Symbolic images and their meaning in A. Blok’s poem “The Twelve”

Symbolic images and motifs are varied. They are subject to the “threefold classification” of I.B. Rodnyanskaya, who considers the symbolic image and motif depending on its objectivity, semantic generality, and structure (i.e., the relationship between the objective and semantic plans). The dominant role is played by superimages, constituting the framework diagram of the entire work, which resembles a graphic image of a triangle inscribed in a circle. The circle is an artistic space that contains not only the geography of the Crimean town, but also the scale of all of Russia. This is also a philosophical-cosmic circle, which contains the entire universe. In the epic, it turns into a “circle of hell”, drenched in blood, a circle-loop, a circle-tangle. “The circle of hell” - the superimage of the epic - captivated and swirled the hero-narrator: “... I’m looking, I’m looking... The black, inescapable thing walks with me. It won’t leave until death.” Understatement, metaphorical semi-matter (“black is walking”) create subtext, causing an emotional response and a guess about the tragedy in the implicit reader. In the same chapter, a distraught old woman who has lost her husband and son “circles.” The parallelism of destinies emphasizes the typicality of the situation.

Circle - Symbolizes infinity, perfection and completeness. This geometric figure serves to display the continuity of development of the universe, time, life, and their unity. The circle is a solar symbol, which is due not only to its shape, but also to the circular nature of the daily and annual movement of the sun. This figure is associated with protection (a magic circle outlined to protect against evil spirits, used in different traditions). The circle is one of the forms of creating space. Various architectural structures are circular in plan, and settlements are built in the shape of a circle. In most traditions, the cosmos, as an ordered space of life, appears in the form of a ball, graphically represented by a circle. The symbolism of the circle also reflects the idea of ​​cyclical time ( Russian word"time" is traced back to the root with the meaning "that which rotates"; the zodiac, the personification of the year, is the “circle of animals”). Due to the fact that the circle is traditionally associated with the sun and is considered as the most perfect of figures, superior to others, dominating them, the supreme deity is also represented in the form of a circle. In Zen Buddhism, where there is no concept of God, the circle becomes a symbol of enlightenment as an absolute. Chinese yang-yin symbol, shaped like a circle divided in half wavy line, symbolizes the interaction and interpenetration of two principles of existence. In Dante, the Trinity is embodied in the image of three equal circles different color. One of them (God the Son) seemed to be a reflection of the other (God the Father), like a rainbow born of a rainbow, and the third (God the Spirit) seemed like a flame born of both of these circles (according to the teachings of Catholicism, the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and Son). In this context, the symbolism of the circle was established when fixing the idea of ​​​​supreme power on earth (sphere-power, ring).

At the apex of the triangle there are superimages of the sun, sky, and stars. “The sun of the dead” - summer, hot, Crimean - over dying people and animals. “This sun deceives with its brilliance. He sings that there will be many more wonderful days, the velvet season is approaching.” Although the author explains towards the end that the “sun of the dead” is said about the pale, half-winter Crimean. (And he also sees the “tin sun of the dead” in the indifferent eyes of distant Europeans. By 1923 he had already felt it there, abroad.) The image of the sun , the dominant one, who determined the oxymoronic title of the book, in its various guises “floods” the space of the epic. The frequency of mention of the sun in the epic indicates the author’s goal to create an image that is a vehicle for the idea of ​​the universal unity of Death and Resurrection. Sun - the oldest cosmic symbol, known to all peoples, means life, the source of life, light. Such characteristics as supremacy, life-creation, activity, heroism, and omniscience are associated with solar symbolism. The solar cult is most developed in the Egyptian, Indo-European, Mesoamerican traditions. The image of a solar deity traveling in a chariot drawn by four white horses has been preserved in Indo-Iranian, Greco-Roman, and Scandinavian mythology. Solar deities and divine personifications of the sun are endowed with the attributes of omniscience and all-vision, as well as supreme power. The all-seeing eye of the solar deity embodies the guarantee of justice. It sees everything and knows everything - this is one of the the most important qualities solar deity. In Christianity, the sun becomes a symbol of God and the word of God - life-bearing and eternal; bearers of the word of God have it as their emblem; the true church is shown clothed in the sun (Rev. 12). The righteous man shines like the sun (according to the tradition representing holiness, the spirit in the form of light). In the first part of the epic, the sun is mentioned 58 times (life is slowly coming to an end, it is still illuminated by the sun and is being incinerated by it). The second part, chapters 17-28, is a story about the survival of those who have not yet died. Winter, desert, darkness take over. The sun overcomes the darkness only 13 times, drawn by the author more often in metalogical images. In chapters 23-25, the final ones, ascending to the “end of ends,” the sun appears even less often - 9 times. But his special activity is noted in the last lines of the epic, which record a clear movement towards the Renaissance.

The coming collapse is also associated with the sun. Under it, in the mornings, days, and evenings, the living goes into oblivion, and the “eye” of the sun sees off life: “I look behind the beam: on the balcony the Peacock no longer meets the sun.” “And how many great ones are there now who knew the sun, and who go away in darkness!.” . But the sun, which carries a wide range of meanings in the epic, is most often narrowed down to the semantic unit “sign of departure”: “The sun laughs at the Dead,” “A stripe runs, runs... and goes out. Truly - the sun of the dead!” , "This is the sun of death."

The sun-symbol connects all the super-images of the epic into one framework diagram. “Revived” by the author, it “revitalizes” all the other symbolic peaks of the epic: “I will live in the rocks. The sun, the stars, and the sea...”.

Images of eternal cosmic nature: ( stars- the image is ambiguous. This is a symbol of eternity, light, high aspirations, ideals. In various traditions it was believed that each person has his own star, which is born and dies with him (or that the soul of a person comes from the star and then returns to it, a similar idea is present in Plato). The star is associated with the night, but also embodies the forces of the spirit that oppose the forces of darkness. It also acts as a symbol of divine greatness. In Sumerian cuneiform, the sign denoting a star acquired the meaning “sky”, “God”.

The symbolic aspects of the image are associated with the idea of ​​multiplicity (stars in the sky are a symbol of an immense multitude) and organization, order, for the stars have their own order and destiny in the constellations. Individual constellations and stars in the “physical” sky are given their own meaning. The air element of the sky determines the fact that it is thought of as the soul, the breath of the world. Possessing the properties of inaccessibility and enormousness, in the mythological consciousness it is endowed with incomprehensibility, omniscience, and greatness. Typically, the deity of the heavens is the supreme god. In the Indo-European tradition, the supreme deity is expressed by the stem deiuo, meaning "clear day sky"; hence the ancient Indian Dyaus, the Greek Zeus, the Roman Jupiter as Dyaus Pitar, Sky-father, etc. The idea of ​​the supreme ruler goes back to the symbolism of the sky. Usually personifies the male, fertilizing principle (an exception is Egyptian mythology), and is perceived as a source of life-giving moisture and heat. The cosmogonic ideas of many peoples reflect the motives for the separation of heaven from earth and the marriage of heaven and earth. In Egyptian mythology, the sky goddess Nut marries the earth god Geb. IN Chinese mythology heaven and earth appear as the father and mother of all people: at the same time, heaven gave birth to men, and earth to women (from where the idea of ​​two principles of nature and the idea that a woman should be subject to a man, like the earth to the sky, subsequently came from). IN Greek mythology Uranus-sky is ashamed of its monstrous children (titans, cyclops and hecatoncheires) and keeps them in mother earth.

Every divine being is represented as heavenly. Therefore, the gods of Sumer beamed with intense light, which is why later cultures adopted the concept of light as an expression of supreme greatness. The royal tiara and throne, according to the Sumerians, were lowered from heaven. In Chinese mythology, the sky (tian) appears as the embodiment of a certain higher principle, which directs everything that happens on earth, the emperor himself rules according to the “mandate of Heaven.”

