The History of the Icon the Vladimir Mother of God
The city of
Vladimir (from which the icon takes its name) is located on the Klyazma [two
syllables] River, about 100 miles East of Moscow. It's one of Russia's most
ancient cities. ("Vladi" means "He who possesses/owns";
"mir" (in this instance) means "the world." Hence,
Owner/King/Ruler of The World. In very much the same that Vladivostok means "The
Lord of the East.") Not so coincidentally, Vladimir is also the name of
the first Grand Prince of Kiev, who embraced Christianity in the 10th century.
Christianity spread to the other areas of what would eventually become The
Russias "from" Kiev—at that time, however, everything outside Kiev's
scope within the Slavic world was nothing but a backwater. Not even provincial
backwaters. Just backwaters.
About 1250 or
so, Southern Russia, now known as Ukraine (note the absence of
"the"—Ukrainians "despise" the usage "The
Ukraine"). was invaded by what the West termed "The Golden
Horde," but which was, in fact, nothing more than a "reconnaissance
in force" by some major elements of Genghis Khan's army, under the
direction and generalship of Subodai, perhaps the greatest military mind in
recorded history, though rarely accorded anything approaching that status. He
accomplished what more famous generals like Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon and the
like did not.
This
"Golden Horde" was, of course, the Tatar race. (Be aware that there
is a difference between "Tatar" and "Tartar.") The Tatars
seized and burnt Kiev in 1240, and after that the city of Vladimir became for
some period one of the main cultural centers of Russia, along with Novgorod,
another of those ancient cities. In fact, it was the destruction of Ukraine by
Subodai that made it "possible" for Russia to rise, else she would
surely have been absorbed into the Ukrainian Grand Duchy.
The icon itself
is Greek in origin, beyond any doubt whatever. A pious popular belief in Russia
has attributed it to the brush of St. Luke the Evangelist, but it was n fact
most probably "written" (one "writes" an icon, one does not
"paint" it!) at the beginning of the 12th Century, patterned on a
very traditional type of Marian Iconography. The pattern itself "is"
considered (by historians and scholars, in fact) to have derived from an icon
Tradition claims was painted by Luke Himself, who, as Paul's personal
physician, had ample opportunity to spend time with Mary when Paul visited with
John in Ephesus, from whence Mary was Assumed.
The name of the
artist who "wrote" the Icon of Vladimir isn't known, but it clearly
belongs to that period of Byzantine art known as "The Macedonian
Renaissance." The icon was offered as a gift to the Russian Prince George
Dolgoruky in 1155 by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Luke Chrysoberges; it was
placed by the Prince in the Convent of Vyshgorod, near Kiev.
The Mother of
God conceded many extraordinary favours to those of the faithful who came before
her to pray at this icon, and it soon became an object of very intense
devotion. From then on, the icon became so intimately connected with the life
of the Russian people that the Chronicles faithfully recorded every time it was
moved from one place to another. In fact, there is no single great event in the
history of Russian from the 12th to the 17th Century in which the icon of the
Mother of God of Vladimir did not play its vital part.
Later on, the
icon was bequeathed by Prince George to his son, Andrew Bogoliubsky (Andrew,
the God-Lover). Andrew carried it to Vladimir, and in 1160 placed it in the
Cathedral of the Assumption which he had had built for that purpose. From then
on this icon would be called "The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of
God." In 1164 the same Prince Andrew carried it at the head of his armies
when he marched against the Bulgari (Bulgarians) on the Volga (they were just
then moving into Europe, ahead of the Tatars) while his soldiers sang "He
who places his hope in you, Mother of God, will never perish." He also
gave the icon its covering of gold, silver and precious stones.
On 13 April
1185 a raging fire destroyed the Cathedral, but the icon remained miraculously
intact. When they occupied Vladimir, the Tatars stole the precious covering
from the icon, but left the icon itself intact and unharmed.
In 1395 the
Tatar chief, Tamerlane, who had already destroyed several towns in Southern
Russia, was approaching Moscow with his forces. In a deep spirit of faith the
Grand Duke Basil I had the icon transferred from Vladimir to Moscow on the Feast
of the Assumption and placed in the Cathedral in the Kremlin built in honor of
that feast. Tamerlane halted his armies, and Moscow was saved. Since that time
the miraculous icon has been kept in Moscow, the new capital of Russia.
