COME YOU PEOPLE

Here is a 17th century icon given the title  “Come You People, Let Us Worship the Three-Hypostatic Godhood.”  But if you have been reading here for some time, you will recognize it as basically just a more elaborate version of the New Testament Trinity “Among the Powers,” that is, among the ranks of angels.

As you saw in an earlier posting (https://russianicons.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/cherubim-and-seraphim-and-thrones-o-my-the-new-testament-trinity-icon/), icons of the New Testament Trinity are sometimes given the title “Image of the Three-Hypostatic Godhood” (ОБРАЗ ТРIИПОСТАСНАГО БОЖЕСТВА — Obraz Triipostasnago Bozhestva).

In the center we see Jesus at left, God the Father (Lord Sabaoth) at right, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove in the air between them.

The title of this icon is taken from the Stikhera, tone 8, used at the Great Vespers Pentecost service:

Приидите, людие, триипостасному божеству поклонимся, Сыну во Отце, со
Святым Духом: Отец бо безлетно роди Сына соприсносущна и сопрестольна, и
Дух Святый бе во Отце, с Сыном прославляемь: едина сила, едино существо,
едино божество, емуже покланяющеся вси глаголем: Святый Боже, вся
соделавый Сыном, содейством Святаго Духа: Святый крепкий, имже Отца
познахом и Дух Святый прииде в мир: Святый безсмертный, утешительный
Душе, от Отца исходяй, и в Сыне почиваяй: Троице Святая, слава Тебе.

“Come you people, let us worship the Three-hypostatic Godhood; the Son in the Father, with the Holy Spirit; for the Father before time begot the Son ever co-existing and co-enthroned; and the Holy Spirit was in the Father, glorified together with the Son; one power, one substance, one Godhood, in whom worshiping  we all say:
Holy God, who made all by the Son, with the co-operation of the Holy Spirit;
Holy Mighty, through whom we have known the Father, and the Holy Spirit came to the world; Holy Immortal, comforting Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and rests in the Son; Holy Trinity, glory to you.”

In the 16th century there was a big controversy over the making and use of such elaborate and symbolic “mystic-didactic” icons as this one and others, among them “In the Grave Fleshly,” “Sophia, Wisdom of God,” “On the Seventh Day God Rested,” “It is Worthy,” the “Symbol of Faith,” the politically propagandistic “Blessed is the Army of the Heavenly Tsar,” and “The Only Begotten Son.”  The complaint was that they could not and did not adequately and correctly express the dogmas of the Church, and that their complexity was simply confusing.  The leader of the opposition to such icons was a prominent government secretary and “Keeper of the Seal” under Tsar Ivan IV (“Ivan the Terrible”) named Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovatuiy (Иван Михайлович Висковатый).  But a Church council in 1554 condemned his views (with some small exceptions), and he consequently repented his “heretical” ideas and fell in line with the decree.

Rather confusingly, there is another and unusual icon type also called “Come You People, Let Us Worship the Three-Hypostatic Godhood.”  But this second type also includes images of the Annunciation, the Birth of Jesus, the Crucifixion, and the Descent into Hades (Resurrection), so it is easily distinguished from the first type.

At the top we see a “Fatherhood” image in the center, with Mary to the left of it and John the Forerunner to the right.  At far left is the youthful Christ enthroned, and at far right the mature Christ enthroned.  Angels accompany these three top images, and at the base is a gathering of people worshiping the Trinity.