Image Of Christ Research Articles

Incomprehensible Certainty: Metaphysics and Hermeneutics of the Image by Thomas Pfau

Reviewed by: Incomprehensible Certainty: Metaphysics and Hermeneutics of the Image by Thomas Pfau Thomas Zingelmann PFAU, Thomas. Incomprehensible Certainty: Metaphysics and Hermeneutics of the Image. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2022. xxiii + 785 pp. Cloth, $80.00 Thomas Pfau reconstructs one of the most traditional and possibly most decisive philosophical debates, [End Page 559] namely, the one about the form and function of appearance (Schein). This debate is taken up on the basis of the concept of image. This means that Pfau concentrates historically as well as systematically on a specific topic within this debate. The book is divided into two major sections. In the first section, Pfau examines how the history of the metaphysics and theology of the image develops, starting with Plato in the first chapter. The basic idea in this section is that the image has a crucial epistemic role in the metaphysical and theological systems of the authors addressed. Here Pfau shows that Plato, at the latest in the Sophist, develops a theory of images that revalues appearance contrary to the assumptions in the Republic. Chapter 1 is about the mediation of unity and multiplicity, as it is also shown in Plotinus. Chapter 2 attempts to show how the Byzantine icon embodies the conviction that the invisible truth of the visual world can be revealed only through images. Pfau's demonstration of various epistemic dimensions of the image then begins with chapter 3: the eschatological vision from Augustine to Bonaventure to Julian of Norwich. Chapter 4, the last of the first section, reconstructs Nicholas of Cusa's position, which attempts to understand mystical visions mediated by images of Christ. The second section examines how the metaphysics of the image—in the sense of an epistemology, which tries to establish ultimate justifications—nevertheless persists and even evolves despite two crucial switches in philosophy. On the one hand, this concerns philosophy that subordinates the visual to the abstract (for example, Hegel) and, on the other, the supposedly nonmetaphysical status of the image in the developing natural sciences. Chapter 5 then attempts to show, through Goethe's botanical investigations and reflections, how, despite the establishment of the natural sciences, Goethe attempts to defend intuition as a scientific method and appearance as a scientific object of investigation. This position is then pursued historically in chapter 6, through the work of Lyell, Darwin, and Ruskin, where the visible is understood as the connecting point of the sciences in general. Gerard Manley Hopkins is then identified in chapter 7 as representing a position that combines theological with proto-phenomenological arguments to highlight the epistemic value of images. The last chapter then deals with decisive developments at the beginning of the twentieth century. In phenomenology (Husserl), painting (Cézanne), and poetry (Rilke), a conception develops that epistemically valorizes sensual and intuitive experience. Generally speaking, Pfau attempts to trace historically what arguments and positions have been developed on the relationship between image and knowledge. His work is based on the conviction that the image is the basis for human orientation in the world and is therefore of great epistemological value. Of outstanding importance for his question is that the epistemological value of images is not to be located in the properties of images, that is, an ontology of the image; rather, Pfau is interested in those positions that reflect on the relationship between knowledge and [End Page 560] experience of images. While clarifying the ontological status of images remains important, the epistemological status of images—what role the experience and usage of images has for humans—is in the foreground. Pfau reconstructs positions that hold that the pictorial is a medium of knowledge. He puts forward the thesis that there is a tradition that is of the opinion that in and through the medium of the image—and this closes the arc to the Schein-debate—being can be experienced by man. In other words, the invisible is to become recognizable through the visible. Of particular importance is his reading of the late Platonic dialogues: While appearance and being are still thought of as distinct in these dialogues, they are not opposed, in the sense of an epistemic opposition. Plato's...

Seeing Serially: Harman’s Object-Oriented Ontology Encountering Serial Drawing

ABSTRACT Graham Harman’s Object-Oriented Ontology prioritises aesthetics as first philosophy, and finds increasing interest from those working across art, architecture and the humanities in general. This article tests the application of Harman’s ideas by applying them to a thorny issue related to the domain of serial art, and serially developed drawing in particular. The issue concerns the productive role of the beholder in constituting the serial artwork as a unified thing, wherein it appears manifestly deeper than the sum of its physical parts. Referring to an artwork produced by contemporary artist Stefana McClure, I build upon prior propositions on serial art put forward by Christy Mag Uidhir and Nicolas de Warren to make the case for seeing serially. This uses Harman’s understanding of aesthetics to claim that imagined iterations constitute an integral element to serial drawing, brought into play when the beholder reflects upon the loose relationship between the array of qualities the artwork palpably presents and its withdrawn reality as a unified object.

