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[moonflower77]

Conversation No.1. Introduction

“The Moscow Jeweler” (“Moskovskiy Yuvelir”), No.7/2004

Today, as the demand for ecclesiastical jewelry grows, many secular jewelry enterprises endeavor to manufacture such items, while jewelry stores offer them for sale. Unfortunately, few people pause to think about what church art actually is, or which qualities it should possess to deserve to be called such. Therefore, before we turn to the more specialized subjects, let us try to answer these general questions first.

One must note straight away that not every work of art with a religious theme should be regarded as church (ecclesiastical) art. If we define ecclesiastical art as the art that has arisen formally within the church or for the needs of the church, where the church is understood as a temple or an organization, the definition will be inaccurate. To avoid framing the question in a layperson’s terms, one should turn to the apostolic definition of the Church as a Divine living organism or the “Body of Christ”(Eph. 1:23) rather than an organization. In that case, church art will be both the fruit of the Church and, at the same time, its part, which, owing to the principle of catholicity, is just as complete as the whole. Otherwise, the connection would simply be impossible to make. And, since the Church is “a pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15), this is precisely what ecclesiastical art is meant to accomplish: to reveal the Divine Truth, the one and only. After all, “Orthodoxy is not proven but shown”. To be able to achieve this goal, church art must possess three interrelated qualities: sanctity, traditionality and canonicity.

Art is referred to as sacred (holy) when it reflects the spiritual vision of a confession using the internal symbolic language developed by the latter. Shape, color and visual images alike may be used as symbols, as may natural materials, which is particularly relevant for the art of jewelry-making. The symbolic language of the Church has evolved over millennia and was passed down from one generation to the next, therefore church art is traditional by definition. This, in turn, enables one to utilize the creative potential accumulated by numerous generations.

Artistic tradition is an ever-evolving external form which allows one to preserve the spiritual content of the confession without any distortion. Due to the ethnic and cultural distinctions between different peoples, there is a great diversity of traditions in the Orthodox Church. At the same time, although these traditions are characterized by dissimilar forms, they are united within the same Church and are Orthodox if their existence and development are governed by the Orthodox canon.

What exactly is the Orthodox canon? Today this concept in ecclesiastical art is muddled and often distorted. Canon is frequently confused either with style or with tradition. One can see inscriptions such as “Executed according to the canon of the Orthodox Church” on exhibition stands featuring religious-themed artwork, which immediately speaks of the items’ non-ecclesiastical nature. The Orthodox canon cannot be given any concrete formal definition, just as it is impossible to determine Who or What is God by intellectual means alone. First and foremost, canon is life in God and creative cooperation with God. Canon is never revealed in full; it is bestowed by the Holy Spirit, living and bearing fruit in the Church as the mystical Body of Christ. Canon is not the result of human reasoning, it is absolutely objective and cannot described in terms of external characteristics. The canonicity of a work of art is determined by the degree to which it possesses Divine beauty. This is the very purpose of ecclesiastical art: to be the creative comprehension of canon as God’s Beauty. According to Father Pavel Florensky, “beauty excites love, while love grants knowledge of the truth”.

All of the above does not render te regulations and recommendations existing within the Church with regard to ecclesiastical art any less necessary or useful. However, they are merely a material basis, akin to a skeleton that is fleshed out in the presence of a spiritual life, but withers, dries out and crumbles into fragments of dead bone in its absence.

Since the tasks and distinctive features of church art are both spiritual in nature, the evaluation of artwork may pose a problem. There is a constant temptation to use worldly criteria for the assessment, as those are more specific and clearly defined, which leads to the increasing secularization of church art. This process has already been taking place in Russia for three centuries with varying degrees of success. In spite of oneself, one cannot help asking: how is one to determine whether a particular work of art possesses the qualities described above? The answer is simple, yet extremely hard to apply in practice. In order to notice the sacred, the traditional and the canonical, we these qualities must be inherent in ourselves. This means that, to be able to tell what is or is not sacred, one must have a religious consciousness; to determine what is traditional, as far as Orthodox Christianity is concerned, one must live within the Orthodox tradition, study it and contribute to its development; finally, to tell what does or does not meet the canonical requirements, one has to participate in Church life on a regular basis, possess some theological knowledge, and, most importantly, engage in spiritual practice. It is virtually impossible to have these qualities to the utmost extent. Therefore, for a start, it is important to at least believe in their existence, then find them in oneself and strive to develop them further. Afterwards, as the saying goes, the Lord shall take care of the rest.

Conversation No. 2. “ For Thou hast crowned us with the weapon of good will, O Lord” (from the history of engagement rings).

