#Exhibit of the Month

The Gospel is a fundamental liturgical book of the Orthodox Church that brings together the four apostolic testimonies about the Son of God - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - "inspired by the same Holy Spirit, the one true and sole author of the Gospel." The Gospel, or the Good News, testifying to the Glory of Christ, refers to the full teaching and deeds of the Savior; the four Gospels are regarded as the four sustaining pillars of the Church.
St. Jerome (c. 340-420), author of the first complete Latin translation of the Holy Scriptures, assigned to the four evangelists the living creatures that appear in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel (1:5). Thus, the Evangelist Matthew, the first to relate the Nativity of the Lord, is accompanied in imagery by the angel who announced the miracle; the Evangelist Mark, likened to St. John the Baptist - "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" - is associated with the lion. The Evangelist Luke, who opens his Gospel with the priest Zechariah, is personified by the winged ox, recalling the ox's sacrificial role; and the Evangelist John, for his elevated theological vision, is associated with the eagle.
This altar Gospel, printed in 1890 at the Lavra Pecerska printing house in Kyiv, contains - in addition to the four canonical Gospels - other liturgical texts: readings for Vespers, the Divine Liturgy, prayers, and services.
It is a large-format Gospel measuring 37 × 48 cm, bound in cardboard and leather. The gilded metal cover is fitted with two metal clasps and gilt edges. Five vertical-oval icon plaques in polychrome enamel are applied to the cover, which is engraved with vegetal and geometric ornamentation. The central plaque depicts the "Resurrection of the Lord"; in the corners of the upper register appear the faces of the Evangelists Matthew and John, and in the lower register those of Luke and Mark. Printed in red and black, the volume comprises 428 leaves; the text is enriched with various typographic ornaments - vignettes, initials, engravings, frontispieces, etc. Pagination is indicated on the leaves, the folio number appearing in the upper right.
The Gospel of Matthew is printed on pages 1-105, the opening page accompanied by the scene of the Nativity of the Lord. The Gospel of Mark continues on pages 104-168, its representative scene being the Baptism of the Lord. The Gospel according to Luke occupies pages 172-273, its opening page bearing the scene of the Annunciation. The Gospel according to John is included between pages 280-358, the evocative scene being the Crucifixion of the Lord.

The Lavra Pecerska printing house, cited in the colophon, has long roots - traditionally founded by Archimandrite Elisei Pletenetsky (1595-1624) in 1615 - although the precise dates of its earliest publications remain a matter of debate. This copy entered the collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova under inventory number FB-23062-35; acquired in 1982, it was transferred to the MNIM collections in 1996 from the holdings of the Museum of the History of Religion.

Virtual Tour

April 2023

“Resurrection of the Lord” icon

The Paschal icon "Resurrection of the Lord" represents one of the central holidays of Christianity, the subject signifying also one of the great Mysteries. The "Resurrection of the Lord" is the pivotal moment in the history of salvation, Christ the Redeemer raising man and the whole creation closer to God. The resurrection of Christ is the truth on which all Christian teaching is based. The worldview of the first Christians and all early Christian art is permeated by this paschal joy and belief in the triumph of life over death.

The constitution of the iconography of the "Resurrection of the Lord" celebration presented an extremely difficult task, the very event of Christ's Resurrection being misunderstood. This moment, not being described in the Holy Scripture, remained for the simple man an impenetrable mystery. The silence of the evangelists in this regard testified to the greatness of the event that defied any description, much less representation. Only through the symbol that expresses Christ's victory over death does the mind become able to transcend space and time, to leave the visible world and approach what is hidden from historical evidence. For the artistic embodiment of the mystery of the Resurrection, the Church has over time created a complex language of images, signs and attributes. Such a pictorial formula was developed that revealed the spiritual component of the Resurrection of Christ, embodied the true triumph of Christ as the lord of heaven, conqueror of death and liberator of mankind.

According to the Orthodox belief, in the three days between His death and resurrection, Christ descended into hell, to free the souls imprisoned in that place, this is why the classic icon of Orthodox origin was entitled "The Descent of Christ the Savior into Hell". In these images, Christ does not appear in a humble, vanquished attitude, but in one of the conqueror of death, the savior of those defeated by death. Western tradition has introduced into liturgical use other images, more understandable for the layman's consciousness, in which the Risen Christ can be represented above the tomb, the sarcophagus, sometimes alongside the women bearing myrrh. These images distance themselves from the stated symbolism and are included among the images that chronicle the evangelical events.

The icon from the museum's collection devoted to this subject presents a silver-plated brass ironwork using the hammering technique, the decorative elements being modeled in relief and engraved in depth. The composition is framed in a border made up of three columns: the central column being made of small pyramids viewed from above, the side ones decorated with the so-called "twisted rope" ornament. The veil almost completely covers the field of the icon, leaving only the Savior's face visible. Jesus Christ is represented triumphant over death, stepping over the closed sarcophagus. He is draped in a broad mantle fastened to the breast by a brooch, his right hand extended to his side, his left holding the banner with a cross inscribed in it. The haloed Christ is framed in a radiated rhomboidal mandorla. On one side and the other - split stones, which testify to the passages described in the Gospel - "the earth shook and the stones split" - at the moment of Christ's death (Matthew 27, 51). The cracking of the stones could also recall the opening of the waters of the Red Sea, mentioned in the Old Testament, about the people of Israel who left the slavery of Egypt, to go to the land of promise. On one side and the other of the sarcophagus - two Roman soldiers, among those guarding the tomb, blinded by the light emitted by the resurrected Christ.

Bessarabia, 1853
Wood, oil, silvered brass, gilding, 30×21 cm
Inventory 24158, purchase, Chisinau, 2003