Endo Šusaku - pisac inkulturacije

Endo Shusaku's oeuvre is a fascinating literary attempt at reconciliation of (Western) Christianity and Japanese culture. As a Christian and a Japanese, Endo was a living embodiment of this religious and cultural struggle, but he was also a writer and thus in a fitting position to express the agonies of identity crisis that he and his Christian compatriots had to endure for centuries. Endo was, in other words, interested in the mission process known as inculturation, which signifies specific ways in which Christianity becomes a natural part of any given culture. The success of this process depends on the identification of the most important causes of conflict between Christianity and culture, while the solutions usually tend to produce something new. In most cases of successful inculturation, new images of Christ were produced in accordance with the religious mentality of the baptized community. Throughout his writings, Endo has managed to offer several such images. His Christ is a Suffering Servant of God, similar to the one described by Isaiah, a companion figure (dohansha), and a merciful God full of motherly love. While based on the Bible, these images are, at the same time, inspired by Japanese religious traditions, specifically Buddhist notions of merciful buddhas and bodhisattvas. Several controversial details in Endo's novels have aroused suspicions among Catholic clergymen, such as the presumed justification of apostasy in Silence and the pluralist tone of Deep River, but Endo was not trying to justify Asian religious mentality to Westerners. On the contrary, he was trying to present Christianity to the Japanese audience using the religious motifs they were familiar with. Thus, one might interpret Endo's images of Christ as an "experimental" inculturation - theologically imperfect but nevertheless valuable for pointing out the most significant issues in the evangelization of Japan.

The personal spiritual path of A. S. Pushkin in the light of the concept of the Catholicity of the Russian world

The article examines the personal spiritual path of A. S. Pushkin from immature youthful fascination by liberal views to a more balanced and moderately conservative sound worldview. The author traces indirect influence of the ideology of catholicity in general, and in particular of the ideas of catholicity of the Russian world, upon the dynamics of the poet’s views. The ideology of the catholicity of the Russian world is based on the Gospel ideals of serving others in the image of Christ and in the Christian notion of catholicity, where each member of the assembly is in the service of everyone else in its circle. Those who occupy leading places in this catholic being carry out a greater service, according to the word of Christ: “He who is greatest among you shall be your servant” (Mt 23:11). Being happily gifted with a visionary mind, A. S. Pushkin caught the main malignant phenomenon of the modern “higher” society, which broke the internal connection with the people and towered over them. The spiritual development of Pushkin was influenced by a number of people from different classes of Russian society, who subtly and gradually helped the poet to change the vector of his thinking. The Russian language also played a significant role in the development of Pushkin, bearing in itself the spirit of catholicity, the spirit of ministry. The idea of sacrificial service permeates the entire work of A. S. Pushkin, being imprinted in various images and characters.

Рождественский и пасхальный архетипы в рассказе А. Варламова «Звездочка»: к проблеме типологии сюжета и героя

The Easter archetype, with its main idea of the resurrection, focuses on the spiritual reality of the Heavenly World, which requires the transformation of the soul, while the Christmas archetype carries the idea of the incarnation of God, and hence there is a need for this type of literature which refers to earthly change and earthly joy. Varlamov’s short story is distinguished by an appeal to the plot of the prodigal son, according to I. A. Esaulov, that is Easter-oriented at its core, with a three-part composition “creation (prosperity)—fall into sin (temptation/trial) — resurrection”. The Easter archetype is also embodied through the author’s referring to the hagiographic tradition, such as hagiographic topics, motifs of trial and temptation, a smart heart, in the correlation between the main female character and the image of Christ, which is manifested by the meek bearing of reproach. The Christmas archetype is presented through a multi-level star symbol, which becomes a prototype of Paradise and eternal life. The symbolism of the image of the star becomes more complicated, combined with the image of Liza; the girl, like a little star, is able to show the way to God, and this is also reflected in the title of the story.

Christ in the First Part of the Book of Gifts of Mar Šubhalmaran

The article only considers the first part of the Book of Gifts of Mar Šubḥalmaran and analyses some fundamental questions concerning the image of Christ that the author intends to transmit. This study is not concerned with the Christological controversies in the Syriac Churches during the sixth and seventh centuries. One of the peculiar characteristics of the Book of Gifts is that there is no explicit or implicit mention of any Christological arguments related to the debates of his time. The author’s only intention is to guide the future generation of ascetics in their deep desire for union with Christ. This article intends to understand the underlying idea of the author on the gifts, how the gifts affect the life of the ascetics and the relevance of Christ in the overall argument of the first part of the Book of Gifts of Mar Šubḥalmaran.

