Derzhavnaya bogoroditsa?
Michele A. Berdy
maberdy at GMAIL.COM
Tue Oct 27 12:42:23 UTC 2009
I'd respectfully disagree. The Orthodox Church of America (and other
Orthodox Churches in the US) translate Bogomater as Mother of God and almost
never as Our Lady of... or the Holy Virgin. There are major differences of
emphasis and understanding at issue.
There are many icon "types" that don't refer to anything specific in the
icon itself (like "Tenderness"). I think Prof Rancour-Laferriere is right.
The name Derzhavnaya refers to the entire image of wordly dominion, not just
the orb. The appearance of the icon and its image were understood to mean
that in the absence of the tsar, the Mother of God would rule over (ie, take
care of, watch over) Russia.
It is indeed difficult to translate. I'd have to check, but I think the
title is generally just transliterated. To me "Russian Imperial Mother of
God" is a bit too specific (derzhavnaya is such a big word!) and also a bit
ambiguous (could sound like an icon that belonged to or had special meaning
for the imperial family). But I can't think of anything better. Dominion
Mother of God? The Mother of God of Worldly Dominion? Not very good, I'm
afraid. Requires more thought and poking around.
----- Original Message -----
From: "William Ryan" <wfr at SAS.AC.UK>
To: <SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 2:09 PM
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Derzhavnaya bogoroditsa?
> 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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