Image of the Solovetsky monastery on the Old Believers’ and “Niconian” icons

Abstract

The image “The Hermitage of the Solovky Miracle Workers” appeared in Russian icon painting in the middle of the 16th century and developed over the course of 17th — 18th centuries. The article examines similarities and differences between the Old Believers’ and ‘Nikonian’ versions of the Solovetsky monastery on the example of icons represented at the exhibition “Me Avvakum Archpriest, I believe so” which held in the Museum of Russian icon in 2021. From the end of the 17th to 19th centuries two versions of the image of Solovetsky monastery which could be confidently associated with both the official Church and clearly Old Believers’ communities have survived. On the “Nikonian” icons the image of the monastery is close to its actual appearance to the time of creating of an icon, icon painters use coeval engravings actively. The Old Believers either ignored references to the real appearance of the monastery or preferred to focus on the iconography of the 17th century. They also used engravings but used to adopt those samples to their specific requirements: the cathedral could have a hipped roof, the crosses on all domes were strictly eight-pointed, the blessing gestures of the saints and the inscriptions retained the Old Believer features.

Keywords

• соловки
• обитель соловецких чудотворцев
• зосима и савватий соловецкие
• старообрядческая иконопись
• иконопись нового времени