Ж.М. Феррейра де Кастро и «зеленый ад» Амазонии. К вопросу об истоках литературной традиции

The article is devoted to the origin and formation of the so-called green hell literature — a variety of Latin American tellurism. The origins of this phenomenon are associated with the work of the famous Brazilian writer and journalist Euclides da Cunha. The novels of the Portuguese-Brazilian regionalist writer José Maria Ferreira de Castro The Jungle (A selva, 1930) and the Colombian José Eustasio Rivera The Vortex ( La vorágine, 1925) are considered as a continuation of the tradition laid down by da Cunha. The paper considers typical features and differences in the approach to the material in The Jungle and The Vortex. The genetic memory of the pioneers is analyzed as a means of recreating the image of the rainforest, which allows Ferreira de Castro to demonstrate the inversion of the traditional myth of the American Eden. The analysis allows to bring out some new features in the image of the Amazonian selva, which were subsequently developed and / or rethought by other writers of the green hell literature: overreaching (going beyond limits), a specific sense of closed space, irrational cruelty, chaos of the self-reproducing primordial nature. It is emphasized that not only heaven and hell, but also many other Biblical and Christian images are recoded and desacralized. The Portuguese-Brazilian tradition of understanding the green hell of da Cunha and Ferreira de Castro with its reliance on the personal experience of the writer, the poetics of testemunho, can be viewed as the first contribution to the concept of marvelous Latin American reality.

Прометей танцующий: Бетховен и балет

Beethoven’s music has frequently appeared in ballet productions in the 20th and early 21st centuries. However, his only full-scale ballet, Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus (1801), remains outside of the theatrical mainstream. Meanwhile, this work was important for both of its creators: the great choreographer Salvatore Viganò and Beethoven. The ‘Promethean’ line in Beethoven’s and Viganò’s legacy continued after the ballet’s premiere in 1801. A number of Beethoven’s works from 1801–1804 are united by the so-called ‘Promethean theme’ (the quotation or reminiscence from the final counterdance of the ballet). Viganò, not satisfied with the Vienna production of Prometheus of 1801, staged an expanded version of the ballet in Milan in 1813. In that performance, it became possible to accentuate the moments covert in the Vienna version: the striking analogies between the images of Prometheus and Christ. Being a good musician, Vigano used fragments of Beethoven’s other new works, besides Prometheus, in his ballets in Milan. Their artistic quests ran parallel to each other, although Beethoven never turned to the genre of the ballet afterwards. The magnificent orchestral score of Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus has taken on a life of its own. The ballet in its 1801 version was rarely staged during the 19th and the 20th centuries. However, there has been a revival of interest in it in the 21st century. In recent years, a number of stage incarnations of Beethoven’s ballet have appeared, in which the plot has undergone various transformations. Francesca Harper proposed a reading of the work by means of contemporary dance (2005, New York). At the same time, Helena Kazarova staged Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus in an authentic manner in 2016 (Czech Republic, Valtice Castle Theater). Another solution – a very ascetic and symbolist one – was proposed by Attila Egerhazy, who staged the ballet in 2017 by means of the Dance Center of the Prague Conservatory. Finally, in 2021 in Bologna, choreographer Monica Miniucchi created a performance based on Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus bearing very little resemblance to a traditional ballet, performed mainly by means of pantomime. All these endeavors show that Beethoven’s sole ballet is by no means a museum legacy of the past. It has the ability of becoming an organic part of contemporary musical theater.

Выносные иконы и шитые плащаницы в богослужениях драматического характера Древней Руси

The Cycle of services of Novgorod Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom included sing-ing services (ᾀσματική ἀκολουθία) after the practice of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Its description is known since the 13th century from the Novgorod liturgical manuscripts. Since the end of 15th century the double- sided proskynesis icons has been an important inte-gral part of singing service in Novgorod Cathedral. The unique complex of the images of the Saviour, Mother of God, saints, and the Bible scenes was created at this time. The complicated organization composition of the Novgorod series allowed to lay one icon in the church naos at festive day or to carry out all icons with images of saints to square near Cathedral during the rites of the New Year on September 1 and on Sunday of the Last Judgement. The icons replaced one another during the Holy Week. The Shroud with the embroidery image of dead Christ was carried out from altar and put on a table in the middle of naos at Holy Saturday. The icon Resurrection (Descent into Hell) replaced the Shroud at early morning of Resurrection Sunday. It was a real “mystery of images”.

