TWO BIBLICAL, TWO NOT

Today we will look at a late 17th century icon composed of four subjects — two derived from the Bible, and two not at all from the Bible:

(Collection of Mikhail de Boire)

Now if you have been a diligent reader of past postings here, you should be able to identify all of them.  But for those of you who have been too busy frolicking about and letting your icons studies falter, I will make it easy by identifying them again.

First is this scene in Paradise — “The Bosom of Abraham”:

It depicts the “Forefathers” Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sitting in Paradise, holding the souls of the righteous in their bosoms.  At right is an angel bringing in another sould in the form of an infant.  At far left is the “Repentant Thief” Rakh.  The sun and moon are above, and behind the Forefathers is a gathering of souls.  You will find a posting about this type in the site archives:

THREE OLD MEN ON A PARK BENCH: THE PATRIARCHS IN PARADISE

Second is Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden:

We see them first standing inside the white circle, with the Tree of Knowledge between them, and the serpent wrapped around it.  They have just eaten of the fruit and so have clothed themselves in leaves.  On the right side of the circle is an earlier event:  the creation of Eve from a rib taken from Adam’s side.  Notice that the person creating Eve is Jesus, and we see him also in the small circle at upper left.  As I mentioned in previous postings, there was some difference in the iconography of the Creation, with some depicting God the Father (Lord Sabaoth) doing the work, and others depicting Jesus as the creator.

Outside the circle is another scene showing the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise.

Now we come to the image at bottom left of the icon:

Yes, it is the non-biblical “Parable of the Lame Man and the Blind Man.”  The type was discussed in an earlier posting, which you will find here:

THE LAME MAN AND THE BLIND MAN

Now we come to the final image, another not taken from the Bible.  It is the Колесо Фортуны / Koleso Fortunui — the “Wheel of Fortune,” which in Greek renditions is known as the “Wheel of Time.”

This is a rather simplified Russian version.  For more on the “Wheel of Time / Wheel of /Fortune,” the inescapably curious among you will want to read this previous posting:

THE WHEEL OF TIME

The Russian State Historical Museum has a chest with a painting on the underside of the lid.  It depicts the “Wheel of Fortune” beneath another motif I mentioned recently, the “Stairs of Life,” which you saw (you did, didn’t you?) in the posting on the “Spiritual Labyrinth” icon type:

The chest lid version of the “Wheel of Life” uses an alternate name for it:  Коло мира сего / Kolo mira sego — “The Wheel of This World.”

Now perhaps you noticed in the “lid” painting that at left is a newborn child, and at right an old man with a cane.  And between them there is a camel at left and a lion at right.  These animal elements come from an old story called Притчи о богатых от болгарских книг / Pritchi o bogatuikh ot bolgarskikh knig — “The Parable of the Rich Man From the Bulgarian Books.”  This parable has various permutations, but its roots are found in an Asian Buddhist tale.  It deals, in Russian versions, with a man chased by a camel and a lion.  The camel, according to one old interpretation, signifies weakness and age, and the lion is death.  So it is meant to represent the course of human life, with mankind being pursued by old age and death.

So that’s it.  See how those of you who have carefully read past postings here could amuse and amaze your friends by identifying the images in this icon?  Well, not really — you would probably instantly bore them — but at least you could feel silently smug about your own esoteric knowledge of Russian icons, however useless it may be.

THE “SPIRITUAL LABYRINTH”

Today we will look at a somewhat variable and uncommon didactic icon. It is called the Лабиринт Духовный / Labirint Dukhovnuiy — the “Spiritual Labyrinth.” The example below is thought to be from the latter part of the 18th century.

The central image is a maze.  In the center of the maze is a male figure representing the Christian.  He must find his way through the maze to Heaven — the “New Jerusalem,” depicted with the enthroned Jesus in the middle of it.  The problem is that the maze is difficult to navigate, because it has many exits leading to the mouth of Hell, depicted as a giant monster in the lower part of the image, but only one exit to Heaven.

There are two additional images, one at each side of the labyrinth.  They depict a “good” death at left, with an angel receiving the soul of the dying man, depicted in the form of an infant.  At right is a “bad” death, with the infant-formed soul of the dying man received by a demon holding a threatening list of the man’s sins.

The one exit to Heaven is seen on the top left side of the maze.  It opens before the door to Heaven.  Inside we see an angel, who has brought the infant soul to the throne of Jesus.  The many exits to hell are labeled with actions that lead to them:  envy, slander, murder, fornication, drunkenness, pride, vanity, despondency, anger, avarice, gluttony and overeating.

In spite of the scarceness of the type among old icons, modern Russian icon shops sell new examples such as this one from the Mnogo Ikon icon painting studio.

