Procession of the cross in the Kursk province. Painting by Ilya Repin

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Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Federal Agency for Education

Kursk State Technical University

Department of History and Socio-Cultural Service

Abstract on the history of the Kursk region on the topic:

"Religious procession in Kursk Province"

Introduction

Chapter 1. History of the monastery

Chapter 2. Procession

Chapter 3. Interesting facts from the history of the main Kursk shrine

Conclusion

Applications

Bibliography

Introduction

Founded in 1597, on the site of the appearance of the icon of the Sign of the Mother of God. In 1295, on the site of the village of Svoboda, Kursk region, there were dense forests and people came there to hunt. Hunters from Rylsk arrived there. One of them, walking through the forest, saw a board that he picked up. It turned out to be an icon, and at its location there was a source. The pious hunter placed the icon in a hollow and followed his comrade. A few years later, a wooden chapel was built on this site. During the Tatar-Mongol yoke, they wanted to transport the icon. But a terrible storm arose on the Tuskar River and then the people prayed to the Mother of God that they would take the icon back, if only the storm would stop, as it threatened their death. The storm stopped and the icon was returned. After some time, the clergyman of this chapel was detained. Before his eyes, they cut the icon in half, scattering the halves in different directions, and burned the chapel... When he was freed 20 years later, he came to the site of the chapel and saw a rose bush among the weeds. He came up. There was half an icon there. Then he looked around and saw another bush nearby. Half of the icon was there too. When he folded them, the icon miraculously grew together. During the civil war, in 1919, the icon (kept for most of the year in the Kursk Znamensky Monastery) was taken from Kursk: to Belgorod, Taganrog, Rostov, Ekaterinodar, Novorossiysk. On March 1, 1920, on the steamer "St. Nicholas" she departed for Constantinople, from where to Greece and Serbia. Not for long, at the request of General P.N. Wrangel, to encourage his troops, the icon stayed in Crimea. In 1944, the icon was delivered to Munich, and then to the USA, where since 1957 it has been in the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in New York.

Chapter 1.History of the monastery

At the end of the 13th century, on September 8, 1295, as legend says, in the surrounding forests near Kursk, in the roots of a tree, the Most Holy Theotokos revealed her face to one pious man. “...And he saw, near the Tuskar River in a semi-mountain, at the root of a large tree, an icon lying prostrate, which he had only just lifted from the ground, when a source of water immediately flowed from that place. Seeing this, the husband placed the honestly found icon in a hollow tree, and then he himself announced this Orthodox miracle to his comrades, who, having agreed among themselves, built a chapel several fathoms above the mentioned place and, having placed the miraculous icon in it, returned to their own world ..."

The found icon was reminiscent of the Novgorod icon of the Sign of the Mother of God (1170). This icon, found on the bank of Tuskar, went down in history under the name Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God “The Sign”, and for seven centuries it has been the patroness and intercessor of the Kursk land.

Many mysterious and significant events are associated with this icon. According to one of the modern researchers of the history of this icon, J. Senatorsky, through the centuries, “miraculous signs and mercies of God descending on everyone who with faith touched the miraculous image of the Kursk Root Mother of God of the Sign” have reached us.

The appearance of this icon occurred at a turning point in history for the Russian land: many Russian cities and settlements were torn apart and destroyed by the Tatar-Mongols. One of these cities that experienced terrible disasters was Kursk. The residents of this city saw in all the misfortunes that befell them the wrath of God, the punishment for their sins. They also connected their liberation from foreign robbery with God's grace, which descended on them in the images of miraculous icons, which in significant numbers appeared to the Russian people in the lands enslaved by the Mongols.

Church sources have preserved the names of such famous icons in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos, revealed to our forefathers at different times, as Kostroma (1239), Ustyug (1290), Kursk Root (1295), Tolgekaya (1814), Chukhloma (1350). Donskaya (1380), Tikhvinskaya (1383), PutivLskaya (1405), Kolochskaya (1413), Pskov or Chirskaya (1420), Kazanskaya (1579).

True, disputes have flared up more than once among church historians regarding the year of the appearance of the Kursk Root Icon. This was explained by the fact that in a number of lists of “The Tale of the Appearances of the Miracle-Working Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Kursk...” (a literary monument of the 17th century), the year 1295 is not named at all, but only mentions that it was the time of Mongol rule.

But be that as it may, one of the handwritten legends names the year 6803 from the creation of the world or 1295 from the birth of Christ. And it is this date that is celebrated by the Russian Orthodox Church as the time of the appearance of the Kursk shrine.

One of the first chronicle mentions of the miracles of the Kursk Root Znamenskaya Icon is associated with the name of Prince Vasily Shemyaka, to whom his sight returned after fervent prayer in front of the image of the Mother of God.

With the intercession of this icon, Kursk residents associate overcoming the consequences of a terrible famine (1601-1603) during the reign of Boris Godunov and the Time of Troubles with innumerable troubles from impostors, repelling the raids of the Crimean Tatars, Lithuanians and Poles.

The miracles and signs associated with the Kursk Root Icon so amazed everyone with their divine power that their fame spread throughout Rus', and gradually this image became a national shrine. This icon became one of the most popular; copies of it (exact copies) were richly decorated and distributed in churches, monasteries, and troops.

When in 1689, during the Russian-Turkish wars, Russian warriors set off on the Crimean campaign, the image of this icon adorned the regimental banners with the inscription: “We place all our trust in You, Mother of God. You have favored us from all our enemies with your invincible - wondrous leadership, keep us forever in your shelter.”

In 1769, under the shadow of this image, the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov became stronger in health - one of the greatest, along with the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh, Russian saint. The future saint was born on July 19, 1759 in the city of Kursk into the Moshnin merchant family, who at their own expense built one of the pearls of religious architecture - the Sergius-Kazan Cathedral in the center of Kursk. Even in childhood, the wondrous cover of God was repeatedly revealed over the holy youth, clearly showing in him that he was chosen by God. When he was seven years old, his mother, who was inspecting the still unfinished St. Sergius Church, took him with her to the very top of the bell tower that was under construction. Due to carelessness, the boy fell from the bell tower to the ground. Agathia ran downstairs in horror, thinking that her son had fallen to death, but, to indescribable joy, she found him safe and sound. Three years later, the boy became seriously ill, so much so that his family no longer believed in the happy outcome of his illness. At this time, Seraphim’s father saw the Most Holy Theotokos, who promised him Her forgiveness and speedy healing from his illness. And soon this prophecy came true. In Kursk, an annual religious procession took place with the miraculous icon of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos (called the Root); this time, due to rain and mud, the religious procession passed right through the courtyard of Agafy Moshnina. Agathia hastened to carry out her sick son and placed him near the miraculous icon, after which the boy began to recover and soon completely recovered.

During its long history, the icon traveled a lot. So, in 1597, at the end of the 16th century, the icon was sent to Moscow, where Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich met it along with Patriarch Job, all the cathedral clergy and army. By order of the king, the icon was decorated with a silver-golden frame, pearls and precious stones. A cypress board was made around the icon, on which the Lord of hosts was depicted, and on the sides and below were prophets with scrolls in their hands and sayings corresponding to their scriptures. Tsarina Irina Fedorovna hung a veil of red satin on the icon, which she embroidered with gold and silver threads and decorated with precious stones.

After the return of the icon to Kursk, Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, shortly before his death, issued a Decree on the construction of a monastery on the site of the appearance of the icon. For four centuries now, this monastery has been known to the Orthodox world as the Kursk Root Nativity of the Virgin Hermitage.

This monastery is not only an Orthodox shrine, but also a monument of architectural art, since on its territory there are churches of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Life-Giving Spring, All Saints, an almshouse, a covered gallery leading to the source, ponds, outbuildings, and picturesque surroundings. Many people regularly flocked here during the religious procession and the world-famous Root Fair, which was considered the largest along with Makaryevskaya near Nizhny Novgorod and Irbitskaya in the Urals.

