Derzhavnaya bogoroditsa?
William Ryan
wfr at SAS.AC.UK
Tue Oct 27 11:09:19 UTC 2009
Dear Daniel.
You raise an interesting point of translation. This is not a question of
your personal church affiliation, or lack of it. My suggestion of "Our
Lady of the Orb" was prompted only by the fact that "Our Lady of ..." or
"The Virgin of ..." is the most familiar English terminology used in
naming art works involving Marian iconography, Eastern or Western, e.g.
the very common "Virgin of Kazan'" or "Our Lady of Kazan'" for
Kazanskaia Bogomater'. "The Mother of God of Kazan'" can certainly also
be found but to my ear has an over-literal and possibly ambiguous
flavour, while to use "Theotokos", which some favour, seems to me to be
an example of "obscurum per obscurius".
My main point, however, was simply that in the case of the Bogomater'
Derzhavnaia, the word "derzhavnaia" seems to me more probably to mean
"of the orb" than "powerful", following the common tradition of naming
icons after an iconographic feature or attribute. An orb may not be part
of the conversational vocabulary of the average American or British
speaker (Pantokrator even less so), but that is immaterial - this icon
is conspicuous for its prominent use of the orb and sceptre - and that
is what they are called. To translate this as "imperial" is an
interpretative assumption which could be inaccurate, and is I think a
jump too far.
Can any of our Russian colleagues cast any light on this icon title?
Will Ryan
Daniel Rancour-Laferriere wrote:
> Dear Will,
> That is an interesting point. Normally an orb ("derzhava") is topped
> with a cross, signifying the reign of Christ over earthly powers (this
> was true in Byzantine areas, medieval West). Traditionally the
> Pantokrator may hold the orb, or an earthly ruler may hold the orb.
> For a Russian example, see:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Russian_regalia.jpg
>
> In the "Bogomater' Derzhavnaia" icon, however (Fig. 19 in my book),
> the cross is not atop the globe, but at the tip of the scepter.
> Curious displacement. Also, the Mother of God, not the Christ child
> is holding the globe (although he is pointing to it). So she has what
> may be termed an attenuated orb/derzhava (assuming that the cross by
> itself signifies power in an imperial context, which it always has
> from the time of Constantine's adoption of the cross when the Roman
> Empire was Christianized). So: "Our Lady of the Attenuated Orb?" No,
> sounds too problematical. First, she is not MY "lady," for I do not
> belong to OUR Christian collective, and "lady" is a bit off for
> various reasons. I prefer the literal translation "Mother of God,"
> and "orb" sounds too obscure into the bargain, not a part of the
> vocabulary of ordinary English-speaking believers (at least not this
> former North American believer; perhaps "orb" is more widespread among
> British speakers?). So perhaps: "Russian Imperial Mother of God" (as
> opposed to Russian national/ist Mother of God, which would describe
> Vladimirskaia, Kazanskaia, etc.; yet nationalists can be imperialists
> or monarchists too). Other suggestions out there? It is quite a
> striking image.
>
> Regards to the list -
> Daniel RL
>
>
> On Oct 23, 2009, at 4:21 PM, William Ryan wrote:
>
> Daniel, this is useful information. I do wonder though, in view of the
> iconography, if "derzhavnyi" might perhaps here be an adjective formed
> from "derzhava" not in the sense of state or power, as you have
> translated it, but of the orb (also called "derzhava") which the Mary
> is holding? The orb and sceptre are after all a departure from
> tradition and the most striking feature of the icon. Thus an
> appropriate English name for the icon might be "Our Lady of the Orb".
> Will
>
>
> Daniel Rancour-Laferriere wrote:
>> Dear colleagues,
>> I agree with the comments of Michele A. Berdy. The finding of
>> "Derzhavnaya" was represented as "quite an event." Here are some
>> further sources referring to it (from my 2005 book THE JOY OF ALL WHO
>> SORROW):
>>
>>> The Mother of God is interested in defending Russia not
>>> only from external enemies, but from internal enemies as well.
