Picture of Saint George defeating the snake. Who did Saint George the Victorious fight with? Excerpt characterizing the Miracle of George about the serpent
Miracle of George about the serpent
Mid-14th century
- Onasch 1961: XIV century.
- Smirnova 1976: Second half of the 14th century.
Tretyakov Gallery, inv. 12868.
Second half of the 14th century.
55×37.
Origin. From the collection of A.V. Morozov. Since 1918, it has been in the Museum of Russian Artistic Antiquities, established on the basis of this collection; in 1926, together with this collection, it was transferred to the State Historical Museum, in 1930 it entered the Tretyakov Gallery 1.
1 About the meeting of A.V. Morozov, see: V. I. Antonova. Old Russian painting in the State Tretyakov Gallery. - V. I. Antonova, N. E. Mneva, pp. 23–24, 27.
Revealed until 1917 (reproduced in its current state in the book by A.V. Grishchenko).
Board solid linden, without keys. The ark. Pavoloka is not visible. The soil layer is thin.
Safety. It is possible that the original painting was poorly preserved and was greatly “edited” by the restorer during cleaning, in accordance with the tastes of pre-revolutionary icon painters and collectors. A black drawing is written. The wings and head of the dragon also raise doubts about the authenticity. Perhaps the outlines of the right slide turned out to be changed: traces of purple paint are visible in the background, as if left over from a cleared area.
The background and margins were probably light yellow; In some places traces of remaining dye 2 are visible. The halo has tinting.
2 Wed. information about the collector’s tastes: “Morozov preferred a gesso background freed from gold or paints, reminiscent of yellowish ivory in its color...” (ibid., p. 24).
It can be assumed that the inscription on the background, as well as the Calvary cross with the accompanying inscription, were “corrected” by restorers.
Description.
George is presented on a black horse. At the bottom left is a black cave, from which a blue-gray crawls out. With. 238
With. 239¦ a dragon with red, black and yellow wings. With a long spear, George pierces the dragon's mouth. On the sides there are symmetrical slides: light yellow on the left, lilac-brown on the right. At the top right is a green segment of the “sky” with a blessing hand.
The saint is dressed in a cinnabar cloak, a green shirt, yellow trousers and brown plate armor with yellow and green trim. On the head is a white stemma crown with red and green “stones”. The halo is yellow. Behind the shoulder is a brown shield with a yellow border and blades. Horse harness in the form of cinnabar ribbons with whitewash “pearls”. The tail is tied with a white cord. The face of George is painted convexly, with a system of gray-sankir (mainly in the shadows) and light yellow ocher strokes, with cinnabar blush on the cheeks and in the shadows and with light white highlights. The hair is depicted in black curls on a cinnabar base, with yellow strokes - “highlights”.
The background and margins are currently white. The frame along the husk and the edge on the upper margin are cinnabar.
On the sides of the halo there is a columnar cinnabar inscription with the charter:
Near the blessing right hand:
On the upper field, a Calvary cross is drawn in olive-sankir paint with the inscription:
Iconography.
3 V. N. Lazarev, N. E. Mneva. Monument of Novgorod wooden carving of the 14th century (Lyudogoshchensky cross). - “Communications of the Institute of Art History”, vol. 4–5. M., 1954, illus. on page 156.
What is new for the icons of this subject is the presence of a “blessing right hand”. This brief iconographic excerpt was subsequently widely distributed in Novgorod icons, which is associated with the veneration of St. George the Dragon Fighter among the people.
Dating and attribution.
The dating of the icon ranges from the 13th century. (A.V. Grishchenko, Yu.A. Olsufiev) until the 15th century. (A.I. Nekrasov, p. 174, caption under Fig. 114]). Most often it is dated back to the 14th century. (A.I. Nekrasov, p. 172), more precisely - by the time around the middle of the century (V.N. Lazarev, N.E. Mneva).
The icon was probably created no earlier than the mid-14th century. Evidence against an earlier time is evidence of familiarity with the artistic techniques of the 14th century, which were still little known in the Novgorod “folk” painting of the first half of the century: spatial composition, pictorial modeling with pure or slightly tinted white.
The face of George is characteristic of the second half of the century (for the type of face compare, for example, the fresco of 1364 in the paraklis of St. Gregory the Theologian at the Church of Periveleptus in Ohrid) 4 .
4 P. Mikovic-Pepek. About slikarim to Metropolitan Jovan and Jeromonk Makari. - “Moravian school and Jeno doba. Learn stingy from Resavi. 1968". Beograd, 1972, p. 241, seq. I.
In the type and painting of the face, the icon reveals similarities with the figures of warriors in the upper tier of the icon “Nativity of the Mother of God, with selected saints”, second half of the 14th - early 15th centuries. (cat. no. 28). A rare detail also coincides: the image of strands of hair in the form of bright colored curls.
The columnar arrangement of the letters of the inscription is a relatively early feature. However, A. S. Orlov attributed the style of the letters to the end of the 14th century. According to O. A. Knyazevskaya, the shape of the letters does not correspond to the usual styles of the 14th century. in manuscripts.