Chapter 2. Procession

The very first religious procession in history with the Kursk Root took place in 1618, on the ninth Friday of Easter, by the highest Decree of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. On this summer day, the miraculous icon was solemnly transferred from the Znamensky Monastery (founded in 1612) to the “hermitage” that is still standing.”

The duration of the shrine's stay in the Root Monastery changed: at first - one week (1726-1765, as recorded in church sources), from 1765, at the request of the abbot of the Root Monastery, Isaiah, the Moscow Patriarch extended this period to two weeks.

And in 1768, by Decree of the Holy Synod, it was forbidden to wear an icon in the Root Monastery due to violation of the Spiritual Regulations, which resulted in undignified disputes between the abbots and monks of the Znamensky and Root Monasteries regarding the income from the religious procession and the Root Fair. And during the religious procession in 1767, even riots arose.

The ban on the religious procession to the Root Hermitage lasted 22 years. It occurred during the reign of Empress Catherine II, who considered herself to be guarding the morality of her subjects. The religious procession, which had a 150-year tradition, attracted pilgrims to the Root Monastery. After its ban, the authority of the Kursk Fair began to fall, the interests of the trading people began to be undermined, which ultimately caused significant damage to the state treasury.

And only in 1790, after numerous requests from the clergy and bureaucrats, the Holy Synod heeded the requests of the Kursk residents and again allowed religious processions to be held. After 22 years, in June 1791, on Easter Friday, the miraculous icon, accompanied by thousands of pilgrims, solemnly marched from the Znamensky Monastery to the Root Hermitage. Among the participants in the resumed religious procession were pilgrims from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kyiv, Greece, Poland, Wallachia and other countries.

Since 1805, the terms of the icon’s presence in the Root Hermitage have also been changed. This was done by Alexander I in response to the request of the abbot of the Root Monastery, Macarius. The Russian emperor allowed the miraculous icon to remain in the Root Hermitage not for two weeks, but from the ninth week of Easter until September 12 (25), the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In the middle of the 19th century (May 1852), the State Council decided to make the days of the religious procession non-working. The tradition of the procession, which was strengthened over the centuries, was a well-established order and ceremonial part. After Kursk received the status of a provincial capital (1775) and a diocesan administrative center (1833), the importance of this rite increased significantly. Elevated to the rank of a provincial holiday, the religious procession united the people of Kursk, bringing together secular officials, clergy and ordinary people. In addition, participation in religious processions by governors and clergy gave this rite special solemnity and significance.

According to the recollections of Archbishop Seraphim of Kursk and Belgorod, on the eve of the removal of the miraculous icon, on Thursday evening, in addition to the bishop's all-night vigil in the Znamensky Cathedral, a people's all-night vigil was also served on a special platform in the middle of Krai Square. It started after 8 pm and ended after midnight. Tens of thousands of faces were illuminated by candles burning in the darkness. A hundred-voice choir carried sacred songs throughout the area. The ringing of the monastery bells was picked up by the bell ringers of all Kursk churches. And grace descended on everyone who gathered for the procession from the near and far provinces of Russia and other countries... The great I. E. Repin conveyed this state of mind very realistically in his painting “The Procession in the Kursk Province.”

The tradition of the religious procession in the Kursk province was interrupted by the events of 1917. After the decree was issued (01/23/1918) on the separation of church from state and state from church, as His Holiness Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', wrote in his desperate message in those days, “the most severe persecution was erected against the Holy Church. Holy churches are either subject to destruction through executions from deadly weapons... or to robbery... by the godless rulers of this century... The authorities... everywhere show only the most unbridled self-will and continuous violence against everything and, in particular, over the Holy Orthodox Church." .

The monastery in which the icon was kept was plundered during the civil war, but the Kursk Root Icon of the Sign of the Mother of God was saved. In October 1919, this shrine was transported first to Belgorod, and then to Taganrog with the direct participation of Bishop Feofan of Kursk and Oboyansky. And on April 1, 1920, the icon left Russia on the steamer “St. Nicholas”. The last time the icon was on Russian territory was in the same 1920, in September-October, at the request of General Wrangel in his troops. After this, only a copy of it remained in Russia.

In exile, the icon was located in Greek Thessaloniki, the Serbian city of Nishche, Belgrade, Vienna, and Munich. She walked this path for thirty years and finally finally stopped in the New Root Desert near New York (USA). From the moment the icon left Russia (1921), the Kursk image of the Most Holy Theotokos has been the main shrine of the Russian Orthodox emigration.

The monastery in the Root Hermitage was closed in 1923, and then completely destroyed, looted and desecrated. Thus, Russia lost another of its national shrines, the Life-Giving Spring, consecrated by the Mother of God herself, and they tried to wipe it off the face of the earth by filling it with concrete. But the source made its way in new places. Not only the monastery suffered, but also all those who did not want to forget the tradition that had existed for centuries. The territory of the monastery was surrounded by a four-meter high fence, and vigilantes were posted at all approaches to the monastery. A hunt was organized for literally every pilgrim; They tried to erase the very memory of the procession to the Root Hermitage from the believers.

But it was impossible to eradicate faith by force. By all means, believers sought communication with their shrine. Changes occurred only in 1988, on the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Rus'. This year, the ruling bishop of the Kursk diocese, Juvenaly, addressed the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Pimen and the head of state M. S. Gorbachev with a request to return the Root Monastery to the believers.

After this appeal, on August 7, 1989, the executive committee of the regional Council of People's Deputies issued a decision on the phased transfer to the diocesan administration of part of the historical and architectural complex “Kursk Root Nativity-Virgin Hermitage. On August 15, the first service took place on the site where the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary stood before the 1917 revolution.

From that moment on, the revival of the Kursk Root Hermitage began as a monument of the 16th century. The restoration of this monument was carried out in almost five years. A belfry and temples of the Root Hermitage were erected on the site of the ruins. At the place where the icon appeared, a temple was again erected, built at one time by an associate of Peter I, Field Marshal Boris Petrovich Sheremetev, at his own expense in honor of the victory over the Swedes near Poltava.

In addition to the main buildings of this Orthodox monument, a monastery was revived with a house church, a hotel, outbuildings, pastures and vegetable gardens, a fish pond and a barnyard. Land routes to this historical shrine were re-established.

Once interrupted Orthodox traditions were also revived. The first religious procession after a long break took place on June 15, 1990, the ninth Friday of Easter. It differed in scale from its historical predecessors (its length was only 900 meters); it was carried out inside the monastery fence. Subsequent religious processions regained their previous historical scale. Having become a national holiday, the religious procession to the Root Hermitage was carried out by thousands of pilgrims from near and far abroad. The atmosphere and all the events that happen are sanctified and carry a huge amount of spiritual energy.

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', who visited this monastery in September 1091, called the Kursk Root Hermitage the third spiritual center of Russia, along with the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and the Diveyevo monastery of Seraphim of Sarov in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

This holy place to this day never ceases to amaze its pilgrims with miraculous signs. Thus, in the year of the 700th anniversary of the appearance of the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God “The Sign,” the religious procession was accompanied by a natural miracle. The procession took place on Friday, June 23 and was especially crowded and solemn. It was preceded by a week during which it rained heavily. It rained during the night from Thursday to Friday. On the day of the procession, early in the morning, when in the Znamensky Cathedral, before the removal of the miraculous icon, Bishop Juvenaly began the divine liturgy, the sky suddenly cleared of heavy clouds, and the whole area was illuminated by the gentle summer sun, which shone throughout the entire path of the procession.

On this day, for the first time after the resumption of the procession, Kursk residents and guests of the city solemnly carried the intercessor of the Kursk region through the streets of Kursk to the Vvedensky Church of the Yamskaya Sloboda with thanksgiving prayers in the Upper Holy Trinity and Resurrection-Ilyinsky churches and the Sergius-Kazan Cathedral that stood on the way of the procession.