Ikonografija starozavetnih proroka i Bogorodice Kiriotise na istočnom zidu gračaničkog eksonarteksa

The exonarthex of Gračanica has a rich and complex painted programme, which is a testimony to the medieval kingdom of Serbia ruled by the Nemanjić dynasty, after the arrival of the Ottomans in the Serbian regions. This painted programme has been preserved to a certain extent to this day, although the traces of the ravages of time are clearly visible; it is still possible to read and reconstruct the entire thematic programme, as well as to recognise the iconographic and stylistic features of this part of the church. The exonarthex was painted out several times, as it was repeatedly damaged during the turbulent and destructive centuries (14th, 15th, 16th). It was probably fresco painted after its construction (probably around 1330), but there are no physical remains or written sources testifying to this, while today two layers of fresco paintings are clearly visible in the Gračanica exonarthex. The iconography and themes of the younger layer of fresco paintings from 1570 form a more complex and intricate unity in relation to the one that was there originally. The new frescoes have a clear theological background, devotion to the Virgin Mary, who was also the patron of the Gračanica church. The depiction of the cycle of the Virgin celebrates the role of the Virgin in the Incarnation, foretold in prophetic visions. Almost the entire painted programme around the east portal of the Gračanica exonarthex is dedicated to the Mother of God; additionally, some related depictions are shown there, like the Mother of God on the throne with Christ Emmanuel on her lap surrounded by archangels in the lunette above the entrance. The entire composition was introduced with the theme "From above the prophets have prophesied thee", as shown by the painted busts of six prophets (Isaiah, Solomon, David, Moses, Aaron and Jeremiah) entwined by a decorative vine on the inside of the arch, at the top of which is a waist-high image of Christ giving blessings with both hands. The main aim of this paper is to point out the importance of the restoration and painting of Serbian monasteries during the Ottoman rule since these topics are insufficiently represented in Serbian art history. The paper provides an iconographic analysis of the scenes dedicated to the celebration of the Virgin in the Gračanica exonartex, as well as their theological background.

Спор о Гольбейне как спор о вере: полемика вокруг романа «Идиот» Ф.М. Достоевского

The article is devoted to the controversy around the painting by Hans Holbein the Younger "Christ in the tomb" and the novel "The Idiot" by Fedor Dostoevsky, where this picture is the central ekphrasis. The aim of the study was to analyze the current trends in the interpretation of Holbein's painting and Dostoevsky's novel, in their relationship with Christian dogmatics, canonical requirements for depicting the image of Christ, the biblical context, and to establish existing and possible interpretive models, their boundaries and perspectives. The article discusses the controversy about the painting by Holbein before Dostoevsky (Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Gruner, Spazier, Lavater, Zschokke, Hegner) and its development in the novel "The Idiot" and in the disputes around it, presented by modern researchers of Holbein’s and Dostoevsky’s works. Particular attention is paid to the issue of kenosis, corruption and destruction, the significance of biblical allusions for understanding the meaning of the picture in the novel "The Idiot". The central argument of the article is that Holbein's painting actualizes the biblical context, carrying a provocative meaning that the crucified Christ himself had in the eyes of the world: "for the Jews a stumbling block and for the Greeks foolishness" (1 Cor. 1: 23).

SPATIAL COMPOSITION OF NEA MONI

The present paper analyzes the spatial composition of Nea Moni, focusing on the theme and layout of the paintings. The naos and bema, esonarthex establish a three-dimensional Byzantine religious space to represent “Ascension” and “Parousia.” In the naos the paintings of Dodecaorton are set close to prayers to compare images of Christ and the emperor in the liturgies. “Incarnation” is emphasized in the esonarthex. The naos, bema, and esonarthex are connected to the Christian paintings. A holy space was devised with the layout of the paintings that glorify “Imperial victory” in the naos and represent “Incarnation” in the esonarthex.