M. V. Alpatov emphasizes the archaism of the monument: with its static nature, the composition resembles the central image in the hagiographic icon of St. George from the collection of M. P. Pogodin in the State Russian Museum (cat. No. 10).
Literature.
“The Miracle of St. George about the Serpent” as an objective reality, or an anti-Darwinian analysis of the battle of the most famous ancient Roman Christian officer.
photo — Sergey Evdokimov
The author was prompted to write this article by the current situation in the Middle East, where once again Christian weapons are confronting the forces of world evil, and this is happening on the territory where the holy Great Martyr George once killed a certain dragon, although few people now remember about this moment. By the will of fate, Russia has recently been an active participant in the confrontation in this region, but many Russian military personnel heading there, if they know St. George, then in the most general terms, and some do not consider him a historical figure at all and, unfortunately, perceive his victory over the dragon like a legend. However, we will try to dispel their doubts.
The Great Martyr George, called the Victorious, is one of the most famous and revered saints by Orthodox Christians. People turn to him for various prayer needs, but first of all, people serving in the military pray for his intercession before God. This saint is also one of the special patrons of Christian weapons, and many victories of Christian troops on the battlefield are attributed, among other things, to his intercession.
Images of the Holy Great Martyr George the Victorious, separated by 15 centuries.
Modern Orthodox image “The Miracle of St. George about the Serpent.”
Firstly, it must be said that the surviving sources are quite unanimous that St. George was a real historical figure; he was a high-ranking ancient Roman officer who served during the reign of Emperor Diocletian. According to one of probably the most historically accurate versions, the Great Martyr George was born into a family of Greco-Roman aristocrats in the small Palestinian town of Lydda (now Israeli Lod) at the end of the 3rd century. He died in 304 AD. for his faith in Christ, while still at a fairly young age, on the territory of ancient Cappadocia (Asia Minor) in the city of Nicomedia (now Turkish Ismid).
Here we would not like to repeat the story of the saint’s suffering before death, which usually occupies a significant part of his life, if only on the grounds that it seems somewhat strange to force, for example, someone to repeat again and again the description of the monstrous torment and death of some the person he dearly loved. Anyone can find easily accessible information about these events; we are especially interested in, perhaps, the most striking and memorable episode for contemporaries that happened during the saint’s earthly life - a battle in which he defeated a certain monstrous creature called a dragon or a large serpent.
For some reason, in our time, even many Christian believers (not to mention representatives of other religious denominations or atheists) believe that in fact there was no battle, and this is some kind of legendary symbol of the victory of the Christian faith over paganism. However, the high degree of realism and detail of the events described does not give reason to think so.
Some, being captive of the modern scientific worldview, built on the unproven ideas of Darwinism and based on the evolutionary picture of the world, suggest that the battle itself took place, but St. George struck some large lizard, such as a Komodo dragon, or even a crocodile. However, skeptics for some reason forget that there have never been huge monitor lizards in the Middle East, and Indonesia with the island of Komodo (where giant monitor lizards live) is very far away, and until the 19th century nothing was known about them in the Mediterranean. People in that region had been successfully hunting crocodiles for a long time, and it is unlikely that the killing of one, even a particularly large, crocodile could have influenced contemporaries in such a way that thousands of them subsequently became convinced Christians. Below we will try to understand this and still answer the question - so with whom did St. George the Victorious actually fight?
So, the Great Martyr George, being an officer in the Roman army and at the same time a deeply religious Christian, was once on business in the territory of modern Lebanon or Western Syria and came to one large city. Here the sources differ: according to one version, it was the city of Beirut (Berita), according to some other sources, perhaps we are talking about Aleppo (Aleppo) or another settlement in that region is indicated. There he learned that at some distance from this city there was a swampy lake, declared sacred by local pagan priests, on the shores of which a certain reptilian monster settled. And it would be good if it just lived there - so this creature at first hunted sheep and cows, which were kept by residents of the surrounding villages, and then, when the livestock ran out, it switched to feeding on people.
Apparently, attempts by local pagans to kill the dragon or drive away the monster with the help of magic did not yield results. The situation has reached the point of, in simple Russian language, simply insanity, since local priests (apparently acting in line with the ancient Babylonian tradition) decided that this animal is sacred, that it settled here by the will of the gods, and is itself the embodiment of some ancient deity , which means trying to kill him is a sin. But the main thing is that they convinced the entire people that in order to please the pagan deities, “in order for them to change their anger to mercy,” human sacrifices must be made to this terrible creature.
Over time, this abominable practice became “a pious tradition.” Even the Roman consul himself, who ruled this province (sometimes called “king” in some lives), agreed with her when the sacrificial lot fell on his relative or even daughter. Having learned about this, Saint George, who was in that area, having a chivalrous character, decided to show that the God of Christians is much stronger than any pagan monsters. In addition, the saint saw that, according to God’s Providence, it was he, “here and now”, who was given the opportunity to testify to the power of the Lord, and decided to correct the situation.
