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Feb. 15th, 2017 11:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moonflower77Posting this largely for [Unknown site tag]dreaming_brooke.
Cross “CRUCIFIXION. THEOTOKOS ASSUNTA”
Stylistically, this small pectoral cross is similar to the ancient Russian miniature encolpia made in the 12th century. It is meant to be worn under one’s clothes, against the naked body. The cross is four-pointed and has vertical bar with rounded ends and a horizontal bar whose ends are slightly sharpened. Each of the ends has two extensions that convert them into ternary lily flowers, or krinos in Greek. This blossoming of the cross marks it as the Tree of Life. The immovable top part is circular in shape.
The iconographic themes are characteristic for the encolpia mentioned above. The front of the cross contains a relief image of the Crucifixion against a recessed background. The figure of Christ is straight and His head is somewhat bowed to the right. Above the Savior’s outstreatched hands one can see the title, “Jesus Christ the victor(ious)”. This iconographic image of the crucified Savior, which is characteristic for most ancient crosses, is often referred to as the Triumphant Christ. Here, the Savior’s death on the Cross does not obscure the Triumph of the Lord over the conquered hell and death. Perhaps for the same reason, many ancient pectoral crosses did not portray the actual wood of the cross, except for the lowermost part, or foot, which, according to the Byzantine ceremonial regulations, denoted the greatness of the person depicted, and thus indicated that the Savior is the King of Glory. “Lift up the Lord our God, fall to His feet and worship the foot of His cross, for it is sacred”, sings the Psalmist (Ps. 98:5). For us, it is important to note that the same verse from the same psalm was selected for the prokeimenon read during the liturgy on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and is associated with the worship of the Cross. In this item we have followed the same ancient iconographic tradition.
Moreover, our item has one more important detail, which is characteristic for the ancient encolpia – namely, the image of the cross over the Saviour’s head. On some ancient encolpia, its role is performed by the protruding upper part of the cross, which carries the so-called “board of Pontius Pilate” and is depicted as a Greek cross of regular roportions. However, there is a whole range of encolpia where the cross over the head of the crucified Christ is a separate and complete image in its own right; in some cases, this cross even has elements of blossoming. On this particular item, it represents the Holy Cross and forms a symbolic composition along with the Crucifixion, which, in the context of the Orthodox liturgy and iconography, establishes a connection with the rite of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, well-known to us from church services and the numerous icons dedicated to the feast of the Exaltation. The Savior Himself performs the rite. He appears to be erecting His Own Cross for us to adore. In addition, the Cross of the Lord reveals the connection between Christ and Adam. Everyone is familiar with the traditional image of Adam’s head underneath the Cross of Calvary, which stands for the redemption of the original sin. This image appeared in the 9th century and later became an almost obligatory attribute of the Calvary Cross. In this case, when the cross is positioned over the Savior’s head and the head of Adam is absent, Christ also represents Adam. According to the patristic teaching, the Savior became the New Adam, who redeemed the original sin and revealed to mankind the path to eternal life. The connection between the Holy Cross and Adam is mentioned repeatedly during the church service held on the feast of the Exaltation. During the actual rite the priest stands the Cross on his head, not only to repeat the actions performed by Patriarch Macarius of Jerusalem, but to indicate that his own head stands for that of Adam. Thus an extremely laconic composition of the Crucifixion, through immersion in church ceremony, allows one to fully convey both the kenosis (self-renunciation) and the greatness of the Savior, as well as the triumph of His victorious weapon - the Precious and Life-Giving Cross.
On the back of the cross, in a small niche, one can see the relief image of the Blessed Virgin Mary with Her palms open and positioned at Her chest. Inscribed at Her sides are the letters that stand for the shortened title “Mother of God”. As this iconographic type is often encountered on the icons of the Ascension and serves as a double for the Theotokos Oranta, it is referred to as the Theotokos Assunta (“The Ascended”), after the definition provided by scholar N.P. Kondakov. The image appeared in the 8th – 9th centuries and became particularly common in the 11th – 12th centuries. The main symbolic meaning of the gesture made by the Blessed Virgin is prayerful vigil, which makes it similar to the posture of the Theotokos Oranta. But in contrast to the Theotokos Oranta, the Theotokos Assunta is less solemn and majestic, and shows us a Blessed Virgin Mary who is humbly and tenderly confessing Her faith in the Lord and is open to accepting His will. In the 11th-12th centuries this iconography of the Mother of God began to acquire an independent quality and turned into something akin to an “emblematic formula of prayer”. These days it is widely used on the reverse of pectoral crosses.
At the ends, the three bars are decorated with images of liles, known as krinos in Greek. The lily motif is widespread in Byzantine and ancient Russian ornaments. It is an ancient symbol of life and the renewal of nature, and, as such, serves as a symbol of the Annunciation, the spiritual renewal of the world and the coming of the Savior. Also, considering its ternary shape, the lily is used as a symbol of the Holy Trinity. Since the lily is a symbol of innocence and purity, it is used to denote the Virgin Mary. This, the threefold image of the lily on the reverse side of the cross is a symbolic complement to the image of the Blessed Virgin standing in prayer before the Lord, and enhances the idea of the Cross in Bloom inherent in the lily-like shape of the ends – the Cross understood as the Tree of Life.
Cross “VALAAM CROSS”
This pectoral cross, intended to be worn under one’s clothes, against the naked skin, is dedicated to the male Monastery of the Holy Transfiguration in Valaam and has been created with the monastery’s blessing. Its shape is characteristic for crosses from the Russian North, where the horizontal bar is rectangular, while the vertical one widens upwards and downwards from the center. Such a shape, given the active and pronounced vertical line, serves as a symbolic illustration of the connection between the earth and the heavens. In addition, having a large surface area, it is conducive to depicting various iconographic images on the cross, which may help to specify and elaborate on this connection.
The main semantic focal point of the cross is the icon of the Transfiguration, which occupies the entire front. At the top of the cross there is an inscription in Church Slavonic which reads “the transfiguration of the Lord”. Of course, this choice of iconography, as opposed to the traditional Crucifixion, was determined by the name of the Valaam Monastery, whose main altar was consecrated to honor the feast of the Transfiguration. But this is not the only reason. When placed in on the cross, the icon of the Transfiguration in itself turns out to have a cruciform composition, and it is clear that the Transfiguration speaks to us about the Cross, but a Cross that “already radiates the light of the Easter morning”. This composition helps us gain a better understanding of the deep connection between the two events chronicled in the Gospels: the Transfiguration and the Crucifixion.
The Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor ocuurred forty days before His crucifixion. The purpose of the Transfiguration was to fortify the disciples’ faith in Christ as the Son of God, so that it did not waver during the suffering of the Savior on the Cross. The kontakion read during the feast says: “... so that, in seeing You being crucified, they shall see voluntary suffering and shall preach to the world that You are the true Light of the Father”. The prophets Moses and Elijah, who appeared at that moment, also spoke about the Passion of Christ (“Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31)). The Transfiguration is celebrated on 6 (19) August, forty days before the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which takes place on 14 (27) September and, in effect, corresponds to Good Friday. This deviation from the actual chronology of the Gospel is explained by the undesirability of a solemn celebration falling onto the period of Lent.