“The Moscow Jeweler” (“Moskovskiy Yuvelir”), No. 8/2004

In the contemporary world, it is more common to use a plain or signet ring as an ornament and to forget about its symbolic and sacred significance, which has existed in all global religions and cultures. The ring, as a form of the circle, the most perfect geometrical shape, represents the universe, eternity and Divine continuity. In addition, it stands for power, dignity, higher or delegated authority, strength, protection, and, as a symbol of union or connection, represents belonging to someone or something else. The most common symbolic meaning attributed to rings in Christianity is that of union: both the conjugal union consecrated by the Church and the spiritual marriage with the Church itself.

The sacrament of marriage in the Russian Orthodox Church consists of two parts: the betrothal (engagement) and the wedding, which have been performed as a single rite, one immediately after the other, since the 18th century. It is the ritual of betrothal that involves rings being put onto the bride and groom, thereby affirming their intention to enter into marriage (the Russian language uses cognate words for the rite, known as “obrucheniye”, and the rings themselves, which used to be called “obruchi”). According to ecclesiastical rules, one of the rings must be gold, while the other should be silver. The golden ring, as a symbol of power and might, signifies the bridegroom, whereas the silver ring, a symbol of purity and maidenhood, signifies the bride. During the engagement, the rings are exchanged between the bride and groom thrice as a sign of “unanimity, agreement and mutual assistance”. As a result, the golden ring remains with the bride and the silver one with the groom. Thus, the male and the female are combined and supplemented through symbolic means, resulting in harmony and integrity within each of the two individuals. In practice, the Church allows the use of two wedding rings made from the same material at the request of the couple. There have been no strict church regulations as to the shape of the rings or any images or gemstone inlays on them.
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The twenty centuries of Christianity have seen many types of engagement rings and rings, which used inscriptions, images and inserts as symbolic means to convey the understanding of the sacrament of Christian marriage.

Our attention was attracted by a small group of Byzantine engagement rings dating back to the 6th-10th centuries, which have been preserved in some museum collections. As we shall see, the imagery and inscriptions on these rings reveal the essence of Christian marriage quite accurately. On the top shield of the ring, which may be shaped like a circle, cross or quadrifolium (four-leaf shape), in the center, one can find the figure of Christ, with the bride and groom depicted on either side. Christ blesses the couple by placing His hands on their heads, connects their hands (betrothal or engagement), or holds the marital crowns over their heads (marriage). On occasion, the bridegroom is blessed by Christ, while the bride is blessed by the Virgin Mary. Often, the central figure of the Savior is replaced by the Cross, with the waist-lentgth figures of the bride and groom on either side (Fig. 4 and Fig. 5). Nearby one can frequently see the Greek inscriptions OMONOIA (consensus) or [...] OMONOIA (with God’s consent), or, more rarely, HARIE (grace) and ГEIA (health). These are traditional wedding wishes, which are invariably understood as “of God ...” or “... granted by God”, even if this phrase is absent. Similar inscriptions may also be found on the internal surface of the ring, along with the Greek text of the 13th verse of Psalm 5: “For Thou hast crowned us with the weapon of good will, O Lord” (Fig. 2), which resembles the sacramental formula from the 18th-century wedding ceremony: “O Lord, our God, crown them with glory and honor”. Two famous rings from the Dumbarton Oaks collection in Washington (Fig. 1) and the Palermo Museum are octagonal in shape and decorated with scenes of the feasts from the Gospel along the rim. Their content tells us that the spiritual side of marriage, the union of the couple in Christ in mutual accord and harmony, which is possible only in Him and through Him, was of the utmost importance for Christians in those days. Christ Himself is the One to bestow the sacrament. Therefore, the aforementioned compositions represent a symbolic image of the “miniature Church”, as the Christian family is referred to in the Holy Scripture. This meaning is particularly prominent on wedding rings decorated with pictures of the feasts. Here, the wedding scene is included directly into the annual cycle of church services, which illustrates the connection between the sacrament of marriage and the Liturgy. In order to understand why wedding bands characterized by such a dogmatically clear and highly spiritual content could exist during that particular historical period, we must recall the history of the marital rite.

