The first Christian symbolic images appear in the paintings of the Roman catacombs and date back to the period of persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. During this period, the symbols had the character of secret writing, allowing fellow believers to recognize each other, but the meaning of the symbols already reflected the emerging Christian theology. Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann notes:
The early Church did not know the icon in its modern dogmatic meaning. The beginning of Christian art - painting of the catacombs - is symbolic in nature (...) It tends to depict not so much a deity as the function of a deity.
L. A. Uspensky associates the active use in the ancient Church of various symbols, rather than iconographic images, with the fact that “in order to little by little prepare people for the truly incomprehensible mystery of the Incarnation, the Church first addressed them in a language more acceptable to them than direct image." Also, symbolic images, in his opinion, were used as a way of hiding Christian sacraments from catechumens until the time of their baptism.
So Cyril of Jerusalem wrote: “everyone is allowed to hear the gospel, but the glory of the gospel is given to only the sincere Servants of Christ. To those who could not listen, the Lord spoke in parables, and to the disciples in private he explained the parables.” The oldest catacomb images include scenes of the “Adoration of the Magi” (about 12 frescoes with this plot have been preserved), which date back to the 2nd century. Also dating back to the 2nd century is the appearance in the catacombs of images of the acronym ΙΧΘΥΣ or the fish symbolizing it.
Among other symbols of catacomb painting, the following stand out:
- anchor - an image of hope (an anchor is the support of a ship at sea, hope acts as a support for the soul in Christianity). This image is already present in the Epistle to the Hebrews of the Apostle Paul (Heb. 6:18-20);
- dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit; · phoenix – symbol of resurrection;
- the eagle is a symbol of youth (“your youth will be renewed like an eagle” (Ps. 102:5));
- the peacock is a symbol of immortality (according to the ancients, its body was not subject to decomposition);
- the rooster is a symbol of resurrection (the crow of a rooster awakens from sleep, and awakening, according to Christians, should remind believers of the Last Judgment and the general resurrection of the dead);
- the lamb is a symbol of Jesus Christ;
- lion is a symbol of strength and power;
- olive branch - a symbol of eternal peace;
- lily is a symbol of purity (common due to the influence of apocryphal stories about the presentation of a lily flower by the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation);
- the vine and the basket of bread are symbols of the Eucharist.
Characteristics of the 35 main symbols and signs of Christianity
1. Chi Rho- one of the earliest cruciform symbols of Christians. It is formed by superimposing the first two letters of the Greek version of the word Christ: Chi=X and Po=P. Although the Chi Rho is not technically a cross, it is associated with the crucifixion of Christ and symbolizes his status as Lord. It is believed that Chi Rho was the first to use it at the beginning of the 4th century. AD Emperor Constantine, decorating it with a labarum, a military standard. As the 4th century Christian apologist Lactantius notes, on the eve of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD. The Lord appeared to Constantine and ordered to put the image of Chi Rho on the shields of the soldiers. After Constantine's victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, the Chi Rho became the official emblem of the empire. Archaeologists have found evidence that Chi Rho was depicted on Constantine's helmet and shield, as well as his soldiers. Chi Rho was also engraved on coins and medallions minted during the reign of Constantine. By 350 AD images began to appear on Christian sarcophagi and frescoes.
2. Lamb: a symbol of Christ as the Paschal sacrificial lamb, as well as a symbol for Christians, reminding them that Christ is our shepherd, and Peter ordered his sheep to be fed. The Lamb also serves as a sign of St. Agnes (her day is celebrated on January 21), a martyr of early Christianity.
3.Baptismal cross: consists of a Greek cross with the Greek letter "X" - the initial letter of the word Christ, symbolizing rebirth, and therefore it is associated with the rite of Baptism.
4.Peter's Cross: When Peter was sentenced to martyrdom, he asked to be crucified upside down out of respect for Christ. Thus, the inverted Latin cross became its symbol. In addition, it serves as a symbol of the papacy. Unfortunately, this cross is also used by Satanists, whose goal is to “revolutionize” Christianity (see, for example, their “Black Mass”), including the Latin cross.
5.Ichthus(ih-tus) or ichthys means “fish” in Greek. The Greek letters used to spell the word are iota, chi, theta, upsilon and sigma. IN English translation This is IXOYE. The five Greek letters named are the first letters of the words Iesous Christos, Theou Uios, Soter, which means “Jesus Christ, son of God, Savior.” This symbol was used primarily among early Christians in the 1st-2nd centuries. AD The symbol was brought from Alexandria (Egypt), which at that time was a crowded seaport. Goods traveled from this port throughout Europe. That is why sailors were the first to use the ichthys symbol to designate a god close to them.
6.Rose: Holy Virgin, Mother of God, symbol of martyrdom, secrets of confession. The five roses united together represent the five wounds of Christ.
7. Jerusalem cross: Also known as the Crusader Cross, it consists of five Greek crosses that symbolize: a) the five wounds of Christ; b) 4 Gospels and 4 cardinal directions (4 smaller crosses) and Christ himself (large cross). The cross was a common symbol during wars against Islamic aggressors.
8.Latin cross, also known as the Protestant cross and the Western cross. The Latin cross (crux ordinaria) serves as a symbol of Christianity, despite the fact that long before the founding of the Christian church it was a symbol of pagans. It was created in China and Africa. His images are found on Scandinavian sculptures of the Bronze Age, embodying the image of the god of war and thunder, Thor. The cross is considered magical symbol. It brings good luck and wards off evil. Some scholars interpret the rock carvings of the cross as a symbol of the sun or a symbol
Earth, whose rays indicate north, south, east and west. Others point out its resemblance to a human figure.
9.Pigeon: symbol of the Holy Spirit, part of the cult of Epiphany and Pentecost. It also symbolizes the release of the soul after death, and is used to call Noah's dove, a harbinger of hope.
10. Anchor: Images of this symbol in the cemetery of St. Domitilla date back to the 1st century, they are also found in the catacombs in epitaphs of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, but there are especially many of them in the cemetery of St. Priscilla (there are about 70 examples here alone), St. Calixtus, Coemetarium majus. See Epistle to the Hebrews 6:19.
11.Eight-pointed cross: The eight-pointed cross is also called the Orthodox cross or the cross of St. Lazarus. The smallest crossbar represents the title, where it was written “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews,” the upper end of the cross is the path to the Kingdom of Heaven, which Christ showed. The seven-pointed cross is a variation of the Orthodox cross, where the title is attached not across the cross, but on top.
12. Ship: is an ancient Christian symbol that symbolized the church and each individual believer. Crosses with a crescent, which can be seen on many churches, just depict such a ship, where the cross is a sail.
13.Calvary cross: The Golgotha cross is monastic (or schematic). It symbolizes the sacrifice of Christ. Widespread in ancient times, the cross of Golgotha is now embroidered only on the paraman and the lectern.
14. Vine: is the gospel image of Christ. This symbol also has its own meaning for the Church: its members are branches, and the grapes are a symbol of Communion. In the New Testament, the grapevine is a symbol of Paradise.
15. I.H.S.: Another popular monogram for the name of Christ. It's three letters Greek name Jesus. But with the decline of Greece, other, Latin, monograms with the name of the Savior began to appear, often in combination with a cross.
16. Triangle- symbol of the Holy Trinity. Each side personifies the Hypostasis of God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All sides are equal and together form a single whole.
17. Arrows, or a ray piercing the heart - an allusion to the saying of St. Augustine in Confessions. Three arrows piercing the heart symbolize Simeon's prophecy.
18. Skull or Adam's head is equally a symbol of death and a symbol of victory over it. According to Sacred Tradition, the ashes of Adam were on Golgotha when Christ was crucified. The blood of the savior, having washed Adam’s skull, symbolically washed all of humanity and gave him a chance for salvation.
19. Eagle- a symbol of ascension. He is a symbol of the soul that seeks God. Often - a symbol of new life, justice, courage and faith. The eagle also symbolizes the evangelist John.
20.All-seeing eye- a symbol of omniscience, omniscience and wisdom. It is usually depicted inscribed in a triangle - a symbol of the Trinity. Can also symbolize hope.
21. Seraphim- angels closest to God. They are six-winged and carry fiery swords, and can have from one to 16 faces. As a symbol, they mean the purifying fire of the spirit, divine heat and love.
22.Bread- This is a reference to the biblical episode when five thousand people were fed with five loaves. Bread is depicted in the form of ears of corn (sheaves symbolize the meeting of the apostles) or in the form of bread for communion.
23. Good Shepherd. The main source of this image is the Gospel parable, in which Christ Himself calls Himself this way (John 10:11-16). Actually, the image of the Shepherd is rooted in the Old Testament, where often the leaders of the people of Israel (Moses - Isaiah 63:11, Joshua - Numbers 27:16-17, King David in Psalms 77, 71, 23) are called shepherds, but it is said about the Lord Himself - “The Lord is my Shepherd” (The Psalm of the Lord says, “The Lord is my Shepherd” (Ps 23:1-2). Thus, Christ in the Gospel parable points to the fulfillment of prophecy and the finding of consolation for the people of God. In addition, the image of a shepherd also had has a clear meaning to everyone, so that even today in Christianity it is customary to call priests shepherds, and the laity the flock, Christ the Shepherd is depicted in the form of an ancient shepherd, dressed in a tunic, in shepherd’s laced sandals, often with a staff and a vessel for milk in his hands; can hold a reed flute. The milk vessel symbolizes the Sacrament; the flute symbolizes the sweetness of His teaching (“No one ever spoke like this man” - John 7:46) and hope, this is the mosaic of the early 4th century. from Aquileia.
24.Burning bush is a thorn bush that burns but is not consumed. In his image, God appeared to Moses, calling him to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. The burning bush is also a symbol of the Mother of God, who was touched by the Holy Spirit.
25.a lion- a symbol of vigilance and the Resurrection, and one of the symbols of Christ. It is also a symbol of the Evangelist Mark, and is associated with the power and royal dignity of Christ.
26.Taurus(bull or ox) - symbol of the Evangelist Luke. Taurus means the sacrificial service of the Savior, his Sacrifice on the Cross. The ox is also considered a symbol of all martyrs.