The panic-stricken pagans did not hear the entreaties of the few local Christians about the need to stop the sacrifices, and the future great martyr did not enter into battle with them, shedding the blood of his fellow citizens, even if they were committing lies. He decided to act differently. And when the procession with the next bound victim (probably it was the daughter of the imperial administrator) went out to the dragon’s habitat, he went with them, however, dressed in armor, armed and mounted a war horse. And as you can understand, it was not at all for the purpose of indifferently contemplating the terrible picture of the atrocity.
When people brought the doomed woman to the lair of the monster, and she crawled out, hoping to have a hearty lunch once again, Saint George suddenly found himself alone entered into a duel with a dragon on the lake shore, and killed " the serpent's fierceness", saving the life of a girl doomed by lot to a terrible sacrifice, thanks to which tens of thousands of residents of Lebanon and Western Syria were baptized en masse. This is how this battle is described in one text: “ ...having made the sign of the cross and calling on the name of the Lord, Saint George quickly and bravely rushed on his horse towards the serpent, tightly grasping the spear and, striking the serpent with force in the larynx, struck it and pressed it to the ground; The saint’s horse furiously trampled the snake underfoot..." It can be stated that the matter was decided by an unexpected and quick, perfectly executed attack (it was not for nothing that the Great Martyr George was a professional warrior).
Moreover, as the text of some biographies of the saint testifies, having struck, but not finished off the monster, the Victorious One dismounted from his horse, threw a rope over the defeated enemy, and with the words “ And this is your god? Well, look how I handle him!"He led the dragon to the city. And only there, at its walls, and not on the shore of the lake, in the presence of many people, the valiant saint cut off the monster’s head, glorifying the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and glorifying Him as the True and Only God, who grants victory to those who firmly trust in Him.
Thus, our Lord, through Saint George, showed his mercy to people, not only by defeating the deified monster, but by interrupting the disgusting tradition of human sacrifice. Moreover, it was through the demonstrated valor of St. George that many local residents accepted Orthodox Christianity (different sources give different figures - from many thousands to 24,000 and even up to 240,000; we are talking about a truly huge number of residents of the area, although it is clear that no one kept accurate records ). And so, thanks to the accomplished feat, a significant proportion of the local population realized the fallacy of belief in the power of pagan deities, and, rejecting the Middle Eastern cults, accepted faith in That God, who proved that He is stronger than all dark forces and their biological creatures.
However, despite the fact that the Roman authorities subsequently probably approved the very act of fighting and killing the “fierce serpent”, regarding it probably “as protecting the lives of the emperor’s subjects,” the spread of Christianity in the Late Roman Empire of the late 3rd century was considered not just “politically incorrect” ", but was expressly prohibited by law. And it was precisely the conversion of tens of thousands of Roman citizens to Christ through his feat that, apparently, was imputed to Saint George later, becoming one of the points of official accusation.
Late medieval German image (15th century) of St. George slaying a dragon.
Italian fresco 14th century. (artist Botticelli), depicting St. George slaying the serpent.
Modern paleontological reconstruction (art. Z. Burrian) - nothosaurus on the shore of the lake.
Seeing the medieval images of the battle of St. George with the serpent, and comparing them with the modern reconstruction of the nothosaurus discovered by paleontologists, one can only be amazed at the obvious identity of the predatory reptiles. Moreover, even the size of the notozar approximately coincides with the image of the dragon struck by St. George - it was not a giant dinosaur at all, although it was quite agile and clearly aggressively predatory, adult specimens of which reached a length of 3-4, sometimes 5 meters.
Despite the fact that the dragon or snake with which the saint fought differs among different artists, it seems that some of the most ancient images clearly go back to a single tradition, according to which this reptile had a huge head with a large mouth, a thin and relatively long neck , a short thick body on four legs and a rather long tail. There is no mention of any several heads, wings for flight, fiery breath or other fabulous attributes of the monster either in the most ancient images or in the lives of St. George. There is a complete feeling that we are looking at some very real animal, but one that was extremely rare even in Antiquity and is now completely extinct.
For a long time, numerous skeptics and even some Christian believers believed that there was nothing real in the story of the battle of St. George with the serpent. However, quite a long time ago, paleontologists during excavations found a species of dinosaurs, which received the name nothosaurs. These were quite large predatory creatures that lived in ancient times along the shores of lakes, seas or rivers, perhaps even leading a semi-aquatic lifestyle, and thus we can state that the living conditions - that of the dragon struck by St. George, that of the notosaurus - are similar. Apparently, a significant part of their diet was fish, but, first of all, nothosaurs were active predators, and attacked any prey that appeared in the immediate vicinity of their habitat (even the bones of young notosaurs were found with traces of the teeth of larger individuals).
Since quite a lot of skeletons of these ancient predatory reptiles were found, scientists were able to fairly accurately restore their appearance. However, for a long time, for some reason, no one compared the images of the snake on the images of St. George and the paleontological reconstructions of the notosaurus, which (in our opinion) coincide perfectly, down to the details (at least the author did not come across information about this).