Until the 10th century, marriage as a legal act was a civil procedure. The spouses would sign a nuptial agreement that determined the property and legal relations between them, regardless of their confession. After the procedure was concluded, the groom gave the bride a ring with a seal, which, apart from being a symbol of their union, represented delegated authority and meant that the groom was entrusting his property to her care. Naturally, the signet rings used by Christians featured various Christian symbols. Thus, rings depicting an anchor and two fishes on either side are believed to have been used as engagement rings in the first centuries of Christianity. In essence, this civil act was, in fact, a betrothal (engagement). However, according to the Christian notion of marriage, set forth in the 5th chapter of the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, the husband and wife can and must transform their “contract” into the actual Kingdom of God, which is only possible through the Eucharist. Therefore, after registering their marriage with the civil authorities, the Christian couple participated in the Eucharist and their partaking of the Blessed Sacrament served as the seal of marriage. Up until the 9th century the Church knew no seperate rite of marriage, independent of the Holy Communion taken during the Holy Liturgy. By the 9th century, a solemn wedding ceremony which accompanied this sacrament had begun to form (the Russian word for this ceremony is “venchaniye”, or crowning). According to St. John Chrysostom, the wedding crowns symbolized the couple’s victory over their passions, for a Christian marriage was concluded “not in the flesh” only, but was the sacrament of eternal life. In 912, under a decree of Emperor Leo VI, marriages were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Church and were to be sanctioned through the church rite. This led to a partial blurring of the difference between “the worldly” and “the sacred”, between our sinful society and the Kingdom of God, between marriage as a contract and marriage as a sacrament. Perhaps it was these historical circumstances, which caused the attitude to marriage to become more secular, that wedding bands lost their profound sacred content and were developed in later times as an item of secular jewelry, subject to changing artistic styles and fashion trends, and a symbol of the earthly (i.e. temporary) union between husband and wife. This was facilitated by the adoption by the Catholics of the formulaic marital oath “Till death do us part”, which differs from the Orthodox understanding of marriage, which is regarded as “recorded in Heaven” and is an eternal union in Christ.

We have attempted to revive the sacred forms typical for wedding or engagement rings and have executed ours in keeping with the ancient Byzantine tradition. The outer shield of the signet ring is shaped like a cross of Greek proportions and symbolizes the Church. The composition on the shield depicts the Christian sacrament of marriage. The blossoming Cross of the Lord, a symbol of Christ and His salvific sacrifice, forms its central axis. The crowns resting on the branches of the Cross designate the bride and groom as they are being crowned into the Kingdom of God; the tiny crosses on top of each crown also mark the ends of the branches, thereby showing the connection with Christ, with his Mystical Body. The entire composition, taken as a whole, bears a resemblance to scales in a state of equilibrium, a symbol of harmony and consensus, and serves as an image of the Christian family as a “small Church”. On the surface of the ring itself one can see the Greek inscription EK [...] OMONOIA (with God’s consent), which emphasizes that “marriage should be an agreement in the Lord rather than a human desire” (St. Ignatius Theophorus, 100 AD). Inscribed around the shield are the words from the 13th verse of Psalm 5 in Church Slavonic: “For Thou hast crowned us with the weapon of good will, O Lord”. On the inside of the shield one can find the traditional wedding wishes in Greek: HARIE (grace) and ГEIA (health), written in a cruciform formula, which endows them with the nature of God’s blessing.

We hope that our engagement rings, executed according to the ancient Byzantine tradition, will help today’s Christian couples gain a deeper awareness of the true nature of marriage, remind them about the inviolable nature of the holy conjugal union and serve as a symbol of eternal life.

Conversation No. 3. The symbolism of color in Christian art

“The Moscow Jeweler” (“Moskovskiy Yuvelir”), No. 1, 2005.

In this conversation we will touch upon the symbolic language of church art, and, in particular, upon the ways one‘s knowledge of God and the spiritual world could be conveyed through color. Christian color symbolism reached its highest point in Orthodox iconography and in the mosaics of the Eastern Church.

On an icon, color is arbitrary and does not depend on shape, and, as with any other element of the icon, serves a particular purpose: to reveal the concealed spiritual essence, to depict transfiguration and illumination by Divine light. In ancient icon painting, a relatively small number of colors was used, often in contrasting combinations and without any halftones. The purity and intensity of the colors signified the radiance of transfigured matter. The colors were intended to be perceived as a unified whole, in their mutual interaction. The images on an icon are not formed by streams of light emanating from specific sources, as on a secular painting; instead, they seem to glow from the inside. The divine light is conveyed through thin golden highlights (known as “assist”) or through bright patches of reflected light on the saints’ faces. A remarkable equivalent of icon painting in jewelry-making is the technique of cloisonne enamel, which was widely employed by jewellers in Byzantium and its provinces, as well as by artisans in Kiev Rus. This technique allowed the craftsman to create miniature icons where color played the same role and had the same symbolic meaning as on a painted icon. Moreover, the significance of the colors was further enhanced due to the small size, the laconic scenes and the greater conventionality of the imagery, as well as the enamel’s peculiar internal glow. The golden partitions were a marvellous replacement for the golden highlights. The firing of the enamel introduced additional symbolic connotations.

