- By Steve Rosenberg
- Russia Editor, Moscow
The Holy Trinity painting is now on display in a cathedral in Moscow, despite its age and fragile condition
In Moscow, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior echoes Orthodox chants and prayers. It is filled with worshipers on one of the holidays of Orthodoxy: Pentecost.
But many come here to see the masterpiece on display. A 600-year-old Orthodox icon – one of the most precious in Russia – believed to have been painted by medieval painter Andrei Rublev. It is known as the Holy Trinity.
For a century, this fragile canvas has been in the State Museum, Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Temperature and humidity controls, along with restoration teams, helped protect and preserve this work of art.
But recently the Kremlin ordered the transfer of the icon to the Russian Orthodox Church. The head of the church, Patriarch Kirill, is pleased.
“This icon returns to the church at a time when our homeland is facing huge enemy forces,” he told worshipers over the weekend. “It comes back so that we ask God to help our country and pray for our Orthodox President Vladimir Putin, whose decision was to hand over the icon.”
The patriarch may be satisfied. But the transfer of the icon caused controversy.
One of Russia’s most famous art historians agrees to meet to explain why. Lev Lifshits was part of a group of experts who advised against moving the icon from the Tretyakov Gallery, warning that moving could lead to significant damage.
“This decision was someone’s personal whim,” Leif explains. “the [Tretyakov Gallery’s] The Restoration Council was categorically against this.
“While the icon was in the museum with a team of restorers, it was like someone in intensive care. She was being monitored around the clock and with the latest equipment.
“This is a political decision. Those in power here look to the sky and hope for help from above.”
Or, at least, help the Church to maintain popular support for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and for the President of Russia. Patriarch Kirill publicly supports what the Kremlin still calls a “special military operation”. He had earlier claimed that any Russian soldier killed would have his sins “wipe away”.
Moreover, the Russian Patriarch pointed out that President Putin’s rule over Russia was mandated by God.
“God has put you in power so that you can perform a service of special importance and great responsibility for the fate of the country and the people to whom you entrust your care,” said Patriarch Kirill last October.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church is an outspoken supporter of an all-out Russian invasion of Ukraine
In this sense, the return of the icon of the Holy Trinity can be interpreted as a reward for the loyalty of the Church.
But that may just be part of the story.
Andrei Kolesnikov of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center believes that “the church is a very important component of his personal ideology.” “Putin’s inner circle and Putin himself, they have an ideology: it is religious, anti-Western and imperial. What is the basis of this ideology? Not Marxism-Leninism as in an earlier period of Russian history, but religion.
“He is a religious man. But it is not about Christianity as such, with true Christian values, because cruelty – these are not Christian values. In this sense, Putin is a follower of a very specific kind of religion.”
Outside the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, worshipers line up to see the icon of the Holy Trinity. Some here hope for miracles.
“It’s difficult now with the special military operation,” Valentina told me. “We pray for victory.”
“Any reasonable person would hope that the conflict would end soon,” says Antonina. “I think God will help.”
In Russia, the Orthodox Church often paints the war in Ukraine as a “holy war”.
To make the Russians believe that God is on their side. And to make them forget that it was their country that invaded Ukraine.
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