An increasingly superstitious Vladimir Putin has issued a historic decree to move Russia’s most treasured orthodox icon from a museum to a church in the apparent hope of reversing the country’s battlefield losses in Ukraine.
Despite fears that the priceless artwork could be damaged beyond repair, Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery has been ordered to hand over Andrei Rublev’s 15th century icon, Holy Trinity, to the Russian Orthodox Church.
The deeply pro-Putin church, which has wholeheartedly supported the invasion of Ukraine, was not even allowed to take the icon on loan until a three-week swap was arranged last summer.
Museum staff later reported minor damage to it, caused by improper storage conditions.
Mr Putin did not publicly explain his decision to permanently transfer the icon.
The move was first reported by the Russian Orthodox Church, which said in a statement on Monday that the president heeded “numerous requests from orthodox believers”.
‘Putin is scared’
The move was first reported by the Russian Orthodox Church, which said in a statement on Monday that the president heeded “numerous requests from orthodox believers”.
‘Putin is scared’
The priceless painting will reportedly be displayed at Moscow’s main cathedral for a year, before moving to a monastery outside the capital.
“Putin is scared. That’s the only thing I suppose would be the real reason behind giving the Holy Trinity icon to the church,” Ksenia Luchenko, a prominent author on church affairs, told Ekho Moskvy, the exiled media radio station.
“He has a primitive superstition for everything that concerns religion.
“Putin previously gave his blessing to the idea of handing out (pocket-size) icons to the troops – it didn’t work. Now they’ve decided to go even further.”
Separately, the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg confirmed last weekend that it would give the church the casket that once held the relics of 13th century Prince Alexander Nevsky, whom Mr Putin has described as a paragon of Russia’s eternal battle against the West.
Art historians have compared the 600-year-old Holy Trinity icon to a patient on life-support who will be doomed once they are unhooked from medical equipment.
Icon ‘will die’ if moved
Sofia Bagdasarova, a prominent art author, said earlier this week that the icon “will literally die within a year or several months” if it is moved somewhere for a prolonged period of time.
The monumental decision has triggered harsh criticism, even among Mr Putin’s trusted appointees.
Mikhail Shvydkoi, the president’s long-time plenipotentiary envoy for cultural co-operation, penned a piece for the government newspaper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, warning him that “moving masterpieces such as the Trinity out of a museum setting could cause irreparable damage that needs to be avoided”.
Elizaveta Likhacheva, the newly appointed director of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, told the Tass news agency the priceless icon, which consists of three planks of wood joined together, is so fragile that it “could simply fall apart” if moved.
Desperate and reckless
Scholars have compared Mr Putin to superstitious mediaeval Russian princes who took prized icons to battles, hoping to secure a victory.
Oleg Voskoboynikov, a well-known Russian Medieval scholar, in a piece for Novaya Gazeta on Wednesday, blasted Mr Putin’s gamble for its “desperation and recklessness”.
The move will further bind the Kremlin and the church “in a gesture of gratitude for church leaders who supported the war… in a country where churches are told to pray for victory, not peace”.
The Kremlin earlier this week deflected criticism as spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted that “keeping the icon at a museum does not correspond to the wishes of the believers”.
Source: Yahoo News
