Welcome to the Museum of Church Archeology. Founded in 1950, the Museum
has a collection consisting of icons, religious articles and artworks
from both Russia and the West.

The first part of this hall contains artworks dating back from the dawn
of Christianity. Here we have a model of the Roman catacombs — an
underground system of passages and rooms where the first Christians hid
from the persecution of the Romans (and Jews). The catacombs were very
safe from persecutions because according to Roman law, cemeteries were
untouchable and didn't fall under jurisdiction of Roman law enforcement.
These chambers served as cemeteries for Christians, they buried their
dead in the walls of the catacombs. The first Christian churches were
built in catacombs.

To mark the places of their gatherings, Christians began to use certain
symbols. These symbols painted on the walls of the gathering's places,
were the fish (which symbolized our Lord Jesus Christ), the ancher (a
symbol of Christian hope), the dove (which symbolized the Holy Spirit)
and the cross. In this case we see some photographs of the first
Christians frescoes. Here are also some lamps which illuminated the dark
catacombs. After legalization of Christianity in 313 the symbolism of
Christian art was incorporated into painting on boards. This was the
beginning of iconography. Here we have the oldest icon of our
collection, from the Byzantine school, dating back from the u11 century.
The icon consists of 2 parts, at the top of it there is an image of Our
Lady with hands raised in praying. In Greek this image is called
"Orantha" (praying). At the bottom part is an image of St.George the
Great Martyr and Vanquisher.

In this hall we have one more exhibit associated with the first
centuries of Christianity. This is a model of the Roman coliseum, where
the Christians were publicly executed by being thrown to the lions. In
many cases the lions didn't even touch the martyrs, who sometimes
(always) asked God to crown their earthly life with a "martyric" death.

Here are a few models of the first Christian churches. Here is the most
famous of them — the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Constantinople (Sophia
means the wisdom of God). It was built in the 6th century by order of
the Byzantine emperor Justiniane, who exclaimed upon completion of the
building «I beat you, Solomon!» In this cathedral the envoys of Prince
Vladimir had experienced the Divine Liturgy for the first time. They
were captivated. And when they returned to the ancient Russian, capital
Kiev, they said to the Prince "we didn't know, where we were, on earth
or in heaven..." Through their positive influence the decision was made
to adopt Orthodox Christianity in Russia, which officialized  by the
"Baptism of Russia in 988.

From this part of the hall the exhibition of Russian icons begins. On
this wall there are two icons dating back from the 16th century. One of
them depicts St.George the Vanquisher killing a dragon which symbolizes
devil (He does it not by his own power, but by God's. In the comer of
the icon we see Christ blessing the Saint)/ St.George is the
patron-saint of Moscow.

On this icon we see Archangel Michael who is the patron-saint of all
Russia and St.Apostle Andrew the first called who preached Christianity
on the Black Sea coast among the "Seythian" tribes, the ancestors of
slaves.

Hall 2

On this wall we have a portable iconostas used by priests who served the
spiritual needs of the Russian army before the Revolution of 1917. This
is an icon of the Dormition of Our Lady. Here Jesus Christ is holding
the pure soul of his Mother, here depicted as an infant.

One of the most interesting icons is the so called measured icon. The
future Russian tzar Alexey Mikhailivitch, father of the famous Russian
emperor Peter the Great, was measured with this very board. The matter
of fact is that in ancient times there was a tradition in Russian
families to measure a new-born baby with a board and then to paint an
image of the child's patron-saint on it. Here we have a very interesting
icon of the thief who was crucified by Christs side, who repented and
was the first one to enter the heavenly Kingdom after the fall of our
forefathers Adam and Eve.

In this display here are some personal belongings of St.Sergius
ofRadonezh, one of the greatest Russian Saints and the founder of our
monastery. This holy chalice and plate were used by him for celebrating
the Divine Luturgy. St.Sergius wear these leather shoes, which he made
with his own hands. 30 years after his death St.Sergius grave was dug up
and his body was found absolutely incorrupt.

This is a brick from St.Sergius tomb and this tool is a chisel with
which he made wooden toys for children. On the other side of the hall we
see 12 icons dating from the 16th century. They make up an iconographic
calendar for every month of the year and depictions of the saints, where
feast days are celebrated on fixed dates through the year.

