Clergy and restoration: how faith shapes professional choices
The spiritual path and profession can be closely intertwined, as the stories of a priest, a restorer, and students working in the field of Orthodox restoration show. A priest working in a church and a restorer restoring ancient icons share their thoughts on how faith helps them in their profession, and students who embody the desire for spiritual service in art talk about their choice in the Izvestia article.
Guides of Faith
Realizing one's vocation is a long and thorny road that every person has their own way. Sometimes people find themselves in places they never thought they would be, and sometimes their lives turn out as if it were predetermined from birth.
Seminarian Fyodor Popov entered the Moscow Theological Academy to serve the Church and people, like his father, Archpriest Sergiy Popov. Throughout his life, he helped him in the temple and attended festivals.
— I have seen with my own eyes how a person believes, how he prays sincerely. This played a key role in the formation of both my personality and my choice of a spiritual institution as a university," Fyodor told Izvestia.
The spiritual mission of a priest in the modern world, according to Fyodor Popov, is to be the "firefly" that a clergyman is. He noted that parishioners and people entering the temple see in him a highly moral person and an example that one can fight one's passions, that it is easy to do good, that anyone can keep fasts and keep the commandments.
— This is an important point: so that everyone has someone in front of them whom they can follow, a living example that they can look at with their own eyes, — admits the interlocutor of Izvestia.
Leading people to God is about feeding the flock, participating in the spiritual life of parishioners, helping to resolve domestic conflicts between children, parents, and spouses, as well as sharing personal experiences that a clergyman has experienced as a person who overcame vices, passions, and evil thoughts.
One of the pillars of seminary education is theology. Fyodor said that it helps a person to understand clearly and in a structured way what the Orthodox believe in, and not to fall into heresies and doctrinal errors.
— Theology helps in various disputes. If we are arguing with Protestants and Catholics, it is necessary to clearly understand how Orthodoxy differs from Protestantism and Catholicism, as well as from other movements," Fyodor Popov points out.
He also noted that a person studying theology and theology gets acquainted with a huge amount of spiritual literature, the exposition of the holy fathers, which give advice and answers to difficult and burning answers.
— Through this spiritual literature, one can grow spiritually and mentally. Studying theology implies that a person reasonably understands how and what he believes, what Orthodox teaching consists of, and what certain dogmas our faith is based on," concluded Fyodor.
Izvestia spoke with Priest Alexander Gudovskikh, rector of the churches of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Russian Nikolskoye, Laishevsky district, and St. Nicholas Church in the village of Derzhavino, Laishevsky district.
Priest Alexander said that serving the Church is clearly the highest vocation, because the Epistle to the Romans says: "Those whom God predestined, He called, and those whom He called, He justified, and those whom He justified, He glorified." Indeed, the priest emphasized, this is the way when a person is led by the hand. Every thinking Christian will say that his whole life is a path to God.
— And the Lord called me to the priesthood. The most important and important thing for me is a communal life together, a joint path to God, because when we try to go our own way, you make so many mistakes and so many distractions... In our joint community life, joint service and parish life, we motivate each other to fulfill the precepts of the Gospel — not just to believe and remain inactive, but to believe and inspire each other to do good deeds, so that everyone takes up ministry for others and outside the temple, educational, social or curatorial, — shared with Izvestia"Priest.
People often ask how a priest, with the responsibility entrusted to him for his parishioners, manages to perform inner work in himself. Priest Alexander recalled that historically, the monastic community was based on the principle that everyone was "in plain sight" of each other.
— In this communication, you can see for yourself an experience that you can take on yourself. It is inspiring when you see the experience of the lives and labors of Christians, your neighbors, whether they are just lay people, whether they are parishioners who are starting to come to church, or whether they are more experienced priests," the priest said.
According to him, every person struggles with their passions and overcomes their infirmities, and the priest here is the same God's creation, only abandoning himself, his happiness, his wishes for the sake of service. Priest Alexander recalled that in the Gospel of Matthew there are such words uttered by Jesus Christ: "... for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his soul for My sake will find it; what good is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? or what kind of ransom will a man give for his soul? for the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with His angels, and then he will reward everyone according to his deeds."
— The Christian's ministry is to serve the salvation of one's neighbor. This strengthens us in the struggle against passions, draws us together to help others, and takes our neighbor's infirmities upon ourselves. This is love, when you take and sympathize for someone, help someone," emphasized Priest Alexander.
When he was a seminarian, Priest Alexander also studied theology. He notes that after studying at the university, the point of view expands — if you belong to a particular denomination, you can see the experience of others, which can inspire you to work.
— Theological education is a promising and interesting field that can be an incentive for someone to further their spiritual growth, even without any visible accessories. A person will think about it and say that he is doing something useful, that it's not in vain," said the priest.
Honoring the Archetype
The restoration of the church's heritage preserves the experiences and philosophy of the restorers, who are at the intersection of the world of icon painting and restoration, and the faith manifested in service through the restoration of Orthodox art.