Heaven appears as an image of paradise, imperishable, unchanging, true, surpassing all conceivable oppositions of the absolute. The multi-level sky (an image common in all mythological traditions) acts as a reflection of ideas about the hierarchy of divine (sacred) powers. Quantity celestial spheres usually varies according to numerical symbolism of one tradition or another) that attract the gaze of the producing consciousness - raise the work to a supermundane height, where everyday life and philosophical descriptions intersect, where ideological blocks are melted: suffering and the cosmos are one, but also far from each other. A moment of destruction on a small point on earth is nothing in comparison with the eternity of the world: “We are silent. We look at the stars, at the sea.” ; “I went out under the sky, looked at the stars...” The castel is golden, thicker than gray stone more … Sky- in a new autumn splendor... At night - black from stars... In the morning, eaglets begin to play in the sky. AND sea it became much darker. Dolphin splashes flash on it more often, jagged wheels…" ?

At the points of the other two corners there is an image of the sea and stone.

Sea- Means the original waters, chaos, formlessness, material existence, endless movement. This is the source of all life, containing within itself all potencies, the sum of all possibilities in manifested form, the incomprehensible Great Mother. It also symbolizes the sea of ​​life that is to be crossed. The two seas, fresh and salty (bitter), are Heaven and Earth, Upper and Lower Waters, which were originally one; the salt sea is exoteric knowledge, the fresh sea is esoteric. In the Sumerian-Semitic tradition, the Akkadian primordial waters were associated with wisdom. All living things arose from fresh water - Apsu, and from salt water - Tiamat, symbolizing the power of the waters, the feminine principle and the blind forces of chaos. Among the Taoists, the sea is identified with Tao, primordial and inexhaustible, animating all creation without being exhausted (Zhuanzi). In Russian fairy tales, living (fresh sea) and dead (salt sea) water were used.

Having turned into an image-motive in Russian literature, I.S. The Shmelev Sea takes on special features. The image-motive of the Russian sea is always a participant human destiny, often stands above a person. In the epic this feature is brought to highest degree. Having swallowed human labor, the sea freezes in inaction: “The Dead Sea is here: cheerful steamers don’t like it. Eaten, drunk, knocked out - everything. It’s dried up.” Different seas (the sea has devoured, the sea has died) - there is one sea, and therefore even more active. E.A. Osminina in the article “Song of Songs of Death” expresses the idea of ​​creating I.S. Shmelev's myth about the Kingdom of the Dead. Ancient Cimmeria (now the Crimean land near the Kerch Strait) has risen from the ashes and requires new victims. Sacrifices are made in pits, ditches, ravines, and the sea. "I look at the sea.

And then the sun comes out for a moment and splashes out with pale tin. Truly the sun of the dead!" The window into the kingdom of death is the Crimean Sea: "It was not invented: there is Hell! Here it is and its deceptive circle... - the sea, the mountains... - a wonderful screen."

Stones and rocks are an integral part of the Crimean coastal landscape. Their role in a work of art may be limited to a decorative function, since the scene on which the action unfolds is a mountainous part of the Alushta region: “Every morning I notice how the spots creep higher, and there is more gray stone... A strong, fragrant bitterness sips from the mountains, mountain autumn wine - wormwood stone." There are numerous references to the gray stone in the epic. The “gray frame of stone” of all events in the work plays the role of the main background, setting the emotive tone. The stone is me is a symbol of the highest, absolute being, symbolizes stability, constancy, strength. Stones have long been used in magic and healing; they were believed to bring good luck. The stone is one of the symbols of mother earth. IN Greek myth Deucalion and Pyrrha throw stones over their heads - the “bones of the foremother” (earth). Stones are also associated with the belief that they accumulate earthly energy; for this reason, stones were endowed with magical powers and were used in various rituals, and also served as talismans. At the archaic stages of the cult, the sacredness of stones is associated with the idea that the souls of ancestors are embodied in them. For example, the Bible mentions those who say to the stone: “Thou hast given birth to me.” In India and Indonesia, stones are seen as the residence of the spirits of the dead. A similar idea reflects the custom, widespread in various cultures, of placing stones carved in the form of a column near tombs. Thus, we can talk about the emergence of the idea that eternity, not achievable in life, is achieved in death through the incarnation of the soul in stone. In the Middle Ages in Rus', one of the most worthy deeds was to rebuild a wooden church into a stone one (in this case, additional connotations also arise: stone is contrasted with wood, which is fragile and unproductive, and acts as an image of wealth, power and power).

The stone lives an epically diverse life. The metaphor (reification) reaches its highest power in the words of the hero-narrator about the immensity of a person’s depersonalization in front of the enormity of the new power: “... I... Who is this - Me?! A stone lying under the sun. With eyes. With ears - a stone. Wait for them to kick foot. There’s nowhere to go from here...” Stone-darkness, desert-darkness, winter-darkness, absorbing into their images all the chilling horror felt by the transmitting consciousness, hang over the space of the epic, relentlessly following the acting figures of the work. Stone at I.S. Shmelev is mythologized. By changing his face, he turns from a messenger of death into a savior. “Blessed stone! ... At least six people lost their lives! ... Stones will cover the brave.” The theme of God, complexly carried out by I.S. Shmelev, through the faces of Mohammed, Buddha, Christ, in one of the middle chapters touches on the still “dead” stone. With the name of Buddha in the doctor’s mouth, he comes to life: “The wise stone,” and I go down into it! I pray to the mountains, their purity and the Buddha in them!” .

The eye is a special image of the epic. Eye, eye of God: a symbol of vision, physical or spiritual vision, as well as observation, combined with Light - insight. The eye represents all the solar gods, who have the fertilizing power of the sun, which is embodied in the god-king. Plato called the eye the main solar instrument. On the one hand, it is the mystical eye, light, insight, knowledge, intelligence, vigilance, protection, stability and determination, but on the other hand, it is the limitation of the visible. In Ancient Greece, the eye symbolizes Apollo, the observer of the heavens, the Sun, which is also the eye of Zeus (Jupiter). Plato believed that the soul has an eye, and the Truth is visible to him alone.

The author sees the eye of every object (animate, inanimate) included in the displayed system, and the life of these eyes is the life of the image as a whole. The eyes of the people being killed are eyes that change into grimaces of agony. A system of epithets and comparisons makes every mention of human eyes tragically peculiar: “He begged with words, with eyes that were difficult to look into the eyes...”; “She tortures me with her eyes wide with anxiety”; "... eyes melting with tears!." ; "... with fading eyes he will look at the garden..." ; "...looks with strained, bloody eyes. Tortures them" ; “...his eyes, filled with glassy fear...” ;

Sits yellow, with sunken eyes - a mountain bird." A general meaning is given to the phrase - the result in the "dead part" of the book, made up of enumerations of deaths: "Thousands of hungry eyes, thousands of tenacious hands stretching across the mountains for a pound of bread..."?

The eyes of those “who go out to kill” are defined by epithets from antithetical-positive ones, which creates the effect of increasing hostility towards the depicted image (“clear-eyed executioners” [2; p. 74], “Sitting there... a poet, in appearance!. in the eyes - dreamy, to the point of spirituality! Something like this is out of this world!” [2; p.122], to outright negative ones, revealing the author’s position of rejection of the new government: “... dull-eyed, thick-cheeked, thick-necked...”; “... looked around at his living eyes - strangers..." ; "Mikhelson, by name...green, evil eyes, like a snake..."; "...eyes heavy, like lead, covered in a film of blood and oil, well-fed..." [2; p.48]; "...sharp eyes , with a gimlet, grippy hands..." .

The animal and plant worlds, dying next to humans, are also watching. The power of this silent gaze is majestic, which is achieved by the author’s utmost attention to the nature of color, form, and the nature of the phenomenon: The Cow looks “with glass eyes, blue from the sky and the windy sea.” “Your eyes are like a film of tin, and the sun in them is like tin...” - about the chicken[ 2; p.42].