It is somewhat surprising that some creationists (i.e., supporters of the concept of the creation of the world by God and opponents of materialistic Darwinism) currently believe that St. George fought with the dinosaur Baryonyx (first found, and then only fragmentarily, only in 1983, although by Our time knows several fairly complete skeletons of individuals of this species). However, this was hardly possible, because Although Baryonyx also lived along the banks of reservoirs, like Notosaurus, it had a slightly different appearance, moved mainly on two legs rather than four, and was much larger than Notosaurus, which means it was more difficult to hit it with a simple spear and then tie it up and Saint George would hardly have been able to drag a half-dead “dragon” onto a rope into the city (unless we are talking, for example, about a young individual of Baryonyx). Whereas the nothosaurus, not only in its appearance, but even in size, ideally corresponds to the predatory reptile described in the life of the martyr knight and the surviving medieval images of the most famous battle of this Christian saint.
Reconstruction of the appearance of the largest dinosaur species found, Baryonyx walkeri, compared to the size of a human (height 1.8 m). However, it turned out that it was still a young individual, which means that the size of the peak specimens of this species was much larger.
A group of Baryonyx in its traditional habitat - on the shore of a reservoir. The versatility of this predator's diet is well demonstrated.
As you can see, an adult Baryonyx was, firstly, much larger than a notosaurus, and secondly, it walked mainly on two legs, and not on four, which means that it is unlikely that representatives of this particular species are depicted on icons with St. George (since its skull alone was up to 2 meters long, which means that St. Victorious could hardly drag a half-dead dinosaur of this species to the city residents on a rope, while the notosaurus corresponds perfectly in all respects).
And, as surprising as it may seem to skeptics, not only the size of the “dragon”, judging by the images of the battle of St. George, coincides with the size of the found skeletons of nothosaurs (usually reaching a length of 2-4 meters, sometimes 5-6 meters, like Nothosaurus giganteus), but even their habitat is identical (unlike Baryonyx, which reached a length of 9 meters, and whose bones were found only in England and Spain). Paleontologists, based on the finds of bone remains of notosars, believe that the habitat of this species of lizards included territories from North Africa and Southern Europe through the Middle East and Southern Russia all the way to Central Asia. Thus, it can be argued that the presence of notosaurus on the territory of modern Lebanon or Western Syria, where it was killed by an ancient Roman Christian cavalry officer, does not contradict the available scientific data on the habitat of this species.
However, for evolutionists who deny the Creation and the biblical picture of the development of our planet, there is one problem - from their point of view, the life time of the Holy Great Martyr George of Nicomedia and both Notosaurus and Baryonyx are separated by tens of millions of years, since in their opinion, dinosaur and man There was no way they could live in the same historical era. But this is true only if we rely on the concept of the development of the world, built on the erroneous theory of macroevolution of Charles Darwin and share the hypothetical chronology of evolutionists in billions of years. If we base our concept of the development of the world on the Book of Genesis, share the biblical chronology and recognize the Creation of our world by God (in the absence of macroevolution as a reliably recorded phenomenon), then it is not impossible that Saint George could kill one of the last nothosaurs in battle.
We will not examine here the many other known cases where the presence of living dinosaurs (one way or another causing harm and therefore usually killed by humans) is recorded in ancient Hebrew, ancient Babylonian, ancient Greek, ancient Roman or medieval European and Arabic documents, but we will simply emphasize that the case of the battle St. George the Victorious against the dinosaur is not isolated evidence. And accordingly, not only the life of St. George and some other Christian serpent-fighting saints, but numerous descriptions preserved in ancient sources of dinosaurs through the eyes of eyewitnesses as creatures living side-by-side with people, as well as their ancient images, give strong reasons to believe that some of these lizards survived a certain Global Cataclysm, called the Flood, and were exterminated by man already during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.
Modern icon of St. George
Thus, the available evidence suggests that the picture of the development of life on our planet proposed by evolutionists and presented by them as the only true picture of the development of life on our planet is conceptually erroneous, while the biblical picture of the world explains the existing seemingly paradoxical facts quite well.
And we hope that the same Power of the Lord, which in ancient times helped the Great Martyr George to crush the living embodiment of evil, will help Orthodox Christian soldiers in our time (if they firmly believe in Jesus Christ and trust in the intercession of St. George) to crush all their opponents.
Last quarter-end of the 14th century. Rostov lands
48.7 × 33.6 × 2.2 cm. Wood (linden), solid board, no dowels, shallow ark, no wedge, gesso, tempera.
Origin unknown. Was in the collection of S. N. Vorobyov (Moscow), who bought the icon in Moscow in 2002. Acquired for the museum in 2008. Inv. No. ChM-438.
Disclosed in 2002 by S. N. Vorobyov. Restored again in 2008 by M. M. Bushuev (Russian Russian Museum).