Chapter 3 Interesting facts from the history of the main Kursk shrine

Prince Shemyaka's epiphany

The appearance of the icon occurred at a turning point in history for the Russian land: many cities and settlements were destroyed by the Tatar-Mongols, and Kursk also experienced terrible disasters. Its inhabitants saw in all misfortunes the wrath of God, punishment for sins. They also connected their liberation from foreign robbery with God's grace, which descended on them in the images of miraculous icons, which often appeared to Russian people in enslaved lands.

Among church historians, disputes have flared up more than once regarding the year of the appearance of the Kursk Root. This was explained by the fact that in a number of lists of “The Tale of the Appearances of the Miracle-Working Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Kursk...” (a literary monument of the 17th century), the year 1295 is not named at all, it is only mentioned that it was the time of Mongol rule. But be that as it may, one of the handwritten legends names the year 6803 from the creation of the world or 1295 from the birth of Christ. It is this date that is celebrated by the Russian Orthodox Church as the time of the appearance of the Kursk shrine.

One of the first chronicle mentions of the miracles of the Kursk Root Icon is associated with the name of Prince Vasily Shemyaka, to whom his sight returned after fervent prayer in front of the image of the Mother of God. With her intercession, the Kursk residents associate overcoming the consequences of the terrible famine of 1601-1603 during the reign of Boris Godunov and the Time of Troubles with innumerable troubles from impostors, repelling the raids of the Crimean Tatars, Lithuanians and Poles.

Victory of arms and healing of Sarovsky

The miracles and signs associated with the Kursk Root Icon so amazed everyone with their divine power that their fame spread throughout Rus', and gradually this image became a national shrine. This face became one of the most popular; copies (exact copies) of it were richly decorated and distributed in churches, monasteries, and troops.

When in 1689, during the Russian-Turkish wars, Russian warriors set off on the Crimean campaign, the image of the icon adorned the regimental banners with the inscription: “We place all our trust in You, Mother of God. You have favored us from all our enemies with your invincible - wondrous leadership, keep us forever in your shelter.”

The copy of the miraculous Kursk Root Icon was sent by the Kursk people to the active army of Prince Mikhail Kutuzov in 1812, and throughout the war with the French it guarded Russian soldiers.

In 1769, under the shadow of the icon, St. Seraphim of Sarov, one of the greatest, along with St. Sergius of Radonezh, Russian saints, became stronger in health. As you know, he was born on July 19, 1759 in Kursk into the merchant family of the Moshnins, who built the Sergius-Kazan Cathedral at their own expense. When Prokhor was 7 years old, his mother took him to inspect the still unfinished temple. Due to carelessness, the boy fell from the very top of the bell tower under construction to the ground, but remained safe and sound. And after 3 years he became seriously ill and was healed only when there was an annual religious procession in Kursk with a miraculous icon. The mother carried out the sick Prokhor and placed him on the “Sign”. Soon the boy recovered.

During its long history, the icon traveled a lot. So, in 1597, Lik travels to Moscow, where he is met by Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich with Patriarch Job, the entire cathedral clergy and army. By order of the sovereign, the icon was decorated with a silver-golden frame, pearls and precious stones. A cypress board was made around it, where the Lord of hosts was depicted, and on the sides and below were prophets with scrolls in their hands and sayings from their scriptures. Tsarina Irina Fedorovna hung a veil of red satin on the image, which she embroidered with gold and silver threads and decorated with jewelry.

Conclusion

The monastery in its modern form

The monastery now has 4 functioning churches, but in fact services are conducted only in one of them - the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Brothers of the monastery

The governor is Abbot Veniamin. The acting dean is Hieromonk Damascene. Housekeeper - Hieromonk Joasaph. Treasurer - Hieromonk Alexy. The sacristan (the dean of the church) is Hieromonk Aristarchus. Regent - novice Roman.

The religious procession that brought together thousands of pilgrims, when the icon of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos was transferred from Kursk to the Korennaya Hermitage, was reflected in his painting “The religious procession in the Kursk province” by Ilya Repin.

Listliterature used

1. Holy Kursk Land: artist. photo album / comp. and ed. V. Kulagin; photoil. O. Sizov. - Kursk, 2004. - 263 p.

2. Traveling around the Kursk region: routes of excursions and hiking trips to historical and memorable places. - Kursk, 2004. - 103 p.: ill.

3. Pakhomova A.N. Kursk region in the process of forming the state and law of Ancient Rus': [textbook. allowance] / A.N. Pakhomova; KSTU. - Kursk, 2006. - 291 p.

4. Materials from Internet sites: www.korennaya.ru, http://www.museum.ru/M2246, http://foto.rambler.ru/users/arnosha/23/

Preliminary sketches

Already in 1878, Repin was working on sketches for the painting “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province” in Moscow, in monasteries in the area. Near Zvenigorod he meets a hunchback.

At first he paints only the head, then waist-deep and finally full-length. In the Kursk province in the Korennaya Hermitage, in Chernigov, near Kiev - the artist visited everywhere to feel the atmosphere of the religious procession, and then transfer it to canvas.

Press coverage

When the painting “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province” was exhibited at the 11th exhibition of the Itinerants, it caused sharp negative reviews in the press. It was written that this is a very biased depiction of Russian life.

The artist saw only police officers with whips, chasing people away. He specially selected a fat lady who carries the miraculous icon, because she is the most honorable person in the city. At the same time, progressive critics wrote that this is only an image of external ritualism, and there is no sincere faith in the picture. All these were accurate and correct comments, even from opponents of the canvas. It was with these thoughts that “The Procession in the Kursk Province” was written. The picture is still relevant today. It evokes harsh reviews from adherents of Orthodoxy and some politicized journalists.

Description of the picture

On a hot summer day, a crowded procession moves along a dusty road to the place where the miraculous icon appeared to them. On the one hand, these are the poor, downtrodden, oppressed common people, and on the other, the powers that be. The officers on horseback are not idle. One of them in a white uniform, right in the middle of a crowd of people, is whipping her with a whip, the other is still only threatening, but will use it at any moment.

The local aristocrats, especially the lady with the arrogant, ugly face, carrying the icon, are guarded by the village headman, who waves a stick so that no one can approach her. Representatives of the clergy in blue kamilavkas follow her, animatedly talking on abstract topics. Repin saw this moment himself and was hotly outraged.

A little behind her is a stocky young man dressed in a light gray suit. This is apparently her son. Next to the lady in bows on the left, a rich merchant with a thick beard walks in civilian clothes. A little behind is a retired officer, apparently an influential landowner. A little ahead moves a red-faced and red-nosed deacon, worn out from the heat, wearing golden vestments and holding a censer. This is the central part of the procession.

A religious procession in the Kursk province slowly moves past a hill where a forest once grew, of which only stumps remain. He is disgracefully cut down. Above the entire picture, clouds of dust are raised from hundreds of boots of an innumerable number of people moving behind the icon.

Compositional structure

The religious procession in the Kursk province goes diagonally. It slowly floats towards the viewer from the left edge of the horizon to the right side of the picture. The artist divides the crowd into two parts. On the left side are depicted wanderers and holy fools, among whom the most prominent is a hunchbacked cripple on crutches. It is he who is driven away with a stick from the center of the procession.

Types of faces in the picture

Next to the cripple are two wretched beggar women with scarves that have long since lost their color, which are pulled deeply over their tanned and dirty faces. The expression on their faces is completely hopeless: no icon will turn their lives for the better.

The right side is no less interesting. Two women, bending not from the weight, but from the splendor, carry an empty icon case. Two cleanly dressed 8-10 year old boys follow them, joining the Orthodox celebrations. Their behavior is observed by a father in a white shirt-front and a white tie, and a grandfather, who sternly raised his finger, demanding silence from the children.