Blood, according to E.A. Osminina, as a word, in the poem is “devoid of its physiological, naturalistic connotation.” However, the range of meanings of this lexeme is so wide that aspects excluded by the researcher are also strong in it. An image that fills the entire space vicious circle framework diagram, as it were, “floods” all of Russia, which is this circle. A topographical point - a dacha village - grows in this scheme to the size of the entire doomed country: “I strain my imagination, I look around all of Russia... ...Blood is gushing everywhere...”. Blood - Universal symbol; endowed with cult status. Blood among many peoples was understood as a container of vital force, an immaterial principle (something similar to the soul, if the latter concept was not developed). In the Bible, the soul is identified with blood: “For the soul of every body is its blood, it is its soul” (Lev. 17), which is why the ban on eating blood and unbleached meat was associated. Initially, blood acts as a symbol of life; This idea is associated with such rituals of archaic cultures as smearing blood (or red paint symbolizing it) on the foreheads of seriously ill patients, women in labor and newborn babies. By blood all things are purified, and without shed blood there is no forgiveness, the Bible says. Blood is closely associated with sacrifice, the purpose of which is to pacify formidable forces and remove the threat of punishment. Payment in blood for the development of new spaces of existence and the acquisition of new degrees of freedom acts as an attribute of the existence of people throughout their history. The super image of blood in the epic goes back to the apocalyptic symbol of the end of the world. Just as in the Apocalypse the earth is soaked in the blood of prophets and saints and all those killed, so in the epic Russia is drenched in the blood of the people: “Wherever you look, you can’t escape the blood... Isn’t it getting out of the earth, playing through the vineyards? Soon it will paint everything in the dying hills forests"

Death, contrary to the semantics implied in the title, does not become a superimage of the epic. The image of death is dissolved in every semantic segment of the work, but the word “death” is mentioned extremely rarely. In the scene of the last meeting of the hero-narrator with the writer Shishkin, the presentiment of death is conveyed by the narrator in a “reverse” way: the strengthening of the subjective feeling is achieved by external rejection of this feeling: “And I don’t feel that death is looking into his joyful eyes, wants to play again.” Personification with its inherent simplicity the best way at the end of the work, he transforms death from a passive image, from a phenomenon generated by other objects, into an aggressive image and a self-acting phenomenon: “Death stands at the door and will stand, stubbornly, until it takes everyone away.” Death - Acts as an image of changing the current state of being, transforming forms and processes, as well as liberation from something. Death in the symbolic tradition is associated with the moon, dying and being reborn; with night, sleep (in Greek mythology Thanatos appears as the child of Nyx, night, and brother of Hypnos, sleep); with the element of earth, which receives everything that exists; with the property of invisibility (hades - formless); with white, black and green flowers. In various mythologies, death is described as the result of the fall of the first ancestors, as a punishment for humanity. Widely known

The allegory of death depicts her in the form of an old woman or a skeleton with a scythe, but it is the latter that sets the possibility of a way out of the one-sided understanding of death as the end of life: the mown grass grows again even more luxuriantly, the cut ear will give rise to many new ones. Death participates in the process of constant rebirth of nature: burial is sowing, the underworld is the womb of the earth, the god of the underworld is the guardian and lord of the riches of the earth (this is Hades, who gives Persephone a pomegranate - a symbol of prosperity and fertility). In European languages, the name of the deity of the underworld is denoted by the word indicating wealth; the deity of the dead was traditionally represented as the owner countless treasures. Death can be considered as an accomplishment, the fulfillment of fate: only those who have completed their earthly journey are considered to have passed their destiny (in the ancient Egyptian “Harper’s Song” the deceased is designated as a person “in his place”). Unlike the gods, man is mortal, and it is the finitude of his existence that gives the specificity of his life as a complete whole.

The image of death was actively used in the mystical tradition; in Sufism, the concept of death acts as a symbol of renunciation of personal individuality and comprehension of the absolute. Death, the shedding of the external Self, only means birth itself, the acquisition by the spirit of true existence: “Choose death and tear the veil. But not such a death as to go to the grave, but a death leading to spiritual renewal in order to enter the Light” (J. Rumi). Death as a way out of the limits of this world is not given to man as an object of knowledge: “To look behind the lowered curtain of darkness. Our powerless minds are incapable. At the moment when the curtain falls from our eyes, we turn into ethereal dust, into nothing” (Khayyam). Death is a threshold situation, located on the boundaries of individual existence; she is beyond classification. It appears as a phenomenon that is forcibly restrained and dangerous, since it can break out at any moment, and therefore, in various traditions, contact with death was perceived as desecration. Man has an inherent desire for destruction and self-destruction (manifesting mainly, although not exclusively, in the form of war), and he is tempted by the subtle charm of death. Its presence sharpens the perception of life: this is how the ancient Egyptians placed a skeleton in the feast halls, which was supposed to remind of the inevitability of death and stimulate the enjoyment of the joys of this world. There are many ways to convey the concept of “death” in the epic: from enlightened, everyday expressions containing an elementary comparison (“He died quietly. So the outlived leaf falls”), to allegorical ones.

The revival of Russia is possible only “on the basis of religious, on the basis of highly moral, - the Gospel teaching of active love,” writes I.S. Shmelev in the article “Dead and Living Paths” (1925). The Russian Orthodox cross is a special symbolic image-motive in the epic. The image of the Cross, which arose in the hero’s imagination from the tangles of branches of a bushy hornbeam, is a special unit in the epic. "... the Cross will hum - howl - living nature itself - in the deserted Blue Beam." The personification, which combines in one image mute nature (tree), animate nature (hum-howl), Christian faith (shape of the cross), comes out of the series of Orthodox attributes that fill the epic and becomes a symbol. The detail, the bottle on this cross, carries a different symbolic meaning: the bottle is a sign of the new government’s desecration of faith, shrines, and spirit. The cross in various cultures symbolizes the highest sacred values: life, fertility, immortality. The cross can be considered as a cosmic symbol: its crossbar symbolizes the horizon, its vertical post symbolizes the axis of the world; the ends of the cross represent the four cardinal directions. The cross is a common image in Western tradition, this is equally due to both the influence of Christianity and the original meaning of the symbol. He plays important role in religious and magical rituals; widely used in emblems; Many insignia (orders, medals) have the shape of a cross. The cross can act as a personal sign, signature; as a talisman, talisman; as an image of death and a sign of cancellation, deletion.

Just like everything that is described in reality by Shmelev always has the character of a symbol. What is unusual in the story is that animals and birds are described in more detail than people in the situation of fighting starvation. ( bird - a widespread symbol of spirit and soul in the ancient world, retaining this meaning in Christian symbolism. The bird is often depicted in the hands of the Baby Jesus or tied to a rope. Most often, this is a goldfinch associated with Christ by the legend that he acquired his red spot at the moment when he flew to Christ ascending Calvary and sat on his head. When the goldfinch removed a thorn from Christ’s eyebrow, a drop of the Savior’s blood splashed onto him. Birds, created on the fifth day of the creation of the world, are patronized by Francis of Assisi (about 1182-1226). The bird is a symbol of air and an attribute of Juno when she personifies air, as well as an attribute of one of the five senses - touch. In allegorical images of Spring, captured and tamed birds sit in a cage. In many religious traditions, birds mediate the connection between heaven and earth. The image of the head of a deity or a person against the background of a bird has ancient traditions: the Egyptian god Thoth appeared in the form of an ibis, and kneeling believers were depicted with a feather on their heads, which testified to the transmission of instructions from above. The Roman Cupid (Cupid) was also winged. Thus, the peacock with its “desert cry” became a truly colorful animal character. The often mentioned chickens are also significant in the plot. It is they who, no matter how much their owner protects, guards and almost cherishes them, are potential victims of real vultures. An old pear tree, “hollow and crooked, blooms and dries for years” protects the chickens from birds of prey. everything is waiting for a change. The shift doesn't come. And she, stubborn, waits and waits, pours, blooms and dries. Hawks are hiding on it. Crows love to swing in a storm” [P.14]. Scares away Lala's predators with a wild cry. “How many people trembled over them, covered them when they went to take away the “surplus”... They covered them. And now they are afraid of hawks, winged vultures” [P.37]. These same unfortunate chickens are the coveted “food” of two-legged “vultures”: “Behind the hill below there live “uncles” who love to eat... And they love to eat chickens! No matter how they come for you, to take away the “surplus”... And the hawk is already guarded along the beams” [P.36. ] Further, in the context, everyday reality and its allegorical equivalent merge in a symbolic picture: “Now I know well how chickens tremble, how they huddle under rose hips, under walls, squeeze into cypress trees - they stand trembling, stretching out and retracting their necks, trembling with frightened pupils. I know well how people are afraid of people - are they people? - how they poke their heads into the cracks (who: chicken people?). The hawks will be forgiven: this is their daily bread. We eat a leaf and tremble before the hawks! The winged vultures are frightened by Lyalya’s voice, and those who go out to kill are not frightened even by the eyes of a child” [P.38]. Thus, the peacock and chickens move from the field of everyday life into the sphere of allegorical depiction. Through the animalistic theme, a symbol expressive in its associative richness is implied , revealing the very essence of Shmelev’s ideas about the time of total fear in which his heroes live.

