Towards the Ontology of Orthodox Christian Art

Abstract

The art of the Orthodox Christian Church conveys the special thinking intrinsic to believers, which does not fit into standard ideas. This type of thinking is characterized by a deep penetration into all aspects of artistry: icon painting, church singing and church action. Researchers have been paying attention to this for a long time. At the same time, only in the present day with the careful study of the works of St. John of Damascus and the Church Fathers, the veil of secrecy has been lifted. The integrality of this thinking becomes clear, and it is achieved solely in the synthesis of the constituent parts of the rite and its artistic means. The ontology of Orthodox Christian art is revealed in the article by means of approaches to the analysis of the works of St. John of Damascus and examples of the implementation of the synthesis of arts in icon painting and church chants which are close to the content of the icon. The works of Father Pavel Florensky, Yuri Lotman, Alexei Lidov, Sergei Averintsev and Nikolai Mikhaltsov have become the impetus for careful reading of St. John of Damascus’ guidelines on such a concept as perichorisis, which, as it becomes clear, is important for the interpretation not only in the Christological key, but also as the most important ontological basis of the entire artistic heritage that accompanies worship in church. The synthesis of the color scheme of the icon image, the color model of the text of the accompanying chant, the construction of melodic formulas in accordance with the metatext points of the chant – altogether this creates a unique complex of artistic means of Orthodox Christian art.