Феофан Грек - на главную
Феофан Грек - на главную

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Feofan Grek (Theophanos The Greek)

  
Феофан Грек - "Иоанн Креститель", фрагмент
  

The murals in the altar niche has come down to us in a very poor state, while the wall painting in the conch is absolutely ruined. The place below is occupied by the Eucharist. The representations of the Apostle Peter, St John the Theologian, St Andrew and Mark (to the left) and the Apostles Paul, Matthew, Judas and Luke, Thomas or Phillip and one more unidentified apostle (to the right) have survived. The iconography of the fresco is noteworthy because of the image of Judas who is holding a sack of money got for the treachery.
Under the Eucharist is depicted the Adoration of the Lamb. This composition has preserved still worse, the colours in the uncovered fragments being badly erased. There are Greek inscriptions in the scrolls the saints are holding. Гп the right section show the figures of St Basil the Great, St Gregory the Theologian and, supposedly, St Athanasius of Alexandria. They are followed by the fourth unknown saint, and in the passage leading from the altar to the diaconicon two more appear, which were conceived to continue the procession. They are St Spyridon of Trimiphons and an unidentified saint resembling in his iconographic type St John the Chrysostom, but who is identified by the author as St Dionysius Areopagitus (the inscriptions in the scrolls are Russian). Tt should be noted as well that in the course of the 1970 excavation in the altar niche, when the fourteenth-century floor was exposed, were revealed the representations of the decorative drapes, hidden by the later brick wall standing on the bench of the sinthronon, whereas above the elevated chair of the bishop - a fragment of the sitting figure, with sandals on the feet. Not without reason we can assume that it was Jesus Christ, who was represented as a priest after the order of Melchisedek, like the well-known fresco on the same subject in the Church onNereditsa. The painting of the prothesis has not survived the time. Luckily the images of four bishops have preserved in the diaconicon. Of the two figures on the eastern wall only one stayed intact, that of St Clement the Bishop of Ancyra. Two more bishops are painted on the curve of the arch, connecting the diaconicon with the main body of the church. The left bishop is supposed to be Poly-carpus of Smyrna, the right one - Anthemius of Nicomedia.
The murals in the Trinity Chapel at the gallery as well as the murals in the dome are in a better state of preservation than the other decorative pieces from the Church of the Saviour. In all probability here was the private praying room of Boyar Vasily Danilovich, the main donor of the murals. The painting on the vault of the chapel is lost. The eastern wall is occupied by the large composition of the Old Testament Trinity. Below was the Adoration of the Lamb. Two bishops from the adjoining part of the north wall and the north side of the dome supporting columns, which wedge into the room, were also the members of the composition. Just two images have not deteriorated with time. In the scroll of the left bishop is seen an inscription in Greek, while the right bishop's scroll bears the same inscription in Russian. The names of the two bishops have been erased. Alongside the Trinity and the Adoration of the Lamb the chamber contains one more symbolical scene, of the Virgin of the Sign, just above the door to the gallery. Side by side with the Virgin the Archangel Gabriel appears with the warder and sphere in his hands.
The pride of place in the decorative ensemble of the Trinity Chapel was allotted to the images of ascetics, i.e. hermits whose life, as distinct from the later monks, was characterised not so much by the obedience to the chosen teacher, as by striving to the personal salvation by means of self-torments and continuous reflection of the God. The most impressive are five stylites in the top sections of the column and southern wall. They are David, Daniel, Simeon the Elder, Simeon the Younger from the Wondrous Mountain and Alipios. On the western wall in one row with the stylites are located Macarius the Great and Acacius, and further, judging by the remains, Onuphrius the Great. The upper tier of the northern wall had three medallions of which only two enclosing half-length representations of St Arsenius the Great and St John Climacus survived. Of the individual personages in the lower tier the figure of a saint on the western side of the column arouses interest. The word "presbyter" remained of the whole inscription. It may be the image of a rarely mentioned saint Nicephorus of Katavad, who was the presbyter of the Crete manastery of Kata-vad but became revered in Chalcedon where he died and where his relics were being kept. At the same level with the latter figure on the west wall shows the head of an unknown saint and a part of the figure of St Varsonophius. On the north wall the frescoes from the second tier are badly damaged and next to the bishop from the Adoration of the Lamb only portion of the image of St Ephrem the Syrian, one of the most revered saints of the East, survived. All the portrayals of saints in the chamber at the gallery are arranged in two upper tiers. Along the lower level of the wall is stretching the frieze of ornamental drapes painted in free and picturesque manner.
The decorative ensemble of the Church of the Saviour is distinguished by certain peculiarities and we can see in the mind's eye its general scheme.

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