DOI Artikel:
Sulikowska, Aleksandra: The Old-Believers' Images of God as the Father: Theology and Cult
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18949#0111
Hosts.21 According to the official standpoint of the Moscow Orthodox
Church, expressed by the council of 1553-1554 as an answer to diak Ivan
Viskovatyy pronouncement, such representations were judged to be in fuli
accord with the Orthodox dogmas and tradition.22 Metropolitan Makariy,
speaking on behałf of the council, referred morę than once to the time-
-honoured tradition of creating such representations both in the Russian
and Greek art. He stressed their presence in the Athos temples and especially
in the Russian monastery of St. Pantaleemon. The council declared that
images of God Sabaoth did not undermine the meaning of the Incarnation
of the Son of God. Referring to the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the
Areopagite, Makariy declared that icon painters “do not describe invisible
Divinity by its essence but they paint and depict according to the prophets’
revelations and on the basis of ancient Greek paintings, according to the
tradition of the Apostles and the Holy Fathers”. Thus, the icon representations
of the Lord of Hosts were defined as prophetic and true to the teaching of
the Scriptures and the Holy Fathers. The council decided that these icons
derive from the Book of Daniel: “I beheld till the thrones were cast down,
and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snów, and the
hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and
his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before
him” (Dn 7:9-10). Makariy explained that the basis for the icon And God
Rested on the Senenth Day is the story of the world’s creation in the Book
of Genesis (Gn 1) and the words: “And on the seventh day God ended his
work which he had madę; and he rested on the seventh day from all his
work which he had madę” (Gn 2:2). Makariy went so far as to give the
correct description: God ought to be depicted as a white-haired old man,
clad in white robes, in star-spangled Heavens, surrounded with angels and
cherubs holding scrolls on which words “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of
hosts” (Is 6:3) are inscribed.2'
The Holy Trinity
Determining the 01d-Believer origin of Russian sacral objects is usually
beyond doubt. Apart from the above-mentioned features these objects are
always characterised by a persistent use of the monogram of Jesus as IC and
the so called two-fingered position of hands in the blessing gesture. These
elements can be found in all the icons and liturgical objects described below.
21 Stoglavnyy Sobor, Moscow 1890, p. 212.
22 This council pondered on the ąuestion of accordance with canon of the icons from the
Annunciation cathedral, especially of the Fourfold icon on which the figurę of God as the Father
was depicted several times. “Rozysk o bogokhulnykh strokakh i o somneniy svyatykh chestnykh
ikon Diaka Rana Mikhaylova syna Viskovatogo”, Chteniya v imperatorskom Obshchestve Istorii
i Drevnostey Rossiyskikh, II, 1858, 3, pp. 6, 23.
2' Ibid., p. 13, 22-23, 25; cf. A. Andreev, “O dele dyaka Viskovatogo”, Seminarium
Kondakovianum, V, 1932, pp. 224-225, 240.
109
Church, expressed by the council of 1553-1554 as an answer to diak Ivan
Viskovatyy pronouncement, such representations were judged to be in fuli
accord with the Orthodox dogmas and tradition.22 Metropolitan Makariy,
speaking on behałf of the council, referred morę than once to the time-
-honoured tradition of creating such representations both in the Russian
and Greek art. He stressed their presence in the Athos temples and especially
in the Russian monastery of St. Pantaleemon. The council declared that
images of God Sabaoth did not undermine the meaning of the Incarnation
of the Son of God. Referring to the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the
Areopagite, Makariy declared that icon painters “do not describe invisible
Divinity by its essence but they paint and depict according to the prophets’
revelations and on the basis of ancient Greek paintings, according to the
tradition of the Apostles and the Holy Fathers”. Thus, the icon representations
of the Lord of Hosts were defined as prophetic and true to the teaching of
the Scriptures and the Holy Fathers. The council decided that these icons
derive from the Book of Daniel: “I beheld till the thrones were cast down,
and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snów, and the
hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and
his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before
him” (Dn 7:9-10). Makariy explained that the basis for the icon And God
Rested on the Senenth Day is the story of the world’s creation in the Book
of Genesis (Gn 1) and the words: “And on the seventh day God ended his
work which he had madę; and he rested on the seventh day from all his
work which he had madę” (Gn 2:2). Makariy went so far as to give the
correct description: God ought to be depicted as a white-haired old man,
clad in white robes, in star-spangled Heavens, surrounded with angels and
cherubs holding scrolls on which words “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of
hosts” (Is 6:3) are inscribed.2'
The Holy Trinity
Determining the 01d-Believer origin of Russian sacral objects is usually
beyond doubt. Apart from the above-mentioned features these objects are
always characterised by a persistent use of the monogram of Jesus as IC and
the so called two-fingered position of hands in the blessing gesture. These
elements can be found in all the icons and liturgical objects described below.
21 Stoglavnyy Sobor, Moscow 1890, p. 212.
22 This council pondered on the ąuestion of accordance with canon of the icons from the
Annunciation cathedral, especially of the Fourfold icon on which the figurę of God as the Father
was depicted several times. “Rozysk o bogokhulnykh strokakh i o somneniy svyatykh chestnykh
ikon Diaka Rana Mikhaylova syna Viskovatogo”, Chteniya v imperatorskom Obshchestve Istorii
i Drevnostey Rossiyskikh, II, 1858, 3, pp. 6, 23.
2' Ibid., p. 13, 22-23, 25; cf. A. Andreev, “O dele dyaka Viskovatogo”, Seminarium
Kondakovianum, V, 1932, pp. 224-225, 240.
109