APOCALYPSES

The theme of the expected end of the world and divine justice over the living and the dead according to their earthly deeds has worried people at all times. But it became especially topical in connection with the expected end of the world in 1492 (7000 according to the old chronology), disputes about which provoked a wave of heretical movements. The Apocalypse, painted in the late 15th century and based on one of the earliest and most dramatic books of the New Testament, the Revelation of John the Theologian, was a repercussion to these debates. In the icon, however, the subject is presented in tones far removed from gloomy mysticism. Depicting the images of mysterious divine visions, scenes of universal destruction and terrible disasters awaiting mankind "at the end of time", and the future "second and dreaded coming" of Christ, the artist focuses his attention not on the frightening visions but the beautiful images of elders in white robes with gusli in their hands, angels, and winds held back by them in the four corners of the world. Even the dreadful apocalyptic horsemen he depicted as young men on white, fire and raven horses. The leitmotif of the entire icon is the triumph of the harmony of the divine world order, the hope of salvation of the righteous Orthodox Russian state. The bright logic of the icon's composition, subordinating all the figures, their almost classical proportions, the virtuoso drawing, and the joyous light colouring turn it into the apotheosis of goodness, beauty and light.