НАРРАТИВНАЯ ТЕОЛОГИЯ Э. ЮНГЕЛЯ И ФИЛОСОФИЯ ИМЕНИ А.Ф. ЛОСЕВА

The article is concerned with an attempt to correlate the thinking of being and faith of Revelation in modern German evangelical theology and in Russian religious philosophy on the example of the work of E. Jungel and A.F. Losev. The author reveals the uniqueness of Jungel’s concept of the Word of God in comparison with the event nature of the Word of God by K. Barth. Jüngel’s narrative theory of the Gospel parable is comprehended in the article in the perspective of finding common ground and especially with the philosophy of symbolic reality, of the name by A. Losev. Jungel thinks through the event nature of Revelation as the Word of God proposed by K. Barth, using the fundamental ontology of M. Heidegger, He develops a theological hermeneutic ontology in which the event of the Word of God acquires the features of the Gospel narrative of the parable. As discursive theology, based on the idea of the metaphysical absolute, is destroyed from the German thinker’s point of view, narrative theology wins its positions. For the German theologian, the core of the Christian kerygma – the death of God – is organically linked to the tradition of nineteenth-century philosophical atheism and is revealed in it no less than in theology and religious philosophy. The Russian philosopher refers to Hegel’s dialectics and Husserl’s phenomenology in understanding the event of God’s Revelation. However, he tries to integrate them into the model of Neoplatonic metaphysics, from which, in his opinion, they were formed. Losev, to the extent that he is a metaphysician, proceeds in the concept of name, unlike Jungel, from the principle of the analogy of being rather than the analogy of belief. The name for the Russian philosopher is not a story, but an energy (force) that has an ontological nature. With him, the name reflects essence rather than describing an event. Losev goes back to Antiquity to reanimate Neoplatonic metaphysics by means of the concept of the symbol, burying in it Plato and the non-metaphysical forms of thinking of the Christian kerygma. Jungel’s theology funds the word-centrism of the Protestant cult and contributes to the explication of the new-modern image of Christianity in Protestantism. Losev, for his part, does not undertake to explicate beyond metaphysics the antique-medieval mystery nature of the Christian cult in Orthodoxy. He needs to convey in his philosophical and theological thought not only the verbal aspect of the event of Revelation. In order to express the aesthetic and mystical dimension of Revelation, the Russian philosopher engages the metaphysics of all-encompassing unity with the idea of an unchanging Absolute

ТРАНСФОРМАЦИЯ ОБРАЗА МАРИИ МАГДАЛИНЫ В СЮЖЕТЕ «ПИР У СИМОНА ФАРИСЕЯ» В ИТАЛЬЯНСКОЙ ЖИВОПИСИ

Mary Magdalene occupies a special place among the Gospel characters. Her name is mentioned several times in all the synoptic Gospels. Being a participant in the central events of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ, she appears already in the earliest Christian images. The rich pictorial tradition associated with her expanded as her fascinating and controversial biography developed, blending the features of various heroines with the name Mary or nameless sinners. This article considers the process of composition, as well as semantic and artistic transformation of the plot, which became widespread in European fine art — "The Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee" on the example of Italian art from the Middle Ages to the High Renaissance. This selectivity is justified by the fact that the key processes in the formation of iconographic schemes took place in early Christian and medieval art and underwent qualitative changes in Proto-Renaissance and Renaissance art in Italian art schools. In turn, the Italian High Renaissance art in this case is limited to the Venetian school, since it was within this national school that the most characteristic processes were observed. The study uses historicalformal, iconographic and iconological methods.

ГЕНЕЗИС РУССКОЙ ИКОНОГРАФИИ БОГОМАТЕРИ «ВСЕХ СКОРБЯЩИХ РАДОСТЬ»

The purpose of the article is to analyze the process of borrowing the iconography of the image of the mother of God. The connections of the Eastern Christian image and teaching, the liturgical texts of the Orthodox Church are under the study. For this purpose, the study of the main cultural and theological aspects of formation and their symbolic and symbolic design in the iconography is carried out. At the same time, the author pre-sents visually similar images that have received different content, which influenced their under-standing in Western European and Eastern Christianity. The goal assumes an interdisciplinary nature of the research, the comparative-historical method is the main one, which allows, among other things, to track the dynamics of the phenomenon, and semiotic analysis for the interpretation of symbolic aspects of the image. The author presents the development of the Russian iconography of the Mother of God «Joy of All Who Sorrow» based on a review of Western European iconographic sources and texts. As a result, the author emphasizes that in the culture of Modern times Russian icon painters gave the Western European iconographic pattern a different theological interpretation by imitating it.