New tinted gesso inserts in top and bottom corners and left margin. Significant late mastics with a record were left on the horse’s right leg and his croup with partial overlap into the background, a small insert on the horse’s neck. Minor soil chips across the entire surface. The paint layer is worn, especially in the shadow parts of the face, on George’s blue clothes, at the borders of contact between the background and the halo. Throughout the center and in the margins there are numerous traces of the nails that secured the frame. Author's cinnabar inscriptions, double layering on the husk and a well-preserved spear.
The composition of the icon is based on one of the episodes of the Byzantine legend, which was part of the cycle of miracles of St. George and known since the 9th century. in written monuments as “The Miracle of the Holy Great Martyr George on the Dragon.” Its iconography follows a summary of the scene (which corresponds only to the climax of this text), which became widespread in the art of the 14th–15th centuries. In this case, however, the most laconic and very rare iconographic option was chosen, devoid of any narrative details: the blessing hand of God is missing; the saint is presented without a shield, a constant attribute of a warrior; there is not even a hint of the character and location of the action - not only the usual slides, but even the earthen soil, sometimes used for the shortest excursions. George, galloping on a black horse, strikes with a spear a serpent writhing directly against the light background of the icon, and actually having the appearance of a serpent, and not a dragon (as it is depicted in most of the icons of this subject) - without wings and clawed paws. Such images are rare: such a serpent is shown, for example, in the icon of the Rostov circle from Pinega from the collection of M. V. Rozanova (British Museum, London), or in a work of the first half of the 16th century. (?) from the collection of I. S. Ostroukhov (Tretyakov Gallery). However, the closest analogy is an icon from the turn of the 14th–15th centuries. of Rostov origin from the collection of K.V. Voronin, representing the next stage in the development of the plot composition. But it also repeats such a feature as the intended pattern of the serpent’s scales. The contrast between the large horse, which is difficult to fit into the center field, not flying, but galloping heavily, and the emphatically small, fragile serpent, not at all like an evil dragon, and also painted in sky blue, deprives the icon of the usual emphasis for such scenes ideas of snake fighting: opposition of faith and good to evil, paganism. The monument seems to resurrect the ancient Byzantine tradition of depicting George the horseman or a triumphant equestrian warrior and is reminiscent of rare examples of a scene where there is no serpent at all, although the pose of the saint, swinging a spear and striking a blow, is preserved, as on the Novgorod monument of the late 14th century. from the Lyuboni churchyard (GRM). Meanwhile, the calmly lowered tail of the horse is more consistent with ambling than with the rapid running of the animal.
Other features of the composition - a galloping horse, the high-raised hand of a rider thrusting a spear into the open mouth of a dragon, as well as a red cloak fluttering widely behind his back, as if filled with the energy of movement - are typical of icons of the 14th–15th centuries. Despite the laconicism of the iconography, the horse harness is depicted in very detail and authentically: a high saddle and two blankets (as was expected during the ceremonial exit of the rider), harness, reshma, cinnabar belts and ribbons elegantly pulling the croup, and especially red cords tied on the legs, flying when run. The ceremonial appearance of the horse corresponded to the significance of the winning rider - it is obvious that the composition was based on an ancient, apparently Byzantine, model.
The laconic image, devoid of any narrative context, likened the image of George, a warrior and snake fighter, to a heraldic sign-symbol, which was strengthened by another iconographic feature of the image - the black color of the horse - bringing it closer to a small group of works, mainly of Central Russian origin, distinguished by this rare special feature: with an icon from the mid-14th century. from the collection of A.V. Morozov (Tretyakov Gallery), the previously mentioned Pinega image from the collection of M.V. Rozanova, an icon of the 15th century. (?) from the collection of R. Lakshin (Switzerland), two icons of the last third of the 15th century. from private collections and several monuments of the 16th century. The image from the collection of the Museum of Russian Icons turns out to be one of the earliest among them.
There is no convincing explanation for the replacement of the traditional white color of the horse in this scene. The antithesis “white – black”, meaning “life – death”, “heaven – hell”, “light – darkness”, in the Christian understanding was by no means reduced to the opposition of good and evil. It permeates the biblical narrative, liturgical poetry and coloristic symbolism of the pictorial structure of the icon. The death of Christ, which became the guarantee of new life, predetermined the attitude to the “end” and “darkness” as to the “beginning” and resurrection, therefore the semantics of black in icon painting was ambiguous. Along with white, red and red horses, the black horse is mentioned in biblical texts, primarily in the Apocalypse. According to the interpretation of Andrew of Caesarea, the rider on a black horse, who appeared at the moment of the opening of the Third Seal (Rev. 6:5-6), means “crying for those who have fallen from faith in Christ due to the severity of torment.” George, who won the crown of victory with his triumph over incredible torment, “trampling death by death,” could symbolically cancel the punishment of the apocalyptic image with the color of his horse, just as Christ, who stepped on the head of the serpent, canceled the black darkness of hell and death with his Sacrifice and Light.
