount of Olives and in the Basilica of Thessalonica. Even lower, in the spaces between the windows, under the dome, (drum, lantern) the prophets, among whom David and Solomon, Moses, Elijah occupied a prominent place. In the pandants above the pillars supporting the dome are the evangelists, and between them there are four medallions with the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands. (Details in the Spaso-Nereditsa Church). In the middle altar ledge, on the vault, there is a throne with a gospel and a cross lying on it (Ετοιμασία τοῦ θρόνου), lower down is the Sign of the Virgin Mary with the two saints ahead. The Kyiv Unbreakable Wall differs from the Nereditsky Sign only in the absence of Christ in the bosom of the Mother of God. Note that the oldest image of the Virgin Mary of this type, located in the tomb of Agnes, is also placed in the vault of the wall above the arcosolium. Below the Sign is the Last Supper or communion of the apostles in two scenes: on the left side (from the viewer) Christ gives the apostles bread, and on the right - the cup. The next belt consists of the saints and between them in the foreground are those whose names are known in the history of the liturgy. In the Nereditsa Church, St. Chrysostom is depicted in the middle, with a number of others on its sides. These images were located above the high place, and if there was free space, then a number of saints and apostles who were related to the presentation of the liturgy were painted (for example, in the Nereditsky Church of the Savior: St. Lazarus, in episcopal attire, St. Jacob (apostle), Phocas with an oar, Gregory; (on the right and left sides they are closed with waist-length images in the medallions of St. Anthimus and Ignatius), and where there was not enough space for this row, similar images were painted in medallions; eg in the Old Ladoga Church. In Spaso-Nereditskaya, another fifth belt descends above the floor, in which Jesus Christ is depicted; on its sides in circles are John the Baptist and some saint; behind them closer to the edge of the ledge on the right side is Elijah Ave., on the left is St. Peter of Alexandria. It is known that the decoration of the Christian church with sacred images began with the altar apse, and the painters focused special attention on this part. This is where the eyes of those present were turned and their prayers were directed. When, subsequently, the iconostasis covered part of the altar wall painting, the images from the altar apse moved to the altar barrier and became part of the iconostasis; eg an image of communion under two views above the royal doors, images of saints on the pillars of the royal doors. On the vault of the left side apse (offering or altar), in the Church of the Savior - Nereditsa there is the Sign of the Mother of God, in the right or deaconium - John the Baptist. Below on the wall there are two rows of images of different saints, between which in the deaconium there are especially images of the beheading of the head of the Forerunner and the transfer of it on a platter to Herod as a dancer. The Greek original concentrates in the sentence images with a representative character in relation to the Eucharist as the sacrifice of Christ. Therefore, perhaps, in the Old Ladoga Church, Joachim and Anna are depicted here, bringing a cleansing sacrifice to the altar. The quadrangle formed by the pillars under the main dome was painted with various images of saints - mainly martyrs. In the Kiev-Sophia Cathedral, in the vault of the arch formed by the two front pillars, a mosaic Deesis has been preserved, and on the very pillars, where the arc ends, an archangel is depicted on one side, and on the other, the Virgin Mary pendant to it. This is an image of the Annunciation, which was subsequently placed on the royal doors. On the pillars, images of saints were painted alternately: sometimes in circles, sometimes full-length. Medallions were adopted mainly in the upper parts of the pillars (as in the Neredidka Church and the Kyiv Sophia), and below the saints were written in full length. The choice of images in the most ancient murals leaned in favor of martyrs and martyrs with the addition of saints, apostles and ascetics, while in later churches, on the contrary, a predominance of saints is noticeable. So, in