Another variant of the type is this one from the New Jerusalem State Museum:

The basic idea is the same, with Heaven above and Hell below, but in this example there are two exits to Heaven for symmetry.  And in the center of this type we see the life of man from birth at left to death at right, with a skeleton representing Death in the center.  Above him is a pyramid of steps going up and down, depicting the aging of humans from childhood to 90 years.  this motif, which can also be found elsewhere, is known as the Лестницы жизни / Lestnitsui zhizni — the “Stairs of Life.” It is borrowed from western European engraved images of the 1500s.

At the base at left are demons with weapons such as guns and cannons, representing the harmful passions that afflict humans, and at right numerous figures who have failed to choose the right maze path are falling into the mouth of Hell.

The use of the labyrinth in Russian icons apparently derives originally from examples in Western European religious art and literature.

ROPES AND NAILS

We have already looked at several Crucifixons here. And now we shall examine another.

(Hellenic Institute, Venice)

It is in the 18th century maniera latina (“Latin manner,” i.e. in the style popular among the Latin Catholics as opposed to the maniera greca (“Greek manner” of traditional Greek icons). It was painted by Ioannes Moskos (Ιωάννης Μόσκος; 1635-44 – 1721) , who settled in Venice and did paintings in both styles, depending on what the customer wanted.

The central figure is the crucified Jesus, with an oversized skull of Adam in the opening below the cross.  You will recall that by tradition, Jesus was crucified on the site of Adam’s grave, which of course is a theological construct.

The sun at left is dark, and the moon at right “is become as blood.” 

On the crosses at left and right we see the two  malefactors crucified with Jesus.  Note that unlike the nails used to affix Jesus to the cross, the malefactors are only tied on with ropes.  This is an artistic tradition given the general interpretation that they went to their crosses unwillingly, so had to be tied on with ropes, while Jesus went voluntarily and so was nailed on.  Archaeologists tend to think that from the evidence, all crucified by Romans were nailed on, so again we have here a likely theological construct. 

If we look at the malefactor on the left (at the right hand of Jesus), we see an angel has descended to place a wreath on his head.

The soldier at lower right bears a red banner with the standard Latin abbreviation SPQR for Senatus Populusque Romanus — “The Senate and People of Rome.”

There is an inscription to the right of the “Good Thief.”  It is what he is saying to Jesus:

He says:

ΜΝΗCΤΙ ΜΟΥ ΚΥΡΙΕ ΕΝ ΤΗ ΒΑCΙΛΕΙΑ CΟΥ
MNESTI MOU KYRIE EN TE BASILEIA SOU
“Remember me Lord in [the] Kingdom of-you
“Remember me Lord in your Kingdom.”

It is a shortened version of Luke 23:42.

On the right (the left or “bad” side) we see the unrepentant “thief,” and though the background is dark, we can see a black demon on his shoulder, with a clawed hand reaching for the thief’s throat. 

At the base of the icon is the signature of the painter:

It reads:

ΠΟΙΗΜΑ ΙѠΑΝΝΟΥ ΜΟCΚΟΥ ΑΨΙΑ
POIEMA IOANNOU MOSKOU ΑΨΙΑ

“WORK OF IOANNES MOSKOS 1711”

As you can see, the date is given in Greek letters used as numbers.  The Α is for 1,000, the Ψ for 700, the Ι for ten, and the final Α for 1 — thus we get 1711 as the date.

You will easily recognize the rest of the elements in the crucifixion, such as the thieves casting dice for the garments of Jesus at lower right.

Now you may recall that in the gospel called “of Matthew,” there is no “good thief.”  Both are bad, and neither repents, in fact both mock Jesus.  In this he follows his source, the gospel called “of Mark.”  In “of Luke,” however, one of them says,
Ἰησοῦ, μνήσθητί μου ὅταν ἔλθῃς ἐν τῇhttps://russianicons.wordpress.com/tag/dismas/ βασιλείᾳ σου.
Iesou, mnestheti mou hotan elthes en te basileia sou.
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

The gospel called “of John” says Jesus was crucified with “two others,” but he tells us nothing more about them, and says nothing about either repenting.

For more on the “Repentant Thief/Good Thief,” you may wish to read this earlier posting:

THE REPENTANT THIEF WHO?

 

 

FAKE ARABIC

A couple of readers have already asked me privately about this, so I suppose I should make other readers aware of the matter.

The question is usually something like “What is this mysterious-looking writing?”