The very first depicted are men and peasants, aware of the solemnity and importance of their work, carrying a portable lantern decorated with ribbons. They are cleanly and smartly dressed, their hair, like many others, is oiled. Some have boots, others are wearing new bast shoes.

Repin did not paint portraits, but certain psychological types of people. Therefore, it is interesting to watch how he unfolds the figures in the picture. Here the boy turns around and looks at the policeman, and then the policeman leans over, talking to someone in the crowd.

Above the entire innumerable procession, the end of which is not in sight, the sun is burning hot and dust is swirling. The haze covers the end of the procession and the fluttering banners. The sky froze in complete languor. All the colors in the picture create a special symphony, rich, but not decorative. Each stroke is necessary to determine the location of any object.

Repin wholeheartedly rejected pure art. For him, the main thing was to reflect the reality that he saw next to him. When Repin wrote “The Procession in the Kursk Province,” he was primarily motivated by the idea that the content determines the form of the work. This is how one of the most realistic portraits of Russia was created.

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K. BASILASHVILI - 14 hours 11 minutes, Ksenia Basilashvili is at the microphone. This is the Tretyakov Collection program. We sent my co-host Ksenia Larina home early; she probably felt a little unwell because of the weather. So, Ksenechka, good health to you, don’t get sick. Well, Tatyana Yudenkova, a senior researcher at the State Tretyakov Gallery, and I are opening the doors of the Tretyakov Gallery. As always, this happens with us on Sundays, and today we invite you to look at one of the most famous paintings in the gallery - this is “The Procession in the Kursk Province”, Ilya Efimovich Repin. Hello Tatiana.

T. YUDENKOVA - Hello.

K. BASILASHVILI - But, probably, there are no Soviet and Russian schoolchildren who would do this... both past and present, who would not know this picture; it was always in “Native Speech”, and they wrote expositions based on it. It has never been banned, although opinions, oh, how different there have always been about this picture.

T. YUDENKOVA - Yes, indeed, the painting has been familiar to all of us since childhood, loved by all of us, it has always hung on display in the Tretyakov Gallery. Very rarely has it been exported to other countries for exhibitions.

K. BASILASHVILI - What's the matter here?

T. YUDENKOVA - Well, because this is one of the central works of Russian art, and the gallery has always believed that such key things, significant ones, should be on display.

K. BASILASHVILI - Well, we will now enter the hall where this painting hangs and talk about it in detail. But first, as always, at the beginning of our program “An Incident in the Museum,” and this time from its general director Valentin Rodionov.

V. RODIONOV - I noticed at the transition to the gallery about 15 young people of 20-22-25 years old, there were about 15 of them, one was older. And they stood and smoked all together. Maybe I didn’t pay attention, but I noticed that they were all wearing tarpaulin boots. And just when there was a muddy season and the sowing campaign, I thought: probably these people are from Serebryanye Prudy, or from the Kashira district, or from Stupinsky. They stood and smoked, and then the elder said: guys, let’s finish our smoke break, let’s go to the temple. He said “to the temple”, not “to the museum”. And they went to the main entrance of the Tretyakov Gallery.

K. BASILASHVILI - Valentin Rodionov, who invites everyone to his gallery, we follow him, but first, naturally, the question will now be asked, and the prizes that we are giving you today are an invitation to the opening of the exhibition of Dmitry Zhilinsky, “Graphic Painting " The exhibition will open in the Engineering Building of the Tretyakov Gallery. This is from the series “Living Classics, Living Legends”, the wonderful contemporary artist Dmitry Zhilinsky at the vernissage, the vernissage will take place on September 13 at 4 pm. We have several invitations for you. In addition, CD-ROMs with walks through the Tretyakov Gallery and a new issue of the Tretyakov Gallery magazine, also with detailed announcements of the exhibitions that will be held, with those collections, including private ones, which you can get acquainted with on the pages of the Tretyakov Gallery "and in the Tretyakov Gallery itself. And now the question, attention. Ilya Repin's wife Natalya Borisovna Nordmann-Severova was passionate about everything new and passionate about it. Among other things, she was a consistent vegetarian, a feminist, and also read the latest philosophical teachings, including being a fan of the teachings of this then famous theosophist, then her name began to thunder throughout Russia, and well, throughout the world. I hope that you yourself will be able to name the name of this theosophist; if not, I will help, I will tell you some of her works. I’m just afraid to do this in advance - then everyone will answer right away. So. Who is this theosophist, whose teachings Natalya Borisovna Nordmann-Severova, the wife of the artist Ilya Repin, was fond of? Please send your answers to our SMS +7-985-970-45-45. Well, don’t forget to ask our guest Tatyana Yudenkova questions. Well, let's get to the picture. So, “Religious procession in the Kursk province.” They scolded the picture and praised it.

T. YUDENKOVA - Well, when the picture appeared at the exhibition, at a traveling exhibition in 1983 in St. Petersburg, naturally, it caused a flurry of critical reviews of a very negative, sharply negative nature, although the censorship reacted quite favorably to this picture, it was not withdrawn from the catalogue, was not removed from the exhibition. But critics were unhappy. Critics were mostly dissatisfied with the depiction, in fact... the plot itself is the Procession of the Cross, such a solemn religious procession, and the critics were outraged that in this procession there were Russian people, the Russian people, who, in general, of course, personify the whole of Russia here. In the selection of the people themselves, criticism found deliberately ugly, brutal, idiotic types.

K. BASILASHVILI – Somehow it seems to me that everything is quite realistic.

T. YUDENKOVA - Yes, it seems so to me too.

K. BASILASHVILI - I travel on public transport - in general, nothing has changed in their faces.

T. YUDENKOVA – This, in fact, was the opinion of Repin’s contemporaries. “Moscow News” wrote: “This fat caricature of the Procession of the Cross is a mockery of the plot. In its main figures there is only one accusation, unfair, strong, exaggerated. No, this is not an impartial depiction of Russian life, but an exposure of the artist’s views on this life.” It must be said that this theme of the caricature, the theme of criticism of modern Russia, it sounded every time in relation to Repin’s painting, and also, in fact, Soviet art historians, they continued this theme, the theme of criticism of the various social strata of Russia, which are depicted here in this picture.

K. BASILASHVILI – Let’s then recall the picture itself. In front of us is such a vast field, or is it a road.

T. YUDENKOVA - No, in front of us is a big road, this is a highway that leads from the city of Kursk, where in the Znamensky Cathedral there was a great shrine - this is the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God of the Sign. Root, it was so called because it was found at the root of a tree, it lay like a whorl in the ground, and one peasant, walking in the forest - this happened at the end of the 13th century...

K. BASILASHVILI – Such a legend exists.

T. YUDENKOVA - Yes, there is such a legend. So, actually, I came across this icon. When he lifted her, a life-giving spring began to flow from the root of the tree. And around this time a chapel was built on this site. Some time later, a monastery arose, which was called the Nativity of the Mother of God Hermitage, a monastery. That is, this is the place where this icon was found, which later became miraculous and performed many miracles. But it was kept all year in the Znamensky Cathedral in Kursk, and only for a while was it taken out of the cathedral by the procession of the Cross. Here is the Root Desert...

K. BASILASHVILI - That is, she made the same journey...

T. YUDENKOVA - I made this journey, was carried out in the procession of the Cross.

K. BASILASHVILI – This usually happened in the summer...

T. YUDENKOVA - This always happened in the summer and was timed to coincide with the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, which according to the old style took place on September 8, and according to the new style on September 21. This icon was brought out on the ninth Friday after Easter, that is, it always happened at different times, depending on the actual day of Easter. And already back the icon lived, so to speak, the feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the Root Hermitage, and after this holiday it was returned back to Kursk in a less solemn procession of the Cross. That is, what we see is the most solemn procession from Kursk to Korennaya Pustyn, to the monastery.