In this display we see some icons depicting the martyrdom of the
apostles. Most of them were martyred by crucifixion, but considering
themselves unworthy of being executed in the same way as the Lord, some
of them asked torturers to make it on any other manner, thus St.Peter
was crucified upside down. Only one of the apostles died by his natural
death. It was St.John the Theologian who wrote a gospel and Apocalipsis,
his famous Revelation. On this wall we see traditional orthodox
depiction of the Resurrection of Christ. Here we see His descent to
Hades to lead out from there the souls of the righteous people, who had
been waiting for this coming, and first of all, the souls of our
forefathers Adam and Eve. In the icon Christ is depicted trampling on
the gates of hell, which he destroyed by His death. He is seen leading
Adam out by the hand, and Eve is waiting behind the Lord for her turn.

Hall 3

In this hall we have icons of the most celebrated saints in Russia. On
the front wall we see an icon of the Prophet Elijah. Here he is hiding
in the wilderness while being persecuted by the king of Israel, and
ravens bring him meat and bread every morning and night by God's
command. In this part of the hall there are icons of the most popular
Saint — St.Nicholaus the Wonderworker. One of the very first churches in
Russia dedicated to him was built by grand princess St.Olga, even before
the baptism of Russia in the 10th century. Here we have icons of St.John
the Baptist. On this icon he is depicted as an angel holding a font with
the infant Christ lying inside. Here we have icons of Our Lady. There
are about 500 miraculous (miraclework-ing) icons of Her in Russia.
According to Holy Tradition, the very first icons of the Mother of God
were painted by the Apostle and Evangelist St.Luke, and some copies of
them came to. Among them there are icons of Our Lady of Vladimir and Our
Lady of Smolensk. Miracles granted (appeared) through this icons are
documented facts in Russian history. For example, in 1395 the icon of
Our Lady of Vladimir saved our country from invasion of Mongols headed
by Tamerlane who had reached Moscow. After the icon was brought to the
capital from Vladimir, he mysteriously turned back and left Russia with
all his troops.

Further on this wall there are many different icons for almost any life
situation, that people can pray in front of. This icon for example is
called "The Joy of All Who Sorrows". The origin of almost every icon is
based on a miraculous event. For example, we have an image of Our Lady
called "The Increase of Intelligence". It was made by a mentally ill
person who prayed to the Virgin during the period of his sanity, asking
Her to rid him of his madness. One day he was granted a vision on which
the Mother of God told him to paint Her image just as he saw Her. The
man made the icon and was cured.

On this wall there are traditional Orthodox images of Christ. One of the
most venerated icons is the so called "Not Made With Hands Icon" of the
Lord. It was originally an image of Christ's face on a towel. Its origin
dates back to the time of Christ. During the earthly life of Christ
there was a king of a city called Edessa. He was a leper and having
heard about Christ, sent his painter to Palestine. The painter managed
to see the Lord during a sermon, but he failed even to draw his face due
to a sort of shining that he saw around Him. Then Christ seeing the
painter's faith asked for some water, washed His face and then wiped it.
His image, reflected on the towel, became the first icon. And it was
really "not made with hands" icon. Having prayed near this icon the king
was cured and Edessa became the first Christian state "long before"
Byzantine.

Exhibition of Patriarch Alexis

This part of the museum is dedicated to Patriarch Alexis the First, a
very significant figure in our Church. He headed the Church from 1945
until 1970. Our museum was organized through his initiative and he
donated a lot of icons from his own collection.

While studying in the Academy, he lived in this place - his dormitory
room was situated here. Now it contains photographs of the first years
of his life and "priestly activity".

He was born in 1877 in Moscow in a noble family: his father was a
courtier, who had the prestigious rank of a "gentleman of the Emperors
bedchamber". Here is a portrait of him in a courtly dress coat and his
key gave him an access to the royal family at any time.

The future Patriarch graduated from Moscow State University. Here is a
portrait of him as a student. He then entered the Moscow Theological
Academy where he took the monastic vows. He passed through all the
degrees of the clergy, first being ordained as a deacon, then as priest
and in 1913 he was consecrated a bishop. In this hall we have pictures
of his patriarchal activities. Bishop Alexis was elected to his post
(the highest post in the Orthodox Church) in February of 1945. It was
during the rule of Joseph Stalin, and the notorious dictator gave the
newly-elected Patriarch this painted box. So, this is Stalin's gift.
Before his elevation (election) to Patriarch during the 2nd World War
Alexis was the bishop of Leningrad, which was under siege of German
troops. He didn't leave the city even though Stalin personally had asked
him to. Bishop Alexis refused saying "I want to stay with my people".
Thus he kept on working in his office while fragments of German bombs
and shells fell through its windows. Here they are.

