Archangel St Mikhail (Semyon Ushakov, 1676)
Images of celestial angels and earthly defenders of the motherland shall both appear at the exhibition Святое воинство (Holy Warriors), which opens Thursday at the Andrei Rublyov Museum of Early Russian Art in Moscow. For many works, it will be their first public showing in a museum setting. The presentation will feature more than 140 icons from the 12th to the early 20th centuries from the Andrei Rublyov Museum, the Tretyakov Gallery, and from private collections, timed to coincide with the feastday of St George. St George was a Holy Warrior who lived in the 3rd century, he is celebrated in the choir of the saints for his loyalty to Christianity, is the patron saint of Moscow and a number of other European cities such as Prague and Barcelona. The heavenly hosts, the angels of God, are incorporeal forces that herald the will of God to people. In Christian art, there are several types of iconographic representations of angels. They are depicted with wings and halos. Sometimes, they are shown wearing diaconal vestments, serving the Divine Liturgy, or, they appear as a warrior in a tunic and armour, or, they can even be shown in monastic garb. The angelic images of angels have their own symbols, often, they hold a mirror in their hands, transparent spheres through which the angels, not daring to look upon God, contemplate His reflection.
6 May 2010
Voice of Russia World Service
Voices from Russia 
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