27.Angel symbolizes the human nature of Christ, his earthly incarnation. It is also a symbol of the Evangelist Matthew.
28. Grail- this is the vessel in which Joseph of Arimathea allegedly collected blood from the wounds of Jesus Christ during the crucifixion. The history of this vessel, which acquired miraculous powers, was described by the French writer of the early 12th century, Chretien de Troyes, and a century later in more detail by Robert de Raven, based on the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. According to legend, the Grail is kept in a mountain castle, it is filled with sacred hosts that serve for communion and give miraculous powers. The fanatical search for the relic by the crusading knights greatly contributed to the creation of the legend of the Grail, processed and formalized with the participation of many authors and culminating in the tales of Parsifal and Gilead.
29.Nimbus is a shiny circle that ancient Greek and Roman artists, depicting gods and heroes, often placed above their heads, indicating that these were higher, unearthly, supernatural beings. In the iconography of Christianity, the halo has become an accessory of images of hypostases since ancient times. Holy Trinity, angels, Our Lady and saints; often he also accompanied the Lamb of God and animal figures serving as symbols of the four evangelists. At the same time, for some icons, halos of a special kind were installed. For example, the face of God the Father was placed under a halo, which initially had the shape
triangle, and then the shape of a six-pointed star formed by two equilateral triangles. The Virgin Mary's halo is always round and often exquisitely decorated. The halos of saints or other divine persons are usually round and without ornaments.
30. Church In Christian symbolism, church has several meanings. Its main meaning is the House of God. It can also be understood as the Body of Christ. Sometimes the church is associated with the ark, and in this sense it means salvation for all its parishioners. In painting, a church placed in the hands of a saint means that this saint was the founder or bishop of that church. However, the church is in the hands of St. Jerome and St. Gregory does not mean any particular building, but the Church in general, to which these saints gave great support and became its first fathers.
31.Pelican, connected to this bird beautiful legend, existing in dozens of slightly different versions, but very similar in meaning to the ideas of the Gospel: self-sacrifice, deification through the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ. Pelicans live in coastal reeds near the warm Mediterranean Sea and are often subject to snake bites. Adult birds feed on them and are immune to their poison, but chicks are not yet. According to legend, if a pelican chick is bitten by a poisonous snake, it will peck at its own breast in order to give them blood with the necessary antibodies and thereby save their lives. Therefore, the pelican was often depicted on sacred vessels or in places of Christian worship.
32. Chrism is a monogram made up of the first letters of the Greek word “Christ” - “Anointed One”. Some researchers mistakenly identify this Christian symbol with the double-edged ax of Zeus - “Labarum”. The Greek letters “a” and “ω” are sometimes placed along the edges of the monogram. Christianity was depicted on the sarcophagi of martyrs, in the mosaics of baptisteries (baptisteries), on the shields of soldiers and even on Roman coins - after the era of persecution.
33. Lily- a symbol of Christian purity, purity and beauty. The first images of lilies, judging by the Song of Songs, served as decoration for the Temple of Solomon. According to legend, on the day of the Annunciation, Archangel Gabriel came to the Virgin Mary with a white lily, which has since become a symbol of Her purity, innocence and devotion to God. With the same flower, Christians depicted saints, glorified by the purity of their lives, martyrs and martyrs.
34. Phoenix represents the image of the Resurrection, associated with the ancient legend of the eternal bird. The Phoenix lived for several centuries and, when the time came for him to die, he flew to Egypt and burned there. All that was left of the bird was a pile of nutritious ashes in which, after some time, new life. Soon a new, rejuvenated Phoenix rose from it and flew away in search of adventure.
35.Rooster- This is a symbol of the general resurrection that awaits everyone at the Second Coming of Christ. Just as the crowing of a rooster awakens people from sleep, the trumpets of angels will awaken people at the end of time to meet the Lord, Last Judgment and inheritance of new life.
Christianity color symbols
The most significant difference between the “pagan” period of color symbolism and the “Christian” period lies, first of all, in the fact that light and color finally cease to be identified with God and mystical forces, but become their
attributes, qualities and signs. According to Christian canons, God created the world, including light (color), but it itself cannot be reduced to light. Medieval theologians (for example, Aurelius Augustine), praising light and color as manifestations of the divine, nevertheless point out that they (colors) can also be deceptive (from Satan) and identifying them with God is a delusion and even sin.
White
Only white color remains an unshakable symbol of holiness and spirituality. Particularly important was the meaning of white as purity and innocence, liberation from sins. Angels, saints, and the risen Christ are depicted in white robes. White robes were worn by newly converted Christians. Also, white is the color of baptism, communion, the holidays of the Nativity of Christ, Easter, and Ascension. IN Orthodox Church white is used in all services from Easter to Trinity Day. The Holy Spirit is depicted as white dove. The white lily symbolizes purity and accompanies images of the Virgin Mary. White does not have negative meanings in Christianity. In early Christianity, the positive symbolic meaning of yellow prevailed, as the color of the Holy Spirit, divine revelation, enlightenment, etc. But later, yellow takes on a negative meaning. In the Gothic era, it begins to be considered the color of treason, betrayal, deceit, and jealousy. In church art, Cain and the traitor Judas Iscariot were often depicted with yellow beards.
Gold
Used in Christian painting as an expression of divine revelation. The golden radiance embodies the eternal divine light. Many people perceive the golden color as starlight descending from heaven.
Red
In Christianity, it symbolizes the blood of Christ, shed for the salvation of people, and, consequently, his love for people. This is the color of the fire of faith, martyrdom and the passion of the Lord, as well as the royal triumph of justice and victory over evil. Red is the color of services on the feast of the Holy Spirit, Palm Resurrection, during Holy Week, and on the days of remembrance of martyrs who shed blood for their faith. The red rose indicates the shed blood and wounds of Christ, the cup that receives the “holy blood.” Therefore, it symbolizes rebirth in this context. Joyful events dedicated to Christ, the Mother of God and the saints were marked in red on the calendar. The tradition came to us from the church calendar to highlight holiday dates in red. Easter of Christ in churches begins in white vestments as a sign of Divine light. But already the Easter Liturgy (in some churches it is customary to change vestments, so that the priest appears each time in vestments of a different color) and the entire week is served in red vestments. Red clothes are often used before Trinity.
Blue
This is the color of heaven, truth, humility, immortality, chastity, piety, baptism, harmony. He expressed the idea of self-sacrifice and meekness. The blue color seems to mediate the connection between the heavenly and the earthly, between God and the world. As the color of air, blue expresses a person’s readiness to accept for himself the presence and power of God, blue has become the color of faith, the color of fidelity, the color of desire for something mysterious and wonderful. Blue is the color of the Virgin Mary, and she is usually depicted wearing a blue cloak. Mary in this meaning is the Queen of Heaven, covering
with this cloak, protecting and saving believers (Pokrovsky Cathedral). In the paintings of churches dedicated to the Mother of God, the color of heavenly blue predominates. Dark blue is typical for depicting the clothes of cherubs, who are constantly in reverent reflection.
Green
This color was more “earthly”, it meant life, spring, the flowering of nature, youth. This is the color of the Cross of Christ, the Grail (according to legend, carved from a whole emerald). Green is identified with the great Trinity. On this holiday, according to tradition, churches and apartments are usually decorated with bouquets of green twigs. At the same time, green also had negative meanings - deceit, temptation, devilish temptation (green eyes were attributed to Satan).
Black
The attitude towards black was predominantly negative, as the color of evil, sin, the devil and hell, as well as death. In the meanings of black, as among primitive peoples, the aspect of “ritual death”, death for the world, was preserved and even developed. Therefore, black became the color of monasticism. For Christians, a black raven meant trouble. But black has not only such a tragic meaning. In icon painting, in some scenes it means divine mystery. For example, on a black background, signifying the incomprehensible depth of the Universe, the Cosmos was depicted - an old man in a crown in the icon of the Descent of the Holy Spirit.
Violet
It is formed by mixing red and blue (cyan). Thus, violet color combines the beginning and end of the light spectrum. It symbolizes intimate knowledge, silence, spirituality. In early Christianity, purple symbolized sadness and affection. This color is appropriated to the memories of the Cross and Lenten services, where the suffering and Crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of people are remembered. As a sign of higher spirituality, combined with the idea of the Savior’s feat on the cross, this color is used for the bishop’s mantle, so that the Orthodox bishop, as it were, is fully clothed in the feat of the cross of the Heavenly Bishop, whose image and imitator the bishop is in the Church.
Brown and gray
Brown and gray were the colors of the commoners. Their symbolic meaning, especially in the early Middle Ages, was purely negative. They meant poverty, hopelessness, wretchedness, abomination, etc. Brown is the color of earth, sadness. It symbolizes humility, renunciation of worldly life. Grey colour(a mixture of white and black, good and evil) – the color of ash, emptiness. After the ancient era, during the Middle Ages in Europe, color again regained its position, primarily as a symbol of mystical forces and phenomena, which is especially characteristic of early Christianity.
Symbolic images and their meaning. A. Blok is a wonderful, greatest poet who was destined to live and create at a turning point, at the turn of two eras. He admitted that his life and creative path ran “among revolutions,” but the poet perceived the events of October much deeper and more organically than 1905.
Perhaps this happened due to the fact that A. Blok, having left the framework of symbolism, which had previously limited his work, came to the understanding that the old “terrible world” had outlived its usefulness, and the sensitive heart of the poet rushed in search of a new one. “With all your body, with all your heart, with all your consciousness - listen to the Revolution,” called A. Blok. He knew how to listen, and we, living 85 years after the revolution, can hear it if we carefully read A. Blok’s poem “The Twelve.” This poem contains everything: the instability of the bourgeois world in the face of new forces, and the fear of the unknown, and the spontaneity underlying the revolution, and the expectation of future difficulties, and faith in victory.
Striving to describe the realities of that time as comprehensively and objectively as possible, Blok in his poem creates a number of bright and polysemantic images-symbols that allow him to convey his feelings even more fully, and for us to hear the “music of the revolution.”
One of the main symbols of the spontaneity, uncontrollability and all-embracingness of the revolution is the wind.
