Thanks, and further question: Paraskeva

Tue Oct 26 17:53:50 UTC 2010

Dear Francoise,

I may offer my humble brief introductory story of St. Paraskeva and iconography of her:   

Looking at the Church's menology, we find three saints by the name of Paraskeva.  literary Παρασκευή is “preparation” in Greek, means ‘Friday’ in Slavonic --Pyatnitsa,. In the Balkans Paraskeva was known as Petka or Pyatnitsa. A Paraskeva of Rome lived in the 2nd century and her feast day was celebrated on 26 July, an 11th-century Balkan saint’s feast day is on 14 July. A fourth-century great martyr, native of Iconia (Asia Minor), is favorite of Russians. She was martyred during the persecutions of Diocletian. Her cult was widespread in Medieval Rus and  the Russian Orthodox church celebrates her feast on 28 October. Her ‘vitae’ in Russia combined the lives of both Paraskeva of Rome and of Iconia. Personal depictions of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa (Holy Friday) appeared in Russian art in Novgorod and Pskov, around the 13th century, probably earlier. Her iconography with a cross and scroll is known by the 15th–16th centuries. On some
 16th–17th-century icons she is portrayed crowned by angels as on her ‘vita’ icon. Russian iconographers usually depicted the martyr as an austere ascetic, tall of stature. Her image is simple, laconic and precise; the colors are saturated and bright. Paraskeva is one of the most beloved and popular in Novgorod saints among others, such as Saint Nicholas, St. George, Elijah, Florus and Laurus. Most of these saints were particularly venerated because their celebrations fell on the days important for the peasant's agricultural calendar or because they were connected to the ancient Slavic pagan gods. 
One of the distinguishing features of Pskovian icons is the painters' preference of the deep "Pskovian" red and the deep "Pskovian" green. In the Pskov tradition, the gesso ground is never fully smoothed out, leaving a slightly rough surface for painting. The Pskov style of rough gesso ground, the absence of a shiny finish led to the eventual move toward a more realistic depiction of the figures of Saints. 

Best,
Svitlana

--- On Tue, 26/10/10, Francoise Rosset <frosset at WHEATONMA.EDU> wrote:

From: Francoise Rosset <frosset at WHEATONMA.EDU>
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Thanks, and further question: Paraskeva
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Date: Tuesday, 26 October, 2010, 19:24

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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