>>> Indeed, she seems to have taken over as protective ruler of Russia
>>> in March of 1917, right after political opponents of Nikolai II had
>>> forced him to abdicate. At this time in the village of Kolomenskoe
>>> near Moscow an icon was �found� of her called Derzhavnaia (roughly,
>>> �Great Power�). There now exist many copies of this icon, which is
>>> commemorated every year on 15 (2) March. The icon shows the Mother
>>> of God seated on a throne with the Christ child, wearing a crown,
>>> and holding a scepter and orb (see Figure 19).[i] In this image
>>> Mary is not only the �Heavenly Tsaritsa,� but even �Russian
>>> Tsaritsa� (�Tsaritsa Rossiiskaia�) in one of the nationalist
>>> accounts.[ii] According to legend, the finding of this icon
>>> signalled that the Mother of God was �taking power over Orthodox
>>> Rus�,�[iii] or that she �took on Supreme Tsarist power over Russia
>>> and over the people,�[iv] or that she was the only one worthy to
>>> take the �Russian scepter� �from the hands of Saint Nikolai [i.e.,
>>> tsar Nikolai II].�[v] In 1991 myrrh flowed from a Derzhavnaia icon
>>> located in Moscow, prompting one nationalist scholar to ask
>>> rherorically: �Perhaps the Most Holy Sovereign was bearing witness
>>> to the fact that, having accepted the succession to Russian power at
>>> the end of the Orthodox monarchy in 1917, She was not abandoning Her
>>> protective rule in this new Time of Troubles as well?�[vi]
>>>
>>>
>>> [i] . Filadel�f 1998, 254; Dorenskaia 1999, 59-63; Orekhov 2000,
>>> 165-73; Zevakhin 1996, fig. 244.
>>>
>>>
>>> [ii] . Skazanie o iavlenii Presviatoi Bogoroditsy v g. Budennovske
>>> 18 iiunia 1995 goda i napisanii ikony Ee Sviato-Krestovskoi, 1999, 4.
>>>
>>>
>>> [iii] . Vladimir 1995, 2.
>>>
>>>
>>> [iv] . Dorenskaia 1999, 60.
>>>
>>>
>>> [v] . Orekhov 2000, 167.
>>>
>>>
>>> [vi] . Liubomudrov 2000, 160.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Regards to the list,
>> Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
>>
>>
>>
>> On Oct 22, 2009, at 7:32 AM, Michele A. Berdy wrote:
>>
>> With icons, I don't think you're going to find much scholarly or
>> peer-reviewed literature -- especially about one that was found via
>> visions in March 1917. Here's a link for Metropolitan Tikhon's report
>> on it, which mentions an archeologist at the time who said that it
>> came from one of the churches in the Voznessensky monastery.
>> http://www.krotov.info/acts/20/1917_19/babkin_12.htm
>>
>> It sounds as if it were quite an event at the time, so your student
>> might check the newspaper archives.
>>
>> I seem to recall that it was also a very big event when the icon was
>> returned to the church in Kolomenskoe (where it still is).
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Anthony Anemone"
>> <AnemoneA at NEWSCHOOL.EDU>
>> To: <SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu>
>> Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 5:19 PM
>> Subject: [SEELANGS] Derzhavnaya bogoroditsa?
>>
>>
>>> Dear List,
>>>
>>> Here's another interesting question from another former student.
>>> She's looking
>>> for information on an icon that they call "Derzhavnaya" in Russian
>>> and the
>>> "Reigning (icon of the mother of God)" in English. Just about every
>>> website
>>> of Orthodoxy mentions this icon and they all tell the same story: the
>>> peasant girl who found the icon on March 2, 1917, etc. but she
>>> haven't been
>>> able to find a single scholarly, historical, or peer-reviewed source
>>> that
>>> mentions this icon. Does anyone know anything about this icon? Is its
>>> story a fiction of the post-soviet Orthodox Church? Any sources?
>>>
>>> As always, thanks for the help.
>>>
>>> Tony
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>> --
>>> Anthony Anemone
>>> Chair & Associate Provost of Foreign Languages
>>> The New School
>>> 212-229-5676 ex. 2355
>>>
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