K. BASILASHVILI - But these were very famous religious processions.

T. YUDENKOVA - This was one of the most famous Processions of the Cross, which attracted many pilgrims; this Procession of the Cross has its own history. It somehow faded away, came to naught. At one time he was under Catherine II... these religious processions were prohibited. Then, at the request of the merchants, the religious processions were resumed again, because at the time of the transfer of the icon, a large Root Fair was opening in the Korennaya Hermitage, which was third in importance and dignity after the Nizhny Novgorod Fair and the Irbitskaya Fair, which took place in Siberia.

K. BASILASHVILI - By the way, now, when we were preparing for the program with you, we found a lot on the Internet and in printed publications, and I, for example, discovered that this fair has now been resumed in Kursk, and they again remember the picture “Religious procession in the Kursk province”...

T. YUDENKOVA - They remember this picture again...

K. BASILASHVILI – ... Kursk authorities.

T. YUDENKOVA - Yes, and, moreover, this icon, of course, has its own interesting and tragic story...

K. BASILASHVILI – We’ll talk about this more now, I just wanted to turn directly to the canvas itself. It's big, right, very big?

T. YUDENKOVA - Yes, this canvas is large, but, naturally, people are depicted smaller than, in fact, in real life, because otherwise it would be a colossal canvas. But it is large, monumental, and here it is completely Repin, in addition to the fact that he turns to a fairly traditional subject in Russian painting, because we know that many famous Russian artists also turned to the theme of the Procession: Perov, Solomatkin, and Pryanishnikov , but Repin surprisingly solves this plot from a compositional and coloristic point of view. And in this sense, he is simply an innovator, an innovator-realist who depicts a procession that has no end and beginning.

K. BASILASHVILI - Absolutely. There is some kind of huge... in the foreground we can still distinguish faces, like three foregrounds, and then just a huge field of heads, which is why I compared it to a field.

T. YUDENKOVA - Indeed, here they are walking along a deserted road, along a dusty road, we see above them a blue clear sky, which also plays a big role in this color and plastic composition. We see the gold of the sand, this silver dust, which...

K. BASILASHVILI – It feels like it hasn’t rained for a long time, it’s such a drought.

T. YUDENKOVA - Yes, yes, yes. And usually, when they prayed to this icon, they asked for fertility and for the sending of rain, because all the religious processions took place in the summer. And here, in fact, it is also interesting that, according to the recollections of eyewitnesses, on the day of the procession the sun was always shining. And this, too, was one of the miracles that this shrine actually bestowed. And Repin depicts in the picture the moment of the midday procession of this procession, the midday sultry sun. You see how short the shadows are in the picture. Repin, as a realist, as a lover of details, there are a lot of different kinds of interesting details, the smallest details that we simply examine with interest and rapture, thus immersing ourselves in this solemn, sedate procession, and, how to say,... being carried away by each image. Repin works on each image, develops it and characterizes it. Someone with the help of action, movement, someone with the help of posture, there, a gesture...

K. BASILASHVILI – Is this all real, real people? Did everyone have some kind of prototype, prototype, model?

T. YUDENKOVA - I think that, of course, there were many prototypes. Repin worked directly on the canvas for two years, created a great many sketches, and he specifically... after all, Repin was a person who worked from direct impressions, it was important for him to see a certain event, and then somehow creatively rework it. And he specially goes to the Kursk province for this religious procession. That is, he himself is an eyewitness and witness to this procession. Besides…

K. BASILASHVILI - And he passed, or did he watch?

T. YUDENKOVA - We don’t know these details, but we know that he specially went there, observed, made various kinds of sketches and sketches, and then for two years he lived in Khotkovo, not far from Abramtsevo, where people walked past him pilgrims to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and he actually observed these types there and sought them out. And there are a lot of letters where he writes that I worked very hard all week, because the sun was shining all this week. He needed...

K. BASILASHVILI - The same weather.

T. YUDENKOVA - He needed sunny weather, yes, he needed the sun.

K. BASILASHVILI – Here there are types that just appear somehow in individual portraits. This boy, a cripple with a stick...

T. YUDENKOVA - The crippled hunchback is one of, in general, the central images of this canvas. And Repin searched for this image for quite a long time...

K. BASILASHVILI - There are portraits, yes, in my opinion, separate ones?

T. YUDENKOVA - There is a whole series of pictorial sketches of this hunchback. Repin talked with him. Here we have a hunchback, we have a hunchback sitting on a bench, a watercolor sketch, there is sepia, there is oil. That is, he worked on this image for several years.

K. BASILASHVILI - And did you leave any memories about this man?

T. YUDENKOVA – I even left a verbal portrait about him. What’s interesting is that for Repin, in order to comprehend the image of a person, it was not enough for him to experience it plastically and artistically in watercolor, in oil; he also creates a literary portrait of some of his images. This also tells us about the method of work of this artist, in general, quite extraordinary. Here is what Repin writes about this hunchback: “The hunchback, a monastery hanger-on, he loves large convents, and the nuns love him very much, especially the old women. In the monastery kitchen he is a necessary assistant. With his long arms, the hunchback washes plates and puts away dishes with extraordinary dexterity and agility. He's great. He has a thin voice. Lots of character and energy. At religious processions, with the help of a crutch, this young man manages to overtake the procession several times and run ahead to collect alms. He is a religious, decent, honest young man, you can rely on him. He is not talkative and will keep his word.”

K. BASILASHVILI – That’s interesting...

T. YUDENKOVA – It’s actually interesting that Repin...

K. BASILASHVILI – A whole destiny...

T. YUDENKOVA - A whole destiny that he writes in the portrait and then introduces it into the picture. In the film, in fact, this is one of those very important images, because the dramaturgy itself in the film is structured in such a way that it is important for Repin to identify in the picture different shades of attitude towards faith, towards the icon. And the hunchback is that highest, pure, sincere attitude to what is happening, and the hunchback is one of the few in this picture who is filled with genuine faith.

K. BASILASHVILI - But I can understand why, suppose, the authorities did not immediately accept this picture, because the power here is shown in an unsightly form. Who is there? Escort, or who is it?

T. YUDENKOVA - These are military men, foremen who...

K. BASILASHVILI – ... just about to hit someone from the crowd with his whip. As it appears…

T. YUDENKOVA - ... some kind of intruder.

K. BASILASHVILI – Apparently, even a woman, because there is a woman’s hand here.

T. YUDENKOVA - Here is a woman's hand and a man's hand. And this type of police officer...

K. BASILASHVILI - Now he will whip very painfully!

T. YUDENKOVA - Yes, yes. This type of police officer haunted many of Repin’s contemporaries, including Vereshchagin and Tretyakov. They were extremely dissatisfied and advised Repin to remove this policeman, and even Tretyakov in one of his letters expressed such regret: if only this policeman, who... waving a stick, would get out.

K. BASILASHVILI – Because they were afraid that they wouldn’t exhibit because of this?

T. YUDENKOVA - No, they weren’t afraid, the painting was already on display. But the picture, naturally, was very lively discussed, both in the press and in letters, as I already said. Here is a police officer, he seemed to be disgusting to many of his contemporaries. But let's get this straight with you. A crowd of thousands is walking along the road, and, as contemporaries write, when the procession itself reached its final destination in the Korennaya Hermitage, the monastery, some people were still leaving Kursk. That is, this procession stretched for several kilometers, the path itself was about 30 miles. Naturally, such a crowd of people had to be regulated somehow...

K. BASILASHVILI - Everything is clear, but don’t be a whip on the head!

T. YUDENKOVA - ... definitely yes. But Repin, in fact, as he writes in many of his letters and more than once, is a fan of the truth, and he never embellishes nature or idealizes it. This is what he sees that he, in fact, is trying to convey on his canvas.

