The Orthodox Church constituted an important part of Lithuania’ s
spiritual landscape even prior to Lithuania’s baptism: Slavonic
people living in eastern lands
of
the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were
Orthodox
believers. When Lithuania embraced Western Catholicism, Jogaila and
Vytautas embarked on uniting the Orthodox and Catholic Church in
Lithuania by negotiating with the Orthodox bishops to accept the
authority of the Pope as opposed to the Patriarch of Moscow. Such
unity was attained in 1596 by the Church Union of Brasta, which
transformed a part of the Orthodox believers of the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania into the Eastern Catholic Church (Uniats). A large number of
Russian Old Believers moved into Lithuania to settle there in the late
17th and the 18th centuries following the suppression of the 1863
resurgence and the policy of Tsarist Russia seeking Lithuania’s
Russification and suppression of the Catholic faith. Currently, the
Old Believers of Lithuanian worship in 50 churches across the country.
There are also 41 Orthodox churches and the Orthodox monastery of the
Holy Spirit in Vilnius. The Church of the Holy Trinity in Vilnius was
handed back to the Eastern Catholics (Uniats).
Orthodox liturgy and religious art stems from the Byzantine tradition.
In church decoration, Orthodox believers prefer painting to sculpture,
while icon painting is dominant form of religious Orthodox art. The
canons governing subjects in icon painting, (the way of portraying
saints or divine figures and even techniques applied) have been
established and approved by the Church authorities and have not been
subject to changes throughout the centuries.
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The Annunciation. Russia,
2nd half of the 19th c. LDM |
The Deçsis.
Russia, mid-19th c. LDM |
St Demetrius Solunski.
Russia, early 18th c., painted
over in the 19th c. LDM |
In icon painting, Christ is predominantly represented as Christ
the Sovereign (Gr. Pantocrator). The idea of saints’
intercession for mankind found expression in the Supplication (Gr.Deçsis)
group, which represents Christ located centrally, Madonna and the
Baptist with other saints on both sides with their hands outstretched
towards the Lord. The Orthodox Church holds the Mother of God in the
greatest respect and veneration. In total, over 700 references to the
icons of Our Lady are known, among which as the most popular rank the
following iconographic types: Hodegetria, Eleousa, Theotokos.
Frequently, icons retell incidents from the Gospel or the scenes
from the Life of Christ and the Life of the Virgin. The cult of saints
plays an important role in the Orthodox faith; their Church calendar
lists above 5000 saints. St Florian and St Lawrence were
venerated as protectors of horses and grooms, St Demetrius
Solunski lent assistance for those combating with the enemy, St
Nicholas took care of wayfarers, peasants, orphans and the
poor, help from St Panteleon was sought by the sick and
the ill. Patron saint and benefactors were often depicted at the
boarders of the icons showing different subjects.
An icon is an idiosyncratic isolated world dissimilar from the
surrounding one. Line, colour and arrangement reduced to strictness of
a symbol are the means used in icon painting giving extreme
conciseness to their scriptural message. Stripped of materiality,
figures of saints are unnaturally elongated and act in a mystical
space. Colour in icon painting is of paramount importance and is
always far from “natural”. Everything is possible in an icon:
hills can be pink; horses can be red or blue. Local colours emphasize
expressive silhouettes and contribute to a festive and joyful sight
which, in the mind of the faithful, associates with the image of
Paradise. Gilding is often used for the background of icons; gold is
used in painting draperies, details of costumes and ornaments.
Russian icon painting flourished from the 13th to the 16th centuries.
The ancient icons are a marvel in their purity of form, expressive
silhouettes and colour schemes, subtle poetic mood. Later, the
arrangement of icons became more complex, new symbolic motifs and
allegoric stories emerged based on the writings of the Church fathers
and lyrics of religious hymns. During the 17th century, icon painting
was influenced by Western art.
Icons in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were marked by a unique style,
which fused features from the East and the West. Painters of icon
images interpreted the rules governing representation of the saints
more liberally, introducing local physiognomical types, decorative
patterns from local folklore and surroundings.
Besides painted icons, the exposition features small-scale metalwork,
such as cast and enamelled icons, also crosses. A manuscript Psalter
of the Old Believers is also on display.
