«Проповедующая» архитектура: Спасо-Вифанская обитель митрополита Платона

Abstract

The Saviour of Bethany Monastery was founded by Metropolitan Platon (Levshin) near the Trinity Lavra of St.Sergius in 1783. The Transfiguration Cathedral of Bethany had an extraordinary altar in the shape of a grotto, which, according to the founder’s plan, was supposed to represent the evangelical Tabor. After a series of harmful reconstructions in the 19th century, in the 1930s, the monastery ceased to exist. Thereafter this unique building was excluded from the paradigm of studying the history of the 18th century Russian architecture. The article examines a set of ideas behind Metropolitan Platon’s intention as reflected in his writings. There is not enough material on the construction of the monastery; consequently, the texts of the founder himself are particularly valuable, even though they mostly belong to the genre of sermon that does not imply a commemorative function. Also, as a possible approach to the problem, the article suggests considering the pastoral speeches of Platon that were delivered in the Bethany Cathedral as works that formed an ensemble with its architecture. Five speeches of Metropolitan Platon have been analysed, fixing his theological interpretation of the gospel stories, which the altars of the cathedral and the monastery itself are dedicated to: the Resurrection of Lazarus and his house in Bethany, the Transfiguration of Christ, and the mount Tabor. “Autobiography” by Platon and some writings by his contemporaries have also been investigated. All these sources have allowed to, firstly, clarify the precondition for Platon’s design of the Bethany monastery and highlight its particular reflexive level; and secondly, to put fundamentally different questions to sermons, which were previously considered only as a kind of written sources, and to show their connection with temple architecture as synthesis of arts.