For us, the anthropological and soteriological meaning of the two events from the Gospel are particularly important. According to the teaching of the Holy Fathers, the Crucifixion and the Cross are the path toward our salvation. It is not enough to stay close to Christ as He is crucified and to empathize with Him on an emotional level; one must be crucified alongside Him. Christ’s Transfiguration shows our purpose: the deification of human nature. “God was man for a time, and has turned man into God”. The only difference is that, with human beings, this is done by grace. We know that the pectoral cross is always a symbol of Christ and His salvific sacrifice, as well as a symbol of our own personal cross, regardless of whether or not the Crucifixion is present there (on our item, the idea of the Crucifixion is given additional emphasis through the Calvary Cross at the front of the top part). On the other hand, when the Transformation is depicted on a pectoral cross, it points at the final goal that awaits us if we diligently carry our own cross. It should not deceive us by obscuring or belittling the Crucifixion, but, instead, should provide us with hope and comfort on our difficult path, as was the case once with the Apostles.
St. Maximus the Confessor teaches that Christ reveals Himself to us in different ways. To beginners, He shows Himself as a servant, but those who have ascended to the spiritual heights and gained the ability to contemplate the Divine see Him “in the image of God”. He also defines the three stages in the spiritual ascent of a person onto Mount Tabor: purification, illumination and deification. For the Catholic Church, the pinnacle of holiness are the stigmata resulting from prolonged meditation before the Crucifix, that is, feeling one with Christ and co-experiencing His Passion from an emotional and fleshly perspective; but Orthodox saints are “gods by grace”, partakers of the Divine Light. The possibility of such deification is enshrined in the dogmatic teaching of the Orthodox Church on the Tabor light, which is described as “the uncreated, unmade light that emanates from the Divine itself as the rays of radiant Grace pour forth from the Holy Trinity, enlightening the world”.
This teaching was based on an ancient monastic spiritual practice known as hesychasm (Gr. Ησυχια “silence”). Hesychasm reached the height of its development in the 14th century in the monasteries on Mount Athos. It is worth noting that the top of Mount Athos is crowned by a church dedicated to the Transfiguration; in other words, Mount Athos has a spiritual meaning and is conceptualized as a second Tabor.
The reverse develops the idea of the Valaam monastery as a place blessed by God’s grace. As with Mount Athos, Valaam represents Tabor and the Transfiguration. On the back of the cross one can see those who partook of the divine light on Mount Tabor. In the center one can see Our Lady of Valaam, while the horizontal bar depicts the founders of the monastery, Saints Sergius and Herman of Valaam, who are shown down to their knees. The upper part of the cross depicts the celestial sphere with three beams of light coming down onto the Theotokos and the saints. They serve as a symbol of the uncreated light of Tabor, which has a trinitary nature. This compositional solution is an illustration to the traditional inscription on the scroll of St. Herman (“we, the Orthodox, praise the light of the Three Suns and worship the indivisible Trinity”), as well as the Church Slavonic troparion read during the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ, which is written at the bottom of the cross: “May Your ever-existing light shine upon us sinners by the prayers of the Theotokos, glory be to You, O Giver of Light”.
Our Lady of Valaam was revealed as a miraculous icon in the male Monastery of the Holy Transfiguration 1897. This revelation is connected to the spiritual witness of the Blessed Virgin Mary about providing Her cover (or protection) to Valaam as the Northern Athos. The icon was painted in 1877 by the Valaam monk Alypy according to the iconographic tradition that existed on Mount Athos in the late 19th century.
At present, the miraculous icon is at the Transfiguration Cathedral of the New Valaam monastery in Finland. Valaam has a reverred copy of the icon, which was created by the monks in 1900. The feast of the icon is celebrated on 1 (14) July.
The information on the lives of Sergius and Herman is very scarce and contradictory, since the monastery chronicles were destroyed during the numerous devastating wars and invasions. Oral tradition tells us that monastic life began on Valaam as early as the reign of Princess Olga, and that the holy founders of the monastery were Greek monks. Written sources of the late 19th century state that the holy monks Sergius and Herman lived in the 14th century.
What raises no doubt is the righteousness and spiritual accomplishments of these holy ascetics, who who acquired the grace of the divine light and, by its means, enlightened the peoples of Karelia and the Russian north, as well as the monks’ prayers and the many miracles they manifested at the prayers of the faithful. The memory of St. Sergius and Herman is celebreated on 28 June (11 July), on 11 (24) September and in the third week after the Pentecost along with the saints of Novgorod.
Cross “CROSS OF CALVARY WITH CRESCENT. ДДДД CRYPTOGRAM” (Yaroslavl version)
The pectoral has been made in the technique of hot notched multicolor enamel after the style of 17th century Russian pectoral crosses. The ends of the bars are shaped like the krinos, or three-petalled lily, an ancient symbol of resurgent life, thus marking the cross as the heavenly Tree of Life. Crosses in this shape are usually referred to as “Yaroslavl crosses”. Apart from the land of Yaroslavl, crosses in a similar shape were typical for Novgorod.
The main semantic focal point of the front is the eight-pointed Cross of Calvary with a crescent shape, the so-called tsata, in the center. This is a traditional image of the Holy Cross that signifies not only the Savior’s sacrifice, but also His Victory over death.
The crescent shape, or “tsata”, is a traditional symbol of the rank of King and High Priest.
When located in the center, it shows Christ as the High Priest and the King of Glory. The inscriptions in the circles at the ends of the bars also serve to glorify the Savior’s feat, with “King of Glory” in Church Slavonic at the top, the shortened name “Jesus Christ” on the horizontal bar and the four-letter cryptogram for “the place of execution has become paradise”, which refers to humankind regaining the lost paradise, at the bottom.
As far as numerical symbolism is concerned, the four large circles with inscriptions, positioned at the ends of the bars, stand for the four directions, the four Gospels and the four evangelists; the twelve smaller circles found next to them (three on each bar) symbolize the twelve apostles.
The reverse is decorated with a floral ornament that evokes Heaven and further enhances the significance of the cross as the heavenly Tree of Life, which is inherent in its shape.
On the back of the cross in the center one can see the cryptogram ДДДД, which may be read in two different ways: either as drevo daruyet drevnee dostoyaniye (“the tree brings that which has belonged to us of old”), which affirms that the fallen human nature was restored through the cross, or as drevo dobro, diyavolu dosada (“the good tree, the devil’s vexation”), which refers to the importance of the cross in fighting demons. In both cases, the Tree refers to the Cross of the Lord.
The cross has a moveable top, decorated a with floral pattern at the front and back, which in some situations allows one to wear the cross inside out, piously hiding the sacred front.
Cross “CRUCIFIXION WITH THE HOLY INTERCESSORS. THEOTOKOS ORANTA”
This is a small pectoral cross, meant to be worn out of sight under one’s clothes, in a shape characteristic for some 10th – 12th century Byzantine encolpia, where the bars widen from the center outwards and end in semi-circles with notched edges. The proportions of the cross are similar to the Greek ones, though the lower bar is somewhat more elongated. The barrel-shaped top is immobile. The iconographic scheme is also traditional for ancient Byzantine crosses.