the Moscow Assumption and Annunciation Cathedral. In the Assumption of Vladimir, on the right altar column there is an image of a triumphal cross with two trees on its sides, above it there is an ornamental belt, above the ornament there is an image of a saint in a circle, and even higher - a full-length figure of the Saint, also separated by an ornamental edging. The northern, southern and western walls were painted in several rows with images of holidays and saints. These belts were interspersed, but in such a way that the upper belt was made up of holidays. By holidays we mean here gospel and biblical scenes and multi-personal subjects. In the Church of the Savior - Nereditsa, the upper belt, starting from the eastern wall above the proposal and the deaconium, consisted of the following images: 28 the resurrection of Christ (under the image of the descent into hell), the crucifixion of Christ and the taking down from the cross (on the northern wall), a scene from the suffering of Christ (on the southern), on the western the sacrifice of Isaac, the feasting of three strangers and two scenes from the tradition of Christ 29 . The next row on the eastern side also contains holidays, on the western side - the Nativity of Christ, on the northern - the venerables, on the southern - warriors. This row is placed at the same height as the images of saints in the altar ledge. The next, third row from the top, is characterized by the presence of various kinds of saints (prophets, saints, martyrs, warriors), and even lower, the fourth belt, which runs at the level of the side apses, on the northern side has the introduction of the Virgin Mary and the Presentation, on the southern side the baptism of the Savior, and on the western side the Last Judgment in two belts. On the right wall at the entrance to the narthex there is a remarkable image of Prince Yaroslav, the builder of the Nereditsa Church. He is presented in ancient Russian princely attire with a model of a church, which he presents to Christ sitting opposite him. Such votive images originate from deep Christian antiquity, but were placed in different places, sometimes extending, as in Ravenna, into the altar on the ledge of the apse. In the Kiev-Sophia Cathedral, the sections adjacent to the main nave (this will correspond to the northern and southern walls of three-nave churches) account for the largest number of biblical and gospel images, but here they are interspersed with single-person figures of various saints. This plan is more consistently followed in the Assumption Vladimir Cathedral, where, as we saw, along the upper edge of the wall (in the St. Andrew's department) there was a belt of holidays, but only five or six images remained from it, and even those were in a very damaged form. In Novgorod Sofia, in the first quarter of the 16th century. above the entrance door, on the western wall, a half-length image of the Lord Almighty was painted. Macarius of Novgorod ordered to write instead “the life-giving Trinity, and until then (below, below?) Holy Sophia, the wisdom of God and the miraculous image of our Lord Jesus Christ and two archangels on the sides for the veneration of all Orthodox peasants” 30. In addition to mural painting, the interior of the churches was decorated with icons on boards that stood separately or were combined into several icon cases and made up the so-called tablas. The distribution of icons and belts in the iconostasis was formed under the influence of two conditions: from the side of mural painting - through the transfer of some images from the apse to the altar barrier - and from the side of icon cases or shrines. But in shrines, folding cases and icon cases, the main image was a trimorph, which was supplemented on both sides with paired images of saints and brought to more or less significant sizes. The goddesses in several rows were a natural consequence of such an upward expansion of the central icon. The altar iconostasis was initially the same icon case, only placed above the royal doors, just as a household shrine was placed in the front corner of the hut. But this question needs further clarification, as well as others that arise from it, for example. about the relationship of the mural belts to the tiers of the iconostasis, about the foundations of