Communicating the Trinity dogma in icons.

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleПередача троичного догмата в иконах.
3. lemma author Saprykin, Dmitry
4. lemma category Theological works of scientists and engineers
5. Publication date 1997
6. lemma work Rauschenbach Boris [Author]. "... Interceding the Holy Trinity." Communicating the Trinity dogma in icons.
7. lemma manifestations Синтез двух систем познания академика Раушенбаха. : Synthesis of the two cognition systems by academician Rauschebach
8. Keywords iconography - Trinity
9. Citations
   1. http://www.kanavka.ru/find/4982/1/--TITLEraushenbah_bv_akademik_-_pristrastie_-_predstoya_svyatey_troice_TITLE----TITLEraushenbah_bv_akademik_-_pristrasti.htm
10. Lemma body

    1. Academician Rauschenbach's article is devoted to analytical study of the Holy Trinity various icons from the perspective of transmission completed Trinity dogma in them (the following properties of the Holy Trinity: the triunity, consubstantiality, inseparability, co-eternity, specificity, interaction, holiness, cause of life). The famous physicist, founder of astronautics, turned to study icon world while investigating the perception of space by human eye and developing optical instruments for observing the docking of spacecraft.

       The author states that in different historical periods the completeness of transmission of the trinitarian dogma was different. Initially the icon painters strived for an ever more complete expression of dogma, reaching the greatest completeness in Rublev’s icon. Then interest in dogmatic teaching began to slacken, icons approached the level of mere illustrations to the Holy Scriptures texts, and accordingly their theological depth has declined. There appeared even icons of the New Testament Trinity, in which, according to the author, the dogmatic side was of little interest to the icon painter who sought to make the icon "more intelligible."

       The author displays how in the Rublev Holy Trinity icon all the fundamental components of a rather complex trinitarian dogma are communicated with an astonishing accuracy and only by means of artistic methods. "Starting from the Old Testament story of Abraham's meeting with God, Rublev deliberately removes everything domestic and earthly element from the icon, and gives an amazing image of the celestial world." The pre-Rublev and post-Rublev icons, conditionally speaking, needed a commentator who could explain and supplement the depicted, since their content from the perspective of the dogma embodiment had always been incomplete. For the Rublev’s Holy Trinity icon such a commentator is excessive.