The front of the cross presents a laconic composition of the Crucifixion. In the center there is the straight figure of the crucified Christ. This iconographic image of the crucified Savior, which is characteristic for most ancient crosses, is often referred to as the Triumphant Christ. In it, the Savior’s death on the Cross does not obscure the Triumph of the Lord over the conquered hell and death. Perhaps for the same reason, many ancient pectoral crosses did not portray the actual wood of the cross, except for the lowermost part, or foot, which, according to the Byzantine ceremonial regulations, denoted the greatness of the person depicted and thus indicated that the Savior is the King of Glory. “Lift up the Lord our God, fall to His feet and worship the foot of His cross, for it is sacred”, sings the Psalmist (Ps. 98:5). For us, it is important to note that the same verse from the same psalm was selected for the prokeimenon read during the liturgy on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and is associated with the worship of the Cross. In our items we follow this ancient iconographic tradition. Over Christ’s head one can see the shortened title “Jesus Christ”, which is typical for any crosses created in the 7th – 16th centuries. Above him there is a four-pointed cross, which stands for the Savior’s sacrifice on the Cross.
The semi-circles at the ends of the horizontal bar contain the images of the Holy Intercessors, depicted down to their chest: the Blessed Virgin Mary to the right of Christ and St. John the Evangelist to the left. Due to the concise composition, the outstretched arms of the Savior touch the halos of His Blessed Mother and disciple and seem to connect them, in keeping with the words from the Gospel: “Woman, Behold Thy son!” (John 19:26) and “Behold Thy mother!” (John 19:27). These words are often encountered on ancient Byzantine crosses that depict the Crucifixion along with the two Holy Intercessors, the Mother of God and St. John the Evangelist. Not only do they express Christ’s love for those close to Him, but, in addition, they indicate that the foundation of the Church had already been created. The Mother of God serves as a symbol of the Church, because She, along with the sheer mystery of the Incarnation. express, to the utmost degree, the essence of the Church, which lies in the relationship between God and man. With these words, Christ also confirms that the Blessed Virgin Mary has the right to maternal intercession on behalf of not only His beloved disciple, but of any other person. This is reminiscent of St. Cyprian’s words, harsh, yet, at the same time, full of love: “If the Church is not your mother, then neither is God your Father”.
The idea of the Church on Earth is revealed by the composition at the back of the cross. Its center is the full-length figure of the Theotokos Oranta, praying with uplifted hands. Over Her head one can see a cross inside a circle, a symbol of the universal Church. A similar image of the Theotokos as the Church is often encountered in early Christian art. The idea of the Church’s foundation finds the clearest expression in the wooden relief “The Ascension of Christ” on the doors of the Santa Sabina basilica in Rome (422-432 A.D.), which shows the Blessed Virgin at the bottom in a position similar to the prayerful posture of the Theotokos Oranta, with the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul at her sides holding a cross framed in a circle over Her head.
On our cross at sides of the Theotokos one can see the images of the saintly protectors of the Church, St. Nicholas and St. George, who are framed in semi-cricles and depicted down to their chests.
This iconographic scheme with the same symbolic meaning is found on many Russian icons and minor sculptural items of an iconographic nature.
Cross “THE CROSS OF CALVARY. PRAYER TO THE HOLY CROSS”
The cross follows the style of the Russian pectoral crosses made in the 17th century, and, as with most crosses belonging to this period, signifies victory and celebration. Its four-point shape is distinguished by a particular geometrical rigor. The cross has the characteristic voluminous bars that with beveled edges that form a trapezoid in cross-section. The four small beams in the center of the cross point at the center as the source of the Divine Light, which, according to the words of the Gospel, is the symbol of Christ: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).
The four beams correspond to the four cardinal directions and the four Gospels.
The composition on the front is strict and laconic. It is an image of the Holy Cross, in this case, an eight-pointed Cross of Calvary with the instruments of our Savior’s passion: the spear and the cane. It is this eight-pointed cross with a diagonal lower bar that best expresses the idea of the Savior's sacrifice on the cross, even without the figure of the crucified Jesus. Furthermore, such a cross is traditionally seen as a sign of triumph, an instrument of the Savior’s victory.
The Cross of Calvary is complemented by the brief inscriptions found atthe ends of the bars, which serve to glorify Jesus: “King of Glory” written in Church Slavonic at the top, the shortened versijon of the name “Jesus Christ” along the horizontal bar and the four-letter cryptogram for “the place of execution has become paradise“ at the bottom. The sloping edges of the bars are decorated along the entire perimeter with floral ornaments in the style of the 16th – 17th centuries, which indicate that the Cross is the Tree of Life.
On the reverse one can see the prayer to the Holy Cross in Church Slavonic: “Rejoice, O Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, Thou who cast out demons by the power of the crucified Lord, who descended into hell and destroyed the devil’s power, and gave us Thee, His Holy Cross, to drive out every enemy. O Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, help me...”
Cross “CRUCIFIXION. TETRAMORPH”
This is a small pectoral cross meant to be worn out of sight, under one’s clothes. As far as the shape is concerned, it belongs to a small group of crosses and encolpia that was common in the Byzantine Empire and its provinces in the 9th-11th centuries. Their characteristic feature was that their overall shape was formed by five circles; in other words, the circle was their primary, and only, element. The circle and the cross are the two essential archetypal symbols and have numerous meanings. Their various combinations form the basis for the composition.in most works of Christian art.
By combining the symbols within a particular composition, one can make their meaning considerably more precise, and the same could be said about the meaning of the composition as a whole. In this particular instance, the circle becomes important as the symbol for the boundless, for that which has no beginning and no end, and thus for “the Creator of heaven and earth”, while the cross symbolizes the earth and sacrifice.
When four extra circles protrude from the central one and form a cross, as in our case, the shape stands for the Incarnation and Sacrifice of the Lord, and, at the same time, for the transfiguration and deification of the world. The main and only subject on the front of the cross is the Crucifixion with the Mother of God and John the Evangelist standing before the Savior in prayer. The Savior, crucified on an eight-pointed cross, is inside the central circle. Here we can once again see the combination of the cross and the circle, which serve to demonstrate that the sacrifice of the “Son of man” was universal in nature, and, at the same time, show the Crucifixion as the sacrifice of God.
In addition, the figure of the Crucified Savior is surrounded by a halo of glory, showing Christ as the Lord Almighty, the King of Glory.
This idea is further developed by the iconography, which is traditional for ancient crosses and is referred to as the Triumphant Christ: the straight figure of the Savior is standing on a three-dimensional foot. According to Byzantine ceremonial rules, the foot signified the greatness of the person being depicted, while in different interpretations of the Scripture the foot, as the most essential part of the cross, was often taken to represent the Holy Cross in its entirety. On our cross, the importance of the foot is further emphasized by the geometric patterns along the edges.
