Imaging Evil in the First Chapters of Genesis: Texts behind the Images in Eastern Orthodox Art
Imaging Evil in the First Chapters of Genesis: Texts behind the Images in Eastern Orthodox Art

Summary/Abstract: Satan’s interference in the events described in the first chapters of the book of Genesisand in the life of the protoplasts is not mentioned at all in the biblical text. This happens, however,in pseudo-canonical texts. The article is a short survey on the apocryphal accounts that mention Satan and their influence on art. The main focus is put on the inclusion of the image of Satan behind Cain’s figure in a number of depictions of the scene The Murder of Abel in the Russian art of the16th and 17th centuries. The possible links between this visual motif with several literary sourcesis examined, among them the Short and the Explanatory Palaea, the Tale of Bygone Years (Povest’ vremennykh let or Primary Chronicle), Russian recensions of the apocryphon The Sea of Tiberias, and of The Revelation of Pseudo-Methodius of Patara. In addition, some instances of the same visualdecision in Balkan art are pointed out and their connection to Russian models is underlined.

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