K. BASILASHVILI – Is it true that...

T. YUDENKOVA - And he was not ashamed of this truth.

K. BASILASHVILI - But it’s true that Tretyakov also asked to rewrite this image... here, in my opinion, one of the peasants is walking, yes, such bearded men. And he asked to be rewritten as girls who were more attractive.

T. YUDENKOVA - Well, there is a certain preface here, which I will tell you about, because I don’t want to take it out of context so easily. The fact is that Repin had two paintings. The very idea of the “Procession of the Cross” arose in Chuguev in 76-77, when Repin came from Paris to his homeland, and for the first time he saw the Procession of the Cross, the local Procession of the Cross, Chuguev, in a field, and made the first icon. And so the first icon - it’s like some kind of confusion is happening in this procession, when the peasants are trying to fight for the right to carry the icon. And this sketch turns out to be abandoned. The second large sketch of the painting is “The Procession of the Cross in the Oak Forest” or “The Revealed Icon,” which seems to reproduce the patriarchal, so to speak, very decorous Procession of the Cross, and for Repin this is a memory of Chuguev’s life, memories of his childhood years. And in this Procession of the Cross, in the first version of this large painting, there was a dean girl who carried the icon with delight, with reverence. And it was Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov who remembered her and asked Repin to include her in this second, final, final version of the painting “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province.” And I have the words of Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, which I would like to read out.

K. BASILASHVILI - Let's do this without fail, but after a short news release.

NEWS

K. BASILASHVILI - 14 hours 34 minutes, “The Tretyakov Collection” continues, Ksenia Basilashvili is at the microphone, our guest is senior researcher at the Tretyakov Gallery Tatyana Yudenkova. We are talking about Ilya Repin and his painting “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province.” But first, starting this second half of our program, I will answer the question, there are already winners. We asked you a question: Repin’s wife, Natalya Borisovna Nordmann-Severova, was interested in everything new, including being a consistent vegetarian, a sincere feminist, and also read the latest philosophical teachings, was a fan of the teachings of this famous theosophist, and so, indeed, the correct answer is this Elena Blavatskaya. And there were many who answered correctly, but here are the names of the winners: these are Laura 912, Irina 686, Andrey 8-904-700, Victor 8-909-919, Andrey 916907 and Anna 916-212, they will definitely call you all, you will receive your rightful prizes. Well, we return to the picture itself. So, I wonder what Tretyakov responded to the wish, to Repin’s words that the truth, that same realism, is closest to him?

T. YUDENKOVA - No, Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov just said that... he said it very subtly. He said that the other day I heard a conversation between artists that the people in Repin’s paintings were all ugly. This is exactly what the press was talking about, that they are all deteriorated against nature. And there is, perhaps, some truth in this, says Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, in the previous “Procession of the Cross” there was only one girl, a pretty girl, who carried the icon with some kind of hope, with faith or even hope. It would be nice... but you destroyed it. Now, it would be good if you avoided all the caricature and imbued all the figures with faith, then this would be a truly deeply Russian picture. Tretyakov wrote these words to Repin. Repin responds to Tretyakov: I cannot agree with the conversation between the artists that you write about. These are all outdated homemade theories and templates. For me, the truth is above all, look at the crowd anywhere. How many beautiful faces will you meet, and they will certainly come to the fore for your pleasure? And then look at the paintings of Rembrandt, Velazquez, how many handsome men and beauties can you count in them? You can leave in the picture only such a face as is tolerated in a general artistic sense. Embellishment, any embellishment would ruin the picture; for the living harmonious truth of the whole it is impossible not to sacrifice details. A painting is a very complex, subtle and difficult thing. And only by exerting all the internal forces into one feeling can one perceive the picture. And then you will only feel that above all is the truth of life. And I, like, refuse to correct it, I consider it profanation and sacrilege.

K. BASILASHVILI – Somehow he answered sharply, in general, to his benefactor, by and large, Tretyakov. Which…

T. YUDENKOVA – ...Repin responded sharply to quite a few people...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...paid quite a lot for the purchase of his paintings. After all, he bought this painting!

T. YUDENKOVA - I think Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov bought this painting, moreover, he agreed with Repin on the first day of the opening of the exhibition that he would buy it, but, as you know, Tretyakov already appeared in the 80s competitors. And one of these venerable collectors, a famous industrialist and philanthropist, was Fyodor Tereshchenko, who wanted to purchase this painting.

K. BASILASHVILI – Outbid.

T. YUDENKOVA - And there was even a small scandal at this... at the exhibition, here. But, nevertheless, Tretyakov...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...and what kind of scandal?

T. YUDENKOVA - Well, it’s a scandal, because Repin did not put up the price of this painting for a long time and there was no... there was no sign on the painting that the painting had been sold. And it was five...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...intrigued so...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...there were five competitors, yes, for the purchase. And people came to Repin’s studio and turned to the board of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions with a request to set the cost, to determine the price of the painting. And a rumor was even spread that Tereshchenko bought this painting for 15 thousand rubles. But, nevertheless, Tereshchenko bought Repin’s second very popular painting “Poprishchin”, which Tretyakov also wanted to buy, and Tretyakov was offended for this not by Repin, but “The Procession” was bought by Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov for 10 thousand rubles.

K. BASILASHVILI - Now let’s listen to the story of how the painting came to the gallery, its further journey from Elena Chinyakova.

Path to the gallery.

The painting “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province” was acquired by Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov in 1883. The author had the opening of the 11th traveling exhibition in St. Petersburg. It is interesting to note that the collector enjoyed a special right to visit artists’ studios and view paintings before the grand opening of the traveling exhibitions. Having seen the “Procession of the Cross” before the insertion, Tretyakov appreciated the magnitude and significance of this work in the history of Russian art, and decided that this work should certainly replenish his collection of national art. On the first day of the exhibition, March 2, 1883, the collector agreed with Repin on the cost of the painting, offering 10 thousand rubles for it - a huge sum at that time. This is how Ilya Efimovich Repin’s work “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province” ended up in the Tretyakov Gallery.

K. BASILASHVILI - Tatyana, I have a question. And why do I see here: in all catalogs there is a clear date, the painting was written in 1877-1883. At the same time, it is known that for some reason Repin completed it in his Penates...

T. YUDENKOVA - No, no, Ksenia, this is an option...

K. BASILASHVILI - ...in the 20s.

T. YUDENKOVA - ...firstly, this book is old from the Soviet era, there is a dating error. “The procession in the Kursk province”, which we are talking about today, dates back to the year 81, that is, at the moment when Repin began working directly on canvas, when he visited the Kursk province for the procession and until the 83rd year when he exhibits this painting at an exhibition and...

K. BASILASHVILI - ... but he didn’t finish writing it later?

T. YUDENKOVA - No, no, no, he completed it later, made minor amendments, the painting was already acquired by Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov directly in the halls, but this is an insignificant moment in its history. But there was another picture that I was talking about, “The Procession of the Miraculous Icon”...

K. BASILASHVILI - ...this one...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...in the oak forest, which seemed to reproduce the previous Procession of the Cross, the patriarchal Procession of the Cross...

K. BASILASHVILI - ...a more dean...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...a more dean, about whom Repin himself wrote such good words: “... the Orthodox people rose with all holiness and carried the icon solemnly revealed in the forest to the place of its appearance.” These are, in fact, the words of Repin himself to Kramskoy in 1978, the year when...

K. BASILASHVILI - ...he returned to her in 24...

T. YUDENKOVA - ... no, no, he came to her ... this canvas was in his studio, it was not finished. Carried away by the “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province,” he abandoned the “Miracle-Working Icon.” She stood on his easel. And, by the way, one of those collectors who wanted to buy the “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province” came to Repin’s workshop and asked him to sell the “Miracle-Working Icon”. But Repin refused him because it was not completed. And for his personal exhibition in 1991, Repin completed this painting with the large “Miracle-Working Icon.” And he exposes her. A small photograph of this icon has survived, so I brought it. Of course, it’s difficult...