On three other
occasions, in 1451, 1459 and 1480, the Tatars again menaced Moscow. But the
citizenry besought the intercession of their blessed Mother, venerating her
miraculous image. The city was preserved. As a sign of gratitude for their
deliverance on three occasions, a feast in honor of the Vladimir Mother of God
was designated to be celebrated on the days of May 21, June 23 and August 26.
On these days the icon was carried in procession to the convent of the
Presentation in Moscow.
During the
processions the good and devout Christians of Moscow sang the following
'troparion' (a series of verses printed as a single prose sentence, but divided
into rhythmic clauses):
"Today the
glorious city of Moscow brightly shines because it receives, like the dawn of
the sun, O Lady, your miraculous icon. And we, now coming before it in prayer,
implore you, O wonderful Lady, Mother of God: Pray Christ Our God, who through
you became Man, to keep this city, every city and all Christian lands safe from
the attacks of their enemies, and to save our souls, for He is merciful."
During the
succeeding centuries, each time the city was menaced by foreign armies the
Muscovites again had recourse to their faithful Protectress.
On September 2,
1812, on the eve of the occupation of Moscow by Napoleon's troops, the icon was
temporarily carried back to Vladimir. On October 20 it was returned to Moscow
to its customary place at the left side (facing it) of the iconostasis (Greek.
Lit.—"Icon Stand" "Icon Holder") in the Cathedral of the
Assumption in the Kremlin. So prominent was the Vladimir icon in the religious
lives of the Russian people that little by little it became customary for the
Russian tsars to be crowned before the icon. And in the centuries when the
Russian Church was ruled by a Metropolitan or a Patriarch (since 1452, the Fall
of Constantinople, from which time dates the Russian doctrine of "The
Third Rome," upgrading its Metropolitanate to a Patriarchate—pretty
unilaterally, in fact; a condition which has been maintained since)—each time a
new prelate was about to be elected the names of the candidates were inserted
inside the frame within the icon was kept.
The original
size of the icon was 30-3/4 inches high by 21-1/2 inches wide. In the course of
time, however, by adding new wood to the margins on all four sides, the icon
was enlarged by 10 inches in height and by 5-1/2 inches in width. At various
times in its history it was altered also by the addition of fresh gesso and
paint; this was done to protect against the elements an icon which was often
carried in processions outside the church. Several Russian rulers engaged the
services of the leading painters of their day to perform this delicate task.
However, it is interesting to note that when in 1919 Professor G.O. Chirikov
scraped off the different layers which had been added to refresh the original,
he found that only one small area had remained quite untouched. The faces of
Our Lady and the Holy Child, the greater part of his left hand and part of the
right arm, almost entirely covered by the garment, were the only parts which
were discovered to have reached us in almost perfect condition from the ancient
Byzantine original. During the many restorations this part of the icon was
never touched with new gesso, and had been only refreshed with new paint, laid
lightly and immediately over the surface of the old olive oil, and fixed again
with a fresh oiling. It is wonderful to think that while every century from the
13th to the 20th has left its traces on this icon the most sacred part and the
center of the composition have been preserved from the original work of a
devout by unknown Byzantine painter; the tender, loving expressions of the
Mother and Child.
One substantial
reason for "retouching" this icon was that through the centuries it
was periodically overlaid with pure gold and precious stones. More than once
the metal and stones were ripped off by plundering soldiers. Since the faces
and the hands were never covered with metal, they were not exposed to the same
rough treatment.
At the
beginning of the 20th century the value of the icon's decorative cover of pure
gold and precious gems was estimated to be about $50,000.
In 1917 came
the Revolution. In 1919 the Communists then in control of the government stole
the precious covering, took the Icon from the Cathedral of the Assumption and
hung it in the Tretiakov Gallery, a museum of Russian painting, which is
located quite close to the Kremlin. Shortly thereafter the Cathedral was
closed; later it was itself turned into a museum.
This removal of
the venerated icon announced the religious persecution which was to follow:
profanation of churches; violence against the clergy; prohibition of any public
expression of faith or manifestation of piety, especially teaching of religion
to anyone under 18 years of age. This transfer of Russia's most beloved icon
from a Church to a museum symbolizes the total secularization of public life
and the atheistic propaganda which Russia was to know for more than 70 years.
Understanding
An Icon
Paintings are
sometimes divided into those that are "realistic" and those that are
"idealistic." It is "realistic" if it attempts to reproduce
nature as it is, even to the point that, seeing the portrait of the person, I
believe I actually see "him", so much does the portrait resemble him.