The reverse of the cross is dedicated to the glorification of God and union with Him in the Eucharist. The vocation of every Christian is to become a saint, and a saint is a liturgical being. According to St. Maximus the Confessor, a human being is someone who, in singing the Trisagion, joins the angelic choirs in their “eternal and constant movement around God as they glorify and sing praise to the One God in Three Persons in their triple hymns”. In this case, such Eucharistic praise is represented by the mysterious six-winged creature, the tetramorph, which is depicted within the central circle. The name itself suggests that it consists of four distinct images: a man, an eagle, a lion and a bull. This being is mentioned by the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek. 1:10) and the Apostle John (Rev. 4:6-8). Its main purpose is to stand before the Throne of God and to continually cry out: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord, the God Almighty”.
The remaining three circles contain the text of the Trisagion in Church Slavonic: “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us”.
In contrast to the angelic praise, this prayer comes from a person who wishes to glorify God while being aware of his or her sinfulness, and is pleading for salvation.
In addition to the purpose mentioned above, the four apocalyptic animals are traditionally regarded as symbols for the evangelists. According to St. Jerome (4th century), they have the following counterpats: the lion is Mark, the eagle is John, the man is Matthew and the bull is Luca. Moreover, they are the symbols and guardians of the four cardinal directions, or parts of the world, and stand for the four elements: fire, water, air and earth. Sometimes, the Holy Fathers of the Church provided other interpretations of the tetramorph, making a symbolic link to Christ himself. For example, St. Ephrem the Syrian (4th century) and St. Gregory the Great (6th century) considered the tetramorh to be a symbol of Christ during the different phases of His life: He was a man at birth, a sacrificial calf at death, a lion at resurrection and an eagle at ascension. According to St. Herman of Constantinople (8th century), the four symbolic creatures signify the activities or properties of the Son of God: “The first, which is akin to a lion, represents His might and royal power. The second, which is akin to a calf, indicates His priestly rank. The third, which has a human face, clearly points at His coming as a man. And the fourth, which is akin to a soaring eagle, points at the gift through the Holy Spirit.”
The image of the tetramorph can be seen not only on crosses but also on lithurgical fans (ripidia).
The spherical edges of our cross and the fixed barrel-shaped top are decorated with a floral ornament in the Byzantine style, which is a traditional way of making a connection with the heavenly Tree of Life and thus conveying the life-giving quality of the Holy Cross.
Cross “ASCENSION. PENTECOST”
As far as the shape is concerned, this pectoral cross is similar to a large group of encolpion crosses that were widespread in Byzantium and its provinces in the 9th-12th centuries, as well as in Kiev Rus. The defining feature of this group is a simple four-point shape, slightly elongated along the vertical axis, with broad bars that widen further from the center outwards. The mobile top part was barrel-shaped, as was typical for any encolpia dated back to the period. This top is distinguished by the flat trapezoid base with an attached hinge.
The iconography of the cross is quite complex and continues the artistic traditions of the ancient Church, which sought to have each individual item, however small it might have been, illustrate the the entire salvific feat of Christ, where His kenosis from the Incarnation and obedience “unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2.8) is crowned by Resurrection, Ascension to the Father and the universal confession of Christ as Lord in His glory. This is especially prominent in some surviving sacred objects dating back to the 9th-12th centuries, such as the gold encolpion from Pliska (Bulgaria), the bronze cross from the Chersonese or the golden cross from Golutovo (Poland), which is not surprising, since, owing to the symbolism of its shape, a cross can organize and structure the space on an iconostasis. As a replica of the Lord’s Cross, a pectoral cross that depicts certain events from the Gospel allows one to understand them from a theological perspective, and confirms, through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, that, in the words of St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), “the Cross is the true and the only school, storehouse and the throne of genuine theology”.
Our work is dedicated to the events of the Passover (Easter) and Pentecost. We know that the early Christians understood Passover (Easter) not as a mystery of Lord’s the Resurrection, but as His sacrifice, according to the First Epistle to the Corinthians: “for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). The Pentecost, on the other hand, was celebrated to glorify the Resurrection as “the triumph of the risen Lord’s ascent”, which revealed the redemptive mystery in full, including the Ascension, the revelation of the Paraclete and the Second Coming. The entire fifty days after Passover (Easter) were celebrated as a whole, as a single day - the day of the Lord. Accordingly, the nascent iconography of the feast tried to use a single image to combine all the important events in this solemn fifty-day period, the most important of which were the Ascension and the Pentecost. In the 5th century, the Ascension and Pentecost came to be celebrated separately, which eventually shaped the two iconographic types, “Ascension” and “Descent of the Holy Spirit”, which we are familiar with today. In our item, we have tried to reconnect these events, but not by combining them in a single scene, but, rather, through the Cross, by placing the icons of the two feasts on different sides of a pectoral cross. The front depicts the Ascension, while the back depicts the Descent of the Holy Spirit. This allows to present the cross as the Easter altar and to simultaneously demonstrate the glory of God and the fullness of the salvation granted to us by Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross. Thus, to use the words of a character by church writer Sergei Nilus, there is a “cruciform” glorification of the Lord.
In addition, on the cross, which is a sign and symbol of the Church, the main idea of the Pentecost, which is the birth of “one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church”, becomes more evident. In this context, let us consider the iconography of our cross in more detail.
The composition of the Ascension on the front had to be adapted to the shape of the cross and is arranged as follows. The upper part contains an almond-shaped mandorla with the ascending Christ, which is supported at the top and bottom by two pairs of angels. The top of the mandorla extends over the edge of the cross, demonstrating the dynamics of the Ascension (here, we should remember that the cross may represent the world, among other things). The upper pair of angels belongs to the space on the top part, which symbolizes the Kingdom of Heaven. At the base of the cross there is an image of the Theotokos Oranta. On either side of the horizontal bar there are two groups of apostles, six on each side. In the exact center of the pectoral there is a Cross inside a circle, positioned over the head of the Blessed Virgin. Apart from merely illustrating the event chronicled in the Gospel, such a composition solution allows for different symbolic interpretations that do not contradict each other.
These interpretations arise due to the ambiguous and symbolic perception of Our Lady. Her isolated position at the bottom and Her solemn posture as the Oranta make Her stand out among the group of apostles, who are merely witnessing the event. By the way, there is no mention in the Gospel about the Mother of God being present at Christ’s ascension, but Her image can be seen on any works of art that illustrate the event. Firstly, the Virgin Oranta is associated in ecclesiastical art with the Incarnation. Then the composition, developing from the bottom upward along a vertical axis, illustrates the entire salvific feat of Christ, from the Incarnation through the sacrifice on the Cross to the Resurrection and the Ascension, as it used to be done in early Christian art, while the apostles, standing in two groups at the ends of the horizontal bar, act as witnesses to these events.