The listed motif images can be classified as individual (according to the system of I.B. Rodnyanskaya). “Individual images are created by the original, sometimes bizarre imagination of the artist and express the measure of his originality and uniqueness.”

Symbolic images and their meaning in the poem of Block Twelve

Symbolic images and their meaning in Blok’s poem “The Twelve”

Blok’s poem “The Twelve” cannot be considered a work dedicated exclusively to the October Revolution, without perceiving what is hidden behind the symbols, without giving significance to the issues that were raised in it by the author. Alexander Alexandrovich used symbols in order to betray deep meaning the most ordinary, seemingly meaningless scene. Blok used many symbols in his poem: names, numbers, and colors.
The leitmotif of the poem appears from the first bars: in the gap and opposition of “white” and “black”. Two opposite colors, I think, can only mean a split, a division. Black color is the color of a vague, dark beginning. White color symbolizes purity, spirituality, it is the color of the future. The poem contains phrases: black sky, black anger, white rose. I think that the “black sky” hanging over the city is akin to the “black anger” accumulated in the hearts of the “twelve”. Here one can discern a long-standing resentment, pain, hatred towards the “old” world.
Anger, sad anger.
Boiling in my chest
Black anger, holy anger...
The color red also appears in the poem. It symbolizes blood, fire. Blok reflects on the possibility of human rebirth in the cleansing fire of revolution. Revolution for the author is the birth of harmony from chaos. The number twelve is also symbolic. Twelve is the number of the apostles of Christ, the number of jurors in court, the number of people in the detachments that patrolled Petrograd. The main characters of the poem are unthinkable in this era, the era of revolution. Twelve people walking, the beginnings of a new consciousness, are contrasted with the embodiment of the “old” world - “the bourgeois at the crossroads”, “the lady in astrakhan fur”, “the writer is in turmoil”. “The Twelve” symbolizes, I think, the revolution itself, striving to get rid of the past, moving rapidly forward, destroying all its enemies.
Revolutionary step up!
The restless enemy never sleeps!
Comrade, hold the rifle, don’t be afraid!
Let's fire a bullet into Holy Rus'...
“The hungry beggar dog” symbolizes the “old”, passing world in the poem. We see that this dog pursues the “twelve” everywhere, just as the old world pursues new system, revolution. From this we can conclude that supporters of the new time cannot yet get rid of the remnants of the past. Blok also does not make predictions about what the future will be like, although he is aware that it will not be rosy:
Ahead is a cold snowdrift,
-Who else is there? Come out!
Only a poor dog is hungry
He hobbles behind.
-Get off, you scoundrel!
I'll tickle you with a bayonet!
The old world is like a mangy dog,
If you fail, I'll beat you up!
The image of Christ is also symbolic in the poem. Jesus Christ is the messenger of new human relationships, an exponent of purity, holiness and purifying suffering. For Blok, his “twelve” are real heroes, since they are the executors of a great mission, carrying out a holy cause - a revolution. As a symbolist and mystic, the author expresses the holiness of the revolution religiously. Emphasizing the holiness of the revolution, its cleansing power, Blok places the invisible walking Christ before these “twelve”. According to Blok, the Red Guards, despite the spontaneity of their movement, were subsequently reborn and became apostles of the new faith.
So they walk with a sovereign step -
Behind is a hungry dog,
Ahead - with a bloody flag,
And invisible behind the blizzard,
And unharmed by a bullet,
With a gentle tread above the storm,
Snow scattering of pearls,
In a white corolla of roses -
Ahead is Jesus Christ.
Literary symbolism can subtly express the hero’s sympathy or personal view of something important. Blok uses it in its entirety. The poem “The Twelve” is full of mysteries and revelations; it makes you think about every word, every sign, in order to correctly decipher it. This work well illustrates the work of A. Blok, who rightfully takes his place among the symbolists.

Symbolic images and their meaning in Blok’s poem “The Twelve”

Blok’s poem “The Twelve” cannot be considered a work dedicated exclusively to the October Revolution, without perceiving what is hidden behind the symbols, without giving significance to the issues that were raised in it by the author. Alexander Alexandrovich used symbols in order to convey deep meaning to the most ordinary, seemingly meaningless scenes. Blok used many symbols in his poem: names, numbers, and colors.
The leitmotif of the poem appears from the first bars: in the gap and opposition of “white” and “black”. Two opposite colors, I think, can only mean a split, a division. Black color is the color of a vague, dark beginning. White color symbolizes purity, spirituality, it is the color of the future. The poem contains phrases: black sky, black anger, white rose. I think that the “black sky” hanging over the city is akin to the “black anger” accumulated in the hearts of the “twelve”. Here one can discern a long-standing resentment, pain, hatred towards the “old” world.
Anger, sad anger.
Boiling in my chest
Black anger, holy anger...
The color red also appears in the poem. It symbolizes blood, fire. Blok reflects on the possibility of human rebirth in the cleansing fire of revolution. Revolution for the author is the birth of harmony from chaos. The number twelve is also symbolic. Twelve is the number of the apostles of Christ, the number of jurors in court, the number of people in the detachments that patrolled Petrograd. The main characters of the poem are unthinkable in this era, the era of revolution. Twelve people walking, the beginnings of a new consciousness, are contrasted with the embodiment of the “old” world - “the bourgeois at the crossroads”, “the lady in astrakhan fur”, “the writer is in turmoil”. “The Twelve” symbolizes, I think, the revolution itself, striving to get rid of the past, moving rapidly forward, destroying all its enemies.
Revolutionary step up!
The restless enemy never sleeps!
Comrade, hold the rifle, don’t be afraid!
Let's fire a bullet into Holy Rus'...
“The hungry beggar dog” symbolizes the “old”, passing world in the poem. We see that this dog is pursuing the “twelve” everywhere, just as the old world is pursuing the new system, the revolution. From this we can conclude that supporters of the new time cannot yet get rid of the remnants of the past. Blok also does not make predictions about what the future will be like, although he realizes that it will not be rosy:
Ahead is a cold snowdrift,
-Who else is there? Come out!
Only a poor dog is hungry
He hobbles behind.
-Get off, you scoundrel!
I'll tickle you with a bayonet!
The old world is like a mangy dog,
If you fail, I'll beat you up!
The image of Christ is also symbolic in the poem. Jesus Christ is the messenger of new human relationships, an exponent of purity, holiness and purifying suffering. For Blok, his “twelve” are real heroes, since they are the executors of a great mission, carrying out a holy cause - a revolution. As a symbolist and mystic, the author expresses the holiness of the revolution religiously. Emphasizing the holiness of the revolution, its cleansing power, Blok places the invisible walking Christ before these “twelve”. According to Blok, the Red Guards, despite the spontaneity of their movement, were subsequently reborn and became apostles of the new faith.
So they go with a sovereign step -
Behind is a hungry dog,
Ahead - with a bloody flag,
And invisible behind the blizzard,
And unharmed by a bullet,
With a gentle tread above the storm,
Snow scattering of pearls,
In a white corolla of roses
Ahead is Jesus Christ.
Literary symbolism can subtly express the hero’s sympathy or personal view of something important. Blok uses it in its entirety. The poem “The Twelve” is full of mysteries and revelations; it makes you think about every word, every sign, in order to correctly decipher it. This work well illustrates the work of A. Blok, who rightfully takes his place among the symbolists.

The magazine “Vesy”, under the leadership of Bryusov, fiercely opposed Gorky, while Gorky, noting his alienation literary position Symbolists (they are “disgustingly proud”, “cold” and “too spectators of life”), at the same time he appreciated their professional artistic skill. “You know,” he wrote to L. Andreev in 1907, “that in this public I appreciate its love of words, respect its keen interest in literature, recognize its serious cultural merit - it enriched the language with a mass of new phrases, it created a wonderful verse and - for all this I cannot help but say - thank you, from the bottom of my heart - thank you for what, over time, history will tell them.”

