Thanks, and further question: Paraskeva

[Margo Rosen]

You might inquire of Natalia Ermolaeva (ne99 at columbia.edu), a recent  
PhD who has worked on the iconography of Paraskeva(s).

All best,
Margo Rosen
Columbia University

Quoting Francoise Rosset <frosset at WHEATONMA.EDU>:

> Thank you to all the colleagues who replied so promptly to my question
> about the church. It does exist: Nikolai v Khamovnikakh (not Mozhaisk),
> who served as patron to weavers (not tanners).
>
> I have another question, this one about St. Paraskeva.
>
> Last week-end we took our students to the Museum of Russian Icons in
> Clinton, Mass. The museum houses its own private collection and is
> currently hosting a small but impressive exhibit of Icons from the
> Andrei Rublev museum in Moscow.
>
> Among others, they had a gorgeous icon of St Paraskeva, Novgorod, last
> quarter of the 16th century. It is large-ish, 3-4 feet or so by 3. It
> is a pretty standard depiction, but I could not find it in Google
> images. She is depicted full front, to the waist. She appears to be
> looking past the viewer, not at her/him. No angels or crowns, just the
> nimbus. Her cloak, which also covers her head, is bright red (for
> martyrdom?). The background is a deep bluish green. She holds an
> Eastern cross in her right hand and in the left a scroll, whose words
> the Museum's book identifies as the Nicene creed. So, pretty standard
> iconography, except for the background color.
>
> My question is about the "original" saint.
> I've read about a St Paraskeva, a Roman martyr of Greek heritage, she
> of the boiling oil. There's also the later Balkan ascetic St Paraskeva,
> or Paraskeva-Petka (like the Russian Paraskeva-Piatnitsa), whose images
> sometimes carry a _Western_ cross. And another Roman-area martyr, "a
> third-century martyr from Iconium, a favorite of Russians, who consider
> her the patron saint of traders and guardian of family happiness."
> [Orthodox America]
>
> Does anyone know more about this? Clearly the biographies refer to
> three different women, assuming they existed in history. Is the one
> venerated in Russia a conflation of them, or is she known to be one as
> opposed to the other, and does it matter? Linda Ivanits suggests that
> the Russian version is a composite and informed by older pagan cults;
> her day is Oct 28, which corresponds to neither of the first two, the
> more famous ones.
>
> I'm curious whether any one out there has further information, or
> thoughts, about the original saint or the iconography.
>
> Finally, if you're not familiar with this "little" local museum,
> http://www.museumofrussianicons.org/
>
> Thanks,
> -FR
>
>
> Francoise Rosset, Associate Professor
> Chair, Russian and Russian Studies
> Coordinator, German and Russian
> Wheaton College
> Norton, Massachusetts 02766
> Office: (508) 285-3696
> FAX:   (508) 286-3640
>
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