Second, the image of the Virgin Mary is commonly seen as the personification of the Church. This meaning is most often attributed to the image of the Theotokos on the oldest known image of the Ascension, the 5th century relief on the doors of the church St. Sabina Church in Rome, where the Chief Apostles Peter and Paul hold a cross inside a circle over the head of the standing Theotokos. In later Byzantine works of art, where the artists did not confine themselves to historical fact, the Mother of God could also embody the Church if Her image was highlighted in a special manner. All the more so that the feast of the Ascension – this is what we seek to emphasize on our item - is also contains the promise of Christ’s Church, to which the Lord promises to send the Holy Spirit and in which He, too, shall be present relentlessly. And, of course, on the icon of the feast the image of the praying Virgin, Who has already acquired the Holy Spirit and become a “container for the uncontainable God” is also seen a symbolic image of the Church.
A particular challenge in icons of the Ascension was the need to convey the mysterious presence of Christ in the world even as He ascends into glory. For this purpose, a variety of symbolic images were employed: a cross within a circle, as on the 5th century relief we mentioned earlier, or Christ’s footprints on mountain ledges, as on 17th century Russian icons. On our item, the presence of the Lord is expressed in two different ways: liturgically, through the Church Slavonic kontakion read during the feast of the Ascension, “I am with you, and no-one shall stand against you” (Ch. 6), inscribed at the base of the cross, and symbolically, through a cross drawn inside a circle and located in the geometric center of the pectoral. Let us recall the center of a pectoral cross is always understood as the center of the world, the place of the Lord, while a cross in a circle stands for Christ in His glory. Thus, apart from illustrating the event from the Gospel through the symbolic images of the Virgin Mary as the Church and the cross in a circle, the composition of the Ascension on the front tells us about the promise of Christ's Church, with the Savior, Who is mysteriously present in the world, serving as the Head, and shows us the foundation for the future Church: the twelve chosen disciples, who witnessed the Lord’s Ascension and His promise.
T reverse side of the cross contains a composition of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, compiled in keeping with the Byzantine tradition. The upper part of the vertical bar takes contains an image of the Prepared Throne in a circle, with twelve rays radiating outward. This image first appeared in the iconography of the Pentecost in the 4th century and symbolizes the Holy Trinity, or the “Sending of the Holy Spirit by the Father to the Son for transmission“ – an action committed within the Trinity, where the Pentecost is a “feast of initiation into the Trinitarian mystery”. That is why, in contemporary church tradition, the feast of the Pentecost is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The whole horizontal bar is occupied by the twelve apostles, who are shown seated in a semi-circular exedra. Their heads are surrounded by halos (these are never depicted in the composition of the Ascension). Over the apostles’ heads one can see tongues of flame, which signal the presence of the Holy Spirit.
The free space in the center of the pectoral cross divides the gathering of the Apostles is divided into two equal groups. The empty space by the seat is marked by a blossoming cross and may be seen as a mirror image of the prepared throne in the Church here on earth. Thus, it is shown that the council of twelve apostles (their number signifies completion) represents the newly born Church, whose Head, Christ, is always invisibly present among the members.
On our cross, the center carries the same symbolic meaning both on the front and back, and denotes Christ in keeping with the phrase from the Gospel: “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20).
At the bottom of the cross, in an arc-shaped arch, one can see the King of the Cosmos, holding a board with twelve scrolls. This iconography originated in the 14th century and replaced the previous image, which included groups of people from all over the world waiting to hear the good news from the apostles. These images demonstrate the purpose of the apostolic ministry - the salvation of all peoples, and, indeed, of the whole world, which continues Christ’s soteriological mission in His Church, as stated in the Gospel of Matthew: “go therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matt. 28:19).
The allegorical image of the King holding a board with twelve scrolls, which represent the apostolic gospel, is a perfect personification for the whole world as it receives the Good News. At the very bottom of the cross one can find the Church Slavonic troparion read during the feast of the Pentecost, which also refers to the salvation of the world by the Lord through the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church” He established: “Be Blessed, Christ our Lord, You Who revealed wise fishermen by sending the Holy Spirit down onto them, and Who has them ensnare the entire universe in their nets…”
Cross “CRUCIFIXION. THE HOLY PROPHET ELIJAH”
As far as the shape is concerned, this pectoral is similar to a small group of crosses that was common in Russia in the 16th century. Their shape, in turn, can be regarded as derived from 14th century encolpia that were characterized by Greek proportions and had little crosses at the ends of the bars. Pre-revolutionary Russian researchers occasionally refer to this shape as a "patriarchal cross", while foreign researchers call it a crosslet. It originated when the small crosses at the ends of the bars grew more complex and gained a stair-like shape, not unlike the famous Byzantine ornament, while the vertical bar was extended. Sometimes, as in our case, a cicle was drawn atop the vertical bar. The changes in the proportions caused a change to the main symbolic meaning of the cross. In the 14th century, a cross was largely used to represent the Christian model of the world, but the new crosses aimed mainly at demonstrsting Christ’s soteriological mission in its entirety, making wide use of different iconographic means. On our item, we have tried to preserve and even to strengthen the symbolic meaning of crosses that date back to the 16th century, and, insofar as iconography is concerned, not just to develop the main theological idea, but to reflect the theme of Christian military service, i.e. to connect the military cross with the Cross of the Lord. As you shall see later, this cross is to a large extent dedicated to paratroopers.
On the front of the cross in the center there is the Savior, crucified on a seven-pointed cross. The ends of the horizontal bar carry the images of the Blessed Virgin Mary and John the Baptist, who are standing before Him in prayer and are depicted down to their waist. Their shortened names are inscribed nearby. In the lower part of the cross, by the foot, there are two cherubs. At the base of the cross one can see Mount Golgotha and the head of Adam. In the upper part, above the board of Pontius Pilate with the inscription “King of Glory”, in Church Slavonic, there are two angels. Above them there is a round medallion with the Image of the Savior not made by human hands. The cross is completed by a moveable top in the form of an equal-pointed cross with stair-like ledges, whose shape echoes that of the ends, with a Cross of Calvary and the traditional inscriptions, “Jesus Christ the victor” and the four-letter cryptogram for “the place of execution has become paradise”.
This iconographic composition has a number of features that allow us to perceive the Crucifixion as much broader than just a historical illustration for Christ’s execution. For instance, the angels, who are positioned by the upper bar of the cross bearing the inscription “King of Glory”, point to the glorious Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. The presence of the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist, who are standing in prayer, as opposed to the Mother of God and St. John the Evangelist mourning beside the Cross, shows that the crucified Christ as the Lord Almighty in the Deesis composition and the Cross as the throne of the Lord. This perception is reinforced by the cherubs at the foot of the Cross, which, on most ancient Byzantine crucifixes, was seen as its most crucial part and symbolized the foot of God’s throne, before which the angelic forces stand in prayer. “Lift the Lord our God up high and worship the foot of His throne, His feet, for they are holy” (Ps. 98:5). If we also take into account the traditional meaning of Adam’s head under the Cross as a symbol of redemption and Resurrection, then the laconic composition of the Crucifixion on our cross, as on many other Orthodox crosses, shows the Christ’s salvific deed in its fullness: the Sacrifice made on the Cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension and the Second Coming of the Lord in all His glory. As usual, the correct reading of the images is aided by the inscriptions, which are traditional for compositions of the Crucifixion and occupy the free space left on the cross: “Jesus Christ the victor”, the four-letter cryptogram for “the place of execution has become paradise” and the Church Slavonic praise to the Holy Cross: “O Lord, we bow before Your Cross”).