Truth Reveals Itself through Love: Fr. Vsevolod Shpiller’s Critique of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn as a Pastoral Admonition

Abstract In February 1974, just days after author A.I. Solzhenitsyn’s deportation from the Soviet Union, Fr. Vsevolod Shpiller, a well-known Orthodox priest serving in Moscow, gave an interview to Novosti Press Agency in which he provided a negative appraisal of Solzhenitsyn as a Christian writer. While Shpiller was quickly denounced by numerous dissidents as a traitor and stooge of the state, his vast correspondence suggests that the views expressed were the reflection of a clearly articulated approach to Christianity that emphasizes the creative building up of the Christian image and the transfiguration of the world from inside oneself through the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. Shpiller believed that the political objectification of spiritual processes brings about their destruction. The interview provided an opportunity to admonish Solzhenitsyn, whom Shpiller knew personally, and to share with the wider Orthodox Christian audience what the priest believed to be at the essence of Christianity.

Новые находки нательных крестов на территории исторической Алании

Introduction. In the period from the 10th to the beginning of the 13th centuries on the territory of historical Alania (the east of Krasnodar Krai – the northern regions of Chechnya), the Christian church flourished. The material evidence of religious life in this territory is the data of staurography – namely, the finds of reliquary crosses, pectoral crosses, quadrifolia. The choice of the subject of personal piety was determined not only by the assortment of local craft workshops and the directions of trade relations, but also by the taste and capabilities of each person. Therefore, the study of this category of finds makes the historical and social portrait of the early Christians of the North Caucasus more prominent. Methods. As a result of the baptism of the Alans in the 10th century and the establishment of the Alan Diocese with its center in Nizhny Arkhyz (914), crosses of Byzantine provincial and ancient Russian origin are becoming widespread on the territory of Alania. With the spread of Christianity, imitative and imitation types of crosses appear in the local Alan environment, the finds of which have not yet been found outside the Caucasus. To date, there are more than 120 crosses-encolpia, pectoral crosses and quadrifolia of the 12th – 13th centuries known on the territory of historical Alania. In this regard, the discovery of each new cross is of outstanding interest. Analysis. Currently, to the body of crosses originating from the territory of Alania, we can add the finds of four more interesting specimens found in recent years in the eastern regions of Krasnodar Krai, the Karachay-Cherkessia Republic, the south of Stavropol Krai, and the north of the Chechen Republic. The first cross is the front leaf of the reliquary cross with the image of the Crucifixion, dates from the 11th – 12th centuries and belongs to the Byzantine crosses of the Balkan (?) origin. Such crosses are quite common, being one of the first in Old Rus, made by visiting craftsmen. The second cross – the reverse leaf of the reliquary cross with the image of the Virgin the Sign. Only two similar instances are known. These crosses were made by local (or visiting) craftsmen in Alania according to numerous Byzantine samples and date back to the 12th century. The third cross is one-sided, with the image of an unknown saint (St. Nicholas?). Crosses of a similar shape are known, but with the image of the Crucifixion. These crosses were made in the local, Alan environment and date back to the 12th – 13th centuries. The fourth cross is one-sided, silvered, with the image of the Crucifixion. As analogies, seven one-sided crosses identical in shape and composition from the territory of the Northern and Western Pre-Caucasus are given. In Alania, these crosses were in use from the middle or the second half of the 10th century to the turn of the 11th – 12th centuries. Different versions of the image of Christ are explained by the presence of several local workshops, as well as different craft and artistic traditions. Results. The presented finds of crosses not only add to the evidence of the Christianization of Alania in the 11th – 12th centuries, but also provide valuable information about the nature of the local, imitative Byzantine originals of the production of objects of personal piety.