For Irina Semenikhina from Yelets, art education is not the first, but the third. For 14 years, the interlocutor of Izvestia worked as an economist, having graduated from economics, and once studied to teach physics, mathematics and other natural sciences.
Irina got into the restoration department when she was on maternity leave and began to study painting at adult courses, where she was offered to enroll as a restorer. Among the arguments are the ease of communication with an adult, a meaningful understanding of life and career choice. Irina enrolled, and then she got so involved in this profession that she did not return to the life of an economist. She set up a workshop in the city and began to work on restoration.
The most important thing for a restorer is to strengthen the icon, because often the faces suffer from inadequate living and storage conditions. Historically, icons were kept in basements and attics of houses, which often causes restorers to encounter dilapidated and even rotten icons.
— The icon needs to be strengthened so that there is no loss of painting. Then the icon is cleaned and primed, working with an updated board for the icon itself. The general process is as follows: opening, that is, clearing the icon, summing up the lost levkas, processing the levkas, restoration work on restoring or opening the icon from the back, that is, working with wood, clearing it," Irina said.
Irina Semenikhina noted that the artist restores all the losses in the manner of the author, not redoing, not thinking for him, but restoring icons in the same way as the preserved fragment. The law of the restorer is not to harm the icon and not to add your own.
— If an iconographer intended to paint an icon like this — disproportionate faces, disproportionate figures, arms longer relative to the body, elongated facial features — then the restorer cannot paint the features. This cannot be done categorically. This indicates the incompetence of the restorer.
According to her, she feels a special connection with history, faith, and culture, because putting together her artistic skills is half the job. Icons can be different, both small-speaking and multilingual.
— I had such an icon that it brought me to tears. When she left me, I was very worried, I took her picture for myself. Sometimes it feels like I'm leaving, and the icon itself seems to be being restored in the evening and at night. I come, and she lets herself be restored, so she wants to return to the place of promise," Irina said.
There are also those icons that remain with Irina for quite a long period of time, as if they cannot be restored, and this is reflected in the difficult, long and painstaking work. And sometimes a complex icon, which feels "like a year of restoration," lends itself easily and without difficulty, while a simple icon lingers. The restoration process is always unpredictable, Irina emphasized.
"Sometimes I even turn to prayers, to the icon, so that the saint who is depicted on it can help in the restoration process," the restorer admits.
The Kazan Icon of the Mother of God from Rostov-on-Don became a spiritual and inspiring discovery for Irina.
— It's very big, about a meter high, it was badly damaged, and it was completely cracked in the middle. This icon really left an indelible impression, because it had a very strong energy. The people who came to me as part of a tour of the workshop addressed her, put handkerchiefs on her and tried to kiss her themselves. Everyone thanked me for that," Irina said.
She shared that at that time, documents were being collected on the wonderworthiness of this icon, not only because of the myrrh streaming, but also the miracles that were associated with it.
— A man came to pray to this icon — his son was in a special operation zone when his contract ended. They couldn't get him out of there. A week after he came to me, his son miraculously arrived in his hometown," the source told Izvestia.
The workshop has become a point of attraction for the city of Yelets — people come there from everywhere to listen to the restorer from the Russian "hinterland", get acquainted with his way of life, listen about icons and the restoration process.
— There was an icon whose history begins with the fact that Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich presented it to the monastery, which is located near Yelets. She has a very sad life — she got into fires and burned, was lost. I restored it after all. She is in her monastery, the Trinity Monastery. This icon is the "Great Trinity", it was restored for a year and a half, says Irina.
Polina Tazina, a student, studies at St. Tikhon's Orthodox University for the Humanities. Polina is a future restorer, whose choice at first fell on icon painting, but then she got to a teacher, a follower of Irina Vasilyevna Vatagina, a famous restorer.
— Now we are working in the workshop on Maroseyka, where she worked during her lifetime. Those who knew Irina Vasilyevna personally said that the restoration was not just a job for her, but a real spiritual service. The basis of her approach was a deep spiritual aspiration "to the upper world," which formed a unique connection between the restorer and his spiritual source, Polina Tazina told Izvestia.
Polina has been a religious person since childhood, so she knew for sure that she wanted to study at an Orthodox university. She chose a university and found a specialty that resonates very strongly with her. Since childhood, she has often painted icons and temples, and now she has the opportunity to transform her hobby into a profession. Polina said that the example of Irina Vasilyevna Vatagina only strengthened in her this desire and desire to give herself to her vocation.
And yet, an icon is not just a work of art, but a shrine. As Scripture conveys the truth through the word, so the icon conveys it through the image, Polina noted.
— The Holy Fathers of the 7th Ecumenical Council formulated the dogma of the veneration of holy icons, which is based on the tradition of icon worship dating back to apostolic times. It says that images of Jesus Christ are possible because of His incarnation. God Himself wanted to come into the world and be visible to all people," the student said.
According to her, Orthodox Christians do not honor boards and paint, but honor the one who is depicted on the icon, honoring the image, honoring the Archetype. This is the main essence of the restoration, the girl concluded.
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