The poetics of the symbolists is associated with a metaphorical perception of the world. Metaphor in their poetry usually goes beyond the narrow meaning of a single image and receives further independent development, subordinating other details arising from it, or even being the basis of an entire poetic work. Thus, Bryusov’s poem “To Damascus” is based on an expanded metaphor of passion-sacred action.

In Annensky's poetry, the metaphor of heartache as an expression of mental anguish was deployed more than once. In “The Gas Butterfly” the heart is the flame of a street gas lamp, a butterfly ready to fall “from the flickering lines of existence.” The poetic images here are objective and at the same time, having received metaphorical development, are translated into a symbolic plane. The metaphorical “resentment of a doll” thrown into a waterfall for fun symbolizes Annensky’s loneliness and mutual alienation in the human world (“That was on Wallen-Koski”).

The metaphorical nature of Symbolist poetry was so strong that the words in it often lost their objective meaning. In Blok’s “Snow Mask” cycle, poetic images of love passion, expressed in the metaphors of “blizzard”, “fire”, “wine”, “bonfire”, are so tied together that they come into complete contradiction with the direct meaning of these words, creating new ideas ( “She was a living fire made of snow and wine”). Researchers of Blok's work call him a poet of metaphor.

The complexity of the image in the poetics of symbolism corresponds to “secret”, “mystery”, understatement in development lyrical theme. Such alarming understatement is characteristic to a certain extent of all symbolists. Along with metaphors, younger symbolists widely used “shaky”, obscured symbols, which served as a hint of another, higher or ideal existence. “A symbol is only a true symbol,” wrote Ivanov, “when it is inexhaustible and limitless in its meaning.”<...>It has many faces, many meanings and is always dark in its final depths.”

The ambiguity of the artistic image was enhanced by a broad appeal to myth; the mythologization of life phenomena expressed one of the essential features of symbolist poetics. Symbolists saw in myth the highest aesthetic, even super-aesthetic value. “We are following the path of symbol to myth,” Vyach asserted. Ivanov, who spoke with the utopian idea of ​​myth-making as a national art that transforms the world. For him, “myth is a postulate of worldly consciousness.”

The “myths” of the Symbolists are far from genuine myths as a historically conditioned, naive, imaginative and unconsciously artistic representation of the world. In the article “The Magic of the Word,” Bely explained: “When I say: “The moon is a white horn,” of course, with my consciousness I do not affirm the existence of a mythical animal, whose horn in the form of a month I see in the sky; but in the deepest essence of my creative self-affirmation I cannot help but believe in the existence of some reality, the symbol or reflection of which is the metaphorical image I created. Poetic speech is directly related to mythical creativity; the desire for a figurative combination of words is a fundamental feature of poetry.”

Each of the Symbolists had their own circle of “myths” or key symbolic images. Such, for example, is the myth of Sologub - the evil Serpent or Dragon soaring in the sky.

Symbolists often resorted to high style. One of his expressions was the abundance of archaisms, taken to the extreme in the poems of Ivanov, a poet-philologist. His poems were often so overloaded with them and so confused in their syntax that they became a favorite target of parodists. “As long as Ivanov Vyacheslav lives in the pits, Tredyakovsky, cheered up, magics,” wrote A. A. Izmailov.

Unusualities poetic language Symbolists correspond to its sound: frequent alliteration, melodic song or romance intonation, variety of rhythms. The initiator of the renewal of the sound structure of Russian poetry at the turn of the century was Balmont. Bryusov and Blok contributed a lot to updating the poetic language.

The unusual nature of the poetic language of the Symbolists was emphasized by the titles of their books. “Natura naturans. “Natura naturata” - words from Spinoza’s “Ethics” are the title of the book of poems by A. M. Dobrolyubov. “Me eum esse” (“This is me”), “Tertia vigilia” (“The Third Watch”), “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and the World”) - these are the Latin titles of Bryusov’s poetry collections. One of his early books bears the French title: “Chefs d’oeuvre” (“Masterpieces”); the other is Greek: “Stephanos” (“Wreath”). “Cor ardens” (“Flaming Heart”) is the title of Vyach’s book. Ivanova.

Symbolist poetry also often contains epigraphs borrowed from the works of foreign authors or from ancient philosophical and religious texts. Numerous epigraphs in the poetry of Vyach. Ivanov give her the imprint of “learnedness” with a certain dedication to higher knowledge.

History of Russian literature: in 4 volumes / Edited by N.I. Prutskov and others - L., 1980-1983.

Symbolic image

Along with the mimetic aspect of art, Byzantine thinkers, both ecclesiastical and secular, paid considerable attention to its symbolic meaning and symbolic images. In this they relied, on the one hand, on the traditions of ancient allegory, and on the other, on the rich experience of Judeo-Christian exegesis. Artistic practice provided a variety of material for reflection in this direction. In Byzantium throughout history, secular allegorical art of the Hellenistic type existed. Early Christian images, as a rule, had a symbolic-allegorical character, and individual allegorical elements of these images were then preserved in the iconography of mature Byzantine and all Orthodox church art. And it itself, especially icon painting, developed mainly along the path of creating not illusionistic illustrations of Scripture, but complex, multi-valued symbolic images that required deep penetration into their innermost meaning. In addition, the actual mimetic images in Byzantium had, as a rule, not only a literal, but also a figurative meaning.

One of the main forms of thinking in Byzantine culture was the principle of allegory. It well expressed the spirit of the times and indirectly served as a sign of high education. Allegories were used by both secular and clergy in their writings and oral speeches. For a more expressive and effective presentation of their thoughts, writers and historians of the X-XII centuries. often resorted to the technique of describing fictional paintings with subsequent interpretation of their allegorical meaning. Nikita Choniates, for example, uses a similar technique. In his “Chronography” he describes an allegorical picture, allegedly depicted at the direction of Andronikos Komnenos on the outer wall of the Temple of the Forty Martyrs: “<…>in a huge picture he (Andronicus. - V.B.) depicted himself not in royal vestments and not in golden imperial attire, but in the guise of a poor farmer, in clothes of blue color, going down to the waist, and wearing white boots that reach to the knees. This farmer had a heavy and large crooked scythe in his hand, and he, bending down, seemed to be catching with it the most beautiful young man, visible only up to the neck and shoulders. With this picture he clearly revealed his lawless deeds to passers-by, preached loudly and made it appear that he had killed the heir to the throne and, along with his power, appropriated his bride to himself” (Andr. Sotp. II6).

An allegorical perception of art was also characteristic of many Christian church writers of Byzantium. Characteristic in this regard is the description and at the same time interpretation by the early Byzantine author Eusebius Pamphilus of a painting placed above the entrance to the imperial palace: “In the painting, put on display for everyone to see, high above the entrance to the royal palace, he (Emperor Constantine - V.B.) depicted above with the head of his own image a saving sign, and under his feet in the image of a dragon falling into the abyss - a hostile and warlike beast, through the tyranny of the atheists, persecuting the Church of God; for the Scriptures in the books of the divine prophets call him a dragon and a treacherous serpent. Therefore, through the image of a dragon written in wax under the feet of him and his children, struck by an arrow in the very belly and cast into the abyss of the sea, the king pointed out to everyone the secret enemy of the human race, whom he represented as cast down into the abyss of destruction by the power of the saving sign that was above his head. And all this was depicted in the picture with colored paints. I am amazed at the high wisdom of the king: he, as if by divine inspiration, drew exactly what the prophets once announced about this beast, who said that God would raise a great and terrible sword against the dragon, the escaping serpent, and destroy him in the sea. Having drawn these images, the king, through painting, presented a faithful imitation of the truth” (Vit. Const. Ill 3).

So, quite in the spirit of the classical ancient tradition, painting is called an imitation of truth. However, now truth is understood not as a picture of the visible forms of the material world, but as a certain spiritual, noumenal content, which Neoplatonists, Gnostics, and early Christians spoke about at that time. Imitation of truth is interpreted by the church historian Eusebius as a symbolic and allegorical image. For him, a pictorial image is an almost literal illustration of an allegorical text, and therefore the technique is transferred to it traditional interpretation biblical texts.

Judging by Eusebius’ description, the painting had two main pictorial levels. Its central part was occupied by a “portrait” image of Constantine and his sons, usual for the imperial culture of Rome, and as if outside the frame of the family portrait (above and below it) the symbols of Christ (apparently a cross) and Satan (a serpent or dragon) were depicted. It is important to note that the Christian writer is not interested in the central “portrait” part of the image, but in the “peripheral,” symbolic, and it is in this, and not in the illusionistic portrait of the emperor, that he sees “imitation of the truth.” In this description, the path to a new understanding of the essence of fine art is already clearly visible.