Later, as the art of ecclesiastical jewelry developed, there was a growing tendency toward greater ornamentality, while the symbolism of color slowly became ossified and lifeless. This process was caused by the gradual degeneration and coarsening of the religious consciousness and a strong influence from the secular arts, which gained independence starting from the Renaissance and came to occupy the dominant position. Various psychological and physical color theories began to appear in secular art, which increasingly regarded color as a localized and autonomous sign. One of the most famous was the theory of color developed by Leonardo da Vinci. Thus the symbol was split off from the higher reality and limited to a particular person’s psychological traits and experiences, turning into an instrument of abstract moralism and allegory. These theories reached their maximum point in Goethe’s theory of colors as symbols, which included two aspects: the psychological-physiological and the physical-philosophical. Although such theories appeared to be fruitful in secular (humanitarian) art, in ecclesiastical (sacred or divine) art they unequivocally led to a decline of the sacred. The so-called “icons” in the Baroque style, painted in oils, or, in jewelry-making, the “icons” made using the technique of painted enamel, can be considered a clear illustration of this tendency.

Below we will describe the symbolic meanings of some primary colors, which have developed in Christian art over a lengthy historical period. It should be remembered that Christian color symbolism is not a rigid table where each color serves as a conventional sign. Often, one same color carries several meanings, which may sometimes be mutually contradictory. Mixed colors are particularly complex. Therefore, this is rather a certain tendency of using colors. Of great importance are their combinations, their consonance. As “distinct melodies are created from the same sounds, so colors, too, may have a different symbolic meaning and emotional impact within shifting compositions” (Archimandrite Raphael Karelin).

One should not forget that the very object, attribute or detail painted in a specific color may have its own symbolic meaning, which is supplemented or amplified by the color. Most importantly, however, to understand the higher meaning of the symbolic language one must folllow the instruction of St. Maximus the Confessor and “look with one’s spirit, spiritually, rather than merely bodily, through one’s corporeal eyes”, developing the ability of one’s rational mind to ascend from that which lies below to that which is on high.

White is a symbol of soul’s innocence, purity and holiness; it is the color of the garments worn by the angels and the transfigured and risen Christ. This color is frequently used to represent Heaven in icon painting and jewelry alike. For example, on many pectoral crosses decorated with enamel, the white background duplicates or replaces the cryptogram МЛРБ (место лобно рай бысть), which is Church Slavonic for “the place of execution is Paradise”, referring to our Savior restoring the long-lost Paradise. Deep blue stands for mystery, Divine incomprehensibility, eternity, truth, revelation, and wisdom, and is the color of the Apostles’ robes. Light blue is the color of the sky and of the clothes worn by the Theotokos as the Perpertual Virgin; it represents spiritual purity and chastity, as well as mutual trust and faithfulness in marriage. Green is the color of spring and vegetation, and, as such, stands for the victory of life over death and the Eternal Life bestowed upon us by our Savior. It symbolizes Christ as the Life-Giver and the Cross as the Tree of Life. Although the primary meaning of bright green is positive, pale green may be associated with Satan and death. Red is the color of Heavenly cleansing fire and life-giving warmth, and, in the latter case, symbolizes life. As the color of blood, red represents sacrifice and Easter. The robes of the holy martyrs are this color. Purple is a symbol of royal power and victory, the color of the garments worn by the holy kings and princes. As such, it is sometimes used to represent God the Father. Gold, the color of the precious metal (Au), is an image of the uncreated Divine light and the absolute metaphor for God: “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Gold is a symbol of the sun and regal dignity, and, respectively, of Christ as the Sun of Truth and the King of Glory. In addition, it symbolizes love, frank truth and that which is incorruptible and imperishable. Yellow has two opposite meanings. When seen as golden-yellow, it carries the positive symbolism of gold; when dull, yellow means treason, ambition, avarice. It is the color of Judas Iscariot. Silver combines the symbolism of white and blue. It represents the purity of burned flesh and is a symbol of the Gospel’s eloquence. The latter is based on the words of Psalm 12:6: “The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times”. Pink stands for childhood and turquoise for youth. Lilac symbolizes sadness. Brown is the color of the earth and signifies humility, poverty, renunciation of the world. It has this meaning when found on icons in the garments worn by the saints and the Mother of God, as well as in the robes of some western monastic orders. Black is the color of the prince of darkness. It stands for grief, disease, sin, as well as denial and renunciation of the world (the robes of Orthodox monks and priests). However, in combination with white, black stands for humility and integrity. Combined with blue, black is used to denote a deep mystery, or, with green, old age. Gray, the color of the ashes, symbolizes either sorrow and a dead quality, or humility, the death of the body and the immortality of the soul.

As an example of a symbolic reading that could be given to color combinations, let us quote St. Gregory of Nyssa (394 AD) on the meaning of the colors of priestly robes: “Blue is combined with the crimson, for a king’s reign is associated with the purity of life. Red is interlaced with fine linen (a thin fabric, predominantly white with light yellowish tinge), for a pure life filled with light is usually combined somehow with the blush of shame; the gold that shines through these colors mysteriously helps us comprehend the treasure to be found in such a life.”