The Holy Face not made by human hands in the round medallion at the top of the vertical beam indicates that Christ is the High Priest and the Head of the Church. In addition, and this is particularly important in the context of a cross for the military, the meaning of the Holy Face is associated with protection and victory. This is connected with the history of the icon, which was created by the Lord for Abgar, King of Edessa, to alleviate his suffering, and was later hung over the gates of the fortress and protected the city from enemies. In Russian military tradition, the Holy Face not made by human hands was the most common image on battle banners, sometimes giving way to the Calvary Cross, which is also present on our item’s mobile top part.
The images of Christ and His Cross are a sign and symbol of the sacrificial path taken by Orthodox soldiers, the “war-band of the Lord” or “brigade of the Lord”, in order to protect and save other people. Military service is not a struggle “against flesh and blood”, i.e., against obnoxious neighbors, but “against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). The ideal of this service is not murder as such, although that will inevitably be present in battle with the enemy, but sacrificial love: “greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
The reverse of the cross is entirely devoted to the idea of Christian military service. In the center one can see the full-length image of the Holy Prophet Elijah in prayer. The image of the formidable prophet Elijah, a zealous servant of the Lord, the forerunner of the Second Coming of Christ, whose name means “My God is my castle”, often occupies a central position on the back of numerous Russian pectorals, since he is seen as a guardian of the Orthodox people and the Church in general. The feast of the Prophet Elijah takes place on 20 July (2 August). This day is also the birthday of the Russian Airborne Troops. Therefore, the airborne troops can rightly consider the Prophet Elijah to be their patron saint. In this we see here God’s providence, because the name of the saint and his spiritual qualities, as well as his relationship with the elements of air and fire (his ascension in flames) are best suited to the spiritual ideal of the paratroopers’ service, and reveal its metaphysical significance.
Note that the element of air, which is where the airborne troops carry out their service, is the abode of the “spiritual wickedness in high places”, or evil spirits, because, according to the teachings of the Church Fathers, “the enemy of our kind, the devil, had fallen down from the sky and flies through lowermost layers of the air”. This is why the round medallion at the top of our cross contains an image of the Taxiarch Archangel Michael, depicted down to his waist - the Supreme Commander of the angelic forces, “destroyer of the most proud morning star”, “the invincible leader and ally of our Christ-loving armies”, whose “lightning sword protects against all enemies visible and invisible”. Under the icon of the Archangel Michael one can find the troparion to the Holy Cross in Church Slavonic, “Lord, save your people and bless Your patrimony”, which is quite appropriate given that the cross is supposed to secure victory in a war against the enemy.
The edges of the horizontal bar contain the image of the holy warriors and demon-fighters who are particularly revered in Russia: St. George the Victorious and the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki, who helped the Orthodox army in the battle for the Christian faith, their homeland and the tsar more than once.
At the bottom of the cross we have placed the image of St. Alexander Nevsky with a banner in his right hand, depicted down to his waist. There is a special meaning attributed to this iconographic interpretation, where the face of the saint is shown against the background of a flag and appears to replace the Holy Face of the Savior. Firstly, it refers to the holiness of the prince, who had restored the icon of Christ within himself, and, secondly, portrays St. Alexander Nevsky as the banner of our victory, the ideal of military and political service to the Homeland where any decisions are based on Gospel-based criteria.
The composition is completed by the cryptogram on the reverse, which is inscribed on the eye in the top part. The cryptogram consists of Slavic letters, and by reading it vertically, one gets three praises to the Cross: ВВВВ, or vozvrasheniye vechnoye vernym v ray (“the eternal return of faithful to paradise”), ДДДД, or drevo daruyet drevneye dostoyaniye (“the tree bestows ancient wealth”) and BBBB, or veliye veseliye v nego veruyushikh (“great is the joy of those who believe in Him”).
According to the ancient symbolism of the cross, the vertical axis represents the celestial hierarchy, while the horizontal one represents the earth. Therefore, if we read the cryptogram horizontally, we will get its worldly meaning: the inscription ВДВ, or Воздушно-Десантные Войска, which is Russian for “airborne troops”, repeated four times. Thus, as in the whole cross, the heaven connects with the earth amd thus illuminates our worldly service, giving it a higher spiritual meaning.
Cross “CRUCIFIXION. THEOTOKOS KIRIOTISSA-NIKOPOIA”
This small pectoral cross with a movable top hoop continues the tradition of early Christian art, whose influence can be traced in the very shape of the cross, as well as in the visual details, which convey the theological ideas that were relevant for the early Church and retain their significance today.
The cross has four points and consists of two bars that widen from the center outwards, with the vertical bar being slightly longer than the horizontal one. Most of the ancient crosses made in the 6th-12th centuries had the same shape. As far as symbolism is concerned, it could be understood as the Light of Life, whose four beams emanate from the source – that is, from Christ.
The front depicts the body of the crucified Christ, which is positioned in the center. The figure of Christ is straight, with his head held high, which represents the fact of the Crucifixion without emphasizing the agony and death of the Savior on the Cross.
This is an image of the triumphant Christ, Who has won a victory against death. His arms are outstretched as if to unite all peoples, marking the words of the Gospel: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” (John 12:32).
At the foot of the cross of Calvary there is chalice, which is often found on ancient crucifixes. From the chalice there grows a vine, which lines the entire perimeter of the cross along with the figure of the Savior and is continued on the moveable barrel-shaped hoop at the top.
The vine is the most common symbolic and ornamental motif in Christian art. The symbolism of the vine is based on the words of the Savior in the Gospel of John (15:1-6) where He refers to himself as the “true vine”, His Heavenly Father as the “husbandman” or vine-grower, and to His disciples, who abide in Him, as the fruit-bearing branches. At the same time, Christ warned: “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned”. In the Gospel the vine is used not merely as a symbol of Christ, but also as a symbol of His Church, which bears spiritual fruit. This can be seen in many early Christian artifacts, and, later on, in Byzantine art, including lamps, vessels, ornamental church plates, crosses and other items. In most cases, the significance of the Church was communicated through a symbolic link between the images and the sacrament of the Holy Communion. For instance, as with this pectoral, there could be a vine growing from a chalice, along with an image of the Cross. One can frequently see images of birds, which represent the human soul and are depicted as perched on the vine and pecking at the grapes. This symbolism is confirmed, among other things, by the famous words uttered by St. Clement of Alexandria (2nd or 3rd century): “For the vine produces wine, as the Word produces blood”. It is this idea of our Savior’s liturgical sacrifice that we have tried to express on the front of the cross.
The back of the cross continues the same theme. In the center, in a similar framing of vines, we see the famous Byzantine image of the Theotokos Kiriotrissa-Nikopoia, translated from Greek as “the Victorious Mother of God”. Such images were common on Byzantine pectorals and were meant to signal the Incarnation and to present a symbolic image of the Church while serving as a guarantee of protection and victory for those who wore them. When the figure of the Blessed Virgin is surrounded by vines, the symbolism of the Church becomes particularly apparent. It is further emphasized by details such as the number of grapes (twelve), which stands for the twelve apostles. The same numerical symbols are present on the front of the pectoral cross.