Wind, wind!
The man is not standing on his feet.
Wind, wind -
All over God's world!
This reflects both the cosmic nature of the coming transformations and the inability of man to resist these changes. No one remains indifferent, nothing is untouched:
The wind is cheerful
Both angry and happy.
Twists the hems,
Passers-by are mowed down...
Revolution requires sacrifices, often innocent ones. Katka dies. We don't know much about her, but we still feel sorry for her. Elemental forces also attract soldiers, former robbers, who indulge “on the quiet” in ruthless robberies and robberies.
Eh, eh!
It's not a sin to have fun!
Lock the floors
There will be robberies today!
Unlock the cellars -
The bastard is on the loose these days!
It’s all the wind, and it’s not for nothing that in the end it develops into a terrible blizzard, which hinders even the Bolshevik detachment of twelve people, shielding people from each other.
The image of the old, dying world appears before us in the form of a sick, homeless, hungry dog that cannot be driven away, it is so annoying. Either he huddles with fear and cold at the knees of the bourgeoisie, or he runs after the fighters of the revolution.
- Get off, you scoundrel,
I'll tickle you with a bayonet!
The old world is like a mangy dog,
If you fail, I'll beat you up!
The contrasting color images that permeate the poem are also symbolic:
Black evening.
White snow.
The color black here has many meanings. This is a symbol of the dark, evil principle, and chaos, and the raging elements - both in the world and within a person. That is why darkness looms before the fighters for a new world, and above them there is a “black, black sky.” But the snow that constantly accompanies the detachment is white. It seems to cleanse the grief and sacrifices that the revolution requires, awaken spirituality, and bring it to the light. It’s not for nothing that at the end of the poem the main, brightest and most unexpected image appears, which has always been a symbol of purity and holiness:
With a gentle tread above the storm,
Snow scattering of pearls,
In a white corolla of roses -
Ahead is Jesus Christ.
This is A. Blok’s poem “The Twelve” - a unique, truthful and unforgettable chronicle of the 1917 revolution.
Along with the mimetic aspect of art, Byzantine thinkers, both ecclesiastical and secular, paid considerable attention to its symbolic meaning and symbolic images. In this they relied, on the one hand, on the traditions of ancient allegory, and on the other, on the rich experience of Judeo-Christian exegesis. Artistic practice provided a variety of material for reflection in this direction. In Byzantium throughout history, secular allegorical art of the Hellenistic type existed. Early Christian images, as a rule, had a symbolic-allegorical character, and individual allegorical elements of these images were then preserved in the iconography of mature Byzantine and all Orthodox church art. And it itself, especially icon painting, developed mainly along the path of creating not illusionistic illustrations of Scripture, but complex, multi-valued symbolic images that required deep penetration into their innermost meaning. In addition, the actual mimetic images in Byzantium had, as a rule, not only a literal, but also a figurative meaning.
One of the main forms of thinking in Byzantine culture was the principle of allegory. It well expressed the spirit of the times and indirectly served as a sign of high education. Allegories were used by both secular and clergy in their writings and oral speeches. For a more expressive and effective presentation of their thoughts, writers and historians of the X-XII centuries. often resorted to the technique of describing fictional paintings with subsequent interpretation of their allegorical meaning. Nikita Choniates, for example, uses a similar technique. In his “Chronography” he describes an allegorical picture, allegedly depicted at the direction of Andronikos Komnenos on the outer wall of the Temple of the Forty Martyrs: “<…>in a huge painting he (Andronicus. - V.B.) depicted himself not in royal vestments and not in golden imperial attire, but in the guise of a poor farmer, in blue clothes that went down to the waist, and in white boots that reached to the knees . This farmer had a heavy and large crooked scythe in his hand, and he, bending down, seemed to be catching with it the most beautiful young man, visible only up to the neck and shoulders. With this picture he clearly revealed his lawless deeds to passers-by, preached loudly and made it appear that he had killed the heir to the throne and, along with his power, appropriated his bride to himself” (Andr. Sotp. II6).
An allegorical perception of art was also characteristic of many Christian church writers of Byzantium. Characteristic in this regard is the description and at the same time interpretation by the early Byzantine author Eusebius Pamphilus of a painting placed above the entrance to the imperial palace: “In the painting, put on display for everyone to see, high above the entrance to the royal palace, he (Emperor Constantine - V.B.) depicted above with the head of his own image a saving sign, and under his feet in the image of a dragon falling into the abyss - a hostile and warlike beast, through the tyranny of the atheists, persecuting the Church of God; for the Scriptures in the books of the divine prophets call him a dragon and a treacherous serpent. Therefore, through the image of a dragon written in wax under the feet of him and his children, struck by an arrow in the very belly and cast into the abyss of the sea, the king pointed out to everyone the secret enemy of the human race, whom he represented as cast down into the abyss of destruction by the power of the saving sign that was above his head. And all this was depicted in the picture with colored paints. I am amazed at the high wisdom of the king: he, as if by divine inspiration, drew exactly what the prophets once announced about this beast, who said that God would raise a great and terrible sword against the dragon, the escaping serpent, and destroy him in the sea. Having drawn these images, the king, through painting, presented a faithful imitation of the truth” (Vit. Const. Ill 3).
So, quite in the spirit of the classical ancient tradition, painting is called an imitation of truth. However, now truth is understood not as a picture of the visible forms of the material world, but as a certain spiritual, noumenal content, which Neoplatonists, Gnostics, and early Christians spoke about at that time. Imitation of truth is interpreted by the church historian Eusebius as a symbolic and allegorical image. For him, a pictorial image is an almost literal illustration of an allegorical text, and therefore the technique of traditional interpretation of biblical texts is transferred to it.
Judging by Eusebius’ description, the painting had two main pictorial levels. Its central part was occupied by a “portrait” image of Constantine and his sons, usual for the imperial culture of Rome, and as if outside the frame of the family portrait (above and below it) the symbols of Christ (apparently a cross) and Satan (a serpent or dragon) were depicted. It is important to note that the Christian writer is not interested in the central “portrait” part of the image, but in the “peripheral,” symbolic, and it is in this, and not in the illusionistic portrait of the emperor, that he sees “imitation of the truth.” In this description, the path to a new understanding of the essence of fine art is already clearly visible.
Seeing a non-literal allegorical, hidden meaning in a text or work of art is, in general, a characteristic feature of any religious worldview. And in this regard, Byzantine Christianity is not original. In this case, we are interested in specific forms and methods of symbolic understanding of art. Along with the ancient allegory, we find in the same Eusebius, for example, a completely different turn of symbolic thinking. Having described the temple in Tire in sufficient detail, emphasizing the “brilliant beauty” and “inexpressible grandeur” of the entire building and the “extraordinary grace” of its individual parts, Eusebius points out that such a temple serves to glorify and adorn the Christian Church. First of all, those who are accustomed to fixing their minds “on appearance alone” are surprised by him. However, “the miracle of miracles are the prototypes and their spiritual prototypes and divine models, the images of the divine and mental home in our souls.” The soul itself appears to Eusebius as the house and temple of God, higher and more perfect than the material temple.
In addition, the entire society of people, the entire society, appears in the understanding of Eusebius as a living temple. The builder of this temple is the Son of God himself, who likened some people to the fence of the temple, placed others like external columns, endowed others with the functions of the vestibule of the temple, established others as the main pillars inside the temple, etc. In short, “gathering the living from everywhere and everywhere.” , solid and strong souls, He built them into a great and royal house, full of splendor and light inside and outside.” This entire temple and its parts are filled with deep spiritual content for Eusebius, for its builder “with every part of the temple expressed the clarity and brilliance of the truth in all its fullness and diversity,” establishing “on earth a mental image of what is on the other side of the heavenly spheres.”
The world of created existence appears in Eusebius as a system of temples reflecting spiritual truths, and above all, a temple of spiritual beings that constantly glorify the Creator. The main temple of the system is the Universe and human society as a whole; Next comes the soul of each person as the temple of God, and, finally, the church building itself, created specifically as a place of worship. All these temples perform the same functions - worshiping God, honoring him and glorifying him.
Thus, an in-depth understanding of works of art, quite traditional for the ancient world, developed in the early Byzantine period, among one of the first Christian writers, into a new, philosophically and theologically rich theory of art, in fact, into a philosophy of art, which in many ways anticipated the artistic practice of the Middle Ages.
As another example of a symbolic understanding of architecture, we can point to the 6th century Syrian hymn dedicated to the temple at Edessa. Describing this apparently small, square-shaped, domed structure, the author of the hymn focuses not on the design features of the temple, but on its symbolic significance both as a whole and individual architectural elements. What seems remarkable to the author is precisely the fact that such a “small-sized structure contains huge world" “Its vault extends like the heavens - without columns, curved and closed and, moreover, decorated with a golden mosaic like the vault of heaven with shining stars. Its high dome is comparable to the “sky of heavens”; it is like a helmet, and its upper part rests on the lower part.<…>The temple has identical facades on each side. The form of all three is one, just as the form of the Holy Trinity is one. Moreover, a single light illuminates the choir through three open windows, proclaiming the mystery of the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit." The remaining windows, bringing light to everyone present in the temple, are represented by the author of the hymn as apostles, prophets, martyrs and other saints: the five doors of the temple are likened to five intelligent virgins with lamps from gospel parable, the columns symbolize the apostles, and the bishop's throne and the nine steps leading to it "represent the throne of Christ and the nine orders of angels." “Great are the mysteries of this temple,” it is sung at the end of the hymn, “both in heaven and on earth: in it the highest Trinity and the mercy of the Savior are figuratively represented.”
The building of the temple appears to the author of the hymn as a complex image of the cosmos (material and spiritual), and the Christian community (in its historical existence), and the Christian God himself. Ekphrasis here consists of two levels: figurative and symbolic. The figurative interpretation gravitates towards late antique allegory and is based primarily on visual associations and analogies. For him, the understanding of domed architecture as an image of the visible material cosmos (the earth and the firmament with luminaries) becomes stable and traditional. Sign-symbolic interpretation develops mainly in the traditions of Christian interpretation of biblical texts. These two levels, or two types, appear in one form or another in many Byzantine descriptions of works of art.
