Andrei Rublev’s “Holy Trinity” is Russia’s most valuable icon. Now she is in the service of a sinister mission: Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. A journalist suspects that the Kremlin boss is up to something “terrible and asks for forgiveness in advance”.
Three winged figures dressed in azure and gold robes sit with bowed heads at a table with a chalice in the center. God is absent, but the painting is divine. Andrei Rublev’s “Holy Trinity” is Russia’s most valuable icon.
It was created in the 15th century – a time of the Mongol conquest of Russia – and underlines the connection of the country with Christian Europe. At the same time, the work of art points to a Russian renaissance that never materialized, according to Russian historian Dmitry Likhachev.
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This most venerable of all Russian icons is now in the service of a sinister mission: Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. By order of the Kremlin (and against the will of the restorers), the painting, which has been in the State Tretyakov Gallery since 1929, was transported on July 16 to the spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Holy Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius.
It was venerated there during the celebrations in honor of the Russian saint who had a significant influence on Rublev. Patriarch Cyril – head of the Russian Church and pro-war – described the icon as a “link at a time when Russia, severely threatened by external and internal enemies, was focused on becoming a great power”.
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Curators warned that transporting the icon from the museum’s adapted indoor climate to the church would increase the potential for damage. Throwing Russia into obscurantism is an equally pernicious proposition. The conversion had little to do with Christianity and everything to do with Putin’s war cult.
For the liberal journalist Sergei Parkhomenko, Putin is a pharaoh with the intention of “bribing” a deity: “Either he is very afraid of defeat in the war and requests help. Or he is up to something terrible that scares even him and asks for forgiveness in advance.”
Russia’s president recently warned that his invasion “isn’t even remotely started.” Perhaps he should heed the words of Voltaire, who was more skeptical of religion: “God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of the best riflemen.”
The article first appeared in The Economist under the title “The Kremlin drafts a much-loved icon for war propaganda” and was translated by Cornelia Zink.
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Originally posted by The Economist, “A beloved icon joins Putin’s sinister mission.”
