[limpoporanique]

Fr Dn Matthew wrote:

I bring into the discussion this fresco, because it raises the question of depicting those at war with the Church, yet still foundational in its writings / deliberations / etc. in the period addressed in the icon. According to common tradition, Stalin did indeed meet many times with Mother Matrona, and this is in fact an important part of her life and witness.

So I open the door to comments by others on the inclusion of those at war with the Church, in images of the saints. I am uneasy with the depiction of Stalin in the icon of St Matrona. The icon of the council after all clearly portrays Nestorius & Apollinarius as condemned by the Church.

Of course you can make an argument for historical accuracy- the incident apparently did occur. An icon however portrays the transfigured reality of the Kingdom. In this sense I do not think that it is correct to portray any incident (as in historical icons) in a straight forward historical fashion. Even the icon of the event of the Council is iconographic in the sense that it is highly representational- ie it is not an attempt at a historical depiction in the sense a photograph would be. If it were then Nestorius should have been portrayed in some more historically accurate fashion.

This last fact I think and the natural depiction of Stalin is where many would be offended by this image. In representing him historically it fails to portray him authentically from within the Church's understanding of reality.

Because of this and how this image is a bit too 'value free' it could not for example survive for any length of time on the walls of our parish which still has many from the Stalinist era who fled from Russia during this time. This would not be a political statement on the part of these people so much as a correct intuition that the 'historical' Stalin should not be portrayed in any image depicting the transfigured reality of the Church.

Of course in Russia though such images probably flow from the ongoing effort to heal the past through the present.

In Christ- Fr Raphael