The Cult of the Virgin as protectress comes through in medieval frescos to 19th C paintings to modern mosaic images in churches in Kosovo, Lithuania and Serbia. Here are a few from Gračanica Monastery, Belgrade Fortress, Vilnius Cathedral and St. Sava’s Cathedral.
Gračanica Monastery was built in 1321 by King Stefan Milutin on the ruins of an earlier Medieval Church dedicated to the Virgin that was supposedly constructed in the 6th C. The exonarthex was built prior to 1379, and the frescoes are probably from the late 1400s. There are over 2000 individual faces in the frescoes that tell the story of Christ, of the Virgin Mother Mary to whom the church is dedicated, and church doctrine along with the church leaders and political supporters, i.e., the Prince who commissioned the building and his family tree. The frescoes were recently cleaned after 500+ years of candle soot, and many of them are now quite vibrant. The architecture of the building is also interesting as it is one of the last in Serbian-Byzantine style with waves of domes reaching to the central dome towards heaven. The general layout has four smaller domes around the central one, with the domes laid out along the lines of a Lateran cross.
Entrance from the outer narthex to the nave
The Ruzika Church at Belgrade Fortress is dedicated to the Nativity of Mary. It is the oldest church in Belgrade and was originally constructed in the early 15th C. It has been remodeled a few times since then, the last time was in 1925. The painting behind the altar is from about that time.
Altar in Ruzika Church, Belgrade Fortress, Serbia
The image below of Mary as a tree, I found particularly striking. It was in the Ethnographic Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania. Vilnius’ Old Town has many many churches dedicated to the Virgin, all with incredible artwork. This painting used to be in the Cathedral before it was moved to the museum.
Our Lady of Lesna, Vilnius, 19th C Lithuania
St. Sava’s Cathedral in Belgrade is the largest Orthodox Church in the world. While it looks impressive from the outside, it is what is inside that is almost overwhelming. The golden Orthodox Byzantine styled mosaics are simply stunning. The church is named for St. Sava, an important figure in Serbian medieval nationalist history, who was supposedly burned on the site in 1595 by the Ottoman Turks. The Cathedral is still a work in progress, much like the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, but while there were workers on scaffolds, it looks finished. Not like St. Mark’s, which was my next stop. This is another church where the golden mosaics behind and above the iconostasis are breathtaking. The images of the Virgin as intercessor and protrectress reign above those who come to worship and honor her.
St. Sava’s Cathedral, Belgrade, Serbia
St. Sava’s Belgrade
St. Mark’s, Belgrade, Serbia
This visual journey starts and ends in Belgrade. The divine protectress from the proto-European culture continues through many iterations down to the present day in Cathedrals that are still in the process of completing their iconography. I do want to include a little more from the Northern countries, however, and would like to share a couple of myths from the Nordic Center in Stockholm’s “Receding Arctic” Exhibit that might be of interest to RTM readership:
The myth of Sedna, goddess of the sea, appears in many place and many versions in the Arctic. One version has her being left alone on an island after coupling with a stranger and bearing his child.
Eventually her father, the hunter, comes to pick up his daughter. On the way home, a terrible storm blows up and the boat is in danger of capsizing. To lighten the load, she is thrown overboard. She holds onto the boat, but the hunter chops off her fingers. Sedna sinks to the bottom, where she is transformed into the goddess of the sea. Her fingers turn into sea creatures. From that time onwards, people had to pray to Sedna for a successful hunt.
If the hunt failed, Sedna was angry and let the sea creatures hide in her hair. Hunger and death might result from Sedna’s anger.
- Many Arctic myths teach that one must show gratitude for the resources one needs to take from nature.
Fyi: many goddess legends portray her as both protectress and warrior; those who show her respect are protected, but woe to those who don’t.
Sami Creation Myth
No complete Sami creation myth has been recorded. However, the story of how a person is created and born provides insight into a religious conception in which various gods were essential in creating the basis of human life.
The Rå, or Keeper, empowered his son, the Keeper of the Horn, to create a soul, which he gave to the Great Mother, who created a body to house the soul. She then gave it to the Great Father. He took the human embryo in his belly and journeyed round the Sun on its rays to one of Great Mother’s daughters, who would give the foetus its sex. The Separation and Birth Mother created girls, while the Bow Mother created boys. The foetus was then given to an earthly woman who would give birth to the child. When her time came, the Separation and Birth Mother and the Great Mother came to her aid, and for this they were thanked with offerings. Once the baby was born, the Door Mother, the third of the Great Mother’s daughters, entered to serve as the child’s protector.”
Life is fragile in the Arctic and it takes a community to take care of one another.
References:
Borič- Breškovič, Bojana, ed. Step into the Story…in the National Museum. Belgrade: Publikum, 2018.
Korhut, Taner, ed.. TLOS A Lycian City on the Slopes of the Akdag Mountains. Istanbul: Yalinlari Ltd., 2016.
Sisterhood of Gračanica Monastery, ed.. Gračanica Monastery. Gračanica, 2017.
Ullén, Inga, ed.. Guide to the Swedish History Museum. Stockholm: Maria Jansén. 2016
Yilmaz, Yasar. Ancient Cities of Turkey. 5th ed. Istanbul: Müzedenal. N.D.
(End of the series)
Meet Mago Contributor, Krista Rodin Ph.D.