Discretion in a text or work of art of non-literal allegory, hidden meaning in general, a characteristic feature of any religious worldview. And in this regard, Byzantine Christianity is not original. In this case, we are interested in specific forms and methods of symbolic understanding of art. Along with the ancient allegory, we find in the same Eusebius, for example, a completely different turn of symbolic thinking. Having described the temple in Tyre in sufficient detail, emphasizing the “brilliant beauty” and “inexpressible grandeur” of the entire building and the “extraordinary grace” of its individual parts, Eusebius points out that such a temple serves to glorify and decorate Christian Church. First of all, those who are accustomed to fixing their minds “on appearance alone” are surprised by him. However, “the miracle of miracles are the prototypes and their spiritual prototypes and divine models, the images of the divine and mental home in our souls.” The soul itself appears to Eusebius as the house and temple of God, higher and more perfect than the material temple.

In addition, the entire society of people, the entire society, appears in the understanding of Eusebius as a living temple. The builder of this temple is the Son of God himself, who likened some people to the fence of the temple, placed others like external columns, endowed others with the functions of the vestibule of the temple, established others as the main pillars inside the temple, etc. In short, “gathering the living from everywhere and everywhere.” , solid and strong souls, He built them into a great and royal house, full of splendor and light inside and outside.” This entire temple and its parts are filled with deep spiritual content for Eusebius, for its builder “with every part of the temple expressed the clarity and brilliance of the truth in all its fullness and diversity,” establishing “on earth a mental image of what is on the other side of the heavenly spheres.”

The world of created existence appears in Eusebius as a system of temples reflecting spiritual truths, and above all, a temple of spiritual beings that constantly glorify the Creator. The main temple of the system is the Universe and human society as a whole; Next comes the soul of each person as the temple of God, and, finally, the church building itself, created specifically as a place of worship. All these temples perform the same functions - worshiping God, honoring him and glorifying him.

Thus, quite traditional for ancient world An in-depth understanding of works of art developed in the early Byzantine period among one of the first Christian writers into a new, philosophically and theologically rich theory of art, in fact, into a philosophy of art, which in many ways anticipated the artistic practice of the Middle Ages.

As another example of a symbolic understanding of architecture, we can point to the 6th century Syrian hymn dedicated to the temple at Edessa. Describing this apparently small, square-shaped, domed structure, the author of the hymn focuses not on the design features of the temple, but on its symbolic significance both as a whole and individual architectural elements. What is remarkable to the author is precisely the fact that such a “small-sized structure contains a huge world.” “Its vault extends like the heavens - without columns, curved and closed and, moreover, decorated with a golden mosaic like the vault of heaven with shining stars. Its high dome is comparable to the “sky of heavens”; it is like a helmet, and its upper part rests on the lower part.<…>The temple has identical facades on each side. The form of all three is one, just as the form of the Holy Trinity is one. Moreover, a single light illuminates the choir through three open windows, proclaiming the mystery of the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit." The remaining windows, bringing light to everyone present in the temple, are represented by the author of the hymn as apostles, prophets, martyrs and other saints: the five doors of the temple are likened to the five intelligent virgins with lamps from the gospel parable, the columns symbolize the apostles, and the bishop’s throne and the nine steps leading to it “represent the throne of Christ and the nine ranks of angels." “Great are the mysteries of this temple,” it is sung at the end of the hymn, “both in heaven and on earth: in it the highest Trinity and the mercy of the Savior are figuratively represented.”

The building of the temple appears to the author of the hymn as a complex image of the cosmos (material and spiritual), and the Christian community (in its historical existence), and the Christian God himself. Ekphrasis here consists of two levels: figurative and symbolic. The figurative interpretation gravitates towards late antique allegory and is based primarily on visual associations and analogies. For him, the understanding of domed architecture as an image of the visible material cosmos (the earth and the firmament with luminaries) becomes stable and traditional. Sign-symbolic interpretation develops mainly in the traditions of Christian interpretation of biblical texts. These two levels, or two types, appear in one form or another in many Byzantine descriptions of works of art.

Byzantine poet of the 10th century. John the Geometer, in his poetic descriptions of Christian churches, weaves together a figurative and symbolic understanding of architecture. On the one hand, he sees in the temple “an imitation of the universe” in all its diverse beauty. Here is the sky with its stars, and the ether, and the endless expanses of the sea, and water streams pouring down from the mountains, and the whole earth is like a beautiful garden of unfading flowers. On the other hand, architectural images clearly reveal to him the entire “mental cosmos” headed by Christ. It is in the temple, according to John, that the unity (and union) of two worlds (cosmos) - earthly and heavenly - is realized:

The figurative and symbolic levels of John’s interpretation of the temple space are not just possible options approach to understanding the Christian temple, but both are necessary to reveal the full spiritual content, the deep meaning of the architectural image. Its essence, as can be seen from the poem of John the Geometer (and here he follows the tradition already established in the Byzantine world), is that for people the temple is the center of unity of the spiritual and material worlds, the focus of all beauties.

In post-iconoclastic Byzantium, the figurative-symbolic approach extended to painting. The already mentioned Nikolai Mesarit saw two levels in the wall paintings of churches: pictorial, phenomenal, and semantic, noumenal. He explains this by describing the image "The Raising of Lazarus": " Right hand(Jesus. - V.B.) is extended, on the one hand, to the phenomenon - to the tomb containing the body of Lazarus, on the other - to the noumenon - to hell, which has now swallowed up his soul for the fourth day” (26). Everyone sees the phenomenon (the coffin) depicted on the wall of the temple, but the noumenon (hell) remains behind the image; it can only be represented in the mind by a trained viewer.

For an educated Byzantine, the phenomenal level of painting was most often of interest only insofar as it contained and expressed a hidden meaning, comprehended only by the mind. Its always assumed presence allowed the medieval artist to create a phenomenal level, or a visually expressive series, according to the highest artistic and aesthetic standards, and the viewer to openly enjoy the beauty of temple painting. Now, in the eyes of Christian ideologists, it did not contradict, as it seemed to many early Christian Fathers of the Church, the spirit of the official religion; on the contrary, it actively served it, expressing in artistic and aesthetic form the foundations of the medieval worldview.

Any, even seemingly insignificant, element of the phenomenal level of the image was endowed with deep meaning and was presented as a sign or symbol of some position of religious doctrine. So, for example, the blue, and not golden, color of Pantocrator’s clothes, according to Mesarita, “calls on everyone with the hand of the artist” not to wear luxurious clothes made of expensive multi-colored fabrics, but to follow the Apostle Paul, who exhorted fellow believers to dress modestly.

Ptokrator, Mesarit further explains, is depicted in such a way that it is perceived differently by different groups of viewers. His gaze is directed at everyone at once and at each individual. He looks “favorably and friendly at those who have a clear conscience and pours the sweetness of humility into the souls of the pure in heart and the poor in spirit,” and for the one who does evil, the eyes of the Almighty “sparkle angrily,” aloof and hostile, he sees his face “angry, terrible and full of menace." The right hand of Pantocrator blesses those walking the right way and warns those who turn away from it, keeps them from an unrighteous lifestyle (14). Painting can convey opposite states in one image inner world of the depicted character, aimed at different people. The specificity of the perception of the image by different groups of spectators, developed in his time by Maximus the Confessor for the liturgical image, which we will talk about later, is now applied by Mesarit to the pictorial image.

In the picture, as in the biblical text, there are no minor elements or details. If the artist wrote them, it means that he endowed them with some kind of meaning, and the viewer (like the reader of sacred texts) is obliged to understand it, if not in its entirety, but at least to realize its presence. Religious utilitarianism and the spirit of global symbolism, characteristic of medieval aesthetics, did not allow either the master or the viewer of that time to allow the presence of random (even the most insignificant) elements in the image.