Byzantine poet of the 10th century. John the Geometer, in his poetic descriptions of Christian churches, weaves together a figurative and symbolic understanding of architecture. On the one hand, he sees in the temple “an imitation of the universe” in all its diverse beauty. Here is the sky with its stars, and the ether, and the endless expanses of the sea, and water streams pouring down from the mountains, and the whole earth is like a beautiful garden of unfading flowers. On the other hand, architectural images clearly reveal to him the entire “mental cosmos” headed by Christ. It is in the temple, according to John, that the unity (and union) of two worlds (cosmos) - earthly and heavenly - is realized:
But if there is a fusion of hostile principles somewhere
Peace of all - here and above,
Here it is, and from now on it is only fitting for him
Called by mortals the repository of all beauties
The figurative and symbolic levels of John’s interpretation of the temple space are not just possible options for approaching the understanding of the Christian temple, but both are necessary to reveal the full spiritual content, the deep meaning of the architectural image. Its essence, as can be seen from the poem of John the Geometer (and here he follows the tradition already established in the Byzantine world), is that for people the temple is the center of unity of the spiritual and material worlds, the focus of all beauties.
In post-iconoclastic Byzantium, the figurative-symbolic approach extended to painting. The already mentioned Nikolai Mesarit saw two levels in the wall paintings of churches: pictorial, phenomenal, and semantic, noumenal. He explains this by describing the image "The Raising of Lazarus": " Right hand(Jesus. - V.B.) is extended, on the one hand, to the phenomenon - to the tomb containing the body of Lazarus, on the other - to the noumenon - to hell, which has now swallowed up his soul for the fourth day” (26). Everyone sees the phenomenon (the coffin) depicted on the wall of the temple, but the noumenon (hell) remains behind the image; it can only be represented in the mind by a trained viewer.
For an educated Byzantine, the phenomenal level of painting was most often of interest only insofar as it contained and expressed a hidden meaning, comprehended only by the mind. Its always assumed presence allowed the medieval artist to create a phenomenal level, or a visually expressive series, according to the highest artistic and aesthetic standards, and the viewer to openly enjoy the beauty of temple painting. Now, in the eyes of Christian ideologists, it did not contradict, as it seemed to many early Christian Fathers of the Church, the spirit of the official religion; on the contrary, it actively served it, expressing in artistic and aesthetic form the foundations of the medieval worldview.
Any, even seemingly insignificant, element of the phenomenal level of the image was endowed with deep meaning and was presented as a sign or symbol of some position of religious doctrine. So, for example, the blue, and not golden, color of Pantocrator’s clothes, according to Mesarita, “calls on everyone with the hand of the artist” not to wear luxurious clothes made of expensive multi-colored fabrics, but to follow the Apostle Paul, who exhorted fellow believers to dress modestly.
Ptokrator, Mesarit further explains, is depicted in such a way that it is perceived differently by different groups of viewers. His gaze is directed at everyone at once and at each individual. He looks “favorably and friendly at those who have a clear conscience and pours the sweetness of humility into the souls of the pure in heart and the poor in spirit,” and for the one who does evil, the eyes of the Almighty “sparkle angrily,” aloof and hostile, he sees his face “angry, terrible and full of menace." The right hand of Pantocrator blesses those who walk the right path and warns those who turn away from it, keeping them from an unrighteous lifestyle (14). Painting can convey in one image the opposite states of the inner world of the depicted character, aimed at different people. The specificity of the perception of the image by different groups of spectators, developed in his time by Maximus the Confessor for the liturgical image, which we will talk about later, is now applied by Mesarit to the pictorial image.
In the picture, as in the biblical text, there are no minor elements or details. If the artist wrote them, it means that he endowed them with some kind of meaning, and the viewer (like the reader of sacred texts) is obliged to understand it, if not in its entirety, but at least to realize its presence. Religious utilitarianism and the spirit of global symbolism, characteristic of medieval aesthetics, did not allow either the master or the viewer of that time to allow the presence of random (even the most insignificant) elements in the image.
Often carried away, as we have already seen, by describing the realistic details of the image, Mesarit never forgets about the noumenal level, towards the expression of which, in his deep conviction, the entire pictorial system of painting is oriented. Realistic elements are significant primarily as expressers of some other meaning. The expressive poses of the students in the Transfiguration emphasize, according to Nikolai, the unusualness of the event; he reports about the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus or the walk of Christ on the waters not only in direct text, but also by describing the reaction of the surrounding characters to these phenomena; Mesarit does not forget to interpret the episode with Peter cutting off the ear of the slave Malchus during the capture of Christ and the subsequent miracle of the healing of the slave by Jesus as the healing of the slave from spiritual blindness, etc. To emphasize the originality of the events depicted, Metropolitan Nicholas sometimes resorts to paradoxes traditional for Byzantine culture. Continuing, for example, the biblical tradition, he invites readers to see the voice coming from heaven in the Transfiguration. Above the heads of the depicted figures, he writes, “directly in heaven nothing else is visible except that voice with which God the Father confirmed the truth of sonship” on the Jordan. “See how a voice from the top of the dome, as if from heaven, falls like a life-giving rain on the still dry and unfruitful souls of young men, so that during times of heat and thirst, that is, doubts about the passion and resurrection, they do not find themselves in danger of unexpected misfortune” (16 ). Let us leave it to art historians to decide whether the master of the Church of the Holy Apostles tried to depict this voice in any way. Most likely, we are talking about the text on the image itself or about the rays of golden light. It is important for us that the educated Byzantine hierarch of the 12th century. I wanted to see this voice not only with my physical vision (which is very problematic), but above all with the gaze of my mind. Mesarit remembers the latter throughout the entire description of the mosaics.
The symbolic understanding of art arose in Byzantium, as has already been pointed out, not out of nowhere. It was based, on the one hand, on the centuries-old artistic practice of early Christianity and Byzantine art, and on the other hand, on the theological and philosophical theory of symbolism, which was quite detailed and deeply developed in Byzantium. When developing it, the Byzantine Fathers of the Church actively used the experience of the Greco-Roman philosophical and philological traditions, especially Neoplatonism, the exegesis of the Hebrew sages, Philo of Alexandria and the early Christians. Patristic symbolism included a whole series of although close, but inadequate concepts, such as image , image , similarity , symbol , sign , which in Byzantine culture were directly related to the sphere of art.
We find interesting thoughts about the image and symbol in the Bishop of Cyrrhus Theodoret (5th century), who paid a lot of attention to the figurative and symbolic interpretation of the texts of the Holy Scripture, believing that biblical symbolism goes back to God himself. “Since the nature of God is formless and ugly, invisible and immense, and it is completely impossible to create an image of such an essence, he commanded that symbols of his greatest gifts be placed inside the ark. The tablets meant the law, the rod - the priesthood, manna - food in the desert and bread not made with hands. And purification was a symbol of prophecy, because from there there were prophecies” (Quaest. in Exod. 60). These divine institutions inspired Christian theorists and practitioners of the symbolic interpretation of the texts of Scripture and the entire Universe as a whole.
The greatest theologian of the 4th century paid special attention to the image. Gregory of Nyssa. In literary and pictorial images, that is, in images of art, he clearly distinguished between the external form of a work and its content, which he called a “mental image,” an idea. Thus, in his opinion, in biblical texts, a fiery love for divine beauty is conveyed by the power of “mental images” contained in descriptions of sensual pleasures. In painting and verbal arts, the viewer or reader should not stop at contemplating the color spots covering the picture, or the “verbal colors” of the text, but should strive to see the idea (eidos) that the artist conveyed with the help of these colors.
Following Plotinus, Gregory does not condemn works of art as unworthy copies or “shadows of shadows.” On the contrary, in their ability to preserve and transmit “mental images” he saw the dignity and justification for the existence of art. It was this function of art that turned out to be fundamental and significant for Christianity. At the same time, Gregory of Nyssa saw it both in the verbal arts, and in painting and music, putting all these types of art on the same level and evaluating only by the ability to embody and convey “mental images”, eidos.
The judgments of Gregory of Nyssa about the image largely prepared the theory of the greatest thinker at the turn of the 5th-6th centuries, the author of the “Areopagitik” (texts signed with the name of the legendary disciple of the Apostle Paul Dionysius the Areopagite), or Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, as he is more often called in modern science. On their basis, he made deep philosophical and theological conclusions that had a significant impact on Christian medieval theology, philosophy, and aesthetics. The geoseological justification for the theory of symbol and image by the author of the Areopagitik was the idea that in the hierarchical system of transferring knowledge from God to man, it is necessary to carry out a qualitative transformation of it at the boundary of “heaven - earth”. Here an essential change occurs in the bearer of knowledge: from the spiritual (the lowest level of the heavenly hierarchy) it turns into a materialized one (the highest level of the earthly hierarchy). A special kind of “light information” (fotodosia - “light giving”) is hidden here under the veil of images, symbols, signs.
In Pseudo-Dionysius, the symbol acts as the most general philosophical and theological category, including image, sign, image, beauty, a number of other concepts, as well as many objects and phenomena of real life and especially cult practice as their specific manifestations in one or another sphere. In a letter to Titus (Ep. IX), summary of the lost treatise “Symbolic Theology”, the author of “Areopagitik” indicates that there are two ways of transmitting knowledge about truth: “One is unspoken and secret, the other is explicit and easily knowable; the first is symbolic and mysterious, the second is philosophical and publicly accessible” (Ep. IX1). The highest unspoken truth is conveyed only in the first way, which is why the ancient sages constantly used “mysterious and bold allegories,” where the unspoken was closely intertwined with the expressed (Ibid.). If a philosophical judgment contains a formal logical truth, then a symbolic image contains an incomprehensible one. All knowledge of the highest truths is contained in symbols, “for it is impossible for our mind to rise to the immaterial imitation and contemplation of the heavenly hierarchies otherwise than through the medium of its inherent material guidance, considering visible beauties an image of invisible beauty, sensual fragrances - the imprint of spiritual penetrations, material lamps - an image immaterial illumination, extensive sacred teachings - the fullness of spiritual contemplation, the order of local decorations - a hint of the harmony and orderliness of the divine, the reception of the divine Eucharist - the possession of Jesus; in short, everything about heavenly beings is super-decently conveyed to us in symbols” (CH13). The texts of Scripture, various images, and sacred Tradition are symbolic. The names of the members of the human body may be used as symbols to denote spiritual or divine powers; to describe the properties of the heavenly ranks, designations of the properties of almost all objects of the material world are often used.