The iconographic features of the icon, which most bring it closer to the Central Russian or Rostov circle, are consistent with its artistic style, which also gravitates towards the art of the Rostov lands. Archaic techniques for processing the front side - a slightly outlined ark, a background filled with orpiment with double cinnabar frames and two-color red-brown husks, bright, large inscriptions - go back to the picturesque tradition of the northeastern lands of the mid-second half of the 14th century.
It is also indicated by technical features: the absence of pavolok, executed without a sankir base using orpiment, a personal letter placed on layers of transparent light interlining with long thin whitening lights, as well as a moving and active finishing pattern, giving the outlines a soft three-dimensional shape. With minimal means, the master achieves the effect of a high relief, almost sculptural face, the very type of which - elongated, with a convex forehead and a hairstyle pushed back, giving the image a mournfully majestic expression - also belongs to the art of the last decades of the 14th century
What most corresponds to this time is the contrast between rounded monumental forms and piercingly sharp, fragile details, folds (the pulled edges of George’s dress or the cone-shaped end of the cloak), as well as between slightly exaggerated details: George’s exorbitantly enlarged and elongated arm and his small leg pulling back the stirrup . The monument confidently brings closer to the Rostov pictorial tradition not only the nature of the composition, which has a rich density and activity, when due to the diagonal movement all its components are stretched (the spear - the hand of George - his exorbitantly elongated fragile body - the leg, the movement of which merges with the gait of the horse), but also, especially, a transparent and delicate color, combining condensed colors of brown and red with light ocher, orpiment and melting blue paint.
Published: Museum of Russian Icons. Eastern Christian art from its origins to the present day. Collection catalogue. Volume. I: Monuments of ancient, early Christian, Byzantine and Old Russian art of the 3rd–17th centuries / Ed. I. A. Shalina. M., 2010. Cat. No. 2. P. 50–53 (text by I.A. Shalina).
Thursday, December 6, 2012
We are all accustomed to the Moscow coat of arms, to the image of St. George the Victorious on a horse, slaying a serpent. However, we do not think about its history, about where and when it came to Russia. It is worth saying that Saint George is a common Christian saint, revered in many other countries, for example, he is the patron saint of England. And foreigners are sometimes very surprised where it comes from - in Moscow, on the coat of arms of the city and even the country.
So who was St. George the Victorious, where did the story with the serpent take place, how did he get into the coat of arms of Moscow and why are foreigners so surprised at him —>
Officially, the coat of arms of the city of Moscow has existed since December 20, 1781. On this day it was “highly approved” along with the coats of arms of other cities of the Moscow province. In the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire, our capital's coat of arms is described as follows: “St. George on a horse against the same as in the middle of the state coat of arms, in a red field, striking with a copy of a black serpent.” It was also noted that the coat of arms is “old”. This meant that the emblem was previously known. Indeed, the horseman slaying a dragon with a spear was used for several centuries as an integral part of the sovereign Russian coat of arms. That is, there was no coat of arms as such in ancient times, but there were seals and coins with similar images.
The custom of placing a portrait of the prince on seals and coins, as well as an image of the saint whom the prince considered his patron, came to Rus' from Byzantium at the end of the 10th century. At the beginning of the 11th century, an image of St. George appears on the coins and seals of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, who took the name Yuri (George). The founder of Moscow, Yuri Dolgoruky, continued this tradition. On his seal there is also a saint, standing at full height and drawing a sword from its sheath. The image of St. George was on the seals of Yuri Dolgoruky’s brother Mstislav, the serpent warrior was present on numerous seals of Alexander Nevsky, and he is found on the coins of Ivan II the Red and Dmitry Donskoy’s son Vasily. And on the coins of Vasily II the Dark, the emblem of St. George takes on a form close to what was later established on the Moscow coat of arms. Saint George has been considered the patron saint of Moscow since the time of Dmitry Donskoy.
Seal of Ivan III
The first written account of a horseman slaying a dragon comes from the Ermolinsk Chronicle. It says that in 1464, a sculptural image of St. George was placed above the entrance gate of the Frolovskaya Tower, the main tower of the Kremlin. This image was staged by Vasily Ermolin. A number of historians of the 19th century mistook this statue of the famous Russian architect for the Moscow coat of arms, because the Frolov Gate was considered the main gate, even princes took off their hats when passing through them. It would be very tempting to consider this sculpture as the coat of arms of Moscow, but here, most likely, this sculptural image had protective functions, since two years later the same Ermolin placed an image of St. Dmitry above the gate of the tower on the inside.
The final approval of the serpent fighter rider as the coat of arms of the Moscow principality occurred under Ivan III (reigned from 1462 to 1505) and coincided with the completion of the unification of the main part of the Russian lands around Moscow. A seal from 1497 has been preserved, on which a horseman slaying a dragon serpent with a spear is surrounded by the inscription: “Seal of Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich,” and on the back of the seal, which does not have a design, the inscription is repeated, but with the addition of “all Rus'.” From this moment on, we can assume that the coat of arms of the Moscow Principality for some time becomes the coat of arms of all Rus'.
