Abstract: The reflection of the spiritual tradition of hesychia in the pieces of Lavra iconography with the image of Sts. Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves is considered in this article. It is known that the life of Saint Anthony († 1073) and his spiritual successor, Saint Theodosius († 1074) was full of hesychia, learned and transferred to the Kyivan hills by St. Anthony through the blessing and ascetic experience of the Holy Mountain. The manifestations of hesychia in the lives of the Venerable Fathers of the Caves are reflected in hagiographic literature. The traditions of hesychia in the fine arts of the Kyiv Cave Monastery are reflected in almost all the images depicting the Holy Fathers of the Caves Anthony and Theodosius – “as a certainty of mystical experience, as a visible aspect of the God, energies in which God communicates and reveals Himself to those who have purified their hearts” (V. N. Losskii). In the course of the study, several of the most stable iconographic types of the image of the Venerable Fathers Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves were identified, in which the spiritual traditions of hesychia are visibly reflected. First, these are “Cathedral Compositions”, where all Venerable Fathers of the Caves are depicted. The Venerable Fathers Anthony and Theodosius in these multi-figured compositions, complex in content and expanded in meaning, appear, already changed by the uncreated light (as evidenced by the schema – “angelic rank” and halos) and in the prayer of the Holy Trinity or the Blessed Virgin Mary. Secondly, these are the compositions “Our Lady of Pechersk with the Appearing Saints Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk” which is a kind of a brief summary of the previous compositions. But, here the composition defines another theme, which is connected with the text of the Kyivan Cave Paterikon. Highlighting the visual vertical of the image – in the upper part of the icon of the Mother of God on the throne with the Infant Jesus on her lap and the Great Assumption of the Caves Church, in the lower part – reveal the theme of the arrangement of the Caves monastery; and the uncreated light pours from the Holy Virgin with the Infant Christ to the Church. Thirdly – “Life Compositions”, the iconography of which is based on hagiographic literature. And if the hagiography is a verbal image of the saint, which tells about his path to sainthood, and the type of his feat, presents his spiritual portrait, the hagiographic icons show the earthly path of the saints to the transformation by the uncreated light visually. Thus, to a greater or lesser extent, in each image one can see glimpses of hesychia. But, most fully, ἡσυχία (isychasmós) as “calmness” and “silence” is reflected in the single images of the Saints. Mono-images. A characteristic detail of the iconography of the Saints is the presence of a rosary – a symbol of the monastic prayer feat and the prayer of Jesus, the use of an array of golden background or the descent of a stream of light on the Saints’ faces. Thus, the Saints appear in the radiance of the divine uncreated light, at the moment of transformation, when God creates “An earthly angel and a heavenly man”. All the above images are united by the circumstance that they were created in the categories of Palamite Hesychasm with its ideal of the transformation of the flesh, with the doctrine of the divine aspiration of human nature, the inseparability of earth and heaven.

Authors: Ryzhova, Olga

DOI: 10.17846/CL.2023.16.2.68-81

Publication order reference: Olga Ryzhova, Doctor of Art History; Department of Scientific Restoration and Conservation of Moving Monuments of the National, Historical and Cultural Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”, Anny Akhmatovoi st. 16H, apt. 29, 02055 Kyiv, Ukraine; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2270-9419, WOS Researcher ID: AAW-4489-2021

Source: Konštatínove listy, 2023, vol.: 16, issue: 2, pages: 68-81 (PDF file)

Keywords: HESYCHIA, ANTHONY OF CAVES, THEODOSIUS OF CAVES, KYIV-PECHERSK LAVRA, ICONOGRAPHY

Language: ENGLISH

Recommended Citation:
Ryzhova, Olga. 2023. Reflection of the Tradition of Hesychia in the Images of Saints Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves in the Lavra Iconography. In Konštantínove listy [Constantine’s Letters] 16/2, 68-81.