Symbols and conventional signs arose, according to Pseudo-Dionysius, not for their own sake, but with a specific, and, moreover, contradictory purpose: to simultaneously reveal and hide the truth. On the one hand, the symbol serves to designate, depict and thereby reveal the incomprehensible, ugly and infinite in the finite, sensually perceived (for those who know how to perceive this symbol). On the other hand, it is a shell, cover and reliable protection of the unspoken truth from the eyes and ears of the “first comer” who is unworthy of knowing the truth.
What in a symbol allows these mutually exclusive goals to be achieved? Apparently, there are special forms of storing truth in it. The Areopagite refers to such forms, in particular, as “beauty hidden inside” the symbol and leading to the comprehension of the super-essential, spiritual light (Er. IX 1; 2). So, the non-conceptual meaning of a symbol is perceived by those striving to comprehend it, first of all, purely emotionally in the form of “beauty” and “light”. However, we are not talking about the external beauty of forms, but about a certain generalized spiritual beauty contained in any symbols - verbal, pictorial, musical, objective, cult, etc. This beauty is revealed only to those who “know how to see.” Therefore, it is necessary to teach people this “seeing” of the symbol.
Pseudo-Dionysius himself considers it his direct task to explain, to the best of his ability, “the whole variety of symbolic sacred images,” for without such an explanation many symbols seem to be “incredibly fantastic nonsense” (Ep. IX 1). Thus, God and his properties can be symbolically expressed by anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images, in the form of plants and stones; God is endowed with women's jewelry, barbaric weapons, and the attributes of artisans and artists; he is even depicted as a bitter drunkard. But in understanding symbols one should not stop at the surface; it is necessary to penetrate them to the very depths. At the same time, none of them should be neglected, since in their visible features they show “images of unspeakable and amazing sights” (Ep. IX 2).
Each symbol (= sign = image) can have a number of meanings depending on the context in which it is used and on the personal properties (“nature”) of the contemplator. However, even with this polysemy, “sacred symbols should not be confused with each other”; each of them must be understood according to its own causes and its being. Complete knowledge of the symbol leads to inexhaustible exquisite pleasure from contemplating the indescribable perfection of divine wisdom (Ep. IX 5), that is, practically, to the aesthetic completion of the process of knowledge.
The symbol is understood by the author of the Areopagitik in several aspects. First of all, he is a bearer of knowledge that can be contained in him: a) in a symbolic form, and then its content is accessible only to initiates; b) in a figurative form, understandable in general to all people of a given culture and realized primarily in art; and c) directly, when the symbol not only denotes, but also “really represents” what it denotes. The third aspect was only outlined by Pseudo-Dionysius and developed by subsequent thinkers in connection with liturgical symbolism. This symbolism largely determined the attitude of Orthodoxy as a whole towards the icon, which actively functioned both in church activities and in the entire Orthodox culture, and this will be discussed further.
The author of the Areopagitik himself dwells in more detail on the theory of the image. Images, in his opinion, are necessary to introduce a person “ineffably and incomprehensibly to the unspeakable and unknowable” (DN11), so that he “through sensory objects ascends to the spiritual and through symbolic sacred images - to the simple perfection of the heavenly hierarchy”, “which has no sensory image" (SN 13).
The Areopagite develops a harmonious hierarchy of images, with the help of which true knowledge is transmitted from the level of the heavenly world to the level human existence. Literary and pictorial images occupy their specific place in it - at the level of the sacraments, that is, somewhere between the heavenly and earthly (church) levels of the hierarchy. The “immaterial” rank of hierarchy is depicted in them through “material images” and “collections of images” (SN 13). Depending on the way these “figurative structures” are organized, the meaning of the same “sacred images” can be different. Accordingly, knowledge in this system is multi-valued. Its quality and quantity also depend on the subjects of perception (“in accordance with each person’s ability for divine insights.” - CH IX 2).
The polysemantic image was the main element in the system of Byzantine knowledge. In the understanding of the Fathers of the Church, not only the sacred hierarchy, but also the entire structure of the universe is permeated with the intuition of the image. An image is the most important way of communication and correlation between fundamentally incompatible and incoherent levels of being and super-being.
Pseudo-Dionysius, relying on his system of designating God, distinguished two methods of depicting spiritual entities and, accordingly, two types of images that differ in character and principles of isomorphism - similar, “similar” and “dissimilar” (SNII3).
The first method is based on cataphatic (affirmative) theology and is still in line classical philosophy and aesthetics. It consists in “capturing and revealing spiritual essences in images that correspond to them and, if possible, related, borrowing these images from beings that we highly reverence, as if immaterial and higher” (SN II2); that is, “similar” images must represent a collection of highest degree positive properties, characteristics and qualities inherent in objects and phenomena of the material world. They are called upon to represent certain perfect in all respects, depictable (in words, paints or stone) images - the ideal limits of the conceivable perfection of the created world. For Pseudo-Dionysius, all “visible beauties” and positive evaluative characteristics are concentrated in “similar” images. In this regard, God is called “word”, “mind”, “beauty”, “light”, “life”, etc. However, these images, despite all their ideality and sublimity, are truly “far from resembling a deity. For it is above every being and life; cannot be any light, and every word and mind is incomparably removed from resemblance to it” (SN II3). Compared to God, even these “visible beauties”, the most revered by people, are “unworthy images” (Ibid.).
The author of the Areopagitik values “unlike resemblances” (SN II4), which he develops in line with apophatic theology, much more highly, believing that “if in relation to divine objects negative designations are closer to the truth than affirmative ones, then for revealing the invisible and inexpressible it is more dissimilar images are suitable” (SN II3). Here Pseudo-Dionysius continues the line of the Alexandrian theological school, based on Philo (Origen, Gregory of Nyssa). He draws theoretical conclusions based on the extensive exegetical material of this school, which confirms the vitality of its traditions for the entire Byzantine culture.
Dissimilar images must be built on principles diametrically opposed to ancient ideals. In them, according to Pseudo-Dionysius, there should be a complete absence of properties perceived by people as noble, beautiful, light-like, harmonious, etc., so that a person, contemplating the image, does not imagine the archetype as being similar to rough material forms(even if among people they are considered the noblest) and did not stop his mind on them. To depict higher spiritual beings, it is better to borrow images from low and despised objects, such as animals, plants, stones and even worms (SNII5), while divine objects depicted in this way are given, according to the Areopagite, much more glory. This interesting theological-aesthetic concept is not his invention. It goes back to early Christian symbolism.
The idea of great figurative and symbolic significance of insignificant, nondescript and even ugly objects and phenomena is often found among early Christian thinkers, who expressed the aspirations of the “nondescript”, disadvantaged part of the population of the Roman Empire. It fit well into the radical revaluation of many traditional ancient values carried out by early Christianity. Everything that was considered valuable in the world of the Roman aristocracy (including wealth, jewelry, external beauty and significance, ancient arts) lost its meaning in the eyes of the early Christians, and everything unprepossessing and despised by Rome was endowed with high spiritual meaning. Hence the fairly widespread ideas about the nondescript appearance of Christ, characteristic of the first centuries of Christianity.
Pseudo-Dionysius, in the system of his antinomian thinking, came to the conscious use of the law of contrast to express sublime phenomena. Dissimilar images have a special kind of sign-symbolic nature. Imitating low objects of the material world, they must carry in such an unworthy form information that has nothing to do with these objects. By the very “inconsistency of images”, dissimilar images amaze the viewer (or listener) and orient him towards something opposite to what is depicted - towards absolute spirituality. Because everything related to spiritual beings, Pseudo-Dionysius emphasizes, should be understood in a completely different, as a rule, diametrically opposite sense than it is usually thought of in relation to objects of the material world. All carnal, sensual and even obscene phenomena, desires and objects can mean in this regard phenomena of the highest spirituality. Thus, in descriptions of spiritual beings, anger means “a strong movement of the mind,” lust means love for the spiritual, the desire for contemplation and unification with the highest truth, light, beauty, etc. (SN II4).
Dissimilar images, in the view of the Areopagite, should “by the very dissimilarity of the signs excite and elevate the soul” (SN II3). Hence the images themselves are called elevating (apagogical) by Pseudo-Dionysius. The idea of raising (άναγωγή) the human spirit with the help of an image to Truth and Archetype became from that time one of the leading ideas of Byzantine culture. Such ideas opened up unlimited possibilities for the development of Christian symbolic and allegorical art in all its forms and substantiated the need for its existence in Christian culture.
Canon 82 of the Council of Trullo abolished allegorical depictions of Christ, but it had virtually no effect on the general spirit of symbolism in Byzantine culture in general and in artistic practice in particular. And although the polemics of iconoclasts and icon-worshippers revolved around mimetic images, and it is with them that the main theoretical research of the defenders of icons is connected, they could not do without understanding and the symbolic basis of the pictorial image. The very conventional-symbolic spirit of the cult images of the Byzantines did not allow many of them to dwell only on the visible surface of these images.
One of the active defenders of icons is the famous theologian, philosopher and church poet John of Damascus (c. 650 - d. before 754) main function Following Pseudo-Dionysius, he considered symbolic images to be apagogic - the elevation of the human spirit to “smart contemplation” of the archetype itself, its knowledge and unity with it. These ideas were also close to the fighters for icon veneration of the next generation. Thus, Patriarch Nicephorus (d. c. 829) convinced the iconoclasts that symbolic images were given to us by “divine grace” and fatherly wisdom to raise our minds to contemplate the properties of symbolically depicted spiritual entities and imitate them as far as possible.
