«Finding»

Silver Bronze Sodalite Enamel Sculpture

Materials:

bronze, silver, sodalite, hand-painted enamel.

Н-16-07-409

The image is meaningful, expressing the acquisition of the relics of a Great Saint, the acquisition of writing, the acquisition of the spirituality of the Christian faith and thereby their own history.

Holy Methodius Equal-to-the-Apostles, who sits on the throne together with his brother Cyril, is the inventor of the Slavic script, the scroll of which he holds in his hands and the first translator of the Holy Scripture, which confirmed the divine service in the Slavic language, making a huge contribution to the spread of the Orthodox faith and the development of literacy in Ruthenia.

Each image of the composition is symbolic. On the right, there is an image of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, which was the largest shrine in the Christian world for more than a thousand years. On the left, there is an image of St. Vladimir's Cathedral in Chersonesos. In the center above, there is the Holy Spirit. On the back of the throne, there is a rare icon of Clement I, one of the most significant and outstanding Christian saints, whose relics were "found" by Cyril and Methodius in the ninth century in Chersonesos and handed over to Pope Adrian II. Blue sodalite as a symbol of the waves of the sea, which, coming apart, opened the way for believers to the relics of the saint, and the vine as a symbol of Christian Doctrine.