For a better understanding of the image of the Theotokos Nikopoia, one could quote the scholar N. P. Kondakov: “... the image of the Mother of God, who appears to be offering Her Eternal Infant to the world, which is moving forward to greet Him, represents to the Christian soul the ultimate purpose of our Lord and Savior, Who is coming to the aid of each person and of the whole world”.
Since an icon of the Virgin may serve as an image of the Church, with our cross these words take on a liturgical sense and serve as a symbolic reference to the sacrament of the Holy Communion.
Thus, the main theological idea expressed in our work was to show the crucifixion of Christ as a liturgical sacrifice and to underline the importance of this Sacrament, which is offered to us by the Orthodox Church.
Cross “CRUCIFIXION. THEOTOKOS ORANTA (SYRIAN VERSION)”
Thos is a small pectoral cross with a movable top part, made after the tradition of the so-called “Syrian” encolpia made in the 10th – 11th centuries. It is intended to be worn out of sight, under one’s clothes.
Crosses of this type, which had widening bars and engraved images of saints in the Orans (prayerful) posture, most often the Virgin Oranta, were allegedly produced in the Syrian-Palestinian region and were widespread in Byzantium. Owing to pilgrimage, they could sometimes be encountered in Europe and the Kiev Rus. Our item follows this ancient tradition.
The cross is four-pointed. The bars widen from the center outwards and their edges have droplet-shaped extensions, often referred to in Russia as “tearsdrops”. The vertical bar finishes in a circle with a large hole that is used to attach a ring for hanging the cross around one’s neck. Crosses in this shape without any iconographic images were known in the Christian East from the 5th century.
The front depicts a relief of the Crucifixion, executed in the style that was common in Byzantium in the 6th-10th centuries. The figure of the crucified Christ is straight, the eyes are open, the head is crowned with a cross-shaped nimbus and slightly inclined toward the left shoulder, the arms are spread out horizontally. Only the Cross behind the Savior’s back and the marks from the four nails in His hands and feet remind us of the crucifixion. The Lord, having defeated death, stands on a three-dimensional foot, which, in Byzantium, used to signify the greatness of the person being depicted, and appears to be beckoning everyone to Himself with His arms outstretched.
The upper bar bears the traditional (until the 17th century) shortened inscription of the name, “Jesus Christ”, which asserts that Jesus is the true Mesiah promised in the Old Testament, the One anointed by God. Our cross is distinguished by the garments worn by Christ. Rather than the loincloth we have grown accustomed to seeing today, He is wearing a colobium – a long sleeveless tunic, decorated with geometric designs and two claves, or vertical gold stripes, which stood for the wearer’s noble birth in antiquity. According to prof. N.V. Pokrovsky (1848-1917): “... from the 6th till the 10th century, when Byzantine art was at its peak, virtually every Byzantine crucifixion showed Christ wearing a long sleeveless colobium”. Since the absolute majority of modern Crucifixes from the East and West are, on the contrary, dominated by the image of a nude Christ, to justify this iconography we have to briefly recall the history of the iconographic image of the Crucified One. The image was shaped under the influence of two distinct factors: the historical and archaeological information about the sacred event and the teaching of the Church about Christ as both God and Man.
Historical evidence tells us that there were two different customs connected to crucifixions during the time of Christ. Among the Jews, a convicted man had to be covered at the front, while a woman had to be covered both from the front and back. For the Romans, the convict had to be naked, which did not mean there could be no subligaculum or lentium, a narrow strip of linen cloth wrapped around the hips used as underwear in antiquity. This is precisely what the first known Crucifixes looked like. For example, the Crucifix on the doors of the St. Sabina church in Rome depicts Christ as wearing a lentium, whereas the miniature in the Syrian Gospel-Book of Rabbula shows a colobium.
We know that church art is, above all, the art of spiritual realism. The symbols that convey the reality of the Divine Revelation are always more important than the historical and archaeological details. Therefore, in the first centuries of Christian art, while crucifixion was still remembered as a shameful execution used for the lowest social strata, the prevailing image on the Cross was that of the Triumphant Christ. The emphasis was on the triumph of the Lord, Who had conquered death and granted salvation to all peoples. The crucifixion was shown in a schematic, allegorical manner through the instruments of the Passion, such as the cross, the spear and the cane, as well as through the characters surrounding the scene. Naturally, the image of a naked Christ was less suitable for expressing the idea of God’s victory. Besides, it is known from historical documents that Crucifixions with a nude Christ offended the pious Christians of the time.
Another reason for the dominance of images that stressed Christ’s Divinity and Regality was the Nestorian heresy, which originated in the 5th century. Nestorius used to say that the man named Jesus was not God, but only an abode of the Divine. Soon after the ecclesiastical condemnation of the Nestorian heresy, Eutyches began to propagate Monophysitism, which went to the other extreme, claiming that Christ only had a divine nature that had dissolved anything human. In 451 A.D. at the Council of Chalcedon the Church rejected this doctrine and declared the Christological dogma about the mysterious unity and harmony of the two natures in the single incarnation (or hypostasis) of God’s Word. As a consequence, to secure the victory won over the heretics, there was a need in the Christian East for an iconography that would equally show the crucified Christ as God and as man, dead and risen. In the debate with the Monophysites, whose influence was stronger than that of the Nestorians, the image of the dead and naked Christ came to be required again.
Of course, the figure of the Crucified One, despite the outward signs of death, continued to retain its grandeur and conveyed Divine Peace rather than death as such. In a pious aspiration to hide the nudity of the Savior, the ancient Roman subligaculum was replaced by by the 8th century by a decorative drapery called a perizoma, which fully covered the hips of the Crucified Savior and sometimes fell below the knees. At the same time, Crucifixes where Christ was dressed in a colobium remained prevalent in the Christian East until the 10th century, while in the West, which was not acquainted with Monophysitism, they were retained until the 13th century. If we compare the image of the Crucified Christ in a colobium as depicted in the Eastern and Western Churches, we shall see that in the East, in demonstrating to us the Triumphant Christ, the artist tried to find various ways to convey God’s kenosis. We have used one of them in our item when we purposefully made the proportions of Christ’s figure childlike. This conveys the human helplessness and humility of the Savior. Besides, the Crucifixion, as the end of the Lord’s earthly path, is spiritually connected to its beginning, that is, to Christmas. This “eternal childlike quality of God” serves as an example for all people, for “whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein” (Mark 10:15). On the other hand, in the Western Church before the 13th century there was a growing trend to stress the greandeur and regal dignity of Christ to the greatest possible extent. The figure of the Crucified One was clothed in a sleeved colobium, there were shoes on His feet and a royal crown over His head. The Eastern iconography of the dead Christ was condemned by Rome. But in the 13th century, Western images of the Crucifixion already began to exhibit a diametrically opposite tendency, in that artists started to show the utmost self-abasement of Christ. Over the following centuries, symbolism was increasingly rejected in favor of naturalism and historical authenticity. The sole objective of a believer’s emotional concentration on the Passion of Christ was his or her moral and ethical education, which created the temptation to compare one’s own sinful suffering with Christ’s pure and sinless Passion. Taken to an extreme, this approach could even provoke mental illness, such as the appearance of stigmata, which for some reason was seen as a sign of holiness in the West. From the 18th century, with the development of humanist culture in Russia, Crucifixes similar to the Catholic ones became increasingly common on Russian crosses; the only difference between them and their Western counterparts was the number of nails. The increasing prevalence of crucifixes that were realistic in anatomical and historical terms wa also influenced by the active struggle of the official Church against the Old Believers, representatives of the old sacral culture who tended to attribute a dogmatic meaning to certain symbolic details on crucifixes. Today, since “humanist values” have won, the image has become partially desacralized, and, despite the existence of an iconographic canon in the Orthodox Church, in actual practice many Crucifixes bring us back to the period of the Nestorian heresy, showing only the suffering human nature of the Savior.