In general, the Byzantine theory of symbol united the main spheres of Christian spiritual culture - ontology, epistemology, religion, art, literature, ethics. And this unification was carried out, which is characteristic of Byzantine culture, on the basis of the religious and aesthetic significance of the symbol. Performing a wide variety of functions in spiritual culture, the symbol or image was ultimately turned to the innermost foundations of the human spirit, to its universal source. By this very appeal and penetration into the deep world, inaccessible to the superficial observer, the symbol aroused spiritual pleasure, testifying to consonance, agreement, connection at the essential level of the subject of perception (man) with the object expressed in the symbol or image, ultimately - of man with God.
The magazine “Scales”, under the leadership of Bryusov, fiercely opposed Gorky, while Gorky, noting his alienness to the literary position of the Symbolists (they are “disgustingly proud,” “cold,” and “too spectators of life”), at the same time appreciated their professional artistic skill. “You know,” he wrote to L. Andreev in 1907, “that in this public I appreciate its love of words, respect its keen interest in literature, recognize its serious cultural merit - it enriched the language with a mass of new phrases, it created a wonderful verse and - for all this I cannot help but say - thank you, from the bottom of my heart - thank you for what, over time, history will tell them.”
The poetics of the symbolists is associated with a metaphorical perception of the world. Metaphor in their poetry usually goes beyond the narrow meaning of a single image and receives further independent development, subordinating other details arising from it, or even becomes the basis of an entire poetic work. Thus, Bryusov’s poem “To Damascus” is based on an expanded metaphor of passion-sacred action.
In Annensky's poetry, the metaphor of heartache as an expression of mental anguish was deployed more than once. In “The Gas Butterfly” the heart is the flame of a street gas lamp, a butterfly ready to fall “from the flickering lines of existence.” The poetic images here are objective and at the same time, having received metaphorical development, are translated into a symbolic plane. The metaphorical “resentment of a doll” thrown into a waterfall for fun symbolizes Annensky’s loneliness and mutual alienation in the human world (“That was on Wallen-Koski”).
The metaphorical nature of Symbolist poetry was so strong that the words in it often lost their objective meaning. In Blok’s “Snow Mask” cycle, poetic images of love passion, expressed in the metaphors of “blizzard”, “fire”, “wine”, “bonfire”, are so tied together that they come into complete contradiction with the direct meaning of these words, creating new ideas ( “She was a living fire made of snow and wine”). Researchers of Blok's work call him a poet of metaphor.
The complexity of the image in the poetics of symbolism corresponds to “mystery,” “mystery,” and understatement in the development of the lyrical theme. Such alarming understatement is characteristic to a certain extent of all symbolists. Along with metaphors, younger symbolists widely used “shaky”, obscured symbols, which served as a hint of another, higher or ideal existence. “A symbol is only a true symbol,” wrote Ivanov, “when it is inexhaustible and limitless in its meaning.”<...>It has many faces, many meanings and is always dark in its final depths.”
The ambiguity of the artistic image was enhanced by a broad appeal to myth; the mythologization of life phenomena expressed one of the essential features of symbolist poetics. Symbolists saw in myth the highest aesthetic, even super-aesthetic value. “We are following the path of symbol to myth,” Vyach asserted. Ivanov, who spoke with the utopian idea of myth-making as a national art that transforms the world. For him, “myth is a postulate of worldly consciousness.”
The “myths” of the Symbolists are far from genuine myths as a historically conditioned, naive, imaginative and unconsciously artistic representation of the world. In the article “The Magic of the Word,” Bely explained: “When I say: “The moon is a white horn,” of course, with my consciousness I do not affirm the existence of a mythical animal, whose horn in the form of a month I see in the sky; but in the deepest essence of my creative self-affirmation I cannot help but believe in the existence of some reality, the symbol or reflection of which is the metaphorical image I created. Poetic speech is directly related to mythical creativity; the desire for a figurative combination of words is a fundamental feature of poetry.”
Each of the Symbolists had their own circle of “myths” or key symbolic images. Such, for example, is the myth of Sologub - the evil Serpent or Dragon soaring in the sky.
Symbolists often resorted to high style. One of his expressions was the abundance of archaisms, taken to the extreme in the poems of Ivanov, a poet-philologist. His poems were often so overloaded with them and so confused in their syntax that they became a favorite target of parodists. “As long as Ivanov Vyacheslav is alive in the pits, Tredyakovsky, cheered up, will do magic,” wrote A. A. Izmailov.
The unusualness of the poetic language of the Symbolists corresponds to its sound: frequent alliteration, melodic song or romance intonation, and a variety of rhythms. The initiator of the renewal of the sound structure of Russian poetry at the turn of the century was Balmont. Bryusov and Blok contributed a lot to updating the poetic language.
The unusual nature of the poetic language of the Symbolists was emphasized by the titles of their books. “Natura naturans.” “Natura naturata” - words from Spinoza’s “Ethics” are the title of the book of poems by A. M. Dobrolyubov. “Me eum esse” (“This is me”), “Tertia vigilia” (“The Third Watch”), “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and the World”) - these are the Latin titles of Bryusov’s poetry collections. One of his early books bears the French title: “Chefs d’oeuvre” (“Masterpieces”); the other is Greek: “Stephanos” (“Wreath”). “Cor ardens” (“Flaming Heart”) is the title of Vyach’s book. Ivanova.
Symbolist poetry also often contains epigraphs borrowed from the works of foreign authors or from ancient philosophical and religious texts. Numerous epigraphs in the poetry of Vyach. Ivanov give her the imprint of “learnedness” with a certain dedication to higher knowledge.
History of Russian literature: in 4 volumes / Edited by N.I. Prutskov and others - L., 1980-1983.
Symbolic images and motifs are varied. They are subject to the “threefold classification” of I.B. Rodnyanskaya, who considers the symbolic image and motif depending on its objectivity, semantic generality, and structure (i.e., the relationship between the objective and semantic plans). The dominant role is played by superimages, constituting the framework diagram of the entire work, which resembles a graphic image of a triangle inscribed in a circle. The circle is an artistic space that contains not only the geography of the Crimean town, but also the scale of all of Russia. This is also a philosophical-cosmic circle, containing the entire universe. In the epic, it turns into a “circle of hell”, drenched in blood, a circle-loop, a circle-tangle. “The circle of hell” - the superimage of the epic - captivated and swirled the hero-narrator: “... I’m looking, I’m looking... The black, inescapable thing walks with me. It won’t leave until death.” Understatement, metaphorical semi-matter (“black is walking”) create subtext, causing an emotional response and a guess about the tragedy in the implicit reader. In the same chapter, a distraught old woman who has lost her husband and son “circles.” The parallelism of destinies emphasizes the typicality of the situation.
Circle - Symbolizes infinity, perfection and completeness. This geometric figure serves to display the continuity of development of the universe, time, life, and their unity. The circle is a solar symbol, which is due not only to its shape, but also to the circular nature of the daily and annual movement of the sun. This figure is associated with protection (a magic circle outlined for protection from evil spirits is used in various traditions). The circle is one of the forms of creating space. Various architectural structures are circular in plan; settlements are built in the shape of a circle. In most traditions, the cosmos, as an ordered space of life, appears in the form of a ball, graphically represented by a circle. The symbolism of the circle also reflects the idea of cyclical time ( Russian word"time" is traced back to the root with the meaning "that which rotates"; the zodiac, the personification of the year, is the “circle of animals”). Due to the fact that the circle is traditionally associated with the sun and is considered as the most perfect of figures, superior to others, dominating them, the supreme deity is also represented in the form of a circle. In Zen Buddhism, where there is no concept of God, the circle becomes a symbol of enlightenment as an absolute. The Chinese symbol of yang-yin, which looks like a circle divided in half by a wavy line, symbolizes the interaction and interpenetration of two principles of existence. In Dante, the Trinity is embodied in the image of three equal circles of different colors. One of them (God the Son) seemed to be a reflection of the other (God the Father), like a rainbow born of a rainbow, and the third (God the Spirit) seemed like a flame born of both of these circles (according to the teachings of Catholicism, the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and Son). In this context, the symbolism of the circle was established when fixing the idea of supreme power on earth (sphere-power, ring).
At the apex point of the triangle there are superimages of the sun, sky, and stars. “The sun of the dead” - summer, hot, Crimean - over dying people and animals. “This sun deceives with its brilliance. He sings that there will be many more wonderful days, the velvet season is approaching.” Although the author explains towards the end that the “sun of the dead” is said about the pale, half-winter Crimean. (And he also sees the “tin sun of the dead” in the indifferent eyes of distant Europeans. By 1923 he had already felt it there, abroad.) The image of the sun , the dominant one, who determined the oxymoronic title of the book, in its various guises “floods” the space of the epic. The frequency of mention of the sun in the epic indicates the author’s goal to create an image that is a vehicle for the idea of the universal unity of Death and Resurrection. Sun - the oldest cosmic symbol, known to all peoples, means life, the source of life, light. Such characteristics as supremacy, life-creation, activity, heroism, and omniscience are associated with solar symbolism. The solar cult is most developed in the Egyptian, Indo-European, Mesoamerican traditions. The image of a solar deity traveling in a chariot drawn by four white horses has been preserved in Indo-Iranian, Greco-Roman, and Scandinavian mythology. Solar deities and divine personifications of the sun are endowed with the attributes of omniscience and all-vision, as well as supreme power. The all-seeing eye of the solar deity embodies the guarantee of justice. It sees everything and knows everything - this is one of the most important qualities of the solar deity. In Christianity, the sun becomes a symbol of God and the word of God - life-bearing and eternal; bearers of the word of God have it as their emblem; the true church is shown clothed in the sun (Rev. 12). The righteous man shines like the sun (according to the tradition representing holiness, the spirit in the form of light). In the first part of the epic, the sun is mentioned 58 times (life is slowly coming to an end, it is still illuminated by the sun and is being incinerated by it). The second part, chapters 17-28, is a story about the survival of those who have not yet died. Winter, desert, darkness take over. The sun overcomes the darkness only 13 times, drawn by the author more often in metalogical images. In chapters 23-25, the final ones, ascending to the “end of ends,” the sun appears even less often - 9 times. But his special activity is noted in the last lines of the epic, which record a clear movement towards the Renaissance.
