Vladimir Pervunensky. A Girl with a Flower. 2003

A Girl with a Flower (Vladimir Pervunensky, 2003)

Mr Pervunensky seems to specialise in paintings dealing with the last tragic decade of the old Empire. Of course, no one had an inkling of what was going to happen in just a short eye-blink…

Vladimir Pervunensky. A Portrait of a Priest. 2003

A Portrait of a Priest (Vladimir Pervunensky, 2003)

This appears to be an ordinary country batiushka. He is wearing his epatrakhil, so, he is either done with a service, or, about to go to do one. He is sitting down and taking a well-deserved rest. Little does he know what is coming in just a short while…

Vladimir Pervunensky. In the Year 1914. 2005

In the Year 1914 (Vladimir Pervunensky, 2005)

It has always been so… shall he return? Shall he find a grave on some foreign field? Shall he come back broken and maimed… no one knows, least of all, his loving wife. Why must it be so?

Vladimir Pervunensky. Before Easter. 2005

Before Easter (Vladimir Pervunensky, 2005)

It is now sunset, not quite dark… Easter shall be ushered in this midnight with the Khristos Voskrese… the kulichi are baked and blessed, the paskha is in the icebox, the kolbasi, horseradish, cheese, and eggs are ready. The world is expectant…

Vladimir Pervunensky. A Ball to the Sounds of Strauss. 2005

A Ball to the Sounds of Strauss (Vladimir Pervunensky, 2005)

You can almost hear Die Schöne Blaue Donau (The Beautiful Blue Danube), can you not? Little did they know that they were living at the end of an age…

Vladimir Pervunensky. The Last Tsar of Russia. 2006

The Last Tsar of Russia (Vladimir Pervunensky, 2006)

Of course, this is an equestrian portrait of Tsar-Martyr St Nikolai Aleksandrovich the Royal Passionbearer (1868-1918). He is in front of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. We in America have a special reason to hold Tsar St Nikolai in veneration. Many of the earliest Orthodox churches in this country were built using funds from the tsar’s privy purse. If it were not for this aid, there would be no Orhtodoxy in America today. There are factions on the left in Orthodoxy in this country that minimise Tsar St Nikolai’s role in our history. They should not be listened to and should be given short shrift.

Vladimir Pervunensky. A Thaw in Old Moscow. 2007

A Thaw in Old Moscow (Vladimir Pervunensky, 2007)

Vladimir Pervunensky. In the Vortex of the Waltz. 2007

In the Vortex of the Waltz (Vladimir Pervunensky, 2007)

Tatiana Yushmanova. Solitude. no date (2000s?)

Solitude (Tatiana Yushmanova, no date (2000s?))

Here is where the rubber hits the road for us as Orthodox Christians. Every path leads to this… the encounter of the soul with God. To hear some immature converts speak, it nothing but reading, reading, reading… If one does that, you are nothing but a jackass laden down with books (I speak as an inveterate and eager reader!). They’ve read this… they’ve read that… then, one hears a neophyte lecturing you on the Fathers (or, worse yet, the Philokalia)… you’re such a “nominal Orthodox” practising “baba’s religion”.

However, you have to chuck over the lot of it. Orthodox Christianity is not intellectual, it is not reasonable. It is far beyond that. It is nothing less than an encounter with the Living God, the God whose messengers have to say to us, “Fear not”. I can only claim to have had glimpses of it all, and that was enough to be put me off intellectualising for once and all. If you are spouting the Fathers, you are probably not close to God, you are merely talking about God, which is something else altogether.

You must let go, say your prayers, receive the Mysteries, stand at the services… Is that it? Yes… it is enough. God did not create us to be mere windbags, after all.

Tatiana Yushmanova. A Spring Overflow. 2006

A Spring Overflow (Tatiana Yushmanova, 2006)