During this time Bishop Alexis took an active part in raising funds to
help the Soviet Armed Forces. A tank regiment was built trough the money
gathered by believers.

After the revolution o f 1917 the communists began the most severe
persecutions against the Church comparable to those of the first
centuries of Christianity. During the 2nd World War their attitude
changed for the better, but after Stalin's death during the rule of his
successor Khrushev the persecutions grew much fierier.

Hall 4

In this hall we can see religious art and articles from the Western
Europe which give us the understanding, what the Western Church looks
like and how it is different from the Orthodox Church.

Integral part of any Catholic Church, for example, are religious
paintings on the topics, taken from the Bible or on certain events from
the life f Christ, such as this painting of an unknown Western painter
"The kiss of Judas". Despite the fact, that the topic of the painting is
taken from the Bible and here is the depiction of Jesus Himself we (in
the Orthodox Church) can not regard it as an icon because it is just an
illustration to the Gospel account and we see a depiction of our human
life and earthly conditions in which we are living (with all the
realistic expressions and colors). It is not a depiction of spiritual
reality, which is shown in icons, it is an illustration to the earthly
material life of Jesus. This is the difference between icon and a
picture.

The statue in the middle of the hall first was located on one of the
German cemeteries in Moscow and it was made by an Italian sculptor.
During the past revolution period, when most of the churches in Moscow
were closed down and destroyed, and people had no place to gather for
prayer they had to come to the cemetery and pray in front of this
statue. Just like many wonderworking icons this is a wonderworking
statue. Russian Orthodox people prayed in front of the statue, which was
made by a Catholic sculptor and was present on the tomb of a Lutheran
girl and many miracles have taken place. When the Soviet Government
found out the pilgrimages to this statue it was removed from the
cemetery and it was supposed to be destroyed. But through the
intercession of Patriarch Alexis the first it was brought here and
placed in one of the churches ofLavra and later in our museum, now it is
a part of our collection.

Here is a very interesting and unique piece of art. This picture is
painted on por-sland. We see the depiction of child Christ in the
Jerusalem temple being surrounded by scribes and Pharisees. This picture
represents very unique technick when the paint is marked on clay before
it is placed in the fire. Here you can see a collection of Roman coins,
and three of them, with the depiction of Augustus Cesar are
contemporaries of Christ. This harmonium belonged to famous Russian
composer Rachmaninov. It is a gift of Moscow intelligentsia to our
academy.

Hall 5

In this hall you can see religious articles, dating back from the period
since 16th till 19th century.

These are mosaic icons of St.Sergius and St.Nickolas the Wonderworker.
These are not paints, but small pieces of color stones. Here are
artworks made of walrus bones, and manuscript books, dating back from
the 16th and 17th centuries. They were rewritten by monks in
monasteries. Here are icons made of the mother-of-pearl. On this icon
you can see the worship of the wisemen and here is the depiction of the
Last Supper. These are the gifts of Jerusalem patriarchate to our
Academy.

These are pointed books in the Church Slavonic language, which is little
different from Russian. It is a special language and is used now only
for the Divine Service. This Holy Gospel weights 36 kg belonged to a
large cathedral, were the bishop served and the size of the book
emphasized the importance of the service. Here is a copy of a nail what
Jesus was crucified with. And here you can see a collection of Easter
eggs. We have a tradition in Russia to present each other color or
painted eggs on Easter, because the egg is a symbol of life, which was
given us by Jesus, who rose from the dead trampling down our death by
His own death.

Hall 6

In this hall we have artworks of Russian painters, who painted on the
religious subject. The picture of Surikov "The Healing of a blindman" is
a self-portrait of a painter. He depicted himself as a blindman. He
wanted to show, how he became a believer. First Surikov did not believe
in God and when his wife died (she is depicted behind the right shoulder
of Jesus) the painter was so shocked, that he reconsidered his religious
views and he realized it as healing of his spiritual blindness. And this
icon was done by a man, who had no hands. He was a cripple and painted
holding brush in his teeth. The hands of the saint are covered by cloth
and we can't see them. In this way the painter showed that he was a
cripple.

 PAGE   

 PAGE   1