JOHN’S ASSEMBLY

Here is an icon of John the Forerunner (John the Baptist) in the form commonly known as “Angel of the Wilderness/Desert.”

(Courtesy of Maryhill Museum)

As seems to be frequently the case lately, I discussed this icon type in a previous posting, and much of it applies to this example:

https://russianicons.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/angel-of-the-desert-icons-of-john-the-forerunner/

Nonetheless, it would be useful to have a review using this particular icon.

First, let’s look at the title inscription, which is at top left and right:

Left:

ѠБРАЗ СОБОРЪ СВЯТАГО …
OBRAZ SOBOR” SVYATAGO …
IMAGE [of the] ASSEMBLY [of the] HOLY …

… СЛАВНАГО ПРОРОКА IѠАННА ПРЕДТЕЧИ
… GLORIOUS PROPHET JOHN [the] FORERUNNER

So,

“Image of the Assembly of the Holy, Glorious Prophet John the Forerunner.”

Now we have seen the word Sobor before, and you may recall that it means a gathering — an assembly — so in iconography it represents a composition using persons related in some way — as all part of the same story or event; a Sobor is also a gathering or assembly of persons relating in some way to the main Eastern Orthodox church festival celebrated on the previous day.  The “church jargon” term generally used for such a secondary festival in English is synaxis, which is just the Greek word that Church Slavic translates as Sobor.

So this is the icon of the Sobor of John the Forerunner — the “Assembly of John the Forerunner” — which is the secondary festival following the major festival of the Bogoyavlenie — The Theophany — the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan by John.  Now in some cases Sobor can also mean a main cathedral, as well as a council, as in the Nicene Council.

In the center of the icon, we see John depicted with wings as “Angel of the Wilderness”:

You can probably read his halo inscription, which says “Holy Prophet John the Forerunner.”

He holds a stylized diskos (Eucharistic vessel) in which the child Jesus lies as “Lamb of God” — the signifying the body of Jesus in the Eucharistic bread:

The little curving lines above the diskos represent the liturgical implement called the asteriskos, the “star-cover.” Its purpose is to support the cloth veil that is placed over the diskos during the Eucharistic ritual in Eastern Orthodoxy. If you recall that the Child Christ as “Lamb of God” lies on the diskos, then you will see why this metal “star-cover” represents the Star of Bethlehem.

John carries a scroll with the usual text for this type:

АЗЪ ВИДЕХЪ И СВИДЕТЕЛСТВО ВА ОНЕН СЕ АГНЕТЦЪ БОЖИЙ ВЗЕМ[ЛЯЙ ГРЕХИ МИРА]

AZ VIDEKH I SVIDETELSTVO VA ONEN CE AGNETS BOZHIY VZEM[LYAI GRYEKHI MIRA]

It means:  “I saw and witnessed concerning him, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.’”

That quote requires a jump to the Gospel of John, 1:29, which gives us this in Church Slavic:

Во ýтрiй [же] видѣ Иоáн­нъ Иисýса грядýща къ себѣ́ и глагóла: сé, áгнецъ Бóжiй, взéмляй грѣхи́ мíра:

Around John are scenes from his life.  They begin with the image at lower left:

The inscription at left identifies it as:
Rozhestvo Svyatago Proroka Ioanna Predtechi
“Birth of the Holy Prophet John the Forerunner.

We see John’s mother Svyataya Pravednaya Elizaveta/Holy Righteous Elizabeth at left, the washing of the newborn John at right, and through the doorway we see the child being shown to his father Svyatuiy Prorok Zakhariy/Holy Prophet Zechariah, who holds a scroll reading Ioann da budet — “He shall be [called] John.”

The next scene chronologically is at upper right:

The identifying inscriptions says Angel” Gospoden’ vvede svyatago Ioanna Predtedi v pustuiniu tamo da prebuivaet” do vozrosta svoego —  “The Angel of the Lord leads Holy John the Foreunner into the wilderness; there he shall remain until he comes of age.”

Now we move to upper left:

The identifying inscription is Molenie v pustuini Svyatago Proroka Ioanna Predotechi — “The prayer in the wilderness of the Holy Prophet John the Forerunner.”

Next, at left, comes John’s “Assembly” — his baptizing of people in the Jordan River:

The inscription says Sobor” Svyatago Proroka Ioanna Predotechi — “Assembly of the Holy Prophet John the Forerunner.”

