Иконата „Св. Богородица с Младенеца на трон и св. Кирил и Методий“ от Желязната църква в Истанбул
The “Virgin Mary and Infant Jesus on the Throne with Sts Cyril and Methodius” Icon at the Iron Church in Istanbul

Summary/Abstract: The paper is focused on the crowning icon in the central cella, which depicts Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus, sitting on a throne, and St Cyril and St Methodius kneeling before her. The piece is painted by Russian itinerant artist Kl. Lebedev. It is notable for its unusual iconography. This article illustrates this fact by providing an overview of the iconography of the Virgin Mary. Another point of discussion is the traditional Russian iconography, where Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus on a throne, with various saints kneeling at her side, is a widely-used composition. There are several factors which influenced the choice of saints that the Russian artist depicted in the Bulgarian church in Istanbul. Chief among them is the fact that at the time talks of building the church began, St Cyril and St Methodius were among the most revered and commonly depicted saints in Bulgarian iconography. This is a result of their substantial role in the fight for an independent Bulgarian church. At that time, Bulgarians in Istanbul showed their reverence by choosing the two saints as patrons for the local Bulgarian school. The composition seen in the icon at the “Iron Church” is comparable to that of several other paintings discussed in the paper. Two of those are found in Bulgaria – an icon of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus, painted by the monk Gavril Rilets in 1832, and one from the late XIX century, found at the “Holy Trinity” church in Svishtov. The third is from Western Europe and is at the “Sts Cyril and Methodius” church in Prague’s Karlín neighbourhood. The icon’s position at the “Iron Church” is influenced by that of Russian iconostases, whereas its iconography is based on both Eastern and Western sensibilities.

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