Popova, T. G. “MONASTIC FEATS” CYCLE BASED ON STEP 5 OF THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT BY ST. JOHN CLIMACUS ON ICON NO 1452 FROM THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS OF THE REPUBLIC OF KARELIA. Proceedings of Petrozavodsk State University. 2026;48(1):65–74. DOI: 10.15393/uchz.art.2026.1267


VIII International Conference "Russia and Greece: Dialogues of Cultures"

“MONASTIC FEATS” CYCLE BASED ON STEP 5 OF THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT BY ST. JOHN CLIMACUS ON ICON NO 1452 FROM THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS OF THE REPUBLIC OF KARELIA

Popova
T. G. 		Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University
Keywords:
Penitential Canon based on The Ladder of Divine Ascent
iconographic cycle “Monastic Feats”
Vyg Old Believers
Byzantine literature
Russian art of the late XVII century		 Summary: This article examines the “Monastic Feats” cycle depicted on an icon from the late XVII – early XVIII century, titled The Ladder of St. John Climacus (with “Caves”) (No 1452), housed in the collection of the Mu- seum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Karelia in the city of Petrozavodsk. The study identifies the Byzantine origins of 23 compositions within this cycle: 19 images are derived from miniatures in The Penitential Canon based on The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Climacus, while 4 are directly inspired by the text of The Ladder itself. The article highlights iconographic features that link the Petrozavodsk icon to monuments of Moscow origin, notably similarities to the murals in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin and to Leonty Bunin’s engraving The Ladder of Monastic Asceticism. A central issue explored in the article is the icon’s provenance: whether it was imported from Mos- cow or created by an icon painter from the Vyg Monastery familiar with Moscow traditions. The latter scenario appears more plausible. The iconographer significantly expanded the cycle’s iconographic tradition, introducing numerous new elements. Notable features of the Petrozavodsk icon include the combination of two scenes within a single composition, modifications to traditional poses and gestures of the ascetics, an increased number of ascetics depicted across two com- positions, the inclusion of new images such as a river, a boar, and a fox in the cycle iconography, and the symmetrical arrangement of images. The unique inscriptions on the icon are extensive and detailed, providing explanations of the depicted scenes. It is likely that the iconographer based these inscriptions on the textual content of The Ladder, but not on the 1647 early printed Moscow edition of the text; rather, they seem to derive from a manuscript version. This is evidenced by an error in the inscription at scene 19 (“vezhda uyazvena” (eyelids ulcered) instead of “lanita uyazvena” (cheeks ulcered)). This mistake results from the omission of the word “lanita” in the manuscript used by the icon painter. The discovery of a manuscript containing this scribal error within the Vyg Monastery’s library would serve as strong evidence for the Vyg origin of the Petrozavodsk icon.



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