Now we move to lower left:

The inscription reads Useknovenie glavui Svyatago Ioanna Predtechi –“The cutting off of the head of Holy John the Forerunner.” We see the execution and the presentation of the head to Salome on a salver.

Now we come to the final scene at middle right:

The inscription says Obretenie glavui Svyatago Ioanna Predtechi — “Finding of the head of Holy John the Forerunner.”  Now in the apocryphal tale of John’s life — as separate from the New Testament accounts — there are three findings of the head of John — the thing just kept getting lost — and the one shown here appears to be the second finding.  You can read more about these “lost and found” events in this previous posting:

https://russianicons.wordpress.com/tag/findings-of-the-head-of-john-the-forerunner/

At the very top center of the icon is the image of Gospod’ Savaof — “Lord Sabaoth” — God the Father, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove:

And finally, as we leave John in his wilderness, let’s take a close look at his pleasant face:

TEST YOURSELF: A MULTIPLE ICON

Here is a little self-test:

If you have been a diligent student of the postings on this site, you should be able to identify everything in this multiple icon.  A multiple icon is an icon with several separate types placed together on a single panel.  This example has four main types, a smaller central type, and of course the saints used as border images.

(Courtesy of Zoetmulder Ikonen: Russianicons.net)

If you are not able to identify everything, here is a brief summary, beginning with the image at upper left:

The inscription reads
СВЯТЫЙ НИКОЛА ЧУДОТВОРЕЦ
SVYATUIY NIKOLA CHUDOTVORETS
“HOLY NICHOLAS [the] WONDERWORKER”

Aside from the inscription, one can tell from the facial characteristics (form, hair, beard), the costume, and from the accompanying figures of Jesus at left and Mary at right that this is an image representing St. Nikolai/Nikola/Nicholas of Myra.  You will recall that Jesus is giving Nicholas the book of the Gospels, and Mary is presenting him with his bishop’s stole (omofor/omophorion).  If you notice that Nicholas is not shown full-face, but rather as though turning from the left, you may remember that such a Nicholas — though often with a harsher expression than here — is called Nikola Otvratnuiy (Никола Отвратный) — “Nicholas the Turner” — and was thought to ward off evil.

Now you will have read in a previous posting that “Nicholas the Turner” is an icon type that appeared among the Old Believers in the 18th century, so that tells us something important about this icon too; and what it tells us is confirmed by the hand.  As you see, the fingers are held in the blessing position used by the Old Believers, and that confirms that this is an Old Believer icon.

Upper right:

Of course you know that the MP ΘY letters in two circles at the top abbreviate the Greek words Meter Theou — which are common on Russian icons of Mary.

From the title inscription, we can tell that this is identified as the
ЗНАМЕНИЕ ПРЕСВЯТЫЯ БОГОРОДИЦЫ
ZNAMENIE PRESVYATUIYA BOGORODITSUI
the “‘SIGN’ MOST-HOLY GOD-BIRTHGIVER”
or in normal English,
The “‘Sign’ Most Holy Mother of God.”

And of course that is Jesus in the circle on her breast.

You may recall that the “Sign” icon is one of the famous “palladium” icons, considered to be city protectors, and that its legendary history says it saved the citizens of the great trading city of Novgorod in the northwest of Russia from the invading Suzdalians.

Lower left:

The inscription identifies this Marian icon type as the

УМЯАГЧЕНИЕ ЗЛЫХ СЕРДЕЦ ПРЕСВЯТЫЯ БОГОРОДИЦЫ
YMYAGCHENIE ZLUIKH SERDETS PRESVYATUIYA BOGORODITSUI
“SOFTENER [of] EVIL  HEARTS MOST-HOLY MOTHER OF GOD”

It is sometimes also translated loosely as the “Melter of Hard Hearts.”  It is important to remember, however, that this type is not the only Marian icon type to be found under that title.

Next comes a New Testament Scene that is also an annual Eastern Orthodox Church commemoration:

If you are familiar with the New Testament, you can probably identify it without the inscription below.  Here is that inscription:

ОУСЕКНОВЕНИЕ ЧЕСТНЫЯ ГЛАВЫ СВЯАТАГО IОАННА ПРЕДТЕЧА
USEKNOVENIE CHESTNUIYA GLAVUI SVYATAGO IOANNA PREDTECHA
“CUTTING-OFF [of the] HONORABLE HEAD [of] HOLY JOHN [the] FORERUNNER.”

And that is what the scene depicts:  the execution of John the Forerunner (John the Baptist) and the presentation of his head to Salome.

Such an icon type was particularly important to Old Believers because it called to mind the terrible persecution they suffered under the State Orthodox Church.

In the center of the icon we find the image of — as the red title inscription tells us here — the
НЕРУКОТВОРЕННЫЙ ОБРАЗ ГОСПОДЕНЬ
NERUKOTVORENNUIY OBRAZ GOSPODEN’
“NOT-MADE-BY-HANDS IMAGE [of the] LORD”

It is the image traditionally considered the “first icon” in Eastern Orthodoxy, because the old legend that developed over time said that Jesus once pressed a wet towel to his face, and his image was miraculously imprinted on it.  It is the “Abgar” image sent by tradition from Jesus to King Abgar of Edessa.

You will notice the other inscriptions written on the cloth — first the IC XC abbreviation for “Jesus Christ,” and below the face, this inscription:

СВЯТЫЙ ОУБРУСЪ
SVYATUIY UBRUS
“HOLY CLOTH”

So in Eastern Orthodoxy, the “Holy Cloth” is the cloth after Jesus supposedly transferred the image of his face to it.

Finally, there are four border saints in this icon:

First comes the
AНГЕЛЪ ХРАНИТЕЛ
ANGEL KHRANITEL
“ANGEL GUARDIAN”

In ordinary English, the “Guardian Angel.”  It is important to know that this is a generic figure who represents the Guardian Angel supposedly assigned to each person —  It is often found as a border image, but is also found as an icon type on its own.  He holds a sword in one hand and a cross in the other:

The others are:

2.  St. Alexandra;

Venerable Sergiy;

St. Feodora/Theodora;

Such border saints as these three are generally found in icons as the “angel” saints of the members of the family for whom the icon was painted — the saints after whom each person was named.

A purchaser — in this case an Old Believer — could choose the icon types to be represented on such a multiple icon, and of course could tell the painter the names of his family members to include in the border, represented there by their “name” saints.  And again, the “Guardian Angel” served as the generic figure representing each angel assigned individually to protect a family member.

Now you will find all this information — including a longer discussion of each main type shown — in the site archives.

 

WILD AND WOOLLY JOHN

Part of the fun of icons is in trying to translate some of the roughly or oddly written inscriptions.

Here, for example, is a Greek-inscribed icon you will recognize as John the Forerunner — John the Baptist.  Greek icons of John often have a “wild and wooly” appearance, almost like a combination of primitive art and more abstract art:

(Courtesy of Jacksonsauction.com)

But it is his scroll that interests us today:

The texts used on John’s scroll in icons are usually quite limited, so one might guess at what it says, but it is best to be able to read it, though some of the spelling is phonetic rather than standard.  Also, it is a little worn, but nonetheless we can make out what was intended.  Here is what it looks like:

ΜΕΤΑΝ

ΟΙΤΕΝ

ΓΓΗΚΕΝ

ΓΑΡΟΙΒΑ

ΣΟΙΛΗ

ΗΑΤΟΝΟΥ

ΡΑΝΟΝ

Well, with a little imagination, we can tell that the painter’s intention was a standard inscription:

Μετανοεῖτε, ἤγγικεν γὰρ ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν.
Metanoeite, engiken gar he basileia ton ouranon
“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is drawn near.”

The painter did some (for us) odd things, for example using OI where we would expect I or H in Greek, but that is easily explained — all three have the same  “ee” sound in later Greek, so again, he was just writing phonetically.

The title inscription is a bit odd in its arrangement.  We see it in the upper left-hand corner:

It is meant to be read from lower left to upper left to upper right.

At lower left we have

Γ Ι
Ο Α
ω
c

The bottom letter above is not quite clear in the inscription, but nonetheless we can easily see that the inscription is to be understood as  Ὁ ἉΓΙΟC — Ho Hagios — “The Holy…”

The name Ιωάννης/Ioannes/John at top left is abbreviated to only two letters — Ιω.

When we get to his title at upper right, we see the beginning Ὁ/Ho/”The” followed by a very elaborate ligature intended to represent — when joined to the ΟC/os ending, the word Πρόδρομος/Prodromos/ “Forerunner.”

So we see that the title intended by the abbreviations and fancy ligature is Ὁ Άγιος Ιωάννης ο Πρόδρομος — HO HAGIOS IOANNES HO PRODROMOS — “THE HOLY JOHN THE FORERUNNER.”

From earlier postings here on John, you will already know why he is shown with wings.  If you don’t remember, or if you are new here, you will find the answer in this posting:
https://russianicons.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/angel-of-the-desert-icons-of-john-the-forerunner/

 

SYZRAN AND THE PRIESTLESS POMORTSY

Today we will look at two Russian icons that were once the side panels on a three-panel Deisis set.  As you know, the icon of Jesus as “Lord Almighty” would have been the central icon, with Mary approaching him at left and John the Forerunner (the Baptist) at right.  They are painted very much in the old and traditional manner:

(Collection Tóth Ikonen)

Deisis icons reflect a royal court in which the ruler sits enthroned, and petitioners come to him with requests.

If we look more closely at the panel of John, you will find — if you are a long-time reader here — that you can easily translate his scroll:

(Collection Tóth Ikonen)

The common inscription can quickly be recognized by its first two Church Slavic words — АЗЪ ВИДЕХЪ/AZ VIDEKH — “I saw…”  You will recall that it continues “…and witnessed concerning him, behold the Lamb of God, who takes [away the sins of the world].”

The scroll held by Mary bears a very common text given her in Deisis icons, though sometimes we find variants.

(Collection Tóth Ikonen)

This frequent text reads:

ВЛАДИКО МНОГОМИЛОСТИВЕ ГОСПОДИ ИСУСЕ ХРИТСЕ СЫИНЕ МОИ ПРИКЛОНИ УХО…

VLADIKO MNOGOMILOSTIVE GOSPODI ISUSE KHRISTE SUINE MOI PRIKLONI UKHO…

“Master most gracious, Lord Jesus Christ, my son, incline [your] ear….”

So Mary is asking Jesus to bend his ear to her and hear her petition on behalf of humans.

A владико/vladiko is a master or ruler.  In Eastern Orthodoxy, one often finds the term vladiko or vladika used when addressing a bishop.

These two Deisis panels are attributed  to vicinity of  Syzran/Suizran (Сызрань), a town on the Volga River, which was a center for traditional icon painting by Old Believers in the 19th century.  The Old Believers seem to have been in the region from the latter part of the 18th century.  In the year 1878, it was noted that between Simbirsk and Syzran there were 14 parishes of “State Church” believers, but 29 parishes of raskolniki — “Schismatics,” the deprecatory State term for Old Believers.

In this map of a segment of the Volga, we see Syzran at left, and Samara (Самара) at right:

In the second half of the 19th century, there were said to be at least 70 icon painting masters and establishments doing a flourishing business in the Syzran area.  The majority of them were Поморцы-Беспоповцы/Pomortsui-Bespopovtsui — that is, members of the Old Believer sect called “priestless” Pomortsui/Pomortsy.  They elected lay persons to conduct their services instead of priests.  In spite of this, their high-quality icons were commissioned not only by their own sect, but by others as well — including members of the State Church.  That does not mean, however, that there were no religious conflicts between the State Church and those holding other beliefs in Syzran.

One characteristic often found in Syzran icons is a kovcheg/ark with a wide and dark luzga — the bevel separating the ark from the outer border.  The luzga was often painted with gold or silver floral, etc. ornament, as we see in this detail from the “Mary” panel:

(Collection Tóth Ikonen)

Syzran icon painting flourished from the late 18th to early 19th century.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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THOSE “RED” ICONS

I have always thought the “red” icons produced in the region of the Russian icon painting village of Kholuy to be quite pleasant.  They are simple enough to look like folk art, but when done by an experienced painter, they have a charm often missing in more sophisticated icons.  They were once rather inexpensive, but that is changing as more people have come to appreciate them.

You will recall that many of them have a silver background that was generally originally tinted with a colored varnish to make it appear gold.  Often this varnish is removed when the icon is cleaned, and that of course also removes the “gold” effect, leaving the silver background instead.

Here are some good examples.

First, a “Smolensk” type icon of Mary:

(Courtesy of Jacksonsauction.com)

And here is a “Lord Almighty”:

(Courtesy of Jacksonsauction.com)

And finally a “John the Forerunner”:

(Courtesy of Jacksonsauction.com)

These “red” icons, with their bright borders and stamped floral decoration, were very popular and widely sold.  They even turn up in the Balkan countries, including Romania — having been there for many long years.

If you are a regular reader here, you should be easily able to read the inscriptions on book and scroll, because the texts are common and we have seen them in previous postings.  The three icon types seen here were also previously discussed, and you will find those postings in the site archives.