K. BASILASHVILI – ... icons?

T. YUDENKOVA – ...sorry, paintings. It is difficult to make out what is depicted here, but we see that here a solemn procession is taking place in an oak forest.

K. BASILASHVILI – I see a huge cross...

T. YUDENKOVA – ...cross...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...the priest in the foreground.

T. YUDENKOVA - That same deacon, here, in fact, is a sketch of the protodeacon of the year 77, which was painted in Chuguev, he was the prototype of this image, he was painted for this picture. This means that the painting was exhibited in 1991, no one bought it. And only later, in 16-24, before being sold to a certain collector, Repin rewrote this painting. And now this painting, it dates back to 1877-1924...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...understood.

T. YUDENKOVA - ...and it is located in the Czech Republic in the city gallery of Hradec Králova.

K. BASILASHVILI – In the Czech Republic - why?

T. YUDENKOVA - She got there because after the revolution of 17, Repin lives in Penates, yes, it turns out...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...in Finland.

T. YUDENKOVA - ...in Finland, yes. And, in fact, those works that were with him in the studio, they disperse, in fact, throughout Europe and his daughter, the eldest daughter Vera, she helped her father, but, in fact, to sell his works and this work went to a certain Czech, as far as I understand...oh, no, first she went to the Czech Industrial Bank, and then...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...to the collectors.

T. YUDENKOVA - ...to the meeting of a certain Mavrich.

K. BASILASHVILI - In the picture to which our program is dedicated, “Religious Procession in the Kursk Province,” there is, after all, some plump, curvaceous lady, she is carrying...

T. YUDENKOVA – ...she carries a miraculous image...

K. BASILASHVILI - ... now, the fate of this miraculous image, this particular icon, is known, because this is a work that existed, does it still exist?

T. YUDENKOVA - It really exists now.

K. BASILASHVILI - What is the story?

T. YUDENKOVA - Now, I have already begun to say that, in fact, this is the Kursk root icon of the Mother of God of the Sign, which was found at the end of the 13th century. And, in fact, there were many, so to speak, attacks on this icon, the Tatars ran into the chapel where it was kept, they cut it into two parts, by some miracle these two parts were found, they grew together, this icon healed people, it helped... Peter the Great prayed before her before the Battle of Poltava. A list with this icon was sent to Kutuzov’s headquarters and it illuminated the Battle of Borodino. This icon healed St. Seraphim of Sarov when he was still a young boy... Prokhor Moshnin. His mother brought out her sick son, put her to this icon, and he was healed. It is interesting that, in fact, they tried to blow up this icon at the end of the 19th century...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...to blow up? My God…

T. YUDENKOVA - ...to be blown up by revolutionary terrorists. And everything around it, around this icon, was blown up and mutilated by bombs, but the icon remained safe and sound. This icon was stolen and...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...how was it kidnapped?

T. YUDENKOVA - ... was kidnapped during the revolution in 1717, she disappeared from the temple. Then she was found again. And already in 1919 she was taken out... the rector of the temple took her out, took her abroad, she was in Serbia for a long time during the war, and there she also kept the people who kept this icon. And already somewhere in the mid-50s she was taken to the USA. And in the USA a new Root Hermitage was founded, where at one time this icon was kept, and now it is kept in one of the cathedrals in New York, this icon. And already representatives of the Russian church abroad, although now it is already a single structure, as it were, an institution, they call this icon Adigitria of the Russian abroad. In 1989, when changes began in our country, a list of this icon came from New York. And now in Kursk... in the Znamensky Cathedral in Kursk, yes, it has, in fact, been restored, it has become operational, religious processions have begun, and there is a list of this icon, and the townspeople of the city of Kursk, they hope that someday...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...will return. Are such negotiations ongoing?

T. YUDENKOVA - Such negotiations are underway, they really are underway, but, as far as I understand, now there is not even a question of this shrine coming to Kursk for some time and, in fact, visiting its native land, not yet.

K. BASILASHVILI – It would be interesting to display it next to this painting too. I wonder if there would be such a turn...

T. YUDENKOVA - Yes.

K. BASILASHVILI – ...for the Tretyakov Gallery.

T. YUDENKOVA - ...also interesting, in any case, this icon has its own history, very interesting, and it is curious that in many memoirs dedicated to this icon, the history of the Kursk Znamensky Cathedral, the history of the Root Hermitage, one way or another, Repin’s painting is mentioned, which immortalized this religious procession. And every time they write that in this picture, in fact, Repin conveyed the very grace that descends on people participating in the procession. And today this picture is perceived in this way by many believers. This is interesting. Meanwhile, as we have already talked to you, in the 19th century this picture was treated with both a plus and a minus sign...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...you were amazing, reading to me...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...yes, yes. So I want to read it now...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...the opinion of Korney Chukovsky...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...well, Korney Chukovsky’s opinion was quite negative...

K. BASILASHVILI - ...well, okay... Korney Chukovsky, in general, did not communicate closely with Ilya Repin...they lived nearby...

T. YUDENKOVA - ... in one of his articles in 907, he wrote that this is an orgy of bestiality, a pandemonium of everything base, muddy, and so on. And he is indignant that... he gives an example that the dean... the noble, or rather the German... representative of the German bourgeoisie is indignant that this painting was approved by the government and is in the museum. And while in the guidebook of the Tretyakov Gallery of the same year it was written that this picture conveyed with great brightness a living folk feeling, religious reverence for the shrine. But I would like to give an example of our critic Stasov, who wrote a lot about Repin and treated this picture quite well and appreciated it highly. And he described some images, and I just want to compare...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...of course...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...and how neutrally and, not even neutrally, but somehow complacently Stasov described this picture, here, individual images. And then I will give excerpts from the works of the Soviet period of Soviet art history, just curious for comparison, for some small accents.

K. BASILASHVILI - Please.

T. YUDENKOVA - So, now, where is our lady... here she is: “... the center, the miraculous image, small, all in gold, with a ray of light hitting it, which is carried with great parade and swagger by a local aristocrat, merchant's wife or landowner, fat , stocky, steamed by the sun, squinting from it, all in bows and silks. Nearby is a local influential person, a tax farmer, a gold bag, in a German frock coat, but clearly a peasant: a rude, impudent, shameless fist..."

K. BASILASHVILI - ...I’ll interrupt you, how interesting it is, even he will recognize the classes. We... now we have completely lost this feeling of who is who... tax farmer...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...you need to look closely, and each image is amazingly characterized, the character is given here very aptly...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...question: who is the tax farmer?

T. YUDENKOVA - ...yes, here, in fact, are the images of these two bourgeois women who are carrying an empty icon case, with what piety...

K. BASILASHVILI – ... bourgeois women? And I thought they were peasant women.

T. YUDENKOVA - ...as they step carefully, they are afraid to stumble. But behind them comes... there is a choir, and here is the old regent, he teaches the little boys how to correctly strike the right note. And... and here, actually, returning to the topic we started, how in Soviet times they described this lady of ours who walks with a miraculous image.

K. BASILASHVILI - Yes.

T. YUDENKOVA - The face, swollen with fat, expresses stupid arrogance, a consciousness of superiority over those around him, next to him is an angry headman with a badge on his chest, who furiously swung his stick at the peasant who dared to approach the shrine. And next to her...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...by and large, this is also possible...

T. YUDENKOVA - ... of course, and next to her, listen further, this tax farmer who interested you: a fat-faced merchant made of fists, swollen from the heat, his pumpkin-shaped face with small evil eyes betrays the predatory nature of a bloodsucker, an exploiter... in general, it must be said, What…

K. BASILASHVILI – ...that’s how we wrote the presentation.

T. YUDENKOVA – ...that’s how the presentation was written, yes. The fact is that here is the procession itself, it passes along this road and against the backdrop of the landscape. It’s no coincidence that this landscape with cut down tree stumps ends up here, too. Repin regretted that in the 80s, with the advent of the big bourgeoisie, deforestation began, and he wrote with regret in one of his letters: they cut down my beloved forests. These are the forests, in fact, of his childhood. And this image of these very stumps sticking out is also an image of Repin’s contemporary Russia, post-reform Russia. And, in fact, this is how it all is... all these people with different characters, with different social status, with different attitudes towards shrines, towards faith; By the way, Stasov noticed a very correct thing when he described this picture. That they are walking, they are already tired, and everyone is busy with their own business, gradually being distracted from the important task they owe...