Opposed to this type of painting is the "idealistic", in which the
painter tries to evoke a definite reaction by emphasizing certain
characteristics within the subject. Some seek humorous reaction, some even try
to provoke anger. The icon painter seeks to arouse in the beholder a spirit of
"prayer" above all. It is neither a portrait nor a work of art. It is
a prayer—and a way of presenting the Catechism of the Church.
Most of the
icons have been painted in monasteries or in forest hermitages. Before painting
("writing") them, the monks prepared first of all a sufficiently
thick piece of birch or pine, they indented the surface at the spot where the
image would be placed, the edges themselves forming the frame. This board was then
coated with a thick glue, mixed with plaster and alabaster dust. (Russians call
this mixture, "Levka.")
When the
material had been prepared, after fasting and prayer, the artist traced the
outlines of the subject he was going to pain. For this purpose he not only
followed the inspiration of his imagination, but he first of all used patterns
fixed by the rigorous traditions of the Church. On a plain background, free of
any ornamentation which could distract the attention of the pious beholder, and
without trying to express a third dimension in depth, he presented a
spiritualized being.
The finished
icon was then solemnly blessed by the priest according to the ritual of the
Byzantine Church. After that blessing it became for the faithful something
quite different from what it was in the workshop of the painter—it became the
object of special veneration because of its connection with the Saint it
represented; it was extended a special respect which could be compared to the
respect the faithful have had at all times for the relics of the saints.
Thus, while
often in the Western world saccharine and sentimental works expressing sweet
and human beauty with almost photographic exactitude have been too long in
favor, artists (mostly monks and ascetics) in the Byzantine world developed a
truly Christian art that really addresses the spirit through the senses.
The icon gives
us a glimpse of the supersensible world which should be the goal of every
Christian soul, making the eternal somewhat clearer and more definite. It helps
us to approach in spirit the prototype which communicates its being to the
icon. It reveals what it represents. For this reason an icon is considered not
so much a "picture" as a "presence," a "window into
heaven," through which the light of heaven can flood out upon a darksome
world, and through which even the hungriest of sinners can grasp at the tassels
of the cloak of the Lord and beg his healing.
The icon is
really what Western theology calls a "sacramental," i.e., "a
sign of which Mother church makes use in some partial imitation of the
Sacraments, to raise the heart and mind to God, and enhance our awareness of
His Eternal Presence and Eternal Caring and Healing Love."
Icons In
Russian Life
Because of her
desire to promote an idealistic and spiritualized art, the Eastern Church has
always preferred paintings to statues. And not only "paintings" (in
the sense of paint), but of pictures made with stones..."mosaics.")
In the Eighth
Century the Iconoclast Heresy tried to deny Christians the right to venerate
icons. The Iconoclasts were condemned at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787,
the 7th Ecumenical Council, and after that period we witness a phenomenon which
would become frequent in the life of the Church: the Christian people of the East
began to express more vigorously in their life the truth which they had
defended. In the Byzantine Christian world the churches were filled with icons.
In all these churches a screen was built separating the sanctuary from the
nave. It was covered with icons and called, therefore, the
"iconostasis" (pronounced "ico-no-stasis"). At each main
feast of the year an icon representing the mystery to be celebrated is placed,
even now, in the "middle of the Church," i.e., on a small altar
before the Iconostasis called the "Tetrapod"—i.e., "having four
feet"—and surrounded with flowers and candles, and incensed many times
during the services. The faithful then kiss it reverently. Besides their
pectoral crosses, bishops of the Byzantine Church also wear a large medallion
(called the "encolpion") with the icon of the Mother of God in the
middle. In fact, it is not the pectoral cross which is the sign of the bishop
in the East—since every priest is entitled to wear a pectoral cross—but the
Encolpion, which no priest is permitted to wear without Episcopal Consecration.
Not even a "Mitred Archpriest."
The icon even
penetrated the intimacy of family life. It is a tradition in devout Russian
families that before the marriage ceremony, the parents of the bride bless her with
an icon, generally an icon of the Virgin. That icon, carried by a boy, precedes
the bride in the procession which leads her to the church for the marriage
ceremony. Afterwards, that icon is placed in a special place of honor in the
home, usually in its "krasnyj oogol" (red/beautiful) corner, also
called at times the "icon corner." I have one in my house—many here
on Ecunet have seen it. It's not grandiose, just intimate.... A small vigil
lamp, burning day and night, hangs before the icon. Other icons often surround
the main icon, and every pious visitor entering the house would visit the icon
corner, venerate the icons, bowing before them and proclaiming his faith in the
Risen Lord by blessing Himself threefold, even before greeting the members of
the family—for an icon corner in a Russian house means that Christ rules here
and is head of the house. A visit to Mary "is" a visit to Christ, for
where you find the Son, you will find also the Mother, as you did throughout
her life.
