A SELDOM-USED NAME

Today we will look at another Old Believer multiple icon. This one has a gilt metal cross inserted in the center, which is not uncommon. Among museums and dealers, such an icon with a cross inserted rather than painted on the panel is often termed a staurothek or staurotheke, a rather grand-sounding word that simply means “cross box” . In Greek, σταυρός / stauros is generally understood to mean “cross,” though in earlier writings it often meant an upright pole or stake; θήκη / theke means a box or case — thus staurotheke.

(Courtesy of Jacksonsauction.com)

At upper left we see the “Kazan” Mother of God type, and at upper right “Holy Nicholas the Wonderworker,” with his right hand blessing with the fingers in the position used by Old Believers.

I won’t dwell on the central cross, the kind of thing I have covered several times in previous postings here on crosses and the Crucifixion, nor on the groups of standing saints at left and right, whose names you can likely easily read and translate for yourself if you have paid close attention to past postings here. Incidentally, if you are one of those just beginning to learn the Church Slavic alphabet, which is necessary knowledge to read Russian icons, practicing by transliterating the names of saints in groupings such as these is an excellent learning method. You will find previous postings on the Church Slavic alphabet in the archives — just use the search box at the right of every page.

Today, however, I want to focus on the two men on crosses at left and right of Jesus.

Here is the one on the left side of the icon, who would be at the right hand of Jesus:

This is the “wise” or “prudent” thief Rakh, known in the West as the Penitent Thief, or by his apocryphal name Dismas. The Slavic inscription says “The Wise Thief Rakh dwelt in Paradise.” It is based on the promise of Jesus as found in Luke 23:43: “Truly I tell you, today you shall be with me in Paradise.”

And here is the other fellow, the one on the right side of the icon, which is at the left hand of Jesus:

This is the unrepentant thief, and he is the reason for today’s posting. This image is significant because Russian icons seldom use his apocryphal name, but this one does. The inscription says, “The hanging malefactor Gevsta descended to Hades.” Gevsta (Гевста or Гевьста) is a Slavic form of the name Gestas, which is found in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus for the unrepentant thief. So now you can add that to your stock of rather useless but interesting information. Well, at least it is interesting to those who find it interesting. Others likely have lives.

Perhaps you also recall that in traditional belief, the slanting footboard on Russian “eight-pointed” crosses has this significance: the side to the right hand of Jesus slants upward, indicating that Rakh and other believers will ascend to Paradise; the side to the left hand of Jesus slants down, indicating the descent of Gevsta/Gestas and other unbelievers to Hades, in Christian belief.

From past postings here, you should easily recognize the Slavic inscription in the wreath at the base.

It is:

Крест хранитель всей вселенней;
Krest khranitel’ vsey vselyenney

Крест красота церковная;
Krest krasota tserkovnaya

Крест царем держава;
Krest tsarem derzhava

Крест верным утверждение;
Krest vernuim utverzhdenie

Крест ангелом слава;
Krest angelom slava

Крест бесом язва.
Krest besom yazva

“The Cross is the protector of the whole universe,
the Cross is the beauty of the Church,
the Cross is the might of kings,
the Cross is the confirmation of the faithful,
the Cross is the glory of angels,
the Cross is the scourge of demons.”
(Octoechos: Exapostilarion, Monday Matins — Festal Matins for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.

THAT TITLE OF JOSEPH

A reader asked about a Greek title of Joseph (the biblical husband of Mary) found on many icons. Here is a modern example:

The title is that seen at left: Ὁ Μνήστωρ Ιωσήφ / Ho Mnestor Iosef, often found as Ὁ Άγιος Ιωσήφ ὁ Μνήστωρ / Ho Hagios Iosef ho Mnestor.

Well, you already know that Ho Hagios means “the holy” — or we may say simply “Saint.” And you can easily recognize Iosef as Joseph. So aside from those, the word to remember here is Μνήστωρ /Mnestor. It means simply “betrothed,” or as we would likely say in modern English, “fiancé.” Joseph, in the biblical tale, was the betrothed or fiancé of Mary.

Often on icons, Mnestor is written with a ligature (joining of letters), in this case of the S (C or Σ in Greek) and the T. We find such a ligature in this detail from a 1363 fresco of Joseph from the Pantokrator Monastery on Mount Athos:

Or we may see the ligature looking like this:

In any case, Μνήστωρ / Mnestor is just the Greek equivalent of the usual title of Joseph on Slavic icons: Ио́сиф Обру́чник / Iosif Obruchnik, meaning “Joseph the Betrothed.”

AN ICON WITH A SECRET

If you are a long-time reader here, you will likely recall earlier postings on “Week” icons. If you need a refresher, here is a link to one, with more in the archives. Just type “week” in the search box at right to find them all, should you wish to spend the time:

A VERY BUSY “WEEK”

As I have discussed this type rather thoroughly in those earlier postings, I won’t repeat the identification of the various scenes today, but will merely show you today’s example. It too is an elaborate “Week” icon, but it has a secret. Here is the image:

(Courtesy of Jacksonsauction.com)

Now if we look very closely at the lower left side, just under the feet of the row of saints, we will find a small inscription:

It says,
“Painted by the Izograph [icon painter] Zosima Iukin in the village of Palekh, Vladimir Gubernia, year 1895″

Perhaps you know already that Palekh was a famous icon-painting center, the most important of the Palekh / Mstera / Kholui trinity of Russian icon painting villages before the Revolution. Palekh icons are generally highly desirable among collectors and museums.

Well, that little inscription tells us everything we need to know, doesn’t it? The painter, the place of painting, and the date — but actually, no. It is more likely that this icon was painted around a hundred years later than that 1895 date, in the late 20th century. That is its secret.

There are things about the icon that should have raised our suspicions, two being its craquelure and the technique of painting.

Craquelure, you may remember, is the fine network of lines caused by the cracking of the paint surface over time. It is a common characteristic of old paintings. If we look at the surface of this icon, we see that the craquelure lines are oddly regular, with rather straight and long horizontal lines that set off a mass of rectangular islands of paint. Such regular craquelure is often the result of artificial aging, frequently done by bending a painted canvas at an angle across a straight or slightly rounded surface to deliberately crack the paint. Then the “aged” canvas is glued down on an old (or new) wood panel. Placing the image on an old, re-used panel makes the appearance of age seem more convincing.

As for the painting technique, if we look closely at the faces in the icon, we can see that they are painted in a rather blobby manner:

Now there actually was a Palekh icon painter named Zosima Iukin, who worked in the latter part of the 19th century, and it is helpful to compare his work with the later image. Here is a John the Forerunner as “Angel of the Desert” from Iukin’s studio:

(Museum of Palekh Art)

We get a better idea of the differences if we compare two similar scenes, the first from the Iukin icon, and the second from the more recent “would-be” Iukin image.

That makes the “blobby” technique used in painting the more recent and imitation Iukin icon even more obvious.

So, the moral of this story is that one cannot always trust enticing painter-identifying information and dates on Russian icons. One must look at other characteristics of the icon itself before jumping to any hasty conclusion.

The large (17 x 20.25 inches) imitation Iukin icon shown on this page is from an upcoming auction, and the auction house has very honestly identified it by giving not only the name, date, and place of painting written on the icon, but also by actually dating the icon to “C[irca] the last quarter of the 20th century.” Knowing that, a would-be purchaser could buy it for what it is — a rather complex and interesting example of a “Week” icon, but not a genuinely old one.