Thus the ancient Byzantine iconography we have chosen for the Crucifixion may, to a certain extent, serve as a counterbalance to modern westernized Crucifixes that do not take the Savior’s Divine nature into account. Its simplicity makes our thinking switch from rational to symbolic, which helps us unite with Christ, the God and the Man.
The reverse of our cross depicts an engraved full-length image of the Theotokos Oranta, made in the style of Syrian and Palestinian encolpia. Next to the icon one can find the traditional Greek inscriptions translated as“the All-Holy” or the “Holiest of the Holy” (Panagia) and “Mother of God”. These names confirm the Church dogma that arose from the Nestorian controversy about the veneration of the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God. According to St. John of Damascus, “this name contains the entire mystery of the Incarnation”, and, as a result, reflects the “one incarnation (hypostasis) and two natures of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Therefore, the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary along with inscriptions of Her names is often placed on the back of pectoral crosses and fulfills an important dogmatic task.
Cross “CRUCIFIXION. GUARDIAN ANGEL” (baptismal)
This is a small pectoral cross, intended to be worn out of sight, under one’s clothes, which has a simple four-point shape and straight bars rounded at the ends. Starting from the 6th century, this shape served as the basis for many Byzantine, and, later, Russian crosses. In our case it is independent and does not have any additional symbolic or decorative details, apart from the fixed, round top part.
The iconography of the cross is just as simple and concise.
The front of the cross depicts the Crucified Savior on an eight-pointed Cross of Calvary. The figure of Christ is straight and has the proportions of a child, which can often be seen on ancient crosses. These proportions are more expressive if the overall size of the cross is small and the figure fills the available space to the maximum; but, what is more, they introduce an additional symbolic meaning, conveying the fact that the Savior is defenseless and meek. As the end of the Lord’s earthly path, the Crucifixion is spiritually connected with its beginning, Christmas. This “eternal childlike quality of God” is an example for all people, for “whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein” (Mark 10:15). The upper bar bears the inscription of the shortened name, “Jesus Christ”, which used to be traditional until the 17th century and states that Jesus is the true Messiah, whose coming was promised and foretold in the Old Testament.
The reverse side of the cross depicts the erect figure of the Guardian Angel holding the traditional attributes in his hands: a cross, which he uses to bless the person, and a sword for driving out demons. According to the Orthodox teaching, a Guardian Angel is appointed by the Lord to anyone who has been baptized and accompanies them throughout their life, assisting them in their good deeds and protecting them from being assaulted by evil spirits. The Holy Fathers assert that only a genuine believer has a Guardian Angel at their side: “To those who were honored by baptism and have ascended to the height of virtue God gives Angels to care about them and help them. This is ascertained by the Lord, Who says that anyone who believes in Him has a Guardian Angel” (St. Anastasius of Sinai). However, the Guardian Angel stays with a Christian as long as the latter does not drive him away by sinful deeds, for, “as smoke disperses bees, so does sin banish our Guardian Angel” (St. Basil the Great). At the end of the Christian’s earthly journey, the Guardian Angel does not leave abandon their soul, but helps it overcome the so-called trials along the way to the Kingdom of Heaven.
The upper part of the cross carries the short inscription in Church Slavonic that reads “holy guardian angel”, an abbreviation comprised by the initial letters of each word followed by the full text.
Due to its size, shape and content, this pectoral cross is best suited as a baptismal cross for infants. The figure of the crucified Savior reminds us that, “for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27), whereas the image of the Guardian Angel speaks about the great gift we receive from the Lord at the moment of baptism.
Cross “HOLY FACE OF THE SAVIOR NOT MADE BY HUMAN HANDS” with the pendants “ALPHA” and “OMEGA”
In many respects, our cross resembles these ancient examples, but it does have some diistinctive features. The cross-section of the bars is a trapezoid, i.e. a half-hexagon whose three-dimensional side is facing outward, whereas the flat, truncated side is facing inward.
The image that dominates the entire cross is the Holy Face of the Savior not made by human hands, executed as a high relief and placed inside the circular medallion in the center. He is the focus and the source of all things. Given the symbolism of the Crucifixion, where the vertical bar stands for the heavens, while the horizontal bar stands for the earth, the image of the Savior belongs to both the directions and thus confirms the Christological dogma about Christ as the true God and the true Man. When we look at the cross as a quadripartite model of the world, the image of the Savior in the center illustrates the ancient prophecy: “For God was our Lord since before the beginning of time: He brought forth salvation in the middle of the earth” (Ps. 73.12).
The four widening bars that extend outward from the center of the cross are seen as the four beams of the Light of Life emanating from the source – that is, from Christ. This symbolism is reinforced by the decorations on the bars, which have a zigzag pattern running along the edges of their flat parts and little grains attached to the sharp brims in rows. A similar ornament is found on the round movable top. Around the image of Christ one can see the inscription “Jesus Christ the victorious”, which is divided among the four quarters. The medallion with the Holy Face not made by human hands is flanked by pendants with the two Greek letters, Α and ω, which illustrate the words from Revelation (1: 8): “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty”. They, like the Greek letters οωΝ (the One Who Is, Jehovah) on the cross-shaped nimbus of the Savior, affirm Christ’s divine nature. In addition, the image of the Savior’s Holy Face has a protective and healing function and serves as a symbol and guarantee of victory. This is connected to the history of the icon, which was first given by the Lord to Abgar, King of Edessa, to alleviate his suffering, and was then placed over the gates and protected the city from enemies.
The reverse of the cross has a recess whose sides are decorated with a zigzag pattern. The recesss contains an embedded cross whose shape echoes that of the external one. Inscribed upon the cross in a cruciform manner are the Greek words ΚΥΡΙΕ ΒΟΗΘΕΙ: “Lord, help!”. Such appeals to the Lord and to the Blessed Virgin Mary are often seen on early Byzantine apotropa (objects that performed a protective function). It is important to note that the Greek word βοήθει is not just a plea for help but a desperate cry coming from a person who has suddenly realized that death is imminent.