With that
"same" icon, the parents would one day bless their son as he left
them to study at the university, perhaps, or to do his military service, or to
take up arms in the frequent wars inflicted on Russia over the centuries.
The Icon Of
Loving Kindness
One of the
reasons why the Vladimir Mother of God became so popular is, of course, its
exceptional beauty. It belongs to that class of icons called
"loving-kindness" because it depicts the mutual loving-kindness of
the Mother and her Child. In contrast to other icons in which the divinity of
the Child-God and the majesty of the Mother are primarily emphasized, I find
this icon a particularly moving expression of human tenderness and feeling.
The Virgin has
her head covered with a veil in the manner of Oriental women. This veil, dark
in color (to signify her humility), by its contrasting hue, brings out the
brightness of the Child's garment.
On her forehead
is an exquisite star (suggesting nobility of thought), and that same star is
shown again over her heart.
The black veil
which is drawn down to her eyebrows covers her entire head, even her forehead.
With its gold-edged border falling symmetrically on either side, it forms a
kind of halo and, by contrast, brings out all the delicate features of her
face.
The raised
eyebrows, together with the curve of the nose and the motionless gaze of the
dark eyes directed into space, lend to the face of Our Lady an expression of
sorrowful concentration. It seems as if the corners of the mouth were slightly
lowered, intensifying he impression of sorrow, whereas the shadow thrown by the
lashes onto the eyes renders the pupils still darker and more misty, making
them fall back into a depth inaccessible to direct contemplation.
Her hand
scarcely touch the infant. They seem also to have been immobilized by the
thought which absorbs her so completely, adding still more to the effect of
intense concentration and sorrow.
The Divine
Child, on the contrary, is represented with a lively, tender movement; in
pressing His face against His Mother's cheek, He appears to be offering her
solace, knowing, as He does, her hidden sorrow. His face is brighter than hers,
showing that He wants to give her hope. But she, apparently paying little heed
to her Child's caress, stares into the distance with deep human feeling. Her
gaze is inwardly turned, not to the human child, but to the Maker of the World,
born of her. She bends towards the infant, seeking within Him mercy for those
who come to Him, and sheltering them with her intercourse.
There is no
weakness in the figure of the Child but only the strength, the dignity and the
majesty of the God-Made-Man. The upper part of His body is portrayed more
slenderly than the lower, which may have been enlarged when the extra boards
were added for extra width. (The same is true of the veil. While the face of
Mary on this icon is certainly the original, the veil (or "maphori"),
seems to be a little too large for the face; in the 13th century the veil was
enlarged to fit in with a slight enlargement of the whole icon.)
The Holy Child,
His left hand slipped behind His Mother's head, clasps her neck and presses His
left cheek to her right cheek; nearing His lips to hers, He stretches His right
hand to her left shoulder in order to embrace and to kiss His Mother. His right
hand shows a certain strength and power. The purple and gold-colored garment of
the Child indicates His Majesty and Royalty. The artistry of the shadows and
the hatching (the inlaying with fine lines) all give the garment something very
akin to a sheen.
It is
impossible to discover all the richness of this icon at its first glance; one
needs to contemplate it....long and "often". It possesses the
characteristic of all true and beautiful icons....one never tires of it, so
rich is the painting, so harmonious and delicate, so uplifting to the soul.
Meditation
Before The Madonna
In their
humility the icon painters never signed their works. The pious, anonymous
monks, who, ten centuries ago in Greece painted this Madonna who would later
become so intimately connected with the life of the Russian people, expressed
in her face, a serene sorrow which no other painter would ever depict so
sorrowfully again.