The coming collapse is also associated with the sun. Under it, in the mornings, days, evenings, the living goes into oblivion, and the “eye” of the sun sees off life: “I look behind the beam: on the balcony the Peacock no longer meets the sun.” “And how many great ones are there now who knew the sun, and who go away in darkness!.” . But the sun, which carries a wide range of meanings in the epic, is most often narrowed down to the semantic unit “sign of departure”: “The sun laughs at the Dead,” “A stripe runs, runs... and goes out. Truly - the sun of the dead!” , "This is the sun of death."
The sun-symbol connects all the super-images of the epic into one framework diagram. “Revived” by the author, it “revitalizes” all the other symbolic peaks of the epic: “I will live in the rocks. The sun, the stars, and the sea...”.
Images of eternal cosmic nature: ( stars- the image is ambiguous. This is a symbol of eternity, light, high aspirations, ideals. In various traditions it was believed that each person has his own star, which is born and dies with him (or that the soul of a person comes from the star and then returns to it, a similar idea is present in Plato). The star is associated with the night, but also embodies the forces of the spirit that oppose the forces of darkness. It also acts as a symbol of divine greatness. In Sumerian cuneiform, the sign denoting a star acquired the meaning “sky”, “God”.
The symbolic aspects of the image are associated with the idea of multiplicity (stars in the sky are a symbol of an immense multitude) and organization, order, for the stars have their own order and destiny in the constellations. Individual constellations and stars in the “physical” sky are given their own meaning. The air element of the sky determines the fact that it is thought of as the soul, the breath of the world. Possessing the properties of inaccessibility and enormousness, in the mythological consciousness it is endowed with incomprehensibility, omniscience, and greatness. Typically, the deity of the heavens is the supreme god. In the Indo-European tradition, the supreme deity is expressed by the stem deiuo, meaning "clear day sky"; hence the ancient Indian Dyaus, the Greek Zeus, the Roman Jupiter as Dyaus Pitar, Sky-father, etc. The idea of the supreme ruler goes back to the symbolism of the sky. Usually personifies the male, fertilizing principle (an exception is Egyptian mythology), and is perceived as a source of life-giving moisture and heat. The cosmogonic ideas of many peoples reflect the motives for the separation of heaven from earth and the marriage of heaven and earth. In Egyptian mythology, the sky goddess Nut marries the earth god Geb. In Chinese mythology, heaven and earth appear as the father and mother of all people: at the same time, heaven gave birth to men, and earth to women (from which the idea of two principles of nature and the idea that a woman should be subordinate to a man, like the earth to heaven, subsequently came from). In Greek mythology, Uranus the sky is ashamed of its monstrous children (the Titans, Cyclops and Hecatoncheires) and keeps them in mother earth.
Every divine being is represented as heavenly. Therefore, the gods of Sumer shone with a strong light, therefore more later cultures have internalized the concept of light as an expression of supreme greatness. The royal tiara and throne, according to the Sumerians, were lowered from heaven. In Chinese mythology, heaven (tian) appears as the embodiment of a certain higher principle that governs everything that happens on earth; the emperor himself rules according to the “mandate of Heaven.”
Heaven appears as an image of paradise, imperishable, unchanging, true, surpassing all conceivable oppositions of the absolute. The multi-level sky (an image common in all mythological traditions) acts as a reflection of ideas about the hierarchy of divine (sacred) powers. The number of celestial spheres usually varies in accordance with the numerical symbolism of a particular tradition) that attract the gaze of the producing consciousness - raise the work to a supermundane height, where everyday life and philosophical descriptions intersect, where ideological blocks are melted: suffering and the cosmos are united, but also far from each other . A moment of destruction on a small point on earth is nothing in comparison with the eternity of the world: “We are silent. We look at the stars, at the sea.” ; “I went out under the sky, looked at the stars...” The castel is golden, thicker than gray stone more … Sky- in a new autumn splendor... At night - black from stars... In the morning, eaglets begin to play in the sky. AND sea it became much darker. Dolphin splashes flash on it more often, jagged wheels…" ?
At the points of the other two corners there is an image of the sea and stone.
Sea- Means the original waters, chaos, formlessness, material existence, endless movement. This is the source of all life, containing within itself all potencies, the sum of all possibilities in manifested form, the incomprehensible Great Mother. It also symbolizes the sea of life that is to be crossed. The two seas, fresh and salty (bitter), are Heaven and Earth, Upper and Lower Waters, which were originally one; the salt sea is exoteric knowledge, the fresh sea is esoteric. In the Sumerian-Semitic tradition, the Akkadian primordial waters were associated with wisdom. All living things arose from fresh water - Apsu, and from salt water - Tiamat, symbolizing the power of the waters, the feminine principle and the blind forces of chaos. Among the Taoists, the sea is identified with Tao, the original and inexhaustible, animating all creation without being exhausted (Zhuanzi). In Russian fairy tales, living (fresh sea) and dead (salt sea) water were used.
Having turned into an image-motive in Russian literature, I.S. The Shmelev Sea takes on special features. The image-motive of the Russian sea is always a participant human destiny, often stands above a person. In the epic this trait is taken to the highest degree. Having swallowed human labor, the sea freezes in inaction: “The Dead Sea is here: cheerful steamers don’t like it. Eaten, drunk, knocked out - everything. It’s dried up.” Different seas (the sea has devoured, the sea has died) - there is one sea, and therefore even more active. E.A. Osminina in the article “Song of Songs of Death” expresses the idea of creating I.S. Shmelev's myth about the Kingdom of the Dead. Ancient Cimmeria (now the Crimean land near the Kerch Strait) has risen from the ashes and requires new victims. Sacrifices are made in pits, ditches, ravines, and the sea. "I look at the sea.
And then the sun comes out for a moment and splashes out with pale tin. Truly the sun of the dead!" The window into the kingdom of death is the Crimean Sea: "It was not invented: there is Hell! Here it is and its deceptive circle... - the sea, the mountains... - a wonderful screen."
Stones and rocks are an integral part of the Crimean coastal landscape. Their role in work of art may be limited to a decorative function, since the scene on which the action unfolds is a mountainous part of the Alushta region: “Every morning I notice how the spots are creeping higher, and there is more gray stone... Sipping with a strong, fragrant bitterness from the mountains, autumn mountain wine - wormwood stone ". There are numerous references to the gray stone in the epic. The “gray frame of stone” of all events in the work plays the role of the main background, setting the emotive tone. The stone is me is a symbol of the highest, absolute being, symbolizes stability, constancy, strength. Stones have long been used in magic and healing; they were believed to bring good luck. The stone is one of the symbols of mother earth. In the Greek myth, Deucalion and Pyrrha throw stones over their heads - the “bones of the foremother” (earth). Stones are also associated with the belief that they accumulate earthly energy; for this reason, stones were endowed with magical powers and were used in various rituals, and also served as talismans. At the archaic stages of the cult, the sacredness of stones is associated with the idea that the souls of ancestors are embodied in them. For example, the Bible mentions those who say to the stone: “Thou hast given birth to me.” In India and Indonesia, stones are seen as the residence of the spirits of the dead. A similar idea reflects the custom, widespread in various cultures, of placing stones carved in the form of a column near tombs. Thus, we can talk about the emergence of the idea that eternity, not achievable in life, is achieved in death through the incarnation of the soul in stone. In the Middle Ages in Rus', one of the most worthy deeds was to rebuild a wooden church into a stone one (in this case, additional connotations also arise: stone is opposed to wood, which is fragile and unproductive, and acts as an image of wealth, power and power).
The stone lives an epically diverse life. The metaphor (reification) reaches its highest power in the words of the hero-narrator about the immensity of a person’s depersonalization in front of the enormity of the new power: “... I... Who is this - I?! A stone lying under the sun. With eyes. With ears - a stone. Wait for it to kick foot. There’s nowhere to go from here...” Stone-darkness, desert-darkness, winter-darkness, absorbing into their images all the chilling horror felt by the transmitting consciousness, hang over the space of the epic, relentlessly following the acting figures of the work. Stone at I.S. Shmelev is mythologized. By changing his face, he turns from a messenger of death into a savior. “Blessed stone! ... At least six people lost their lives! ... Stones will cover the brave.” The theme of God, complexly carried out by I.S. Shmelev, through the faces of Mohammed, Buddha, Christ, in one of the middle chapters touches on the still “dead” stone. With the name of Buddha in the doctor’s mouth, he comes to life: “The wise stone,” and I go down into it! I pray to the mountains, their purity and the Buddha in them!” .
The eye is a special image of the epic. Eye, eye of God: a symbol of vision, physical or spiritual vision, as well as observation, combined with Light - insight. The eye represents all the solar gods, who have the fertilizing power of the sun, which is embodied in the king god. Plato called the eye the main solar instrument. On the one hand, it is the mystical eye, light, insight, knowledge, intelligence, vigilance, protection, stability and determination, but on the other hand, it is the limitation of the visible. IN Ancient Greece the eye symbolizes Apollo, the observer of the heavens, the Sun, which is also the eye of Zeus (Jupiter). Plato believed that the soul has an eye, and the Truth is visible to him alone.
The author sees the eye of every object (animate, inanimate) included in the displayed system, and the life of these eyes is the life of the image as a whole. The eyes of the people being killed are eyes that change into grimaces of agony. A system of epithets and comparisons makes every mention of human eyes tragically peculiar: “He begged with words, with eyes that were difficult to look into the eyes...” ; “She tortures me with her eyes wide with anxiety”; "... eyes melting with tears!." ; "... with fading eyes he will look at the garden..." ; "...looks with strained, bloody eyes. Tortures them" ; "...his eyes, filled with glassy fear..." ;
Sits yellow, with sunken eyes - a mountain bird." A general meaning is given to the phrase - the result in the "dead part" of the book, made up of enumerations of deaths: "Thousands of hungry eyes, thousands of tenacious hands stretching across the mountains for a pound of bread..."?
