Вестник Екатеринбургской духовной семинарии (Jan 2024)
THE FIRST EDITIONS OF VIEWS AND SHRINES OF THE KOZELSK VVEDENSKAYA OPTINA PUSTYN AND THE SKETE OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST
Abstract
This article attempts to consider the sheet publications of Optina Pustyn as a special type of activity of the monastery. The article shows for the first time the history of the appearance of first sheet editions of the Optina Hermitage and Predtechensky Skete. The author indicates reasons for the emergence in 1826 of publications with the image of the miraculous icon of Our Lady of the Sign from Predtechensky Skete, and also with the image of St. John the Baptist surrounded by the views of Optina Pustyn (with a stamp image “Finding the Head of St. John the Baptist”, on the lower part) and of Predtechensky Skete (with “St. John the Baptist”, at the bottom of the central image). The image (edition) is first described and presented here. This sheet from the collection of the Russian State Library is known today in a single copy. Other early images of the Predtechensky Skete and Optina Pustyn (dated 1831) are considered to have been made and released at the same time due to the proximity and identity of their design. However, based on the analysis of the images and the historical realities that accompanied their release, the author was able to clarify the dates: the sheet with the “View of St. John the Forerunner’s Skete” had to be attributed to the time after 1837. Analysis of the style of the images, as well as the manner of engraving made it possible to attribute them to the Moscow master Alexander Gavrilovich Afanasyev (worked in 1816–1862). The history of publications and the participation in this process of Elizaveta Alexandrovna Kutuzova, who financed them, has been clarified. It is also established that she was a sister of monk Porfiry (Grigorov), a resident of the Skete, who was engaged in publishing. A detailed review of the first sheet editions of Optina Pustyn and Predtechensky Skete is made in the context of a special publishing activity of the monastery releasing views of the Monastery and Skete, and the images of shrines as pilgrimage relics. This kind of publication activities was a typical phenomenon for the monastic culture of the 18th–19th centuries.
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