Of what was the
Blessed Mother thinking, in the artist's mind? Whence comes her sorrow? To
speak of the suffering Christ endured in Calvary would not be enough. The Risen
Christ no longer suffers. Those sufferings which are past would not justify the
painter in depicting Our Lady in the present. But, in His Mystical Body, which
is the extension of His Being throughout space and time, Christ continues to
suffer. She, who during the Passion was called upon to stand aside while His
physical body was torn down through the centuries, has had to witness the
tearing also of His Mystical Body too. Heresies and schisms, apostasies and
betrayals, all have separated member from member. And those who have divided
the Body of Christ have sinned and must repent. And those who would maintain
the division have sinned. And must repent. And those who would seek to pretend
to a unity that does not exist by sanctioning all divergences from the One
Teaching of Christ have sinned, and continue to sin. And must repent. She is
sad and sorrowful because the Body of Christ still suffers, still is torn,
still is rent, like the Veil in the Temple, from top to bottom. And all have
sinned.
The Silent
Church
The Vladimir
Mother of God, taken away by force from her devout faithful, enclosed in a
museum in the middle of secular paintings, symbolizes first of all the immense
suffering of the Silent Church—those Churches in all those countries which
suffered under the Crosses laid upon them at the insistence and threat of the
Soviet government.
A hundred years
ago, the major problem for Christians was to send missionaries to the countries
of Asia, Africa, the Sub-Continent of India, where Christ had never been known,
or only by the few. Today the Gospel has been preached everywhere, but the
problem now is to "keep" Christ and His church known and loved, not
only in all those countries raped while under the Communist yoke, but those
who, free of that yoke, sullied and soiled themselves in the excess of
self-will and cowardly selfishness.
In Russia,
where once there were thousands of churches, there now stand very few; and the
few priests who remain are still not truly free to instruct. Minds are deceived
in ways very different from the ways in which they are deceived here—and those
in Russia are prevented from hearing the Voice of Christ; there prevented by
force majeur, here by willing deafness. Until very recently all public defense
or teaching of religion was banned in Russia, and even now no calumny or lie is
spared to divert from Christ those who would heed the Word of the Church. While
tens of "millions" of anti-religious books have been published, at
the expense of the state, not a single catechism has been printed there for 75
years.
Could not
Catholics from all over the world try to thwart the violence of those who
battle to prevent the Voice of Christ being heard by taking, in some way, the
place of those who are not able any longer to venerate the Vladimir Mother of
God... "publicly"? Can fathers and mothers, teachers in our Catholic
schools, find any more suitable religious art to educate the artistic and
religious tastes of our children.
That icon, hung
in all our churches, in all our Catholic homes, would remind us every day of
the sufferings of believers everywhere, but particularly in Russia, many of
whom still go to the Tretiakov Gallery, not so much to see the Icon of the
Madonna, but to "venerate" discreetly their imprisoned Madonna....
Disunited Christianity
The liberation
of Russia and the existence of religious freedom in that country would still
not remove the great "second" sorrow of the Church so intensely
expressed on the face of the Madonna of Vladimir. It is a fact that the
Vladimir Mother of God is one of the most beautiful representations of the
Virgin the world possesses. It is no less artistic than the paintings of Fra
Angelico and Raphaello—and perhaps still greater. Yet, strange as it may seem,
the Western world is largely oblivious of its presence, as it is of so very
many other things.
Part of the
ignorance has been that the Soviet Government literally imprisoned the icon.
But the greatest sin is borne, not by Communists, nor their government, but by
Christians, who have allowed themselves to grow estranged, estranged even to
the point of hostility, and often of downright enmity.
Pope John
XXIII, who lived for many years among us Eastern Christians, chose as the first
aim of his pontificate, the reconciliation of the Churches of the East with the
Church of Rome. And in the Council itself, that particular purpose became more
intensively than ever before, the purpose of the "whole" Catholic
Church, Eastern and Roman alike.
One of the most
visible things which Eastern and Western Catholics and Orthodox still share is
their love of Our Lady. John XXIII, speaking to the Armenian Catholic Church on
February 1, 1959, said that the best assurance of reconciliation between
Catholics and Orthodox "is" our common love of our common mother,
uncommon in this, that in addition to being our Mother, she "is" the
"Mother of God," the "Theotokos."
A Prayer To The
Virgin Of Vladimir
Mary, Queen of
Heaven
We honor your
icon, before which the Russian people pray.
We beg of you,
to look with favor and motherly care
On that great
nation and to lead it to faith and friendship with us all.
We are blessed
to have your Russian image
In a place of
honor.
We pray to you,
and work with you, for the full liberation of Russia
And for the
peace of the whole world.
And for the
forgiveness of the sins of all those of us
Who have so
terribly riven the Body of Christ.
Source: Fishnet Conference of OSC.
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