The eyes of those “who go out to kill” are defined by epithets from antithetical-positive ones, which creates the effect of increasing hostility towards the depicted image (“clear-eyed executioners” [2; p. 74], “Sitting there... a poet, in appearance!. in the eyes - dreamy, to the point of spirituality! Something like this is out of this world! " [2; p. 122], to outright negative, revealing author's position rejection of the new government: "... dull-eyed, high-cheekboned, thick-necked..." ; “...looked around at his living eyes - strangers...” ; "Mikhelson, by last name...green, evil eyes, like a snake..." ; “...eyes heavy as lead, covered in a film of blood and oil, well-fed...”[ 2; p.48]; "... sharp eyes, with a gimlet, grippy hands..." .
Animal and plant worlds those dying next to the person also look. The power of this silent gaze is majestic, which is achieved by the author’s utmost attention to the nature of color, form, and the nature of the phenomenon: The Cow looks “with glass eyes, blue from the sky and the windy sea.” “Your eyes are like a film of tin, and the sun in them is like tin...” - about the chicken[ 2; p.42].
Blood, according to E.A. Osminina, as a word, in the poem is “devoid of its physiological, naturalistic connotation.” However, the range of meanings of this lexeme is so wide that aspects excluded by the researcher are also strong in it. The image, filling the entire space of the closed circle of the framework diagram, seems to “flood” the whole of Russia, which is this circle. A topographic point - a dacha village - grows in this scheme to the size of the entire doomed country: “I strain my imagination, I look around all of Russia... ...Blood is gushing everywhere...”. Blood - Universal symbol; endowed with cult status. Blood among many peoples was understood as a container of vital force, an immaterial principle (something similar to the soul, if the latter concept was not developed). In the Bible, the soul is identified with blood: “For the soul of every body is its blood, it is its soul” (Lev. 17), which is what led to the ban on eating blood and unbleached meat. Initially, blood acts as a symbol of life; The following rituals are associated with this performance archaic cultures, like smearing blood (or red paint symbolizing it) on the forehead of seriously ill patients, women in labor and newborn babies. By blood all things are purified, and without shed blood there is no forgiveness, the Bible says. Blood is closely associated with sacrifice, the purpose of which is to pacify formidable forces and eliminate the threat of punishment. Payment in blood for the development of new spaces of existence and the acquisition of new degrees of freedom acts as an attribute of the existence of people throughout their history. The super image of blood in the epic goes back to the apocalyptic symbol of the end of the world. Just as in the Apocalypse the earth is soaked in the blood of prophets and saints and all those killed, so in the epic Russia is drenched in the blood of the people: “Wherever you look, you can’t escape the blood... Isn’t it getting out of the earth, playing through the vineyards? Soon it will paint everything in the dying hills forests"
Death, contrary to the semantics implied in the title, does not become a superimage of the epic. The image of death is dissolved in every semantic segment of the work, but the word “death” is mentioned extremely rarely. In the scene of the last meeting of the hero-narrator with the writer Shishkin, the presentiment of death is conveyed by the narrator in a “reverse” way: the strengthening of the subjective feeling is achieved by external rejection of this feeling: “And I don’t feel that death is looking into him.” joyful eyes, wants to play again." Personification, with its inherent simplicity, best at the end of the work transforms death from a passive image, from a phenomenon generated by other objects, into an aggressive image and a self-acting phenomenon: "Death stands at the door and will stand, stubbornly, until it leads away everyone." Death - Acts as an image of changing the current state of being, transforming forms and processes, as well as liberation from something. Death in the symbolic tradition is associated with the moon, dying and being reborn; with night, sleep (in Greek mythology Thanatos appears as the child of Nyx, night, and brother of Hypnos, sleep); with the element of earth, which receives everything that exists; with the property of invisibility (hades - formless); with white, black and green colors. In various mythologies, death is described as the result of the fall of the first ancestors, as a punishment for humanity. Widely known
The allegory of death depicts her in the form of an old woman or a skeleton with a scythe, but it is the latter that sets the possibility of a way out of the one-sided understanding of death as the end of life: the mown grass grows again even more luxuriantly, the cut ear will give rise to many new ones. Death participates in the process of constant rebirth of nature: burial is sowing, the underworld is the womb of the earth, the god of the underworld is the guardian and lord of the riches of the earth (this is Hades, who gives Persephone a pomegranate - a symbol of prosperity and fertility). In European languages, the name of the deity of the underworld is denoted by the word indicating wealth; the deity of the dead was traditionally represented as the owner of countless treasures. Death can be considered as an accomplishment, the fulfillment of fate: only those who have completed their earthly journey are considered to have passed their destiny (in the ancient Egyptian “Harper’s Song” the deceased is designated as a person “in his place”). Unlike the gods, man is mortal, and it is the finitude of his existence that gives the specificity of his life as a complete whole.
The image of death was actively used in the mystical tradition; in Sufism, the concept of death acts as a symbol of renunciation of personal individuality and comprehension of the absolute. Death, the shedding of the external Self, only means birth itself, the acquisition by the spirit of true existence: “Choose death and tear the veil. But not such a death as to go to the grave, but a death leading to spiritual renewal in order to enter the Light” (J. Rumi). Death as a way out of the limits of this world is not given to man as an object of knowledge: “To look behind the lowered curtain of darkness. Our powerless minds are incapable. At the moment when the curtain falls from our eyes, we turn into ethereal dust, into nothing” (Khayyam). Death is a threshold situation, located on the boundaries of individual existence; she is beyond classification. It appears as a phenomenon that is forcibly restrained and dangerous, since it can break out at any moment, and therefore, in various traditions, contact with death was perceived as desecration. Man has an inherent desire for destruction and self-destruction (manifesting mainly, although not exclusively, in the form of war), and he is tempted by the subtle charm of death. Its presence sharpens the perception of life: this is how the ancient Egyptians placed a skeleton in the feast halls, which was supposed to remind of the inevitability of death and stimulate the enjoyment of the joys of this world. There are many ways to convey the concept of “death” in the epic: from enlightened, everyday expressions containing an elementary comparison (“He died quietly. So the outlived leaf falls”), to allegorical ones.
The revival of Russia is possible only “on the basis of religious, on the basis of highly moral, - the Gospel teaching of active love,” writes I.S. Shmelev in the article “Dead and Living Paths” (1925). The Russian Orthodox cross is a special symbolic image-motive in the epic. The image of the Cross, which arose in the hero’s imagination from the tangles of branches of a bushy hornbeam, is a special unit in the epic. "... the Cross will hum - howl - living nature itself - in the deserted Blue Beam." The personification, which combines in one image mute nature (tree), animate nature (hum-howl), Christian faith (shape of the cross), comes out of the series of Orthodox attributes that fill the epic and becomes a symbol. The detail, the bottle on this cross, carries a different symbolic meaning: the bottle is a sign of the new government’s desecration of faith, shrines, and spirit. The cross in various cultures symbolizes the highest sacred values: life, fertility, immortality. The cross can be considered as a cosmic symbol: its crossbar symbolizes the horizon, its vertical post symbolizes the axis of the world; the ends of the cross represent the four cardinal directions. The cross is a common image in the Western tradition, due equally to both the influence of Christianity and the original meaning of the symbol. It plays an important role in religious and magical rituals; widely used in emblems; Many insignia (orders, medals) have the shape of a cross. The cross can act as a personal sign, signature; as a talisman, talisman; as an image of death and a sign of cancellation, deletion.
Just like everything that is described in reality by Shmelev always has the character of a symbol. What is unusual in the story is that animals and birds are described in more detail than people in the situation of fighting starvation. ( bird- a widespread symbol of spirit and soul in the ancient world, retaining this meaning in Christian symbolism. The bird is often depicted in the hands of the Baby Jesus or tied to a rope. Most often, this is a goldfinch associated with Christ by the legend that he acquired his red spot at the moment when he flew to Christ ascending Calvary and sat on his head. When the goldfinch removed a thorn from Christ’s eyebrow, a drop of the Savior’s blood splashed onto him. Birds, created on the fifth day of the creation of the world, are patronized by Francis of Assisi (about 1182-1226). The bird is a symbol of air and an attribute of Juno when she personifies air, as well as an attribute of one of the five senses - touch. In allegorical images of Spring, captured and tamed birds sit in a cage. In many religious traditions, birds mediate the connection between heaven and earth. The image of the head of a deity or a person against the background of a bird has ancient traditions: Egyptian god He appeared in the form of an ibis, and the kneeling believers were depicted with a feather on their heads, which testified to the transmission of instructions from above. The Roman Cupid (Cupid) was also winged. Thus, the peacock with its “desert cry” became a truly colorful animal character. The often mentioned chickens are also significant in the plot. It is they who, no matter how much their owner protects, guards and almost cherishes them, are potential victims of real vultures. An old pear tree, “hollow and crooked, blooms and dries for years” protects the chickens from birds of prey. everything is waiting for a change. The shift doesn't come. And she, stubborn, waits and waits, pours, blooms and dries. Hawks are hiding on it. Crows love to swing in a storm” [P.14]. Scares away Lala's predators with a wild cry. “How many people trembled over them, covered them when they went to take away the “surplus”... They covered them. And now they are afraid of hawks, winged vultures” [P.37]. These same unfortunate chickens are the coveted “food” of two-legged “vultures”: “Behind the hill below there live “uncles” who love to eat... And they love to eat chickens! No matter how they come for you, to take away the “surplus”... And the hawk is already guarded along the beams” [P.36. ] Further, in the context, everyday reality and its allegorical equivalent merge in a symbolic picture: “Now I know well how chickens tremble, how they huddle under rose hips, under walls, squeeze into cypress trees - they stand trembling, stretching out and retracting their necks, trembling with frightened pupils. I know well how people are afraid of people - are they people? - how they poke their heads into the cracks (who: chicken people?). The hawks will be forgiven: this is their daily bread. We eat a leaf and tremble before the hawks! The winged vultures are frightened by Lyalya’s voice, and those who go out to kill are not frightened even by the eyes of a child” [P.38]. Thus, the peacock and chickens move from the realm of everyday life into the sphere of allegorical depiction. Through the animalistic theme, a symbol expressive in its associative richness is implied , revealing the very essence of Shmelev’s ideas about the time of total fear in which his heroes live.
The listed motif images can be classified as individual (according to the system of I.B. Rodnyanskaya). “Individual images are created by the original, sometimes bizarre imagination of the artist and express the measure of his originality and uniqueness.”