Often carried away, as we have already seen, by describing the realistic details of the image, Mesarit never forgets about the noumenal level, towards the expression of which, in his deep conviction, the entire pictorial system of painting is oriented. Realistic elements are significant primarily as expressers of some other meaning. The expressive poses of the students in the Transfiguration emphasize, according to Nikolai, the unusualness of the event; he reports about the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus or the walk of Christ on the waters not only in direct text, but also by describing the reaction of the surrounding characters to these phenomena; Mesarit does not forget to interpret the episode with Peter cutting off the ear of the slave Malchus during the capture of Christ and the subsequent miracle of the healing of the slave by Jesus as the healing of the slave from spiritual blindness, etc. To emphasize the originality of the events depicted, Metropolitan Nicholas sometimes resorts to paradoxes traditional for Byzantine culture. Continuing, for example, the biblical tradition, he invites readers to see the voice coming from heaven in the Transfiguration. Above the heads of the depicted figures, he writes, “directly in heaven nothing else is visible except that voice with which God the Father confirmed the truth of sonship” on the Jordan. “See how a voice from the top of the dome, as if from heaven, falls like a life-giving rain on the still dry and unfruitful souls of young men, so that during times of heat and thirst, that is, doubts about the passion and resurrection, they do not find themselves in danger of unexpected misfortune” (16 ). Let us leave it to art historians to decide whether the master of the Church of the Holy Apostles tried to depict this voice in any way. Most likely, we are talking about the text on the image itself or about the rays of golden light. It is important for us that the educated Byzantine hierarch of the 12th century. I wanted to see this voice not only with my physical vision (which is very problematic), but first of all with the gaze of my mind. Mesarit remembers the latter throughout the entire description of the mosaics.

The symbolic understanding of art arose in Byzantium, as has already been pointed out, not out of nowhere. It was based, on the one hand, on the centuries-old artistic practice of early Christian and Byzantine art proper, and on the other hand, on the theological and philosophical theory of symbolism, which was quite thoroughly and deeply developed in Byzantium. When developing it, the Byzantine Fathers of the Church actively used the experience of the Greco-Roman philosophical and philological traditions, especially Neoplatonism, the exegesis of the Hebrew sages, Philo of Alexandria and the early Christians. Patristic symbolism included a whole series of although close, but inadequate concepts, such as image , image , similarity , symbol , sign , which in Byzantine culture were directly related to the sphere of art.

We find interesting thoughts about the image and symbol in the Bishop of Cyrrhus Theodoret (5th century), who paid a lot of attention to the figurative and symbolic interpretation of the texts of the Holy Scripture, believing that biblical symbolism goes back to God himself. “Since the nature of God is formless and ugly, invisible and immense, and it is completely impossible to create an image of such an essence, he commanded that symbols of his greatest gifts be placed inside the ark. The tablets meant the law, the rod - the priesthood, manna - food in the desert and bread not made with hands. And purification was a symbol of prophecy, because from there there were prophecies” (Quaest. in Exod. 60). These divine institutions inspired Christian theorists and practitioners of the symbolic interpretation of the texts of Scripture and the entire Universe as a whole.

The greatest theologian of the 4th century paid special attention to the image. Gregory of Nyssa. In literary and pictorial images, that is, in images of art, he clearly distinguished between the external form of a work and its content, which he called a “mental image,” an idea. Thus, in his opinion, in biblical texts, a fiery love for divine beauty is conveyed by the power of “mental images” contained in descriptions of sensual pleasures. In painting and verbal arts, the viewer or reader should not stop at contemplating the color spots covering the picture, or the “verbal colors” of the text, but should strive to see the idea (eidos) that the artist conveyed with the help of these colors.

Following Plotinus, Gregory does not condemn works of art as unworthy copies or “shadows of shadows.” On the contrary, in their ability to preserve and transmit “mental images” he saw the dignity and justification for the existence of art. It was this function of art that turned out to be fundamental and significant for Christianity. At the same time, Gregory of Nyssa saw it both in the verbal arts, and in painting and music, putting all these types of art on the same level and evaluating only by the ability to embody and convey “mental images”, eidos.

Gregory of Nyssa’s judgments about the image largely prepared the theory of the greatest thinker at the turn of the 5th-6th centuries, the author of the “Areopagitik” (texts signed with the name of the legendary disciple of the Apostle Paul Dionysius the Areopagite), or Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, as he is more often called in modern science. On their basis, he made deep philosophical and theological conclusions that had a significant impact on Christian medieval theology, philosophy, and aesthetics. The geoseological justification for the theory of symbol and image by the author of the Areopagitik was the idea that in the hierarchical system of transferring knowledge from God to man, it is necessary to carry out a qualitative transformation of it at the boundary of “heaven - earth”. Here an essential change occurs in the bearer of knowledge: from the spiritual (the lowest level of the heavenly hierarchy) it turns into a materialized one (the highest level of the earthly hierarchy). A special kind of “light information” (fotodosia - “light giving”) is hidden here under the veil of images, symbols, signs.

In Pseudo-Dionysius, the symbol acts as the most general philosophical and theological category, including image, sign, image, beauty, a number of other concepts, as well as many objects and phenomena of real life and especially cult practice as their specific manifestations in one or another sphere. In a letter to Titus (Ep. IX), a summary of the lost treatise “Symbolic Theology,” the author of the Areopagitik points out that there are two ways of transmitting knowledge of truth: “One is unspoken and secret, the other is explicit and easily knowable; the first is symbolic and mysterious, the second is philosophical and publicly accessible” (Ep. IX1). The highest unspoken truth is conveyed only in the first way, which is why the ancient sages constantly used “mysterious and bold allegories,” where the unspoken was closely intertwined with the expressed (Ibid.). If a philosophical judgment contains a formal logical truth, then a symbolic image contains an incomprehensible truth. All knowledge about the highest truths is contained in symbols, “for it is impossible for our mind to rise to the immaterial imitation and contemplation of the heavenly hierarchies except through the medium of its inherent material guidance, believing visible beauties the image of invisible beauty, sensual fragrances - the imprint of spiritual penetrations, material lamps - the image of immaterial illumination, extensive sacred teachings - the fullness of spiritual contemplation, the orders of local decorations - a hint of the harmony and orderliness of the divine, the reception of the divine Eucharist - the possession of Jesus; in short, everything about heavenly beings is super-decently conveyed to us in symbols” (SN13). The texts of Scripture, various images, and sacred Tradition are symbolic. The names of the members of the human body may be used as symbols to denote spiritual or divine powers; to describe the properties of the heavenly ranks, designations of the properties of almost all objects of the material world are often used.

Symbols and conventional signs arose, according to Pseudo-Dionysius, not for their own sake, but with a specific, and, moreover, contradictory purpose: to simultaneously reveal and hide the truth. On the one hand, the symbol serves to designate, depict and thereby reveal the incomprehensible, ugly and infinite in the finite, sensually perceived (for those who know how to perceive this symbol). On the other hand, it is a shell, cover and reliable protection unspoken truth from the eyes and ears of the “first person you meet”, unworthy of knowing the truth.

What in a symbol allows these mutually exclusive goals to be achieved? Apparently, there are special forms of storing truth in it. The Areopagite refers to such forms, in particular, as “beauty hidden inside” the symbol and leading to the comprehension of the super-essential, spiritual light (Er. IX 1; 2). So, the non-conceptual meaning of a symbol is perceived by those striving to comprehend it, first of all, purely emotionally in the form of “beauty” and “light”. However, we are not talking about the external beauty of forms, but about a certain generalized spiritual beauty contained in any symbols - verbal, pictorial, musical, objective, cult, etc. This beauty is revealed only to those who “know how to see.” Therefore, it is necessary to teach people this “seeing” of the symbol.

Pseudo-Dionysius himself considers it his direct task to explain, to the best of his ability, “the whole variety of symbolic sacred images,” for without such an explanation many symbols seem to be “incredibly fantastic nonsense” (Ep. IX 1). Thus, God and his properties can be symbolically expressed by anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images, in the form of plants and stones; God is endowed with women's jewelry, barbaric weapons, and the attributes of artisans and artists; he is even depicted as a bitter drunkard. But in understanding symbols one should not stop at the surface; it is necessary to penetrate them to the very depths. At the same time, none of them should be neglected, since in their visible features they show “images of unspeakable and amazing sights” (Ep. IX 2).