It is interesting that until the 18th century, the “Moscow rider” was not perceived by any of his contemporaries as Saint George.
Ordinary residents, explaining this symbolic image, said that it was “a king on a horse who defeated a serpent,” or “our great sovereign on an argamak,” or “the king himself with a spear,” or even “a man on a horse with a spear stabbing a snake.” Tsar Peter I called the horseman “Saint Yegor” only in the 18th century.
Coat of arms of Moscow, 1730.
The final name of the rider as St. George the Victorious was established in connection with the development of heraldry in Russia and the creation of city coats of arms. City symbols in Peter's time appeared along with the creation of a system for the formation and deployment of regiments of the Russian army. The regiments were distributed among cities and were named after the city, or less often - the province. Along with the name, the regiment received a banner and the emblem of the city. Since 1712, Moscow regiments placed on their banners a double-headed eagle under three crowns, and on the chest of the eagle, in the shield, there was a horseman stabbing a dragon with a spear.
Coat of arms of Moscow, 1781.
In 1729 - 1730, on the banners of the Moscow regiments only a horseman in a crown remained, piercing a snake with a spear. With the approval of the status of a city sign, St. George, being part of the state coat of arms, was called the coat of arms of Moscow - the historical center of the Russian Empire. The Moscow coat of arms was made in the “image and likeness” of the figure placed on the chest of the eagle in the state coat of arms.
Coat of arms of Moscow, 18th century.
In the decree of 1781 on the approval of the coats of arms of the Moscow province, the description of the Moscow coat of arms almost completely repeats the coat of arms of 1730: “Moscow. Saint George on horseback against the same as in the middle of the State Emblem, in a red field, striking a black serpent with a spear.” The coat of arms of Moscow existed in this form until the middle of the 19th century, when, as a result of reforms in Russian heraldry carried out at the direction of Emperor Nicholas I, it was significantly changed. The “coat of arms of the capital city of Moscow” has a similar appearance, which was approved by the highest authority somewhat later - on March 16, 1883, and it existed until 1917. And in 1993, a new Moscow symbol was introduced, based on the coat of arms of Moscow, approved in 1781.
Coat of arms of Moscow, 1856.
Coat of arms of Moscow, 1883.
The modern coat of arms of Moscow, since 1993. The coat of arms is taken as a basis not from the 19th century, but from the 18th.
St. George the Victorious and the Serpent
The killing of the serpent (dragon) is one of the most famous posthumous miracles of St. George. According to legend, a serpent devastated the land of a pagan king in Beirut. As the legend says, when the lot fell to give the king’s daughter to be torn to pieces by the monster, George appeared on horseback and pierced the snake with a spear, saving the princess from death. The appearance of the saint contributed to the conversion of local residents to Christianity. This legend was often interpreted allegorically: the princess - the church, the snake - paganism. This is also seen as a victory over the devil - the “ancient serpent”.
There is a variant description of this miracle relating to the life of George. In it, the saint subdues the snake with prayer and the girl destined for sacrifice leads him to the city, where the inhabitants, seeing this miracle, accept Christianity, and George kills the snake with a sword.
Saint George on an icon of the second half of the 16th century, from Novgorod.
Veneration of St. George in other countries
This saint has become extremely popular since early Christianity. He suffered torment in Nicomedia, and soon he began to be revered in Phenicia, Palestine, and then throughout the east. In Rome in the 7th century there were already two churches in honor of him, and in Gaul he has been revered since the 5th century.
Saint George on the Georgian icon.
George is considered the patron saint of warriors, farmers and shepherds, and in some places - of travelers. In Serbia, Bulgaria and Macedonia, believers turn to him with prayers for rain. In Georgia, people turn to George with requests for protection from evil, for good luck in hunting, for the harvest and offspring of livestock, for healing from illnesses, and for childbearing. In Western Europe, it is believed that prayers to St. George (George, Jorge) help get rid of poisonous snakes and contagious diseases. Saint George is known to the Islamic peoples of Africa and the Middle East under the names Jirjis and al-Khadr. George is also the patron saint of Portugal, Genoa, Venice (together with Apostle Mark) and Barcelona. Well, and of course, England. Back in the 10th century, churches dedicated to St. were built in England. George, and in the 14th century he was officially recognized as the patron saint of England.
Saint George on a Russian icon of the 16th century, from the city of Ustyuzhna.
Images of St. George
The most popular theme for images is, of course, the “miracle of the serpent.” It was painted at all times and in many countries, but especially a lot - during the Renaissance, in Italy. As examples, there are several icons and paintings about St. George the Victorious killing the serpent.
1471, Giovanni Bellini (Italy).
1456, Paolo Uccello (Italy)
1505-06, Raphael Santi (Italy)
1606-07, Rubens (Holland)
1890, Gustave Moreau (France)
1912, August Macke (Germany)
In the light of all this, it becomes clear why foreigners react so strangely to images of St. George in Moscow.