Here is an example on a 15th century Cretan Eleousa (“Merciful”) icon of Mary.  Look at the gold ornamentation in the border of her garments:

And here is a 15th century Italian Madonna and Child in the Barbadori Altarpiece, by Fra Filippo Lippi (Louvre Museum), originally in Florence:

If we look closely at the gold border on Mary’s blue garment, we again see more of the peculiar “writing”:

It looks like writing, but in reality it is meaningless ornament.  It looks like writing because it is an imitation of the ornamental form of real Arabic writing known as Kufic.  Kufic is an early form of Islamic Arabic script found in manuscripts and used as ornamentation on objects, generally as Islamic religious inscriptions.  When those in non-Islamic countries saw expensive Islamic imports such as various weavings, cloths and decorative objects incorporating Kufic writing, they of course had no idea what the writing meant, and so saw it as simply exotic ornamentation.  They tried to imitate the general appearance in paintings, but not really understanding it, their imitations were generally meaningless other than often indicating something “Middle Eastern” and costly.

This imitation of Kufic found in paintings both in the Eastern Orthodox and European realms is known as “Pseudo-Kufic,” or if you want to be more colloquial, you can just call it “fake Arabic.”  It is an attempt to imitate the impression given by the Kufic ornament on rich-looking Islamic imports, but because the writing system itself was not known or understood by the painters, in their hands it becomes just ornamentation, not the real writing it originally was.

As you might imagine, Pseudo-Kufic ornamentation in paintings differs greatly from example to example, according to the imagination of each non-Arabic speaking painter. 

So beware of this “writing” used as ornamentation on fabric depicted in icons and early European paintings that is not really writing — just a misunderstood imitation of it:  “Pseudo-Kufic.”

 

BURNING DOWN THE FOREST

MAY THERE SOON BE PEACE AND INDEPENDENCE IN UKRAINE AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN RUSSIA.

Today’s icon is Greek.  It is called the Neamonetissa/Νεαμονήτισσα.  Its name means “New [Νέα] Monastery [Μονή],” and the –tissa ending makes it feminine, so we could very loosely translate it as “She of the New Monastery.”  It takes its name from the New Monastery that was built on Khios/Chios in 1042 by authority of the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX.

Now as you know by now, the origin stories of supposed “miracle-working” icons are not reliable history.  In general, they are the equivalent of legends that grow around certain places and things, such as the notion that the water of the Chalice Well at Glastonbury in Britain has its reddish color because Joseph of Arimathea once placed the Holy Grail — the chalice of the Last Supper — in the well (others say cruets containing the blood and bodily fluids of Jesus).  Actually the reddish tinge comes from iron in the water that oxidizes when exposed to air.

In the case of the Neamonetissa icon, we find in its story several common icon “appearance” motifs:

1.  A light shining from an icon.
2.  An icon appearing in a tree.
3. An icon returning repeatedly to its place of finding.

Here’s how its tale goes:

In the 11th century, there were three monks who were born on and lived and ascetic life on the island of Khios/Chios.  They spent their days and nights in what today we would call self-torture, but in those days it was considered severe ascetic piety. 

Now it happened that every night the three would see a mysterious light in the forest.  When they went to look for it, it always seemed to disappear, and they could not find it.  Their solution to this problem was — well — to burn down the forest.  So they set the forest on fire, and it burned until the flames came right up to a certain place, and there the fire stopped and went out.  When the monks investigated, they found at that place an unburnt myrtle tree, and in its branches was the Neamonetissa icon.

The three took the icon down from the tree and carried it back to their cave.   It did not stay long, but disappeared from their cave, and they found it hanging again in the unburnt myrtle tree.  This happened several times.  Now this as you know is common motif in icon lore — that when an icon keeps disappearing and going back to a certain place, it means the icon does not wish to be moved.  Remember that in traditional Eastern Orthodoxy, icons can behave like conscious persons.  So after the icon had left the cave and returned to its tree several times, the monks got the hint that a chapel to contain the icon was to be built on the site where the icon was originally found.

As is common with “miraculously appearing” icons, miracles are attributed by believers to the Neamonetissa icon.

One is that of a ship’s captain from Khios/Chios whose boat was caught in a deadly storm.  The boat was in danger of sinking.  The captain cried out, asking the Neamonitissa to save the ship, and in return he promised a candle for the image as tall as the mast of the ship.  Supposedly on offering this prayer, the captain saw Mary standing on the sea, a piece of wood  and a rope in her hand.  As these tales go, the storm abated and the ship reached port.  There they discovered a hole in the hull, plugged with the piece of wood and rope seen earlier in the hands of Mary. And the tale says the captain did fulfill his oversized candle promise.

These stories of miraculous icons are entertaining legends, but as you know by now, tend to be cut from the same pattern.

As you can see, the Neamonetissa depicts Mary alone, gesturing toward a depiction of the icon hanging in a myrtle tree.

The Greek inscription reads:

HOS EVRETAI EN TE MYRSINE
“AS FOUND IN THE MYRTLE”

Below that and on the left is a variant spelling of nea mone — “New Monastery.”

The same “As found in the myrtle” inscription is inscribed above Mary’s head on the metal cover of the Neamonitissa icon:

Here is the Neamonitissa with its ornate metal cover and gilt frame, seen in context at Nea Mone: