Description of the Church of St. Sophia in Constantinople. Sophia Paleolog and the "terrible secret" of the Assumption Cathedral

25.09.2019

Pages: 1

It was the largest cathedral in the Byzantine Empire. And one of the most ancient, Sofia was completed in 537. It's amazing how the building stood for so long. I saw many ruins of the early Byzantine era, as a rule, only foundations - and here is a structure almost untouched by time. It is clear that the main temple of the empire was renovated, both by the Byzantines themselves and by the Turks who replaced them. But still, it seems mysterious.

I think that it is not necessary to describe here in detail all the stages of the construction of St. Sophia, these are all well-known facts. Therefore, I will limit myself to my personal impressions of visiting the great cathedral. It is worth visiting the temple of the Wisdom of God in the afternoon, since in the morning huge queues often accumulate at its entrance. Many tourist groups are brought here by buses, and you can stand for an hour, or even more.

St. Sophia outwardly looks, though ponderous, but very majestic. It is immediately felt that it is closer to the Roman time, which is far from us, than to the later Middle Ages. Even the buttresses attached by the Turks "give away" something Roman.

Temple of Sophia the Wisdom of God in Istanbul // maximus101.livejournal.com

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The buttresses of the main entrance to the temple were erected in the 10th century, later the Turks added their own. They also added four minarets to the church, which look very out of place here.

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Northwest corner of St. Sofia. Here you can see the ruins of the Patriarchal School.

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Vaults in the Vestibule of Warriors. Once there was an entrance to the temple for ordinary Byzantine people.

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The mosaic above the entrance depicts the Virgin and Child, on the right is Emperor Constantine offering the city of Constantinople to her, and on the left is Emperor Justinian, the builder of St. Sophia, offering this cathedral.

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The exonarthex is the outer gallery of St. Sophia. Here stands the marble sarcophagus of Empress Irina, the Hungarian princess - the wife of Emperor John II Komnenos.

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A door leading from the exonarthex to the narthex, an inner gallery.

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Mosaic over royal doors, depicting Christ on the throne and the emperor Leo VI bowing before him.

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Narthex - the inner gallery of the St. Sophia Cathedral.

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Doors to the main nave of the temple.

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I confess that when I stood under the dome of St. Sophia and looked up, I caught myself thinking that this multi-ton stone mass could collapse on my head at any moment, because this is a very, very ancient structure. It was a little creepy. It is completely incomprehensible how this huge plate is kept at the top.

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It is interesting that I never had such a fear in the Ottoman mosques, although they were all built according to the example of St. Sophia and with a clear desire to outdo her. In a certain sense, the geometry of large Turkish mosques, such as Suleymaniye and others, is more perfect than a Byzantine temple. They are somehow more "correct", symmetrically adjusted, in contrast to Sophia. It looks more heavy and sometimes irrational. But nowhere in Turkish buildings is there this effect of a "floating" dome, which is achieved by this irrationality, when a giant flat stone plate is held by some kind of force at a height of more than 50 meters ...

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And it's great that they finally removed these damned forests that have risen here to the very dome, probably for a whole decade.

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Image of the six-winged Seraphim on the sails of St. Sophia.

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Sultan's lodge.

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Fragment of the floor. Perhaps this circle on the floor was intended for the emperor.

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Altar apse of Hagia Sophia.

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Mosaic image of the Archangel Gabriel, to the right of the apse with the Mother of God.

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Wooden shields covered with leather with Islamic inscriptions appeared during the reconstruction of the cathedral in 1847-849. under the leadership of the Swiss - the Fossati brothers.

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External gallery of the cathedral.

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Corridor leading to the gallery on the second floor.

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Second floor gallery.

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Graffiti on the marble parapets of the cathedral. There are hundreds of such inscriptions.

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"Matthew - pop Galich", was here)

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Mosaic gallery of the second floor. The best mosaic work in the cathedral is the Deesis (Christ, the Mother of God and John the Baptist).

(former Constantinople) and saw a huge line in front of the entrance to the temple - so you are standing in front of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul (former Constantinople) - the mother of all Orthodox Christian churches in the world.

Thanks to the Hagia Sophia, or rather, the impression that it made on the Russian ambassadors sent to Byzantium by Prince Vladimir the Red Sun, Russia, perhaps, became Christian in 988. According to legend, the Russian ambassadors, having visited the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, arrived under such a strong impression from what they saw that they called this cathedral not just a magnificent temple, but a paradise. It is not surprising - the greatness of Hagia Sophia strikes the human imagination today.

Construction history

The Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, today's Istanbul, was rebuilt three times. Russian ambassadors saw it approximately in the form in which it exists now. The first construction in 330 AD was started by Constantine the Great himself, the emperor of Byzantium. In 360, it was completed, the temple was called "Megalo Eklesia" - the Big Church. But in 404, it, unfortunately, burned down in a fire. However, the Great Cathedral was not forgotten: on the wooden foundation of the former grandiose structure, a new, more stable building of the temple was being built, in which church services already October 10, 416. In 532, the great temple again suffered from a bloody rebellion and was rebuilt again - by the emperor Justinian, in 532-537. It is such a temple, built in 532-537, that rises, like today in Istanbul.

It is called Hagia Sophia - the Church of Divine Wisdom and is considered one of the most important and most beautiful temples in the history of world architecture. And Orthodox Christians consider Hagia Sophia the main cathedral of Christianity, the Mother of all Orthodox cathedrals.

In world architectural circles, Hagia Sophia occupies an honorable fourth place in the world among museums equal to it in scale. Here is a list of them: St. Paul's Church in London; San Pietro in Rome; Houses in Milan.

But how can they be compared?! All these temples are at least a thousand years younger than St. Sophia Cathedral!

Hagia Sophia in Constantinople received its second name - Hagia Sophia - as one of the three epithets that are used when referring to God: Hagia Sophia - Holy Wisdom, Aya Irene - Holy Compassion, Aya Dynamis - Holy Power.

If you carefully analyze the history of the construction of the main cathedral, you can find interesting facts.

The Temple of Hagia Sophia is truly a collector and collector of antiquities: many ancient architectural monuments of great Rome and ancient architecture were continued in it: porphyrated columns of Hagia Sophia - from the Aurelian Temple of the Sun in Rome; green marble columns - from the temple of Artemis at Ephesus; green granite columns - from the Ephesus Port Gymnasium; red porphyry columns - from the Sanctuary of Apollo in Baalbek (modern Lebanon); marble slabs of Hagia Sophia - from the stocks of this stone in Anatolia, from the ancient quarries of Thessaly, Laconia, Caria and Numidia. And the marble that was brought for the temple from Pentelikon (near ancient Athens) is the same as the one from which the Parthenon (Temple of Athena) in the Acropolis was built 10 centuries before the great St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople.

There are several more legends associated with the construction of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. According to them, lime for the construction of the temple was diluted with barley water; olive oil, and for the patriarchal throne in molten gold were added gems- rubies, topazes, onyxes, sapphires, amethysts and pearls. The construction costs were enormous and amounted to three annual incomes of the state of Byzantium - approximately 320 thousand pounds of gold, i.e. about 130 tons.

Emperor Justinian on Christmas Day - December 26, 537 (which became the opening day of the temple), raising his hands to heaven, exclaimed: "Thank God, who gave me the opportunity to complete this construction. I surpassed you, Solomon!" Obviously, Justinian compared the temple of Hagia Sophia built on his orders with the biblical temple of Solomon, and he compared Constantinople with Jerusalem and called it none other than New Jerusalem.

The third, (current) Sophia, rebuilt by Justinian, for 916 (almost a thousand) years was the cathedral Christian cathedral of Constantinople, the main temple of the Byzantine Empire and the entire Orthodox world. But after the conquest of Byzantium by the Ottomans, the great St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople was turned into almost five hundred (481) years. Only in 1935, by decree of Ataturk, the first Turkish President, Hagia Sophia in Istanbul was given the status of .

For those who enter this sacred temple for the first time, the experience becomes unforgettable: it is so huge and powerful that it takes your breath away, and the natural daylight from the numerous windows of the cathedral makes it seem to float in the sky, because of this, even the walls of the temple seem transparent! Confirmation of the above - magnificent words about Hagia Sophia: "The dome on a chain is tied to heaven ..."

The central Imperial doors (Gate) of the Cathedral are made, according to legend, from the remains of Noah's ark. Only the Emperor entered Sofia through them. For other visitors, adjacent entrances were intended. On both sides of the Imperial Doors, deep dents are visible on the marble floor slabs, formed from the feet of the imperial guards, who have stood at these doors for hundreds of years. In such historical places you truly feel the breath of time ...

Sofia Mosque

The consequences of turning Hagia Sophia into a Muslim Sophia mosque are evidenced by changes in the interior of the temple - four huge round shields made of camel skin, suspended under the dome. The inscriptions on these shields are sayings from the Koran, as well as the names of the first caliphs (spiritual leaders of Islam).

Ataturk - the first President, the great reformer, turning Sofia from a mosque into a museum, ordered to remove the shields from the walls Orthodox church, which was done. However, immediately after his death, in 1938, they were again returned to their original place.

Another evidence of the conversion of St. Sophia Cathedral into a mosque is that Muslims built a prayer niche - mihrab - in the altar apse of the temple. Next to the mihrab is the sultan's bed, on the contrary - the imam's place for reading prayers.

There are other little things inherent in the paraphernalia of mosques - jugs for ablutions (not far from the entrance). In the southern gallery of the temple there is a place for a Muslim library (bronze cage, eighteenth century). But the main evidence of attempts to turn the Great Temple into the Sophia Mosque is four minarets and a crescent above the dome. I would like to note that all these transformations did not become one with Hagia Sophia, they remained "foreign bodies", "alien inclusions" on this great Christian shrine.

The last liturgy in the St. Sophia Cathedral of Constantinople began on the evening of May 28, 1453 and continued throughout the night. In the morning, having broken down the doors, the Janissaries burst into the temple, but the Orthodox priest with a bowl in his hands somehow miraculously fled...

During excursions in the temple, one can often hear from the lips of the guides the story that supposedly Mehmed the Conqueror, having driven into the temple on a horse, involuntarily leaned against the wall with a bloodied hand (his horse slipped on the blood-stained floor slabs). As a confirmation of this event, as a rule, a spot is always shown - a palm print on the wall of the temple, next to the altar.

Don't believe. sure it wasn't. Of course, the floor in the Temple that morning was indeed covered in blood, but Mehmed the Conqueror did not enter the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, but entered, dismounting and sprinkling roadside dust on his turban - as a sign of humility before Hagia Sophia and her divine power ...

They say that every city founded in antiquity or in the Middle Ages has its own secret name. According to legend, only a few people could know him. The city's secret name contained its DNA. Having learned the "password" of the city, the enemy could easily take possession of it.

"Secret Name"

According to the ancient urban planning tradition, at the beginning the secret name of the city was born, then there was a corresponding place, the “heart of the city”, which symbolized the World Tree. Moreover, it is not necessary that the navel of the city should be located in the "geometric" center of the future city. The city is almost like Koshchei’s: “... his death is at the end of a needle, that needle is in an egg, that egg is in a duck, that duck is in a hare, that hare is in a chest, and the chest stands on a tall oak, and that Koschei tree, like its own eye, protects ".

Interestingly, ancient and medieval city planners always left hints. Love for puzzles distinguished many professional guilds. Some Freemasons are worth something. Before the profanation of heraldry in the Enlightenment, the role of these rebuses was performed by the coats of arms of cities. But this is in Europe. In Russia, until the 17th century, there was no tradition at all to encrypt the essence of the city, its secret name, in the coat of arms or some other symbol. For example, George the Victorious migrated to the coat of arms of Moscow from the seals of the great Moscow princes, and even earlier - from the seals of the Tver principality. It had nothing to do with the city.

"Heart of the City"

In Russia Starting point for the construction of the city was a temple. It was the axis of any settlement. In Moscow, this function was performed by the Assumption Cathedral for centuries. In turn, according to the Byzantine tradition, the temple was to be built on the relics of the saint. At the same time, the relics were usually placed under the altar (sometimes also on one side of the altar or at the entrance to the temple). It was the relics that represented the “heart of the city”. The name of the saint, apparently, was the very "secret name". In other words, if St. Basil's Cathedral was the "founding stone" of Moscow, then the "secret name" of the city would be "Vasilyev" or "Vasilyev-grad".

However, we do not know whose relics lie at the base of the Assumption Cathedral. There is not a single mention of this in the annals. Probably the saint's name was kept secret.

At the end of the 12th century, a wooden church stood on the site of the current Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. A hundred years later, the Moscow prince Daniil Alexandrovich built the first Assumption Cathedral on this site. However, for unknown reasons, after 25 years, Ivan Kalita builds on this site new cathedral. It is interesting that the temple was built on the model of St. George's Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky. It's not entirely clear why? St. George's Cathedral can hardly be called a masterpiece of ancient Russian architecture. So there was something else?

perestroika

The model temple in Yuryev-Polsky was built in 1234 by Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich on the site on the foundation of the white stone church of George, which was built in 1152 when the city was founded by Yuri Dolgoruky. Apparently, this place was given some increased attention. And the construction of the same temple in Moscow, perhaps, was supposed to emphasize some kind of continuity.

The Assumption Cathedral in Moscow stood for less than 150 years, and then Ivan III suddenly decided to rebuild it. The formal reason is the dilapidation of the structure. Although one and a half hundred years for a stone temple is not God knows how long. The temple was dismantled, and in its place in 1472 the construction of a new cathedral began. However, on May 20, 1474, an earthquake occurred in Moscow. The unfinished cathedral was seriously damaged, and Ivan decides to dismantle the remains and start building a new temple. Architects from Pskov are invited for construction, but for mysterious reasons, they categorically refuse to build.

Aristotle Fioravanti

Then Ivan III, at the insistence of his second wife Sophia Palaiologos, sends emissaries to Italy, who were supposed to bring the Italian architect and engineer Aristotle Fioravanti to the capital. By the way, in his homeland he was called the “new Archimedes”. It looks absolutely fantastic, because for the first time in the history of Russia, a Catholic architect is invited to build an Orthodox church, the main church of the Moscow State!

From the point of view of the then tradition - a heretic. Why an Italian was invited, who had never seen a single Orthodox church, remains a mystery. Maybe because not a single Russian architect wanted to deal with this project.

The construction of the temple under the leadership of Aristotle Fioravanti began in 1475 and ended in 1479. It is interesting that the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir was chosen as a model. Historians explain that Ivan III wanted to show the continuity of the Muscovite state from the former "capital city" of Vladimir. But this again does not look very convincing, since in the second half of the 15th century, the former authority of Vladimir could hardly have had any image value.

Perhaps this was due to Vladimir Icon Mother of God, which in 1395 was transported from the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir to the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow, built by Ivan Kalita. However, history has not preserved direct indications of this.

One of the hypotheses why Russian architects did not get down to business, and an Italian architect was invited, is connected with the personality of the second wife of John III, the Byzantine Sophia Paleolog. A little more about this.

Sophia and the "Latin Faith"

As you know, in marriage Ivan III the Greek princess was actively promoted by Pope Paul II. In 1465 her father, Thomas Palaiologos, brought her with his other children to Rome. The family settled at the court of Pope Sixtus IV.

A few days after their arrival, Thomas died, having converted to Catholicism before his death. History has left us no information that Sophia converted to the "Latin faith", but it is unlikely that the Palaiologos could remain Orthodox while living at the court of the Pope. In other words, Ivan III, most likely, wooed a Catholic. Moreover, not a single chronicle reports that Sophia converted to Orthodoxy before the wedding. The wedding took place in November 1472. In theory, it was supposed to take place in the Assumption Cathedral. However, shortly before this, the temple was dismantled to the foundation in order to begin new construction. This looks very strange, because about a year before that, it was known about the upcoming wedding. It is also surprising that the wedding took place in a specially built wooden church near the Assumption Cathedral, which was demolished immediately after the ceremony. Why no other Kremlin cathedral was chosen remains a mystery.

What happened?

Let's get back to the refusal of Pskov architects to restore the destroyed Assumption Cathedral. One of the Moscow chronicles says that the Pskovites allegedly did not take up the work because of its complexity. However, it is hard to believe that Russian architects could refuse Ivan III, a rather harsh man, on such an occasion. The reason for the categorical refusal should have been very weighty. It was probably related to some heresy. A heresy that only a Catholic could bear - Fioravanti. What could it be?

The Assumption Cathedral, built by an Italian architect, does not have any "seditious" deviations from the Russian tradition of architecture. The only thing that could cause a categorical refusal is holy relics.
Perhaps the relics of a non-Orthodox saint could become a "mortgage" relic. As you know, Sophia brought many relics as a dowry, including Orthodox icons and a library. But, probably, we do not know about all the relics. It is no coincidence that Pope Paul II lobbied for this marriage so much.

If during the reconstruction of the temple there was a change of relics, then, according to the Russian tradition of urban planning, the “secret name” and, most importantly, the fate of the city changed. People who understand history well and subtly know that it was with Ivan III that the change in the rhythm of Russia began. Then the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

Assumption Cathedral has always been the most important cathedral Russian state. It occupies a special place in the historical past of Russia. For many centuries this church was the state and religious center. Here, weddings to the principality of the great princes and oaths of vassal loyalty to the specific princes took place, here they crowned kings, and then emperors ...

The city is almost like Koshchei’s: “... his death is at the end of a needle, that needle is in an egg, that egg is in a duck, that duck is in a hare, that hare is in a chest, and the chest stands on a tall oak, and that Koschei tree, like its own eye, protects ".

Interestingly, ancient and medieval city planners always left hints. Love for puzzles distinguished many professional guilds. Some Freemasons are worth something.

Before the profanation of heraldry in the Enlightenment, the role of these rebuses was performed by the coats of arms of cities. But this is in Europe. In Russia, until the 17th century, there was no tradition at all to encrypt the essence of the city, its secret name, in the coat of arms or some other symbol.

State seal of Grand Duke John III of 1497

For example, George the Victorious migrated to the coat of arms of Moscow from the seals of the great Moscow princes, and even earlier - from the seals of the Tver principality. It had nothing to do with the city. In Russia, the starting point for the construction of the city was the temple. It was the axis of any settlement.

In Moscow, this function was performed by the Assumption Cathedral for centuries. In turn, according to the Byzantine tradition, the temple was to be built on the relics of the saint. At the same time, the relics were usually placed under the altar (sometimes also on one side of the altar or at the entrance to the temple).

It was the relics that represented the “heart of the city”. The name of the saint, apparently, was the very "secret name". In other words, if St. Basil's Cathedral was the "founding stone" of Moscow, then the "secret name" of the city would be "Vasilyev" or "Vasilyev-grad".

However, we do not know whose relics lie at the base of the Assumption Cathedral. There is not a single mention of this in the annals. Probably the saint's name was kept secret.

It is interesting that the temple was built on the model of St. George's Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky. It's not entirely clear why? St. George's Cathedral can hardly be called a masterpiece of ancient Russian architecture. So there was something else?

Reconstruction of the original view of St. George's Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky

The model temple in Yuryev-Polsky was built in 1234 by Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich on the site on the foundation of the white stone church of George, which was built in 1152 when the city was founded by Yuri Dolgoruky. Apparently, some increased attention was paid to this place. And the construction of the same temple in Moscow, perhaps, was supposed to emphasize some kind of continuity.

The temple was dismantled, and in its place in 1472 the construction of a new cathedral began. However, on May 20, 1474, an earthquake occurred in Moscow. The unfinished cathedral was seriously damaged, and Ivan decides to dismantle the remains and start building a new temple.

Architects from Pskov are invited for construction, but for mysterious reasons, they categorically refuse to build. Then Ivan III, at the insistence of his second wife Sophia Palaiologos, sends emissaries to Italy, who were supposed to bring the Italian architect and engineer Aristotle Fioravanti to the capital. By the way, in his homeland he was called the “new Archimedes”.

It looks absolutely fantastic, because for the first time in the history of Russia, a Catholic architect is invited to build an Orthodox church, the main church of the Moscow State! From the point of view of the then tradition - a heretic.

Why an Italian was invited, who had never seen a single Orthodox church, remains a mystery. Maybe because not a single Russian architect wanted to deal with this project.

The construction of the temple under the leadership of Aristotle Fioravanti began in 1475 and ended in 1479. It is interesting that the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir was chosen as a model.

Historians explain that Ivan III wanted to show the continuity of the Muscovite state from the former "capital city" of Vladimir. But this again does not look very convincing, since in the second half of the 15th century, the former authority of Vladimir could hardly have had any image value.

Perhaps this was due to the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, which in 1395 was transported from the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir to the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow, built by Ivan Kalita. However, history has not preserved direct indications of this.

Sofia Paleolog enters Moscow. Miniature of the Front Chronicle.

As you know, Pope Paul II actively promoted the Greek princess as a wife to Ivan III. In 1465 her father, Thomas Palaiologos, brought her with his other children to Rome. The family settled at the court of Pope Sixtus IV. A few days after their arrival, Thomas died, having converted to Catholicism before his death.

History has left us no information that Sophia converted to the "Latin faith", but it is unlikely that the Palaiologos could remain Orthodox while living at the court of the Pope. In other words, Ivan III, most likely, wooed a Catholic. Moreover, not a single chronicle reports that Sophia converted to Orthodoxy before the wedding.

The wedding took place in November 1472. In theory, it was supposed to take place in the Assumption Cathedral. However, shortly before this, the temple was dismantled to the foundation in order to begin new construction. This looks very strange, because about a year before that, it was known about the upcoming wedding.

It is also surprising that the wedding took place in a specially built wooden church near the Assumption Cathedral, which was demolished immediately after the ceremony. Why no other Kremlin cathedral was chosen remains a mystery.

The reason for the categorical refusal should have been very weighty. It was probably related to some heresy. A heresy that only a Catholic could bear - Fioravanti. What could it be?

Moscow Kremlin under Ivan III

Perhaps the relics of a non-Orthodox saint could become a "mortgage" relic. As you know, Sophia brought many relics as a dowry, including Orthodox icons and a library. But, probably, we do not know about all the relics. It is no coincidence that Pope Paul II lobbied for this marriage so much.

Alexey Pleshanov

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Sophia of Kiev, Sophia of Novgorod, Sophia of Polotsk - three large stone cathedrals grew in less than thirty years (from 1037 to 1066) on the lands of largely pagan and mostly wooden, one-story Russia.

In the next four hundred (or even five hundred and fifty) years, not a single St. Sophia Cathedral will be built, just as they did not exist until then. And Kiev, Novgorod and Polotsk churches will become centers of religious, social and political life.

Or God the Son, or the Holy Spirit, or the Mother of God, or...

To follow wise word Solomon and, imitating him, at the same time wish to surpass him - this kind of feeling overcame the Byzantine emperors, who “ordered” temples to architects in honor of the Wisdom of God, a similar feeling, apparently, was also possessed by Yaroslav the Wise, who ordered to build in Kiev, and then Sofia in Novgorod “So, rulers of the nations, if you delight in thrones and scepters, then honor wisdom so that you reign forever ... A multitude of wise men is the salvation of the world, and a wise king is the well-being of the people,” says the Book of Wisdom of Solomon. However, the description of the three temples of the Wisdom of God should be preceded by a note on how it was understood in the uneasy Orthodox tradition(disputes around this concept are still ongoing). Solomon calls Her "the artist of all", "the breath of the power of God and a pure outpouring of the glory of the Almighty", "the image of His goodness." In the context of the doctrine of the Trinity and biblical texts that mention Sophia, Her existence seems logically unfounded, excessive, redundant: in some places she approaches the Holy Spirit and the Talmudic Ruach ha-Kodesh, in others - with God the Son and the ancient Logos. Its meaning is unclear, as well as the reasons for its existence, and its relationship to the Trinity. This ambiguity led to an ideological confrontation: the adherents of Arianism compared Sophia with the Holy Spirit, the Orthodox - with Jesus Christ and the Mother of God. It is noteworthy that the first of the temples of Sophia - Constantinople - was dedicated specifically to the Holy Spirit: Emperor Constantius II, during whose reign the consecration and consecration of the cathedral took place, was an Arian, and Justinian, who built the modern majestic temple, sympathized with the Monophysites. However, by the time of the adoption of Christianity in Russia, a different point of view was established, linking Sophia with Christ and the Virgin Mary. The classic formulation was “Wisdom has created a house for Herself and set up seven pillars”, where the Mother of God was understood by the house, and the incarnated God-Son by Wisdom.

Sofia Kievskaya

Model-reconstruction of the original appearance of the cathedral
Photo - Alexander Noskin

Thus, Yaroslav had to understand Wisdom as the Word, or Jesus Christ. Since the first Kiev church, Tithes, was dedicated to the Mother of God, it was logical to dedicate the second one, which was to become the main state one, to Christ. But in Russia, wisdom was also understood in a more mundane, applied sense, as the fruit of teaching. Apparently, Yaroslav sought to achieve Solomon's wisdom in a practical way, founding churches and book centers. However, the laying of the Sophia Cathedral also had a national meaning. In 1037, the year the construction of the cathedral is dated in The Tale of Bygone Years, Yaroslav moved from Novgorod to Kiev, although he had occupied the Kiev throne for many years. The reason for the move was the death of the Chernigov prince Mstislav, whom Yaroslav feared. Becoming a sovereign ruler Kievan Rus(only the Principality of Polotsk was not dependent on Kiev), Yaroslav had to elevate Kiev among other cities, and elevate his state over its neighbors. So at one time, Justinian, who spent three annual budgets of Byzantium on the construction of the cathedral, exclaimed: “Solomon, I have surpassed you!” And if not Solomon, then Justinian sought to surpass Yaroslav Vladimirovich, inviting architects from Byzantium. For five years, a thirteen-domed, five-nave cross-domed church was built by an artel of craftsmen. The length of its galleries reached 55 meters, and the height to the top of the main dome was almost thirty meters. The temple was decorated with bright mosaics and frescoes. At the zenith of the dome there was a mosaic of Christ the Almighty, on the central altar apse - Our Lady of Oranta. First of all, the convergence of the images of Sophia and Mary is connected with the Kiev Cathedral.

Sofia Novgorodskaya

When the Kiev Cathedral was consecrated, the Byzantine masters went to the second city of the country, Veliky Novgorod. According to some data, the wooden church of Sophia was erected here back in 989 (there is also an opinion that Princess Olga founded the wooden Sophia church in Kiev already in 960). The church burned down, and instead of it, a cathedral was laid on the territory of Detinets. On September 14, 1052, the Novgorod Cathedral was consecrated, and 20 days later Yaroslav's son Vladimir, Prince of Novgorod, died and was buried in the newly rebuilt church. St. Sophia Cathedral became not only a religious center, but also the very soul of the city, tied its five opposing ends. It is noteworthy that on the scroll of Solomon, depicted on the central drum of the dome, a quote from the Proverbs is written: “Wisdom builds a temple for itself and establishes seven pillars and sends its own.” The standard phrase in the case of Sophia is translated atypically: Wisdom creates not a “house”, but a “temple”, that is, the statement does not refer to the Mother of God, but rather to the temple itself. That is, the St. Sophia Cathedral for Novgorodians is, without exaggeration, a shrine, in the literal sense, the house of God. By the way, in the iconographic tradition, Sophia is depicted as the Mother of God, standing in a house or temple and stretching her arms to the sky. On her breasts rests the blessing Pre-eternal Child. But the first of the icons of the Wisdom of God was painted in the 16th century in Novgorod and became the subject of heated discussions. They even wanted to ban it, but the icon turned out to be miraculous. It depicts a Fiery Angel sitting on a golden throne, and on either side of him are the Mother of God and John the Baptist.

Sofia Polotskaya

Both Novgorod and Kiev churches have been significantly changed over the thousand years of their existence: one suffered from Soviet shelling during the Great Patriotic War and mediocre restorations of the 19th century, the other was "dressed" in green pear-shaped Ukrainian baroque. And yet, in comparison with Sophia of Polotsk, they were in good condition. main temple Principality of Polotsk, the oldest on Belarusian soil, suffered twice during the Russian-Swedish war. First, the drunken Peter the Great and Menshikov burst into it and killed the Uniate priests, then - a few years later - the powder warehouse located under the temple exploded, leaving no stone on the stone. The cathedral was rebuilt, but only in the Vilna Baroque style. Despite the active struggle of the Polotsk prince Vseslav Bryachislavich with Kiev and Novgorod, most likely, the same architects worked on the construction of the third Sophia. If for Yaroslav and his son the construction of a multi-domed stone cathedral was most likely a matter not only of politics, but also of religion, then Vseslav, known as a sorcerer and two-believers, was guided exclusively by political considerations. For him, the purpose of building the Cathedral of the Wisdom of God was to demonstrate the equality of Polotsk with the commercial rival Novgorod and the administrative rival Kiev. In 1066, Vseslav even made a trip to Novgorod, on his orders the bells were removed from the Novgorod Sofia and taken to Polotsk.