The Life of Saint George describes many miracles performed by the great martyr. In the earlier edition of the life, Saint George appears only as a great martyr, and only later editions are supplemented by descriptions of miracles, and first there were three episodes characterizing the saint as a miracle worker, then six more were added to them, including the famous “Miracle of George on the Serpent” .
The first miracle, which can be conditionally called the “Miracle of the Widow’s Column,” or “The Widow’s Mite,” tells how in Syria, where there were no large stones for the pillars that were supposed to support the building, these stones were bought in distant countries and brought by sea. This is what one widow did, who bought a good pillar and begged the mayor to take it on board a ship to take it to the Church of St. George the Great Martyr, which was under construction. He did not heed the prayers of the poor woman and sailed away, and she fell to the ground and, sobbing bitterly, called upon Saint George in her prayers. She fell asleep in tears and saw in a dream George appear to her on a horse, who asked what she was so grieving about. The widow told the saint about her grief. “Where do you want to put the pillar?” - asked the saint. “On the right side of the church,” the woman answered. Then the saint wrote on the pillar with his finger where this gift of the widow should be placed according to her desire. Together with the woman, they lifted the pillar, which suddenly became light, and lowered it into the sea. Waking up, the widow did not find the pillar in the same place, and when she returned home, it turned out that her pillar with the inscription made by the saint’s hand was already lying on the shore. The mayor repented of his sin, and the widow’s pillar was placed in the place where it was ordered.
The second miracle - “with a pierced image”, talks about the power of the miraculous icon of the saint. In the same Syrian city of Ramel, already conquered by the Saracens, several Saracens entered the church of St. George during a service, and one of them, taking a bow, shot an arrow at the icon of the great martyr.
But the arrow flew upward and, falling from there, pierced the arrow himself in the hand. The hand became swollen and very painful, and the Saracen, suffering from terrible suffering, confessed everything to his maids, among whom were several Christians. They advised the owner to call the priest, and he explained to the barbarian who Saint George was and why he received the grace from God to perform miracles. On the advice of the priest, the Saracen ordered the icon of the Great Martyr George to be brought to his house, placed it over his bed, prayed in front of it and anointed his hand with oil from the lamp. The Saracen was healed, believed in God, was secretly baptized, and then began to loudly preach the teachings of Christ as the true God in the city square. The Saracen convert accepted the crown of martyrdom, for he was immediately cut into pieces by his former co-religionists.
The third miracle - "about the captive Paphlagonian youth" tells about the deliverance of a young man captured by the Hagarians in the church of the Great Martyr George during the celebration on the day of remembrance of the saint. He spent a year in captivity with the Hagaryan prince, and twelve months later, exactly on the day when the young man was captured by the Gentiles, through the prayers of his poor mother, the captive was miraculously returned to his parents. He had just served the Hagaryan prince at table and appeared before his amazed parents directly with a wine vessel in his hands. Talking about what happened, the young man said: “I poured wine to give to the prince, and suddenly I was lifted up by a bright horseman, who put me on his horse. I held the vessel in one hand, and with the other I held on to his belt, and behold I found myself here..."
Two more miracles of St. George tell about a similar miraculous return from captivity. However, the most popular of all miracles, firmly entrenched in the iconography of the great martyr, is the “Miracle of George on the Serpent,” where the saint saves an entire city and the king’s daughter from a terrible monster.
In the homeland of Saint George, near the city of Beirut, where many idolaters lived, there was a large lake near the Lebanese Mountains. And a huge snake settled in this lake. Coming out of his refuge, he devoured people, and no one could cope with him, for the very air around him, infected with his breath, became deadly.
Then the ruler of the country decided to give the children of one of the inhabitants to the snake every day, and when his turn comes, he will give his only daughter to the monster.
So, by lot, the people of that country sent the snake to their children, until the turn of the king’s daughter came. Dressed in the best clothes and mourned by her parents, the girl found herself on the shore of the lake, sobbing bitterly and awaiting her death hour.
Suddenly, a beautiful young man appeared before her on a white horse with a spear in his hands - St. George the Victorious himself. Seeing the crying girl, he turned to her to find out why she was standing on the shore of the lake and what kind of grief she had. But the girl begged the beautiful young man to quickly leave this terrible place, otherwise he would die with her. Saint George insisted and finally heard the bitter story about the terrible monster and the king’s word. The girl again begged George to leave, because it was impossible to escape from the monster, and then a snake appeared from the lake. Having made the sign of the cross, with the words “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” George rushed at the monster and struck it with a spear, striking it in the very throat. The spear pressed the snake to the ground, the horse trampled it with its feet, and then Saint George ordered the girl to tie the snake with her belt and lead it, like an obedient dog, to the city.
The people shied away from the monster in horror, but George said: “Do not be afraid and believe in our Lord Jesus Christ.” And when George killed the snake in the middle of the city, thousands of residents believed in Christ and accepted holy baptism, and there were twenty-five thousand of them, not counting women and children.
At that place, a church was subsequently built in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos and St. George the Victorious, who protects the Christian Church from destroyers and from sin, just as he saved the king’s beautiful daughter from the devouring serpent.