Elena Popova
Scientific Library of the Russian Academy of Arts, Russia
Due to a clear system of mural decoration, an Orthodox church embodies in full measure the idea of God’s world. In the 14th century Byzantium the world view of its society depended on philosophic-theological disputes.
The main theme of these disputes was the nature of the Divine light. The idea of the possibility for a worshiper to see the Divine light thanks to ascetic way of life became the ideological basis of Palaeologan Renaissance. It differs from the philosophy of Western European Renaissance, but is also
humanistic.
The theme of this paper is the influence of the doctrine of Hesychasm on the style of the late 14th century frescoes from the churches of the Dovmontov Gorod in Pskov. In these murals intensive light strokes, applied on bodies of the saints, help to depict the ascetic spirituality. Painters tried to picture the Divine light which transfigured bodies of the saints during their prayer. It means that an individual spiritual work can allow a person to feel God’s grace. This idea expresses the essence of Orthodox humanism.