K. BASILASHVILI - ...Tatiana, I have a question for you, forgive me, I’ll interrupt you, but you were on your own, it wasn’t like that, out of pure curiosity, go there, check how it is...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...you know, after this program I will definitely go! This is exactly.

K. BASILASHVILI – You’ll go, right?

T. YUDENKOVA - Of course, with great pleasure.

K. BASILASHVILI – ... and what position will you choose for yourself, like Repin, he looks, it seems like he’s not from the crowd, yes, he’s a little bit away. Or, after all, you will come in...

T. YUDENKOVA - ...you mean, I don’t know whether I will go to the procession, but I would really like to see it...

K. BASILASHVILI – ...didn’t look, no, didn’t see, just for comparison? This is how it all is, or did the artist really come up with something...

T. YUDENKOVA - No, I think that, of course, what Repin captures in his canvas is, in fact, how it was. Because if you and I start to analyze all the images in detail, we will see that there really is no embellishment here.

K. BASILASHVILI - And my question is, why did he even decide to paint this picture?

T. YUDENKOVA – Repin is quite...

K. BASILASHVILI - ...was it a religious picture for him, was it a joke for him, was it really a caricature?

T. YUDENKOVA - No, in no case is it an anecdote or a caricature.

K. BASILASHVILI - What is this? What is the goal?

T. YUDENKOVA – Repin was looking for quite a long time for a plot that would embody the basic idea of his time, the nerve of his time. Such a plot was quite difficult to find. And at the time when he conceived the theme of the Procession of the Cross, when he found it for himself, he turned to various kinds of subjects. And he had stories on the theme of peasant life, mainly, there, the village volost government, the village court, the village school, various kinds of stories, from this revolutionary Narodnaya Volya theme, we discussed this last time. There were many subjects that interested and attracted him, but when he attacked the plot of the Procession of the Cross, he realized, in fact, the significance of this plot. And when in one of his letters he describes this plot to Kramskoy, Kramskoy answers him: you have found yourself in a gold-bearing vein, that is, this plot itself gave Repin the opportunity to reveal, in fact, the entire comprehensiveness of Russian life, Russian Russian life, to which, in fact, , Repin wanted and strived. Find that same nerve.

K. BASILASHVILI – ...there was already a “Religious Procession for Easter”, a terrible picture.

T. YUDENKOVA - there was a “Procession of the Cross on Easter” by Perov, there was a Procession of the Cross by Savrasov, and Pryanishnikov, and Solomatkin, there were many of these Processions of the Cross that were painted by artists. Because what is the Procession of the Cross? The religious procession is a moment of such highest tension in the spiritual life of the people. Yes? Here, in this case, Mother Russia herself is coming towards us, and the composition is built in this way... I also wanted to say that here Repin finds a place for the viewer, and the viewer is on the side of the road, and he is, as it were, a witness to what is happening, the composition as if it draws the viewer into this space, into this procession.

K. BASILASHVILI - But at the same time, he was practically his contemporary, Nesterov - we recently had a program dedicated to him - who somehow had a completely different attitude to this topic. I think that if he, probably, it seems to me, absolutely did not accept this position, he probably would not have put cripples in the foreground, in his foreground there is a boy with a thin, handsome face, so handsome, handsome .

T. YUDENKOVA - Very good, but the fact is that Nesterov...

K. BASILASHVILI – ... two so different, two absolutely... two different phenomena, if you like...

T. YUDENKOVA -... Nesterov is an artist of the younger generation, nevertheless. He was much younger than Repin. Here. Therefore, it’s like this is a different approach to life, a different analysis of life, a different worldview. And, in fact, the fact that Repin puts this cripple in the foreground, look at this cripple, at this face. This is a face overshadowed by faith, overshadowed by hope. And this wonderful image was found by Repin, who really... there were many such images, there were many of these wanderers, there were many cripples, holy fools who inhabited our Mother Rus'. And Repin, in fact, was not ashamed of this, he was not ashamed of this truth, he was not afraid of it. And every time he painted a picture or a portrait, he, in fact, wrote about it without fear, without hiding what he saw.

K. BASILASHVILI - Why then did he decide not to return to Russia, when they offered him that, that was his name? And Lunacharsky sent commissions to Kuokkala, to Penates to Ilya Efimovich, and they wrote letters, and soldiers and sailors came. And this picture then thundered throughout Russia, it was raised almost like a poster image of that pre-revolutionary bad Russia.

T. YUDENKOVA - No, understand that the post-revolutionary time was a completely different time for Repin, and he was already an old artist, he already had his own habits, concepts, and how to change this life, go into the unknown, go to the unknown... what was waiting for him there in St. Petersburg? After all, various rumors were heard, not only some kind of ideal coloring with a proposal from Voroshilov, who wrote letters to him, inviting him to return to Russia, or Lunacharsky, or Brodsky’s stories, but, apparently, there were also some more sober views on what happened in Soviet Russia. And Repin was a sober man, quite perspicacious, he then, apparently, too... this fact is known about how hard life was for his youngest daughter Tatyana, who remained with her family in Repin’s Zdravnevo estate, and how many different kinds of troubles she had to endure been through. And Repin knew this too.

K. BASILASHVILI - Tatyan, I feel that we will simply return to Repin more than once. I recently drove past Penaty, I really wanted to go there, I didn’t have time. It seems to me that you can visit Repin endlessly. We will definitely do this with you...

T. YUDENKOVA - And, in my opinion, we still need to return to a couple of paintings...

K. BASILASHVILI - Let's go back...

T. YUDENKOVA - ... because we talked a little about this picture.

K. BASILASHVILI – ... and not just for one picture. And now it’s time for us to say goodbye. I thank Tatyana Yudenkova, senior researcher at the Tretyakov Gallery and invite you to museums and galleries in Moscow.

T. YUDENKOVA - Thank you very much.

K. BASILASHVILI – There are angels among us! Unknown Anatoly Zverev, but first to the Tretyakov Gallery. Of the temporary exhibitions at the Tretyakov Gallery, only one is open - the gallery is frozen in anticipation of the new season, which is about to start, but in the meantime, look in the graphics halls at a cozy exhibition from the collections of old Moscow collectors. On Krymsky Val, the renovated halls of the “Art of the 20th Century” await you. Now, next to the dignified classics of socialist realism, there are works of repressed artists. In the circles of Muscovites of the sixties generation, it is probably difficult to find a family who is not familiar with the work of Anatoly Zverev. For the capital, he was something of a living legend, just as in Leningrad Dovlatov could go to the nearest store around the corner in his slippers. And his watercolors multiplied in the apartments of friends and casual acquaintances. Now that Zverev’s drawings are sold – and expensively – from auctions, collectors have learned the value of gifts, sometimes written on scraps of paper. Graphics by Anatoly Zverev, new, from private metropolitan collections, are being exhibited again and again, in the Nashchokin House gallery now. Will last until October 21. What does seeing an angel symbolize? For some it is the birth of God, and for others it is the news of the end of the world. How do they look? Really with wings behind your shoulders, as the ancestors thought, or is it different? Contemporary artists present their reflections on angels, from Mamyshev-Monroe's one-man orchestra to Zurab Tsereteli. A new angelarium has opened at the Museum of Modern Art on Ermolaevsky Lane. The angels descended on the Patriarch's for a short time - until October 7.