Each symbol (= sign = image) can have a number of meanings depending on the context in which it is used and on the personal properties (“nature”) of the contemplator. However, even with this polysemy, “sacred symbols should not be confused with each other”; each of them must be understood according to its own causes and its being. Complete knowledge of the symbol leads to inexhaustible exquisite pleasure from contemplating the indescribable perfection of divine wisdom (Ep. IX 5), that is, practically, to the aesthetic completion of the process of knowledge.

The symbol is understood by the author of the Areopagitik in several aspects. First of all, he is a bearer of knowledge that can be contained in him: a) in a symbolic form, and then its content is accessible only to initiates; b) in a figurative form, understandable in general to all people of a given culture and realized primarily in art; and c) directly, when the symbol not only denotes, but also “really represents” what it denotes. The third aspect was only outlined by Pseudo-Dionysius and developed by subsequent thinkers in connection with liturgical symbolism. This symbolism largely determined the attitude of Orthodoxy as a whole towards the icon, which actively functioned both in church activities and in the entire Orthodox culture, and this will be discussed further.

The author of the Areopagitik himself dwells in more detail on the theory of the image. Images, in his opinion, are necessary to introduce a person “ineffably and incomprehensibly to the unspeakable and unknowable” (DN11), so that he “through sensory objects ascends to the spiritual and through symbolic sacred images - to the simple perfection of the heavenly hierarchy”, “which has no sensory image" (SN 13).

The Areopagite develops a harmonious hierarchy of images, with the help of which true knowledge is transmitted from the level of the heavenly world to the level of human existence. Literary and pictorial images occupy their specific place in it - at the level of the sacraments, that is, somewhere between the heavenly and earthly (church) levels of the hierarchy. The “immaterial” rank of hierarchy is depicted in them through “material images” and “collections of images” (SN 13). Depending on the way these “figurative structures” are organized, the meaning of the same “sacred images” can be different. Accordingly, knowledge in this system is multi-valued. Its quality and quantity also depend on the subjects of perception (“in accordance with each person’s ability for divine insights.” - CH IX 2).

The polysemantic image was the main element in the system of Byzantine knowledge. In the understanding of the Fathers of the Church, not only the sacred hierarchy, but also the entire structure of the universe is permeated with the intuition of the image. An image is the most important way of communication and correlation between fundamentally incompatible and incoherent levels of being and super-being.

Pseudo-Dionysius, relying on his system of designating God, distinguished two methods of depicting spiritual entities and, accordingly, two types of images that differ in character and principles of isomorphism - similar, “similar” and “dissimilar” (SNII3).

The first method is based on cataphatic (affirmative) theology and is still in line with classical philosophy and aesthetics. It consists in “capturing and revealing spiritual essences in images that correspond to them and, if possible, related, borrowing these images from beings that we highly reverence, as if immaterial and higher” (SN II2); that is, “similar” images must represent a set of highly positive properties, characteristics and qualities inherent in objects and phenomena of the material world. They are called upon to represent certain perfect in all respects, depictable (in words, paints or stone) images - the ideal limits of the conceivable perfection of the created world. For Pseudo-Dionysius, all “visible beauties” and positive evaluative characteristics are concentrated in “similar” images. In this regard, God is called “word”, “mind”, “beauty”, “light”, “life”, etc. However, these images, despite all their ideality and sublimity, are truly “far from resembling a deity. For it is above every being and life; cannot be any light, and every word and mind is incomparably removed from resemblance to it” (SN II3). Compared to God, even these “visible beauties”, the most revered by people, are “unworthy images” (Ibid.).

The author of the Areopagitik values ​​“unlike resemblances” (SN II4), which he develops in line with apophatic theology, much more highly, believing that “if in relation to divine objects negative designations are closer to the truth than affirmative ones, then for revealing the invisible and inexpressible it is more dissimilar images are suitable” (SN II3). Here Pseudo-Dionysius continues the line of the Alexandrian theological school, based on Philo (Origen, Gregory of Nyssa). He draws theoretical conclusions based on the extensive exegetical material of this school, which confirms the vitality of its traditions for the entire Byzantine culture.

Dissimilar images must be built on principles diametrically opposed to ancient ideals. In them, according to Pseudo-Dionysius, there should be a complete absence of properties perceived by people as noble, beautiful, light-like, harmonious, etc., so that a person, contemplating the image, does not imagine the archetype as similar to rough material forms (even if among people they are considered the noblest) and did not stop his mind on them. To depict higher spiritual beings, it is better to borrow images from low and despised objects, such as animals, plants, stones and even worms (SNII5), while divine objects depicted in this way are given, according to the Areopagite, much more glory. This interesting theological-aesthetic concept is not his invention. It goes back to early Christian symbolism.

The idea of ​​great figurative and symbolic significance of insignificant, nondescript and even ugly objects and phenomena is often found among early Christian thinkers, who expressed the aspirations of the “nondescript”, disadvantaged part of the population of the Roman Empire. It fit well into the radical revaluation of many traditional ancient values ​​carried out by early Christianity. Everything considered valuable in the world of the Roman aristocracy (including wealth, jewelry, outer beauty and significance, ancient art), lost its meaning in the eyes of early Christians, and everything unprepossessing and despised by Rome was endowed with high spiritual meaning. Hence the fairly widespread ideas about the nondescript appearance of Christ, characteristic of the first centuries of Christianity.

Pseudo-Dionysius, in the system of his antinomian thinking, came to the conscious use of the law of contrast to express sublime phenomena. Dissimilar images have a special kind of symbolic nature. Imitating low objects of the material world, they must carry in such an unworthy form information that has nothing to do with these objects. By the very “inconsistency of images”, dissimilar images amaze the viewer (or listener) and orient him towards something opposite to what is depicted - towards absolute spirituality. Because everything related to spiritual beings, Pseudo-Dionysius emphasizes, should be understood in a completely different way, as a rule, diametrically opposite sense than is usually thought of in relation to objects of the material world. All carnal, sensual and even obscene phenomena, desires and objects can mean in this regard phenomena of the highest spirituality. Thus, in descriptions of spiritual beings, anger means “a strong movement of the mind,” lust means love for the spiritual, the desire for contemplation and unification with the highest truth, light, beauty, etc. (SN II4).

Dissimilar images, in the view of the Areopagite, should “by the very dissimilarity of the signs excite and elevate the soul” (SN II3). Hence the images themselves are called elevating (apagogical) by Pseudo-Dionysius. The idea of ​​elevating (?????????) the human spirit with the help of an image to Truth and Archetype became from that time one of the leading ideas of Byzantine culture. Such ideas opened up unlimited possibilities for the development of Christian symbolic and allegorical art in all its forms and substantiated the need for its existence in Christian culture.

Canon 82 of the Council of Trullo abolished allegorical depictions of Christ, but it had virtually no effect on the general spirit of symbolism in Byzantine culture in general and in artistic practice in particular. And although the polemics of iconoclasts and icon-worshippers revolved around mimetic images, and it is with them that the main theoretical research of the defenders of icons is connected, they could not do without understanding and the symbolic basis of the pictorial image. The very conventional symbolic spirit of the cult images of the Byzantines did not allow many of them to stop only at the visible surface of these images.

One of the active defenders of icons, the famous theologian, philosopher and church poet John of Damascus (c. 650 - d. before 754), following Pseudo-Dionysius, considered the main function of symbolic images to be apagogic - elevating the human spirit to “smart contemplation” of the archetype itself, its knowledge and unity with him. These ideas were also close to the fighters for icon veneration of the next generation. Thus, Patriarch Nicephorus (d. c. 829) convinced the iconoclasts that symbolic images were given to us by “divine grace” and fatherly wisdom to raise our minds to contemplate the properties of symbolically depicted spiritual entities and imitate them as far as possible.

In general, the Byzantine theory of symbol united the main spheres of Christian spiritual culture - ontology, epistemology, religion, art, literature, ethics. And this unification was carried out, which is characteristic of Byzantine culture, on the basis of the religious and aesthetic significance of the symbol. Performing a wide variety of functions in spiritual culture, the symbol or image was ultimately turned to the innermost foundations of the human spirit, to its universal source. By this very appeal and penetration into the deep world, inaccessible to the superficial observer, the symbol aroused spiritual pleasure, testifying to consonance, agreement, connection at the essential level of the subject of perception (man) with the object expressed in the symbol or image, ultimately - of man with God.

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