the Old Russian iconostasis canon in the traditions of ancient Christian art, and finally - about the relationship to the iconostasis of Old Russian household shrines. It was located in Dorogomilovskaya Sloboda. “Archbishop Vassian of Rostov reposed on Dorogomilov and laid him in Rostov.” Full collection R.L.VI. 267. There is an icon standing at the royal gates... give it to him... incense the standing icon in the church. The Tale of the Vydropusta Icon of the Mother of God. In the church of the Panteleimon Monastery above the tibla (ἄνωθεν τοῦ τεμπλου) there were icons: Christ, His Mother and the Forerunner. (Act. Patriarch. IV. p. 56. The document dates back to 1232 - 33). According to Simeon of Thessaloniki, above the cosmite, among other icons, Christ is placed with those present, then angels, apostles and other saints. Ducange cites an excerpt from the chronicle of Malax, from which it is clear that during the looting of St. Sophia by the crusaders, its iconostasis consisted of many images of different saints with the icon of the Deesis in the middle: he speaks of the templon (gyabda), which was “ἁ ργυρο δια χρυσος, , ἱεραοχων μαρτυςων , ὁσ ί ων , ἓ χων ἐν τω μεσω εικὀνα .. τοῦ "" Glossar. Sub voc. Τέμπλον. Antiquities. Proceedings of M. A. General. VIII. 48. Instruction about. arch. Leonida. Under 1528 P.S.R.L. vol. VI. Now these gates are located in the chapel of the Nativity of the Virgin. Makar. Archaeol. description Novg. II. 44. Mater, for Arch. Words Proceedings of M. A. General. VIII, 28. ADDENDUM. Part XXXI. An example of such a multi-tiered iconostasis can be the ancient iconostasis in the Mother of God - the Nativity chapel of the Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral. It consists of four belts: 1., Deesis with a pair of cherubim, apostles, saints, martyrs and more saints. 2., A row of small icons - holidays. 3., In the middle is the Sign of the Virgin Mary (incarnation) with a pair of kings (David and Solomon) and prophets. 4., In the middle is the Lord of hosts with two cherubim, on the sides - a pair of forefathers. On top there is an eight-pointed cross with the head of Adam below it (Addition of the 17th century). A beautiful image of this iconostasis is in the album of Novgorod antiquities of the city of Martynov. Mannel dʼiconogr. chret. p. 442 – 443. Arch. Leonid Zvenig. personal Collection General Dr. R. art. 1873. 115. Miklos Acta Patr. IV p. 57. Moscow Ved. June 26, 1882 Proceedings of the 1st Arch. Congress page 297. Laurel. letop. Ed. Arch. Com. 1872. p. 333. Ch. Bayet. Recherches sur. I'hist. de la paint... en Orient. p. 59. Εἰπέ μοι ἐὰν ἴδης διὰ εικονικῆς τυπώσεως τὴν δευτέραν Χριστοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἥ μῶν παρουσίαν πῶς μετὰ δόξης ἐρχεται τὰς τῶν ἀγγέλων μυριάδας ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ θρόνου ἀυτοῦ παρεστώσας μετὰ φόβου καὶ τρόμου. ποταμὸν τε εκπορευόμενον πύρενον ἐκ τοῦ θρόνου ἀυτοῦ κατεσθίοντα τούς ἁ μαρτώλους. Πάλιν τε ὅ ταν θεόση ἐκ δεξιῶν ἀυτοῦ τῶν δικαὶωον τὴν χαρἀν καὶ ἐυφροσύνην καὶ πῶς ἀγάλλονται ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ νυμφίου Ἔ ιπε μοι, ο ἶ ος χληρὀς καὶ ἀμείληκτος τὸν νοῦν καὶ τὴν καρδίαν υπ ἁ ρχη ο ὗ μὴ κατανυγῆ ἡ καρδία ἐκ τῆς φόβερ ᾶ ς ἐκείνης ὥ ρας καὶ ενθυμηθεὶς τῶν πράξεων ἀυτοῦ τὰσ βίβλους ; Ἱ δού γαρ λαλ ἒ ι ἂ υτη ἡ ἐικονικῆ μορφὴ ἐυσεβῶν τὰς ἀριστείας καὶ τῶν ἀσεβῶν τας πράξεις . Adv. Const Caball c. VIII. Legveien T.I.p. 619. Kontakion. East. visa miniat. 239. Ernst Förster. Denkmale italienisch. Malerei T. I. Taf. 13. Förster took an image of heaven with the entrance door to it. Piper Evang. Kalend. 1866 S. 35 ff. For an image of the Last Judgment according to our originals, see Buslaev’s essays, volume II, Rovinsky’s Russian folk pictures IV. 643. Greek translation by Didron. Manuel dʼiconogr. 262. ADD. Part XXXI. De Rossi Bullet. 1842. 123 ff. Kraus. Encyclop. d. Christ-Alterthum. Sub. voc. Ἑ τοιμασία. Resp. ad Gabr. Pentap. XVIII. We are not listing everything, since in Mr. Martynov’s album, which we use, not everything was taken and the order in which they are located is not indicated. Kissing Judas, strangling Christ. Further, apparently, the appearance of Christ after the resurrection and Christ talking with the disciples “how to surrender to passion.” You might be interested in: