What are the rules for writing Orthodox icons. Iconographic canon: the language of conventions, understandable to all. Color in Russian iconography

The concept of the icon-painting canon.

Since the icon, revealing the revelation of Divine reality, brings to the world and reveals dogmatic truths by symbolic means, it is important for the icon painter to follow the rules that are capable of revealing these truths in their fullness.

What is canon? Canon is a system of stylistic rules that in art set the norm for the interpretation of an artistic image and is defined as a model for inheritance. The canon is a single, permanent, stable form, the content of which “fixes the mind of the Church under the grace-filled cover of the Holy Spirit acting in it” (Starodubtsev O.V. - p. 22). The canon can also be considered as the shortest path that can lead the seeker to the desired goal. The icon-painting canon is immutable and unshakable, like the Truth of Christ, the rules of the Ecumenical Councils and everything that makes up the visible side of the life of the Church. In Byzantium, the time of the appearance of the “icon-painting original” corresponds to the era of the Macedonian dynasty, and in Rus' the icon-painting canon was formed only by the 16th-17th centuries. The first attempts to comprehend the icon-painting canon are the “Message to the icon painter and three “words” on the veneration of holy icons” by Joseph Volotsky and “On holy icons” by Maxim the Greek. As the researcher of this issue N.M. Tarabukin: “The need to consolidate and conserve what was obtained through the efforts of many generations of icon painters appeared when the icon-painting foundations began to gradually loosen, when the threat of icon-painting “heretics” appeared in the form of modernism, which is the result of the influence of secular life” (The meaning of the icon. M. Ed. PBSFM. 1999 .-p.99).

The features of the icon-painting canon are that the icon must be:

1 - two-dimensional,

2 - there is no prospect of construction, as well as shadows, penumbra,

3 - out of nature (supernaturalness) of space-time measurements,

4 - lack of anatomical, realistically natural proportions.

5 - the world of the icon is conditional and symbolic.

1) The two-dimensionality of the icon is due to the fact that the flatness of the image, where there is height, width, but there is no depth of the image, is due to its internal meaning. The icon is a window into the spiritual world, which is devoid of this kind of corporality inherent in the earthly, carnal world. Therefore, conditionally, the third dimension of the icon can be called its dogmatic depth. In order to convey the depth of spiritual reality on the plane, it is necessary to abandon the perspective of constructing an image based on the conditional point of perception of the object by an external viewer-observer and turn to the use of the so-called "reverse perspective".

2) The essence of the use of reverse perspective in icon painting can be reduced to the thesis: "we do not look at the icon, but the icon looks at us." The icon-painting face that directs us to prayer is that true primary reality that leads our mental gaze from the world of the earth to the world of heaven. Therefore, exactly the opposite, some faces and objects in the foreground of the icon can be no more, but less than those depicted behind them. The image of the Gospel, quadrangular objects (image of a table, chairs, building) look as if turned inside out. The side that is farther from our perception of it may be smaller than the one that is closer. Thus, the task is achieved, according to which the icon and all its space is perceived as "the visible of the invisible", a real evidence of a meeting with spiritual reality. About this quality of the icon N.M. Tarabukin wrote: “The intelligible and invisible world becomes visible, pictorial, visually contemplated” (The meaning of the icon. M. Ed. PBSFM. 1999.-p. 131).

3) After all, spiritual reality does not have coordinates inherent in the earthly world. That world is on the other side of space and time. That world is the world of inexhaustible Grace, which illuminates the entire space of the icon without determining a specific point - the source of Light. For God is everywhere. Hence the appeal to the use of the golden background of the icon, which symbolizes that the events contemplated on the icon take place outside the earthly spatial and temporal boundaries. This circumstance also explains the absence of the use of shadow and penumbra when writing objects in the icon-painting space. Where there is no source of light, there is no shadow, for light is everywhere. God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him. Therefore, the icon painter depicts things and figures as produced by light, and not as illuminated by light (which is typical for secular painting).

4) Noteworthy is the lack of naturalism, anatomically correct depiction of the human body. “And it becomes understandable if we consider it as a gradual change in the body as it passes through various spheres of being. After the Resurrection, Christ already had a different body ”(The meaning of the icon. M. Ed. PBSFM. 1999.-p. 126). Thus, the given deformation of both objects and human bodies in the icon-painting space is used for the purpose of once again emphasizing the spiritual meaning of the icon-painting image.

5) The icon is essentially deeply symbolic. Color, shape, composition, like all elements in the icon, are primarily symbolic. According to the "Icon-painting original" (which consists of 2 parts: text and drawings, and in which in the most detailed way a description is given, containing the designation of a holiday or the name of a saint for each day of the month), a compositional and coloristic solution to the structure of the icon is proposed. Therefore, following the realistic depiction of facial features and details of the clothes of a saint or reverend, the icon-painting face is always recognizable. It also carries a certain semantic symbolism and color. Red is a royal and sacrificial color, it is always active. Green is the color of earthly impermanent being, blue is the color of purity, purple is the color of spiritual wisdom. Gold is a symbol of unearthly, divine being. Hence - the golden radiance around the head of the saint, which forms a circle (nimbus). Or spreading golden streams that come from the head, are superimposed on the clothes of the Savior, the Virgin (assist) and are the essence of the revelation of Divine energies.

IN without fail The icon must have the name of the person depicted. Until 787, known as the year of the convening of the VII Ecumenical Council, which by its decisions determined the attitude of the Christian Church to the issue of veneration of icons, canonical icons did not need to be consecrated and became icons when writing the name of the depicted. However, after the iconoclastic unrest, it was decided to illuminate the icons. Only the icon examined and approved by the primates of the Church was illuminated and assimilated by the saint depicted on it. Evidence of this was, as before, the name of the depicted saint, which was placed before the consecration.

And summing up, let's finish this topic with the surprisingly deep words of Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin): “An Orthodox icon is special kind self-expression and self-disclosure of the Church; it is a spiritual field in the physical space, where the radii of dogmatics, mysticism, soteriology and aesthetics converge ... ”(On the language of an Orthodox icon. Satis. 1997).

Literature for topic 4.

1. Archimandrite Raphael, On the language of Orthodox icons. Satis: St. Petersburg, 1997.

2. Averintsev S.S. Gold in the system of symbols of early Byzantine culture / Byzantium. Southern Slavs and ancient Rus'. Art and culture. Collection in honor of V.N. Lazarev. M., 1973.

3. Bulgakov S. Icon and icon veneration. Paris. 1931.

St. Basil the Great. Creations, part 3, M. 1993.

4. St. I.Damaskin Three protective words against those who condemn the holy icons

or images. S-TS. L. RFM, 1993.

5. St. I. Damaskin Accurate presentation Orthodox faith. M. - Rostov-on-Don: ed. Priazovsky region, 1992.

6. Dionysius the Areopagite. Divine Names (2.10) / Mystical Theology, K.: Path to Truth, 1990.

7. St. Ephraim Sirin Works, v.6 (Interpretations on the outcome), M., 1995.

8. History of the Christian Church, v. 1, M.

9. Monk Gregory (Circle) Thoughts on the icon. M.

10. Lossky Vl. Theology of the Image / Theological Works, No. 14, 1975.

11. Archpriest Alexander Saltykov. Iconology. Lecture 1. M. 1996.

12. Petar Nikolov Theology of the icon (the experience of the historical presentation of the dogma of icon veneration). Dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Theology. Sergiev Posad. 2000.

13. Tarabukin N.M. The meaning of the icon. M.: Ed. PBSFM. 1999.

14. Tatarkiewicz W. Historia estetуki 2, Estetika sredniowieczna. Wroclaw. Warsaw. Krakow. 1962.

15. St. Theodore the Studite Epistle to Plato on the veneration of icons. / in book. St. I. Damascus Three defensive words against those who condemn holy icons or images. S-TS. L. RFM, 1993.

16. Shenborn Christoph Icon of Christ. theological foundations. Milan–Moscow: Christian Russia, 2000.

17. Uspensky L.A. Theology of the icon of the Orthodox Church, ch.8.

18. Yazykova I.K. Theology icons. M. 2007.

Everyone who begins to look at icons involuntarily wonders about the content of ancient images, about why for several centuries the same plot has remained almost unchanged and easily recognizable. The answer to these questions will help us find iconography, a strictly established system for depicting any characters and religious plots. As the ministers of the church say, iconography is "the alphabet of church art."

The iconography includes a large number of subjects taken from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, theological writings, hagiographic literature, religious poetry on the themes of the main Christian dogmas, that is, the canons.

The iconographic canon is a criterion for the truth of an image, its correspondence to the text and meaning of the "Holy Scripture".

Centuries-old traditions, the repetition of compositions of religious subjects led to the development of such stable schemes. The iconographic canons, as they were called in Russia - "excerpts", reflected not only common Christian traditions, but also local features inherent in one or another art school.

Constancy in the depiction of religious subjects, in the immutability of ideas that can be expressed only in the appropriate form - this is the secret of the canon. With the help of it, the symbolism of the icon was fixed, which in turn facilitated the work on its pictorial and content side.

Canonical foundations covered everything means of expression icons. In the compositional scheme, the signs and attributes inherent in the icon of one kind or another were recorded. So, gold and white symbolized the divine, heavenly light. Usually they marked Christ, the powers of heaven, and sometimes the Mother of God. Green color denoted the earthly flowering, blue - the heavenly sphere, purple was used to depict the clothes of the Mother of God, and the red color of Christ's clothes meant his victory over death.

The main characters of religious painting are the Mother of God, Christ, the Forerunner, the apostles, prophets, forefathers and others. Images are main, shoulder, belt and in full height.

The image of the Mother of God enjoyed special love among icon painters. There are more than two hundred types of iconographic images of the Mother of God, the so-called "exodus". They have names: Hodegetria, Eleusa, Oranta, Sign and others. The most common type of image is Hodegetria (Guide), (Fig. 1). This is a half-length image of the Mother of God with Christ in her arms. They are depicted in a frontal spread, gazing intently at the prayer. Christ rests on Mary's left hand, she holds her right hand in front of her chest, as if pointing it at her son. In turn, Christ blesses the worshiper with his right hand, and in his left hand he holds a paper scroll. Icons depicting the Mother of God are usually named after the place where they first appeared or where they were especially revered. For example, the icons of Vladimir, Smolensk, Iver, Kazan, Georgian and so on are widely known.

Another, no less famous, view is the image of the Mother of God called Eleusa (Tenderness). A typical example of an icon of the Eleus type is the Vladimir Mother of God, widely known and beloved by all believers. The icon is an image of Mary with a baby in her arms. In the whole guise of the Mother of God, maternal love and complete spiritual unity with Jesus are felt. This is expressed in the tilt of Mary's head and in the gentle touch of Jesus on the mother's cheek (Fig. 2).

Impressive is the image of the Mother of God, known as Oranta (Prayer). In this case, she is depicted without Jesus, with her hands uplifted, which means “standing before God” (Fig. 3). Sometimes a “circle of Glory” is placed on the chest of Oranta, in which Christ is depicted as an infant. In this case, the icon is called "Great Panagia" (All-holy). A similar icon, but in a half-length image, is usually called the Mother of God of the Sign (Incarnation). Here, the disk with the image of Christ denotes the earthly being of the God-man (Fig. 4).

The images of Christ are more conservative than the images of the Mother of God. Most often, Christ is depicted as Pantokrator (Almighty). He is depicted frontally, or half-length, or in full growth. At the same time, the fingers of his right, raised, hands are folded in a blessing two-fingered gesture. There is also the addition of fingers, which is called "nominal". It is formed by the crossed middle and thumb fingers, as well as the set aside little finger, symbolizes the initials of the name of Christ. In his left hand he holds an open or closed Gospel (Fig. 5).

Another, most common image is "The Savior on the Throne" and "The Savior in Power" (Fig. 6).

The icon called "The Savior Not Made by Hands" is one of the oldest, which depicts the iconographic image of Christ. The image is based on a belief about the imprint of the face of Christ on a towel - ubrus. The Savior Not Made by Hands in ancient times was depicted not only on icons, but also on the banners-banners that Russian soldiers took on military campaigns (Fig. 7).

Another common image of Christ is his full-length image with a blessing gesture. right hand and the Gospel in the left - Jesus Christ the Savior (Fig. 8). Often you can see the image of the Almighty in the clothes of the Byzantine emperor, which is usually called the "King of the King", meaning that he is the King of all kings (Fig. 9).

Interesting information about the nature of the clothes and vestments in which the characters of the icons are dressed. From an artistic point of view, the clothes of icon-painting characters are very expressive. As a rule, it is based on Byzantine motifs. Each image has clothes that are characteristic and inherent only to him. So, the clothes of the Mother of God are a maphorium, a tunic and a cap. Maforium - a veil that envelops the head, shoulders and goes down to the floor. It has a border decoration. The dark cherry color of maforia means a great and royal family. Maforius puts on a tunic - long dress with sleeves and ornaments on cuffs ("armlets"). The tunic is dyed dark blue, which symbolizes chastity and heavenly purity. Sometimes the Mother of God appears in the clothes not of Byzantine empresses, but of Russian queens of the 17th century.

On the head of the Mother of God, under the maphorium, a green or blue cap is drawn, decorated with white stripes of ornament (Fig. 10).

The female images in the icon are mostly dressed in a tunic and a cloak, fastened with a fibula clasp. On the head is depicted a dress - boards.

A long dress is put on over the tunic, decorated with a hemline and an apron going from top to bottom. This clothing is called dolmatik.

Sometimes, instead of a dolmatic, a table can be depicted, which, although it looks like a dolmatic, does not have an apron (Fig. 11).

Christ's attire includes a chiton, a long shirt with wide sleeves. The chiton is dyed purple or red-brown. It is decorated with two parallel stripes running from the shoulder to the hem. This is Clavius, which in ancient times meant belonging to the patrician class. A himation is thrown at the chiton. It completely covers the right shoulder and partially the left. The color of the himation is blue (Fig. 12).

Folk clothes are decorated with a mantle embroidered with precious stones.

On the icons of a later period, one can also see civilian clothes: boyar fur coats, caftans and various robes of commoners.

The monks, that is, the monks, are dressed in cassocks, mantles, schemas, hoods, and so on.

On the heads of the nuns, an apostle (cloak) was depicted, covering the head and shoulders (Fig. 13).

Warriors are written in armor, with a spear, sword, shield and other weapons (Fig. 14).

When writing kings, their heads were decorated with a crown or crown (Fig. 15).

Fragment of the icon "Our Lady of Tenderness". Linden, canvas, gesso, tempera. First half of the 15th century. Tretyakov Gallery.

What is an iconographic canon?

Canon - a set of strictly established rules and techniques for works of art of this type.

The goal of Byzantine art was not to depict the surrounding world, but to display by artistic means the supernatural world, the existence of which Christianity claimed. Hence the main canonical requirements for iconography:

• the images on the icons should emphasize their spiritual, unearthly, supernatural character, which was achieved by a peculiar interpretation of the head and face of the figure. Spirituality, calm contemplation and inner grandeur came to the fore in the image;
• since the supernatural world is an eternal, unchanging world, figures biblical characters and the saints on the icon should be depicted motionless, static;
• the icon made specific demands on the display of space and time.

The Byzantine iconographic canon regulated the range of compositions and subjects scripture, the image of the proportions of the figures, the general type and general facial expression of the saints, the type of appearance of individual saints and their postures, the palette of colors and the technique of painting.

Where did the samples come from, which the icon painter was obliged to imitate?
There were primary sources, such icons are called "primordial".
Each "primordial" icon -
the result of religious insight, visions.
The icon "Christ the Pantocrator" from the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Athos
made in the encaustic technique.
It was created in the 6th century, long before the canon was formalized.
But for 14 centuries Christ the Pantocrator
basically write it that way.

How saints were depicted on icons

Thanks to the work of John of Damascus, it became clear what can be depicted on the icon and what cannot. It remains to find out and regulate how the appearance of saints and divine subjects should be depicted.

The basis of the iconographic canon was the idea of ​​the truth of what was depicted. If gospel events were in reality, they should be portrayed as they happened. But the books of the New Testament are extremely sparing in describing the setting of certain scenes, usually the evangelists give only a list of the actions of the characters, omitting the characteristics of appearance, clothing, scenes, and the like. Therefore, along with canonical texts, canonical schemes for depicting various sacred plots were formed, which became the basis for the icon painter.

For example, saints, archangels, the Virgin Mary and Christ should be drawn strictly in front or in three quarters, with wide eyes fixed on the believer.

Color palette

Primary colors had a symbolic meaning set forth in the treatise of the VI century "On heavenly hierarchy". For example, the background of an icon (it was also called "light"), symbolizing one or another divine essence, could be gold, that is, it meant Divine light, white - this is the purity of Christ and the radiance of his Divine glory, the green background symbolized youth and vigor, red - a sign of the imperial dignity, as well as the color of purple, the blood of Christ and the martyrs.

The empty space of the background is filled with inscriptions - the name of the saint, the words of divine scripture.

There was a rejection of a multifaceted landscape or architectural background, which gradually turned into peculiar signs of an architectural landscape or landscape, and often completely gave way to a pure monophonic plane.

Icon painters also abandoned halftones, color transitions, reflections of one color in another. The planes were painted over locally: the red cloak was written exclusively in cinnabar (the so-called paint containing all shades of red), the yellow slide was painted with yellow ocher.

Gregory the Wonderworker, second half of the 12th century.
A brilliant example of a Byzantine icon from that period
(State Hermitage, St. Petersburg).

Since the background of the icon was painted with the same intensity, even the minimal three-dimensionality of the figures, which the new painting allowed, could not reveal chiaroscuro. Therefore, in order to show the most convex point of the image, it was highlighted: for example, in the face, the tip of the nose, cheekbones, superciliary arches were painted with the lightest colors. A special technique arose for sequentially superimposing lighter layers of paint on top of each other, with the lightest being just that very convex point of the surface, regardless of its location.

The paints themselves also became different: encaustic (in this painting technique the binder of paints is wax) was replaced by tempera (water-borne paints prepared on the basis of dry powder pigments).

"Reverse" perspective

There have also been changes in the relationship of the characters depicted on the icon with each other and with the viewer. The spectator was replaced by a worshiper, who did not contemplate the work of painting, but stood in front of his Heavenly Protector. The image was directed at the person standing in front of the icon, which influenced the change of perspective systems.

Annunciation (late 12th century, Sinai). The golden background in Christian symbolism meant Divine light.
The shimmering gilding gave the impression of intangibility,
the immersion of the figures in a certain mystical space, reminiscent of the radiance of the skies of the mountain world.
Moreover, this golden radiance excluded any other source of light.
And if the sun or a candle were depicted on the icon, they did not affect the illumination of other objects,
therefore Byzantine painters did not use chiaroscuro.

The linear perspective of antiquity ("direct" perspective), which created the illusion of "depth" of the depicted space, was lost. Its place was taken by the so-called "reverse" perspective: the lines converged not behind the plane of the icon, but in front of it - as if in the eyes of the viewer, in his real world.

What is an iconographic canon?

After a difficult period of iconoclasm, the paintings of churches in Byzantium were brought into a single, orderly system. All the dogmas and rites of the Greco-Eastern Church were fully formed and were recognized as divinely inspired and unchangeable. Church art had to adhere to certain schemes of basic compositions, the totality of which is usually called the "iconographic canon".

Everyone who begins to look at icons involuntarily wonders about the content of ancient images, about why for several centuries the same plot has remained almost unchanged and easily recognizable. The answer to these questions will help us find iconography, a strictly established system for depicting any characters and religious plots. As the ministers of the church say, iconography is "the alphabet of church art."

The iconography includes a large number of plots taken from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, theological writings, hagiographic literature, religious poetry on the themes of the main Christian dogmas, that is, canons.

The iconographic canon is a criterion for the truth of an image, its correspondence to the text and meaning of the "Holy Scripture".

Centuries-old traditions, the repetition of compositions of religious subjects led to the development of such stable schemes. The iconographic canons, as they were called in Russia - "excerpts", reflected not only common Christian traditions, but also local features inherent in one or another art school.

Constancy in the depiction of religious subjects, in the immutability of ideas that can be expressed only in the appropriate form - this is the secret of the canon. With the help of it, the symbolism of the icon was fixed, which in turn facilitated the work on its pictorial and content side.

The canonical foundations covered all the expressive means of the icon. In the compositional scheme, the signs and attributes inherent in the icon of one kind or another were recorded. So, gold and white symbolized the divine, heavenly light. Usually they marked Christ, the powers of heaven, and sometimes the Mother of God. Green meant earthly flowering, blue meant the heavenly sphere, purple was used to depict the clothes of the Mother of God, and the red color of Christ's clothes meant his victory over.

The main characters of religious painting are the Mother of God, Christ, the Forerunner, the apostles, prophets, forefathers and others. Images are main, shoulder, waist and full-length.

The image of the Mother of God enjoyed special love among icon painters. There are more than two hundred types of iconographic images of the Mother of God, the so-called "exodus". They have names: Hodegetria, Eleusa, Oranta, Sign and others. The most common type of image is Hodegetria (Guide), (Fig. 1). This is a half-length image of the Mother of God with Christ in her arms. They are depicted in a frontal spread, gazing intently at the prayer. Christ rests on Mary's left hand, she holds her right hand in front of her chest, as if pointing it at her son. In turn, Christ blesses the worshiper with his right hand, and in his left hand he holds a paper scroll. Icons depicting the Mother of God are usually named after the place where they first appeared or where they were especially revered. For example, the icons of Vladimir, Smolensk, Iver, Kazan, Georgian and so on are widely known.

Another, no less famous, view is the image of the Mother of God called Eleusa (Tenderness). A typical example of an icon of the Eleus type is the Vladimir Mother of God, widely known and beloved by all believers. The icon is an image of Mary with a baby in her arms. In the whole guise of the Mother of God, maternal love and complete spiritual unity with Jesus are felt. This is expressed in the tilt of Mary's head and in the gentle touch of Jesus on the mother's cheek (Fig. 2).

Impressive is the image of the Mother of God, known as Oranta (Prayer). In this case, she is depicted without Jesus, with her hands uplifted, which means “standing before God” (Fig. 3). Sometimes a “circle of Glory” is placed on the chest of Oranta, in which Christ is depicted as an infant. In this case, the icon is called "Great Panagia" (All-holy). A similar icon, but in a half-length image, is usually called the Mother of God of the Sign (Incarnation). Here, the disk with the image of Christ denotes the earthly being of the God-man (Fig. 4).

The images of Christ are more conservative than the images of the Mother of God. Most often, Christ is depicted as Pantokrator (Almighty). He is depicted frontally, or half-length, or in full growth. At the same time, the fingers of his right, raised, hands are folded in a blessing two-fingered gesture. There is also the addition of fingers, which is called "nominal". It is formed by the crossed middle and thumb fingers, as well as the set aside little finger, symbolizes the initials of the name of Christ. In his left hand he holds an open or closed Gospel (Fig. 5).

Another, most common image is "The Savior on the Throne" and "The Savior in Power" (Fig. 6).

The icon called "The Savior Not Made by Hands" is one of the oldest, which depicts the iconographic image of Christ. The image is based on a belief about the imprint of the face of Christ on a towel - ubrus. The Savior Not Made by Hands in ancient times was depicted not only on icons, but also on the banners-banners that Russian soldiers took on military campaigns (Fig. 7).

Another encountered image of Christ is his full-length image with a blessing gesture of his right hand and the Gospel in his left - the Savior (Fig. 8). Often you can see the image of the Almighty in the clothes of the Byzantine emperor, which is usually called the "King of the King", meaning that he is the King of all kings (Fig. 9).

Interesting information about the nature of the clothes and vestments in which the characters of the icons are dressed. From an artistic point of view, the clothes of icon-painting characters are very expressive. As a rule, it is based on Byzantine motifs. Each image has clothes that are characteristic and inherent only to him. So, the clothes of the Mother of God are a maphorium, a tunic and a cap. Maforium - a veil that envelops the head, shoulders and goes down to the floor. It has a border decoration. The dark cherry color of maforia means a great and royal family. Maforius is put on a tunic - a long dress with sleeves and ornaments on cuffs ("armlets"). The tunic is dyed dark blue, which symbolizes chastity and heavenly purity. Sometimes the Mother of God appears in the clothes not of Byzantine empresses, but of Russian queens of the 17th century.

On the head of the Mother of God, under the maphorium, a green or blue cap is drawn, decorated with white stripes of ornament (Fig. 10).

The female images in the icon are mostly dressed in a tunic and a cloak, fastened with a fibula clasp. A dress is depicted on the head - boards.

A long dress is put on over the tunic, decorated with a hemline and an apron going from top to bottom. This clothing is called dolmatik.

Sometimes, instead of a dolmatic, a table can be depicted, which, although it looks like a dolmatic, does not have an apron (Fig. 11).

Christ's attire includes a chiton, a long shirt with wide sleeves. The chiton is dyed purple or red-brown. It is decorated with two parallel stripes running from the shoulder to the hem. This is Clavius, which in ancient times meant belonging to the patrician class. A himation is thrown at the chiton. It completely covers the right shoulder and partially the left. The color of the himation is blue (Fig. 12).

Folk clothes are decorated with a mantle embroidered with precious stones.

On the icons of a later period, one can also see civilian clothes: boyar fur coats, caftans and various robes of commoners.

The monks, that is, the monks, are dressed in cassocks, mantles, schemas, hoods, and so on. On the heads of the nuns, an apostle (cloak) was depicted, covering the head and shoulders (Fig. 13).

Warriors are written in armor, with a spear, sword, shield and other weapons (Fig. 14).

When writing kings, their heads were decorated with a crown or crown (Fig. 15).

Fragment of the icon "Our Lady of Tenderness". Linden, canvas, gesso, tempera. First half of the 15th century. Tretyakov Gallery.

I am not capable of such a quantity of literate text, but this should be widely shared so that ignorance is less multiplied.
Original taken from mmekourdukova in chapter six

I apologize to those who have already read all this for a long time and / or have long surpassed it, against the background of my LJ-shechka, this will look like a text for a Sunday school, but on a vow I agreed to post at least a few chapters of what was written ten years ago bestseller with some decent pictures (the bestseller was embossed without pictures).
So I'll post pieces from time to time.
So,

chapter 6,
Canon in iconography.

...Now we are finally moving from secondary, non-essential - and even non-existent, invented (but still taken by others as the main) features of the artistic language of the icon - to a more significant characteristic, which we should undoubtedly include in the definition of an icon: an icon must be canonical . It remains for us to clarify what this means.

So, we must assume that there is a known set of such schemes, a certain set of them, approved and approved by the highest authority church authority, Ecumenical, or at least the Local Council, as the texts included in New Testament? Such vaults, the so-called. icon-painting originals do exist. But the earliest Greek original appeared only in the tenth century, and the earliest Russian originals date back to XVI V. There is no doubt that the drawings and descriptive texts given in them were compiled on the basis of already painted icons. Several dozens of different editions of Russian icon-painting originals are known: Sophia, Siysky, Stroganov, Pomorsky, the so-called Kiev sheets and a number of others, and the quality and accuracy of descriptions in later monuments is much higher than in earlier ones. None of the known editions is complete, in all there are discrepancies, often - indications of other options, and sometimes criticism is placed next to the description of such a "different version". For example, when depicting St. Theodore of Pamphylia in the form of an old man in hierarchal robes can be read: “but all this is very unfair, since he suffered for Christ in his youth and was not a bishop.” Or even more harshly: “irrational icon painters used to write absurdly, like St. the martyr Christopher with a dog's head, ... which is a fable.

But even the presence of absurdities and contradictions in the original icon-paintings is not as important as the fact that they are all just practical reference books for artists and do not have the force of church documents, absolutely normative and obligatory . Seventh Ecumenical Council, having destroyed the heresy of iconoclasm and ordered the creation of sacred images, did not accept, did not develop, and did not even decide to develop any set of exemplary models. Rather, on the contrary, from the very beginning, calling on icon painters to follow the models recognized by the Church, the Cathedral suggested the possibility of expanding and changing the iconographic canon . Precisely in anticipation of such an expansion, and not to suppress it, the Council called for increased responsibility in this matter and placed this responsibility on the highest church hierarchy.

For example, in 787 it was technically impossible to create and distribute a normative set of iconographic schemes. But in the future, such an action was not taken. Neither in 1551 Stoglavy, nor in 1666-7. The Great Moscow Cathedrals, the most important milestones in the history of Russian icon painting, still did not approve any normative documents, whether in the form of canonization of the icon-painting original of any edition, or in the form of references to famous icons. Typography and engraving have long been known in Rus', in any icon-painting workshop more or less complete collections of sample drawings were kept, but no one made an attempt to sort, systematize and publish these samples. The councils only adopted a number of prohibitive orders regarding certain subjects, but in other respects they limited themselves to general recommendations to strengthen control over the quality of church painting, to follow the samples tested and established in the tradition - not only without listing, but without naming exactly one (!) Of these samples. .

There is an unfortunate delusion, a kind of tradition of ignorance, to believe that the Stoglavy Cathedral decided “to write icons for painters from ancient samples, as Greek painters write or wrote, and how Rublev wrote.” These two lines, readily reproduced even by serious publicationsas a general resolution on all issues of canonical icon painting - a truly genuine quotation from the acts of the Council, but ... cut off in mid-sentence and taken out of context. Let's finish it: "... Rublev and other notorious painters, and sign the Holy Trinity, but from your own plan nothing can be done."

Leaving aside the possibility of arbitrarily broadly interpreting such expressions as “they write or wrote” or “the notorious painters”, we will only point out the following: this quote is not a main decree that should determine the entire course of development of Russian icon painting, but only an answer (not part of , A full answer ) to a question to the Cathedral of Tsar Ivan IV , whether in the icons of the Holy Trinity to write baptized halos for all three Angels, or only for the middle one, or not to cross the halos at all, and whether to mark the middle Angel with the name of Christ.And nothing else in this conciliar answer, or in the other ninety-nine chapters, refers to the settlement of iconography.

Such - whether deliberate, or out of ignorance - juggling supports the ridiculous myth about some once approved and written down somewhere canon. What it is is also unknown, but it is known for sure that “a step to the right, a step to the left” from this canon is heresy. So, anyone who undertakes to judge canonical iconography should first of all remember that in reality -

- Neither during the time of the unified Church, nor in Eastern Orthodoxy did there exist - and do not exist to this day - any rules, any documents ordering and stabilizing the iconographic canon. Iconography in the Church has evolved over almost two millennia. in mode self-regulation. The best was preserved and developed, some not very successful solutions were abandoned, without, however, anathematizing them. And they were constantly looking for something new - not for the sake of novelty as such, but to the greater glory of God, often coming in this way to the well-forgotten old.

Let us give several examples of the change in the iconographic canon over time in order to give an idea of ​​the breadth of what seems to the ignoramuses once and for all established and frozen.

The Annunciation as an iconographic plot has been known since 3rd century

Fresco of the catacombs of Priscilla, Rome, 3rd c.

The wings of the Archangel Gabriel appear only at the turn of V - VI centuries, and already at that time several options were known: with the Mother of God sitting or standing, at the well or in the temple, with yarn or reading, with a covered or open head ... In VIII V. in Nicaea appears - and remains unique for a long time - the version "Annunciation with the Child in the womb."

"Ustyug Annunciation" 12th century

In Russia, for the first time such an image appears in the 12th century, but only in the 16th - 17th V. it becomes widespread, after which interest in it fades again.

The oldest images of the Epiphany ( IV-V centuries) represent Christ beardless, naked and turned full face to the viewer; The waters of the Jordan come up to His shoulders.

Ravenna, Arian Baptistery, 5th c.

Müstair (Switzerland), 800

The composition often includes the figure of the prophet Isaiah, who predicted the Epiphany, and the demons of the Sea and the Jordan. Veiled angels appear only with 10th century The bandage on the loins of Christ, standing in water up to the ankles, arises to XII century, and at the same time John the Baptist began to be dressed in a hair shirt, and not just in a tunic and chiton. From the same time, we meet images of Christ in a three-quarter turn, as if taking a step towards the Forerunner, or covering his groin with his hand. In Russia, all kinds of water demons are immeasurably less popular than in Greece.

The image of Christ Himself, that is, his verbal description, however rather vague, was canonized only by the Trulli Council in 692, and before that, at least three types were distinguished in the iconography of the Savior. Byzantine (subsequently replacing all others) - with a wide, short beard and slightly curly curls falling on the shoulders. Syriac - with oriental type face, a small trimmed beard and a tight cap of short, tightly curled black curls. Roman - with a forked beard and shoulder-length blond hair. Finally, the archaic type of a beardless youth, found both in the West and in the East (most often in scenes of miracles).

Nerezi

Arles, Archaeological Museum, 4th c.

London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 8th c.

The earliest known versions of the Transfiguration of the Lord refer to VI century, and they are already different: in the church of Sant'Apollinare in Classe (Ravenna), the artist did not dare to show Christ transfigured, and we see instead of His figure marked with letters α And ω a cross in a sphere shining with stars. The prophets Moses and Elijah on either side are represented by white-robed half-figures emerging from cirrus clouds; in the same clouds over the cross we see the blessing right hand of the Lord. Mount Tabor is represented by many small rocks scattered like bumps over flat earth, and the three apostles appear in the form of three white lambs looking at the cross.

In the monastery of St. Catherine on Sinai, we no longer meet with a symbol, but with an anthropomorphic figure of the transfigured Christ in a mandorla pierced by rays. Mount Tabor is absent, three apostles and prophets on their sides are placed in a row on the colored stripes of earth. Until XI V. prophets are often included in the circle or ellipse of the mandorla, then they are no longer included in it. TO XII V. the psychological characteristics of the disciples are added up: the impressionable and youngest John fell on his back and covered his face with his hands, Jacob fell to his knees and barely dares to turn his head, Peter from his knees looks straight at the Teacher with all his eyes.

And from XIV V. additions to the usual scheme appear - scenes of ascent to Tabor and descent back, or Christ helping the apostles to rise from the earth.

Similar historical excursions are possible on any icon-painting plot, from holidays and gospel scenes to images of saints, the Lord Himself and the Mother of God. Its iconography, in particular, can in itself serve as a refutation of the idea of ​​the canon as a dogma frozen forever. There are more than two hundred different types of Her icons, more than two hundred iconographic schemes, which successively, century after century, were born in the Church and were accepted by her, are included in her treasury. Only a part of these icons was miraculously revealed, that is, found - in the forest, on the mountain, in the waves of the sea, as a thing that does not belong to anyone and comes from nowhere. The other part - and there is documentary evidence for this in reference books on iconography Mother of God- appeared as a result of the creative daring of the icon painter, in accordance with the will of the customer.

We are fully aware that for some "theologians of the icon" the last phrase sounds like pure blasphemy. What creative daring or the will of the customer can be, if “everyone knows” that canonical icons are fixed visions of some ancient fathers who saw the invisible world as clearly as it has not been given to us and will never be given, and therefore our lot is only as accurate as possible copy some small group of icons "recognized" by these experts.

About the complete inconsistency of this, in essence, vulgar-materialistic theory, which undoubtedly arose from simplifying and bringing to the point of absurdity some of the ideas of Fr. Pavel Florensky, we wrote in detail in the chapter "Spiritual Vision". In later chapters we will return to the relationship between spiritual vision and its artistic embodiment, but in a real discussion of the iconographic canon it will be enough to simply note the following facts:

Neither about. Pavel Florensky, nor the zealous vulgarizers of his hypotheses, mention a single name from this legendary series of ancient holy fathers, whose clairvoyance, "frozen and hardened," allegedly gave us an iconographic canon.

In the same way, they do not name a single icon, which probably arose as a result of such a kind of supernatural fixation of spiritual vision.

And they do not cite a single historical document that would confirm at least one fact of the emergence of a certain stable canonical exodus as a direct (not by telling, recording, ordering the artist, but by direct) consequence of someone's insight.

The mere complete absence in church history of documentary evidence of this "theory of hardened visions" should be alarming. And if we add to this the examples already listed above of change, expansion, variation of canonical schemes over the course of two millennia of the history of Christianity? After all, if a certain legendary “hardened vision” is holy and the only true one, then all subsequent ones must be false? And if there are still several such true “hardened visions” of the same event, of the same saint, does it mean that their number can always be increased by one more true unit?

If the Seventh Ecumenical Council, more than a thousand years ago, to admonish the iconoclasts, decided that the incarnation of God in the form of a human allows us to depict Him, then should we - and can we - deduce from this, as some narrow-minded "theologians of icons" do, that iconography depicts exclusively things really seen by someone and in a certain concrete and absolutely objective way (in what way? where is this photographic plate?!) captured for subsequent humble copying? In canonical iconography (even if we do not touch on the controversial and exceptionally interesting in the theological, artistic and historical issue of depicting God the Father) there are a great many examples of depicting things and persons that no one has ever seen. Who saw the wings of the Angels of the Old Testament Trinity? Why before V no one saw the wings of Angels for a century, and after, on the contrary, no one saw wingless angels? Why did no one see the wings of John the Baptist in the Deesis tier, while in other iconographic types representing the same saint, someone saw his wings? Who has seen the demons of the Sea and the Jordan depicted in the icon of the Epiphany? Unpleasant old man - the Spirit of doubt in the icon of the Nativity of Christ? An old man with twelve scrolls, representing the Cosmos in the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles? Why in the same composition IX -X centuries. they also saw the Mother of God among the apostles - and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove over Her head - and to XII V. She was no longer seen, although the text of Acts, indicating Her presence in the house, remained unchanged? Who saw the soul of the Mother of God in the form of a swaddled baby in the arms of Christ in the icon of the Assumption? An angel with a sword, cutting off the hands of the Jew Avfonius? Clouds "transporting" the apostles to the bed of the Mother of God - and why did some see these clouds as "single", others - "triple", someone saw them drawn by an Angel, and someone - "self-propelled"? We could continue this list, but we will dwell on what has already been said - all the more so since we ourselves are unpleasant that mundane, vulgar, tone incompatible with the subject of the image, into which anyone who wants to explain, establish, fix everything in the sacred art of icon painting and thereby ensure themselves the right to issue - or not to issue - a patent for holiness.

May the reader not understand the above in the sense of "in general, no one has ever seen anything." Here we simply want to point out that so far there have been no attempts to seriously investigate the question of the relationship between the spiritual insights of saints and those special artistic images that are known to us under the name of icons. Which allows us to interpret this subject at random and under the guise of Orthodox theology in colors to spread dense shamanism in colors. Just one example: on the book trays of the last European Orthodox Congress, the author came across a series of thick glossy albums of icon designs. These were barely recognizable sketches, roughly skalked with the help of a fat marker, reproducing - page by page - both volumes of Gleb Markelov's "Book of Icon Designs". No attempt on copyright - having mutilated the drawings, they were turned into "original works." And at the same time (that's how cunning!) and no "his own fabrications", the reader is offered, as follows from the accompanying article, those same canonical "hardened visions", you can just admire them, or you can transfer them to the board, colorize and get a formal guarantee that this at least reproduces what is already recognized as true. This is what the brightest theories turn into when a deep professional study of the icon is replaced by poetic conjectures.

Instead of looking for false-mystical, external artistic creativity(and, as a result, inevitably vulgar) explanations of the origin of canonical schemes, we should have more confidence in the very church practice of icon painting and icon veneration. Historical practice - about which enough has already been said - and modern practice. Canonical Orthodox iconography is developing and expanding in our days, as it was centuries ago - except that the level of theological and general literacy of icon painters and their customers has slightly increased. Icons of the newly glorified saints appear - painted according to photographic materials and verbal descriptions. Icons of ancient saints are being created anew, whose images never existed or have not come down to us due to the loss of the tradition of icon painting in the country where these saints became famous. Such icons, no doubt, are "composed" by artists - by analogy with the well-known images of saints of a similar lifestyle and feat, adjusted for some local features. As a rule, there are many such attempts - successful and completely unsuccessful - and in the end it is approved (that is, it acquires some fame, fame, is willingly copied, distributed in reproductions) that which is of the greatest artistic interest, gives a convincing and individualized psychological a portrait of a saint - an image of a living person who became like Christ - the living God. Icons appear, the initial models for which were ancient frescoes or book miniatures - hundreds of the rarest and most interesting compositions, hidden for centuries in library vaults or in foreign monasteries, and now - in reproductions - available to the entire Christian world.

The iconography of the Mother of God is expanding, i.e., new, previously non-existent images of Her, bearing some special shade of the Orthodox view of the Mother of God, which are relevant in our day, are written and subsequently, after consideration, canonized by the Church. There are icons painted in prayerful remembrance of any events of our days - for example, the image of the innocently murdered Bethlehem babies - in memory of the terrorist act in Beslan, the image of the Akhtyrskaya Mother of God with miracles revealed during the war in Chechnya, and others.

What follows from these - and many other similar - facts? That the iconographic canon is so unsteady that one can doubt its very existence and neglect it? Not at all. Loyalty to the canon is the most essential characteristic of an icon. But this fidelity should be understood not as an eternal and obligatory citation of the same patterns established once and for all, but as a loving and free following of tradition and its living continuation. If the conciliar mind of the Church has always refrained and refrains to this day from strict concrete prescriptions, then we, spectators and judges, need to be all the more careful and sensitive. Alas, it often happens that the judgment “non-canonical icon” only testifies to the ignorance and narrow-mindedness of the one who pronounces such a sentence.

An artist faithful to canonical iconography must first of all know this iconography well in all its richness, and especially well the iconography of the times of the one Church, the root and foundation of all subsequent development of Christian art. Deciding to create - at the request of the customer or on his own - a new iconographic version of a particular plot, the artist must look for analogues in the treasury of the past, thereby verifying the correctness of his divine thinking. While introducing into the newly painted icons any features that do not have theological significance and serve only to update, modernize the icon, neither the customer nor the artist should cross a certain line, remembering that the main purpose of the icon in the Church is serving the eternal, and not preaching on the topic today's newspaper.

And, of course, the decisive word as far as the iconographic canon is concerned, in the question of whether who, what and where depict belongs not to the artist, but to the Church, and the main responsibility lies with the church hierarchy.

The question is about How to depict, on the contrary, is entirely the responsibility of the artist, and the next chapter of our essays is devoted precisely to this "how", i.e. style.