Exfoliation of national spirituality – Kommersant

The Moscow Patriarchate has spread a message that, by decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Trinity icon attributed to Andrei Rublev from the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery is being transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church. The icon, according to this message, will be in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior for a year, after which it will return to the Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The museum community has been insisting for many years that even a temporary stay of a fragile icon outside the comfortable museum conditions threatens to destroy the world’s most famous monument of ancient Russian art. comments Sergey Hodnev.

So far, only one official comment has been received from the Russian Orthodox Church – from Tikhon (Shevkunov), Metropolitan of Pskov and Porkhov. The chairman of the patriarchal council for culture spoke so vaguely that one gets the impression that the news also came as a surprise to him. He did not name any dates, referring to the fact that “it is necessary to create the necessary conditions that will fully satisfy all needs, to prepare the icon.” And he added: “As for the preservation of the icon, we understand that the requirements of the museum should be the highest priority.” With the requirements in general terms, everything is quite clear: museum specialists did not even demand, but begged not to move the Trinity anywhere.

The new director of the Tretyakov Gallery, Elena Pronicheva, did not comment on the incident. On the one hand, after the shock reshuffles in the leadership of the main art museums of the Russian Federation, it is difficult to expect that the newly appointed in such cases will not only protest, but at least quietly appeal to common sense. On the other hand – why even comments?

Mikhail Piotrovsky already spoke exhaustively on the third day: “At this geopolitical moment… the sacred significance of a monument is more important than its artistic value.”

True, this was said about the tomb of Alexander Nevsky, but the formula, as the third president of the Russian Federation said, was cast in granite. And for sure, about the “Trinity” someone will reproduce it, this is understandable.

It is not clear otherwise. Works from the state museum fund, in accordance with the letter of the current legislation (federal law No. 54-FZ “On the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation and museums in the Russian Federation”), cannot cease to be museum property – minus “cases of loss, destruction, as well as the lack of historical, cultural, artistic, scientific and other value … the presence of a court decision, entered into force.” There is no law that would regulate the transfer of these works to religious organizations: there is only a by-law, government decree “On the procedure for the transfer to religious organizations of federally owned property for religious purposes, classified as museum objects and museum collections …”. According to this decree, museum works can be transferred to anyone, including churches, only on the basis of a bilateral agreement – as was the case, in particular, with the cancer of Alexander Nevsky.

No treaty is known in the case of Trinity. The meaning of the relevant provision of Law No. 54-FZ is that a museum work of art (in this case, an icon) always remains in the care of the museum staff, they are responsible for it, wherever it is – at an exhibition, in a storeroom, in an exhibition hall. Nothing is said about how responsibility regarding the “Trinity” will be distributed.

In an informational message on the website of the Moscow Patriarchy said only, firstly, that the decision to transfer the icon was made “in response to the numerous requests of Orthodox believers” – however, there were no numerous requests, no collective initiative in this regard in the public space.

Secondly, the icon is called “miraculous”, which is a deliberate lie. There are no records of the miracle-working of the “Trinity”, there is neither a holiday nor services in honor of this particular image in liturgical everyday life – and with miraculous icons of this age this almost inevitably happened. The icon, yes, was honored as a temple image of the Trinity Cathedral, where the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh are located. But, unlike the tomb of the saint, it has never been a special object of pilgrimage.

I haven’t been to the Lavra, but I’ve been to the Tretyakov Gallery. It was after the salary of the 16th-18th centuries was removed from it, which closed it almost tightly, and after several layers of records and renovations were removed, revealing what was left of the painting of the 15th century. After, following the restorers, art critics explained what exactly is “speculation in colors” here, what is the fragile artistic substance that makes the “Trinity” a treasure of national art and Russian spiritual experience. It was the secular cult of Andrei Rublev as the main old Russian artist that led to his canonization in the perestroika year of 1988 as a saint – and not vice versa.

After transporting the “Trinity” to the Lavra and back last summer, experts found sixty “significant changes” on the icon, including five emergency ones.

To put it quite simply, the boards of the 15th century, which make up the basis of the icon, diverge, the canvas glued to them lags behind the base, the paint layer, as the restorers delicately put it, “peels off”. Another transportation there, transportation here – and what was a symbol of Russian and common Christian spirituality dear to the whole world will peel off, apparently, completely.