DOI article:
Sulikowska, Aleksandra: The Old-Believers' Images of God as the Father: Theology and Cult
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18949#0124
preserve and protect the “forefathers’ faith” in the face of the awaited end of
the world. “Give us strength to carry the cross so that we can save ourselves
[...] - says one of the 01d-Believers’ psalms. - Look upon our hearts’
innocence, our protector, the Father. [...] Here we spend our days in tears,
our joy lies in heaven.”'4 “We shall stand as just men before God - assured
Awakum the believers - we shall stand as men who have not sold out the
true faith. Now it is still fierce winter, but sweet is paradise, now painful
sufferings but how delightful it is to experience them”.59 60
It would seem that the above described depictions, as far as their structure
is concerned, correspond to images of Christ and the Mother of God often
placed in the upper parts of icons, towards which the saints depicted “on
earth” address their prayers.61 However, images of the Lord of Hosts and
the Holy Trinity of the New Testament appear very rarely on icons of saints
while figures in the lower parts almost never turn to God in prayer
gestures.62 The reason being that these images appear not in the context of
persons but of events and thus they have no cult meaning. They are related
not to the icon’s “prayer level” but to its inner meaning, pointing to and
enhancing theological content the icon represents mercy and omnipotence
of God as well as his presence in the world. A believer standing in front of
an icon does not see in fact the undescribable divinity but only the signs of
its functioning in history. God Sabaoth’s icon itself is a vision the purpose
of which is not to show God’s true appearance; the icon belongs to
symbolic images which, when contemplated upon, lead the believers to the
Truth.63
Could this be the way of reception of Saturday of Ali Saints from the
National Museum in Warsaw or of other icons, fuli of scenes and figures
which, already from a meter’s distance, become almost completely illegible?
Despite their obyious departure from the principles of “evangelical realism”
and ascetic aestethi.cs it may be assumed, on the basis of their relatively smali
dimensions, that they could function as domestic, cult icons and thus they
were not to be watched but used in prayers. The 01d-Believers’ treated
icons as holy, not only holy images but also holy objects. One of the groups,
melkhizedeks, practised a ritual in which both icons and the service in front
of them played a sacramental, liturgical but also magical role. In the evening
bread and winę was placed before the icons. After the prayers of vespers and
laude they were consumed as eucharistic gifts.64
59 Rozhdestvenskiy, op. cit., p. 145.
60 Pamyatniki literatury Drevney Rusi. XVII vek. Kniga pervaya, Moscow 1988, p. 556.
61 Bryusova, Russkaya zhivopis..., op. cit., p. 12.
62 G. Kobrzeniecka-Sikorska, Ikony staroobrzędowców w zbiorach Muzeum Warmii i Mazur,
Olsztyn 1993, cat. no. 54.
63 Cf. “Poslaniya starca Artemiya XVI veka”, in Russkaya Istoricheskaya Biblioteka, vol. IV, 1,
Saint Petersburg 1878, col. 1234.
64 Staroobryadchestuo. Lica, sobytiya, predmety i simboly, Moscow 1996, p. 167.
122
the world. “Give us strength to carry the cross so that we can save ourselves
[...] - says one of the 01d-Believers’ psalms. - Look upon our hearts’
innocence, our protector, the Father. [...] Here we spend our days in tears,
our joy lies in heaven.”'4 “We shall stand as just men before God - assured
Awakum the believers - we shall stand as men who have not sold out the
true faith. Now it is still fierce winter, but sweet is paradise, now painful
sufferings but how delightful it is to experience them”.59 60
It would seem that the above described depictions, as far as their structure
is concerned, correspond to images of Christ and the Mother of God often
placed in the upper parts of icons, towards which the saints depicted “on
earth” address their prayers.61 However, images of the Lord of Hosts and
the Holy Trinity of the New Testament appear very rarely on icons of saints
while figures in the lower parts almost never turn to God in prayer
gestures.62 The reason being that these images appear not in the context of
persons but of events and thus they have no cult meaning. They are related
not to the icon’s “prayer level” but to its inner meaning, pointing to and
enhancing theological content the icon represents mercy and omnipotence
of God as well as his presence in the world. A believer standing in front of
an icon does not see in fact the undescribable divinity but only the signs of
its functioning in history. God Sabaoth’s icon itself is a vision the purpose
of which is not to show God’s true appearance; the icon belongs to
symbolic images which, when contemplated upon, lead the believers to the
Truth.63
Could this be the way of reception of Saturday of Ali Saints from the
National Museum in Warsaw or of other icons, fuli of scenes and figures
which, already from a meter’s distance, become almost completely illegible?
Despite their obyious departure from the principles of “evangelical realism”
and ascetic aestethi.cs it may be assumed, on the basis of their relatively smali
dimensions, that they could function as domestic, cult icons and thus they
were not to be watched but used in prayers. The 01d-Believers’ treated
icons as holy, not only holy images but also holy objects. One of the groups,
melkhizedeks, practised a ritual in which both icons and the service in front
of them played a sacramental, liturgical but also magical role. In the evening
bread and winę was placed before the icons. After the prayers of vespers and
laude they were consumed as eucharistic gifts.64
59 Rozhdestvenskiy, op. cit., p. 145.
60 Pamyatniki literatury Drevney Rusi. XVII vek. Kniga pervaya, Moscow 1988, p. 556.
61 Bryusova, Russkaya zhivopis..., op. cit., p. 12.
62 G. Kobrzeniecka-Sikorska, Ikony staroobrzędowców w zbiorach Muzeum Warmii i Mazur,
Olsztyn 1993, cat. no. 54.
63 Cf. “Poslaniya starca Artemiya XVI veka”, in Russkaya Istoricheskaya Biblioteka, vol. IV, 1,
Saint Petersburg 1878, col. 1234.
64 Staroobryadchestuo. Lica, sobytiya, predmety i simboly, Moscow 1996, p. 167.
122