“Citādāks reps” vai “kristīgā glance”: Dievs un pasaule Latvijas kristīgajā repā

Historically, Christian rap emerged in the context of Evangelical Christianity in the US. Since its birth in the 1970s, it has been often represented as a tool for evangelization and outreach in the modern urban environment. Although there are stories of purported success of these attempts, most US Christian rappers have since turned to Christians as their primary audiences. There are two main attitudes towards the world and its culture among Christian rappers that are manifest in their approach to the style of their songs. Nevertheless, the general attitude towards the world and culture in Christian rap is that of distancing from these aspects, and Christian rappers want to transform or educate the faithless society, Thereby denying the world its capacity to acquire genuine meaning and truth without Christian assistance. There is a discussion on terminology for engaging Christian rap from an academic perspective. Although some Christian rap scholars prefer to use a definition such as “Christians and hip-hop” to include all the possible interactions of Christians, rappers, and hip-hop culture, throughout the article the studied phenomenon is called “Christian rap” to distance the study of the actual rap lyrics and theology they contain from the analysis of hip-hop beats, breakdance, graffiti and/or other elements of hip-hop culture. This problem with definition mirrors the discussion common to the study of Contemporary Christian music genres, where there is debate on the question of criteria that can be employed to define “Christian music”. Latvian Christian rap represents an array of attitudes towards the world. There are examples of “worship rap” or separational approach to Contemporary Christian music and examples of integrational approach. These two approaches represent different attitudes towards the world, although fundamentally all Latvian Christian rappers that are mentioned in the article distance themselves from the world and wish to enlighten it or reach the faithless with their appropriation of popular contemporary music. Latvian Christian rap is a marginal phenomenon because it struggles with acceptance in Christian circles as much as among non-Christians that are to be its main and desired audience. Rap and hip-hop are perceived to be connected to protest, violence, drugs and other things that are foreign to the image of Christianity in Latvia.

Ukrainian Symbols and Archetypes in the Historical and Folklore Imagery of Irena Nosyk

The paper examines the concepts of “symbol” and “archetype” and their realization in the artistic thinking of the CanadianUkrainian artist Irena Nosyk. The interest in the use of archetypes as a primary scheme and their subsequent expression in art through the objectification of symbols were examined. The significance of the “spiritual memory of Ukrainian people,” which inspired the artist to depict significant events in the history of Ukrainian culture, was traced. Mythological, historical and folklore imagery in the art of Irena Nosyk were analyzed, in particular: the Scythian woman, Prince Igor Svyatoslavovych, Prince Volodymyr the Great, ethnic Hutsuls, mythical creatures—mavkas. Legends and chronicles are considered primary sources for creating this imagery. At the same time, Christian images in Nosyk’s works served as an indisputable means of systematic and purposeful influence on the viewer’s inner world. The elements of Hutsul life and clothing in Irena Nosyk’s works are analyzed. Parallels between her canvases and the works of other artists, including Petro Andrusiv and Viktor Vasnetsova, are drawn. The features of the creative method of the artist are highlighted in regard to a color-tonal palette, with brown-pink tones signifying the supernatural world. The paper aims to clarify the root causes of the use ofsymbols and archetypes by Irena Nosyk in her art. The methods used were comparative-historical, analogy and synthesis, as well as specialized art analysis methods, such as: iconological, iconographic, formal analysis, and semiotic. It was concluded that a secret language of semantic fields full of symbolic ciphers is a trademark feature of Irena Nosyk’s creativity.

Christian Art in D.V. Aynalov’s Legacy of the Kazan Period

D.V. Aynalov (1862—1939), a Russian Byzantinist, art critic and historian of Russian art, during his years at Kazan University (1890—1903) studied the issues of ancient Christian culture. For the first time, the article involves Aynalov’s newly studied iconographic heritage, which allows describing the creative laboratory of the Byzantinist and his original method of analyzing monuments. The author finds that the development of a new research methodology was facilitated by the expansion of the empirical base, which, in addition to apocryphal texts, included Aynalov’s own drawings, and photographs of monuments made by order of the scientist. In the article, D.V. Aynalov’s lectures on “Ancient Christian Art” are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, allowing to reveal the argumentation of the scientist’s main idea about the connection between the late Antique style and early Christian art. Aynalov made two important discoveries in the history of Christian art. The first discovery was that, using the example of the mosaics of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Aynalov managed to identify an important moment in the transformation of the image of the Virgin Mary into the image of the royal Virgin. The second discovery was the transformation of the symbolic image of Christ in the form of a lamb into the image in the form of a man, using the example of the mosaics of Albenga. The implementation of a comprehensive interpretation of Aynalov’s iconographic heritage in the context of his ideas allows us to understand the scientist’s system of evidence and reveal his original concept of the development of Christian art in the West and East. His research made a significant contribution to the new concept of the universal history of art, in which a special place belonged to Byzantium, and later to ancient Russian art. Aynalov’s works contributed a great deal to the development of the scientific base on Christian art, art history and Byzantine studies in Kazan. The republication of D.V. Aynalov’s legacy of the Kazan period is of interest for both modern Byzantine studies and the history of cultural studies.