The Counter-Reformation Art Serving the Orthodoxy: The Changes in the Artistic Concept of Ukrainian Iconostasis during the Second Quarter of the 17th Century

Abstract

The paper analyzes the reasons causing the structural and plastic changes of Ukrainian iconostases during the second quarter of the 17th century and eventually resulting in the Ukrainian iconostasis of the Baroque period. During the period, the iconostasis achieved monumentality and plasticity in the interpretation of the façade side as a result of introduction of the broken entablature, deep niches for icons, and passages to the altar, as well as to exceptionally rich carved decor, which, in general, added spaciousness to its architectural composition. The specified structural and plastic iconostases characteristics appeared when the Metropolitan Petro Mohyla was the archpastor; they are notable in the iconostases built with his direct or indirect assistance. The hypothesis of the paper is that the concept of iconostasis’ new artistic image as a monumental and architectural space frame was formulated by Petro Mohyla in the context of the program he developed for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine renovation, which, in particular, included the domain of church art and artistic decoration of temples. Petro Mohyla’s idea of the iconostasis architectural image renewal was based on the desire to provide more artistic expressiveness to its form and carved decorations. During the era, these features were characteristic of the Catholic Church altars of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth built in the Baroque style. The methods of significant emotional influence on the congregation developed by the post-Tridentine art as an instrument of the Catholic Church struggling against the Reformation ideas proved to be appropriate for the Kyiv Metropolis Orthodox art, that, after the Union of Brest, faced the problems similar to those of the Catholic Church, which arose with the spread of the Reformation.