The Icon “The Worship of the Lords of the Earth to the Lord of Heaven”

The Icon “The Worship of the Lords of the Earth to the Lord of Heaven”

The icon was painted in 1754-1755 by Ivan Chaikovskyi, a Ukrainian artist from the town of Kozelets in the Chernihiv region. He performed a grand image of “The Worship of the Lords of the Earth to the Lord of Heaven” (over 30 square meters) in the upper part of the solid canvas, with which the reverse part of the iconostasis of St. Andrew’s Church was sewn up. It is known that it was Ivan Chaikovskyi, who among other things, painted and directed the gilding works in the palace and the court church of Hetman Kyrylo Rozumovskyi (1750-1764) in Hlukhiv.

The plot of the icon visualizes an excerpt from “The Revelation of John” (chap. 4-5) about the vision of the Lord on the Throne of Glory revealed to the Apostle John:

‘And in a circle around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and on those thrones, twenty-four elders dressed in white, and on their heads crowns of gold. 

And from the throne come flashes and sounds and thunderings.  And there are seven flaming torches burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God,

and in front of the throne is like a sea of glass, like crystal. And in between the throne and the circle around the throne are four living beings, full of eyes, front and back.

And the first being is like a lion, and the second being like an ox, and the third being has a human face, and the fourth being is like an eagle in flight. 

And the four beings, every one of them has six wings each, which are covered completely around with eyes, even inward.’

Paintings of the iconostasis of St. Andrew’s Church on the reverse side is a rare but not unique phenomenon for the decoration of the iconostasis of Kyiv churches of the 18th century. It is known that the reverse sides of the iconostasis of the Assumption Cathedral (1729) and the Trinity Church (1734) of the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery were decorated with icons. Themes of paintings of iconostasis of Kyiv churches on the reverse side in the 18th century in general, appealed to the prototypes of New Testament events and the seven sacraments of the Church.

The state of preservation of the paintings on the reverse side of the iconostasis of St. Andrew’s Church in the pre-museum period of its history (until 1968) was unsatisfactory.

After the approval of the museum status of St. Andrew’s Church, the restoration of the icon took place in two stages. The first stage: 1982 – 1991 (artists Beliai A.F., Nazarova V.O., Chaban K.B., Yakovenko I.V., Yarovenko P.O.); the second stage: 2003 (artist Podkopaieva V.I., Podkopaiev S.I., Ostapchuk A.M.). Since 2004, the icon “Worship of the Lord of the Earth to the Lord of Heaven” is exhibited in the exhibition halls of St. Sophia Cathedral.

The state of preservation of the canvas with the images with which the iconostasis of St. Andrew’s Church was sewn up. Photo of the 30s of the 20th c. (the collection of the National Conservation Area “St. Sophia of Kyiv”)