Political Role of the Icon of Saint Nicholas on the St. Nicholas Gate of the Moscow Kremlin in the Period of Revolution and Civil War

The purpose of this article is to reconstruct the roots, historical circumstances, and context of the transformation into a unique political symbol of one of the icons-the fresco of Saint Nicholas from the Moscow Kremlin Tower of St. Nicholas. The research is based on the materials of the media, diaries of contemporaries of the events, religious and historical-memorial literature of the 19th - early 20th centuries, as well as on the exhibits of state museums and private collections. The article describes the circumstances that influenced the manufacture of the icon presented to Admiral Alexander Kolchak by Bishop Boris Shipulin in Perm on February 19, 1919. The origin and symbolic meaning of the iconographic version of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk are restored, and the changes in its status, associated with the memorialization of the events of the War of 1812, are traced. The history of the iconographic version of the Savior of Maloyaroslavets is analyzed, this being the first case when the damages from artillery and rifle fire were used as the most important part of the icon. nts at the Moscow Kremlin in late October - early November 1917 and the public reaction to them are further traced, in particular, the preparation and publication of a popular brochure by Bishop Nestor Anisimov. The creation of a revolutionary necropolis on Red Square, the move of the Lenin’s government to Moscow, and the official demonstrations of May 1, 1918, transformed the symbolism of the Kremlin. The reaction to this was the “miracle on Red Square” - the release of the icon of St. Nicholas from the red banner covering it, and the public veneration of this icon. This event was reinforced in public opinion by the grandiose Orthodox religious processions led by Patriarch Tikhon on May 22, 1918. The conclusion is made that the conflict of the two sacred systems (traditional and revolutionary) made the Moscow Kremlin a space of special symbolic tension. The confrontation on Red Square between the demonstration on May 1 and the “miracle of the cloth” became a kind of “symbolic rehearsal” of the full-scale civil war. These events placed the icon of St. Nicholas in an exceptional position among other secular and ecclesiastical objects damaged during the October Revolution. The damage to this fresco was interpreted by the leaders of the Orthodox Church as a self-sufficient symbol of the whole damage caused by the revolution, and the release of the icon from the red cloth was interpreted as a prophesy of the fall of Bolshevik power. As a consequence, the idea of making a copy-icon depicting the marks of rifle fire was born. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

Keywords

Authors

References