St Josemaria in Russia

March 23, 2011

Tags: Devotion, Iconography, Russia

Alexandre Sokolov, artist

By Alexandre Havard | For Eastern Christians, icons are themselves contemplation, praer. An icon speaks to the soul, brings it to God. Icons are not painted, they are “written”.

When an artist writes an icon, he first contemplates and then gives form to what he sees. He never signs his name on it, because what he is seeking is to give expression to something eternal. For the same reason, the sky, Heaven, in icons is normally plain gold, sometimes blue, but always simple, showing the dimension of eternity. When Alexandre Sokolov was asked to “write” the first Russian icon of St Josemaria Escriva, he accepted the challenge unhesitatingly. He is a highly regarded iconographer, having produced icons that are much venerated in a good number of churches within Russia and beyond it, all in his own style.

His works adorn several cathedrals in different parts of the world, including the famous icon of Our Lady of the Inexhaustible Chalice, which shows the Child Jesus as though in a chalice, and which is reputed to be miraculous. He is also the author of the icon of St Raphael on the front cover of the latest and most widely-disseminated edition of The Way in Russian.

That, in fact, was Sokolov’s introduction to St Josemaria. Some years ago, in the times of perestroika, the director of Moscow’s “Radio Liberty” asked him to design the cover for an edition of The Way in Russian using the motif of the Archangel Raphael accompanying a young man, to represent his long journey with Tobias.

<em>How frankly you laughed when I advised you to put the years of your youth under the protection of Saint Raphael: 'so that he'll lead you, like young Tobias, to a holy marriage, with a girl who is good and pretty and rich', I told you, jokingly.</em> The Way, 360

How frankly you laughed when I advised you to put the years of your youth under the protection of Saint Raphael: 'so that he'll lead you, like young Tobias, to a holy marriage, with a girl who is good and pretty and rich', I told you, jokingly. The Way, 360

The Latin and Oriental traditions should not be seen as antagonistic or conflicting. They both enrich the Church in different but complementary ways. We can learn a lot from each other if we are willing to. For example, the writings of St Seraphim of Sarov, who is widely venerated in Russia, include references to holiness in ordinary life.

Alexandre Sokolov is a profoundly devout Orthodox Christian, who has received the life and message of a Catholic saint as a gift from God. What most struck him about St Josemaria’s message is “the real possibility that God receives our daily activity as something truly holy, as a work of his own, as Opus Dei.” And so he chose as the inscription for the band which St Josemaria is holding, the following words, which were central to all the Saint’s preaching: “God calls everyone to holiness. Any honest work can become a means of holiness for the person doing it and for others.”

The lower part of the icon shows the vast land of Russia, seamed with great rivers. Here too, like anywhere else, God receives as prayer, as a pleasing sacrifice, the work of the labourer ploughing a new furrow in the earth, and the work of the fishermen throwing their nets into the sea, offering their work to their Creator; and God looks lovingly at the cheerful conversation a mother is holding with her daughter...

Christian work never fails to bear divine fruits, even though we sometimes can’t see them. For the colour of the chasuble Sokolov chose green, the liturgical colour of ordinary time, to evoke ordinary everyday life, and he adorned it with unending lines, like vines bearing abundant fruits, given by God.

In the upper part of the icon Our Blessed Lady is shown as Znamenie, “the Sign (of the Eucharist)”. In the Eastern tradition, this is a category of icons that are normally placed before the altar where the priests celebrate the Divine Liturgy, behind the iconostasis. In Mary the mysteries of the Incarnation and the Eucharist come together: Mary brings us to the Eucharist.

The upper part of the icon

“Try to give thanks to Jesus in the Eucharist,” St Josemaria advises us, "by singing the praises of Our Lady, the Virgin most Pure, without stain, who brought forth the Lord into this world. And with childlike daring, say to Jesus: ‘My dearest love, blessed be the Mother who brought you into the world!’ I assure you it will please him, and he will put even greater love in your soul". (The Forge, 70).

The icon of St Josemaria is priestly, Eucharistic and marian. The red on the priest’s garments evokes the Blood of Christ.

On contemplating both parts of the icon, it is easy to recall St Josemaria’s words: “My daughters and sons, heaven and earth seem to meet on the horizon. But where they really meet is in your hearts, when you sanctify your everyday lives” (“Passionately Loving the World”, homily given at the University of Navarra, October 8, 1967).

The icon is venerated in a little oratory on what used to be Karl Marx Street in Moscow.

The “patron saint of ordinary life”, as Pope John Paul II called him, teaches us how to have our feet on the earth and our heads in Heaven – which is full of angels, and open to men and women of all centuries and cultures who have big hearts.

It is in the human heart that the Holy Spirit, who is adored so profoundly in the Eastern Church, wants to make his dwelling. Holy pictures have been printed of this icon, with a prayer to the Paraclete on the back composed by St Josemaria. " Come, Holy Spirit! Enlighten my mind to know your commands; strengthen my heart against the snares of the enemy; inflame my will! I have heard your voice, and I don’t want to harden my heart and resist, saying ‘Later... tomorrow.’ Nunc coepi! Now I begin, in case there is no tomorrow for me. Spirit of truth and wisdom, Spirit of understanding and counsel, Spirit of joy and peace! I want whatever you want. I want it because you want it, I want it however you want it, I want it whenever you want it." It is a very striking prayer for anyone who reads it, including in the immense lands of Russia.

The icon is venerated in a little oratory on what used to be Karl Marx Street in Moscow. There is no longer any Moscow street bearing that name.