he icon played a role as a book for the illiterate, and this remained one of its main functions in the west. The VII Ecumenical Council states: The icons are necessary to ensure that those who do not know the Scriptures on the walls could read what they can not read in books. Raquo; ( azbuka). Because of the high illiteracy rate not all Christians could read a book, especially theological ones, so the instruction role fell upon the icon. By its symbols, lines, and colors it was capable of teaching the common people the same way church taught the doctrine, which is expressed by the word. Frescos, mosaics and icons were all unified in the same function: talking about the major Christian dogmas, describing the main events of religious history, life of the saints and Christ s teachings. In turn this provided an example for the people to follow.the October revolution of the 1917, the Orthodox Church entered a period of persecution where many works of religious art were lost or destroyed. As the Soviet Russia headed on a path of atheism, the place for icons was determined to be in the museums, where it could be displayed as ancient Russian art. Raquo; Anti-religious feelings started to grow roots in the new generation of communists. This was true up until the fall of the Soviet Russia. However, according to modern legend, in 1941, during the German winter offensive on Moscow, the icon of Mother of Tikhvin was taken from the church it was sitting in. By the orders of Stalin, it was placed on the plane which circled around the city. The result was a first successful offensive of the Red Army, which ended with the capture of the city of Tikhvin (vidania) .and many other legends and stories make up a huge collection of tales about the wonderworking of the icons; and that they would fulfill the wishes of those who asked. In the present these stories are not given much attention on the basis of their credibility. However living in Russia for ten years I got to hear some of them first hand. My family lived in a Siberian town by the name of Dudinka. It was port town sitting on the river Yenisei. During the winter a huge portion of the river froze, including the part near the town where it was around 10 miles wide. When the spring time came the water rose about 20 meters, all of the ice would start to break and come down the river. These ice piles could stack up to the height of a seven story building and would demolish anything in its path. A house happened to stand dangerously close to the river and was at a risk of being destroyed in such a fashion. Of the witnesses who saw the miraculous event one told this story to my dad. An old believer family happened to live in the house. They had enough time to get out of the house when they saw the pile of ice creeping up in their direction. However the oldest member of the family stayed back at the house. He grabbed an icon with him and started praying while standing in front of the house. The ice was coming closer and closer to the house and it seemed as there was nothing to do to stop it. But within meters of the old man and his house the pile of ice halted. None of the people present saw anything like that happen and many saw this as a providence of God. Even a skeptic would have to admit that supernaturally or not, the house and its inhabitants were saved., Many features shaped the history of Russia. It is safe to assume that the religious icons reflected some of these features. There have been several attempts to get rid of icons and any influence they had on the people. Nevertheless these attempts didn t produce long lasting results. The deep roots of veneration for these holy images aided people to restore the traditions and the icons behind them, thus claiming a rightful place in the everyday lives of Russian people.
Bibliography
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