Trice a Foreigner: Helena of Muscovy, Grand Duchess of Lithuania 69 I offered fifty Lithuanian noble captives in exchange for it in 1569.61 Later graphic reproductions, copies, photographs, and descriptions indicate that the icon featured Hodegetria and was covered with elaborate setting, parts of which might have dated to the fifteenth century (Fig. 1).62 Although photographs63 and lithographs of the icon reveal significant over-paintings, and written evidence attests to its major repairs,64 the size (approx. 116 × 71 cm)65 and iconography of the image are comparable to the “large gem-encrusted icon of the Mother of God and Child” intended for the nuptial chamber of the Muscovite bride.66 While it is impossible to tell whether the venerated icon was indeed the one listed among Helena’s accoutrements, references to its medieval setting and its ancient stones (four garnets and one amethyst all with the size of a big bean)67 enhance the credibility of the suggestion that parts of the icon’s jewelry were preserved from the Middle Ages. Copies of the icon suggest that the 1839 abolishment of the Church Union68 in the Russian Empire affected not only believers, liturgy, church buildings, and possessions, but also the icon, which was stripped of its medieval appearance and reworked to suggest a Muscovite provenance (Fig. 2). The association between Helena and the icon held in the monastic Church of the Annunciation in Supraśl 69 first appeared in the captions under the photograph from 1864 (Fig. 3),70 which read: “Image of the Mother of God brought to Lithuania by Helena Ivanovna, daughter of Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III.” 71 In 1892, Abbot Nikolai Dalmatov (r. 1881–1906) indicated that the icon representing the Mother of God of Vladimir was painted on canvas fixed onto a wooden 61 Albert Wijuk Kojałowicz, Miscellanea rerum, ad statum ecclesiasticum in Magno Lituaniae Ducatu pertinentia (Vilnius, 1650), 15. Kojałowicz’s information has been repeated in Heinrich Scherer, Atlas Marianus sive Praecipuae totius orbis habitati imagines, vol. 3 (Munich, 1737), 123. 62 For a thorough reconstruction of the history and cult of the icon, see Rūta Janonienė, “Vilniaus Dievo Motinos ikona ir jos kultas Švč. Trejybės cerkvėje,” Menotyra 24 (2017): 1–16, on the setting, see ibid., 9–10 and 14. 63 The icon’s photograph has been published in Aleksandr Vinogradov, Putevoditel’ po gorodu Vil’ne i ego okresnostiam (Vilnius, 1904), 64 and 67. 64 Janonienė, “Vilniaus Dievo Motinos ikona,” 4. 65 Ibid. 66 Martin, “Gifts for the Bride,” 125; St Petersburg, Library of Russian Academy of Sciences, MS 32.4.21, f. 15v. 67 Janonienė, “Vilniaus Dievo Motinos ikona,” 9–10. 68 In 1596, the Union between the Orthodox and the Catholic Churces in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was concluded in Brest Litovsk. For an in-depth study on its development and legacy, see Borys A. Gudziak, Crisis and Reform: The Kyivan Metropolitanate, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Genesis of the Union of Brest, Harvard Series in Ukrainian Studies (New Haven, 2001). 69 The confessional status of the monastery has been disputed. Founded in 1498 (or 1495), it was established in the spirit of Florentine Union, and throughout the sixteenth century it shifted between Orthodoxy and Unianism depending on the position of the abbots and metropolitans. For a more thorough discussion, see Genutė Kirkienė, “Supraslio vienuolyno konfesinės priklausomybės ir pobūdžio klausimas XVI amžiaus pradžioje,” Lietuvos istorijos studijos 18 (2006): 39–50. In 1602, the monastery joined the Brest Union and remained within it until 1839, Marek Zalewski, “Krótka historia Supralskiego klasztoru,” in Supraśl 1913. Dokumentacja fotograficzna Józefa Jodkowskiego cerkwi Zwiastowania Najświętszej Marii Pannie (Warsaw, 2016), 169–72. 70 “Supraslio stačiatikių vienuolyno fotografijų rinkinys, 1864,” Vilnius University Library, digital collections, https://kolekcijos.biblioteka.vu.lt/supraslio-staciatikiu-vienuolyno-rinkinys [accessed June 23, 2023]. 71 Ibid.: “Obraz Bozhei Materi privezennyi v Litvu docher’iu Velikago Kniazia Moskovskago Ioanna III Elenoyu Ivannovnoyu.”
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