Pagan symbols got lost in the darkness of time, and as a result, today it is extremely difficult to understand from what depths, from what ancient ideas some images came from, for example, in Christianity.
"Savior" named Alexander
Dragons and basilisks can be found not only in the tales of long forgotten times. Alexander, for example, the Macedonian - whose name in translation means "Protector" - according to history, sought to be recognized as God, more than three centuries before the birth of Christ. However, the ancient Russian builders of the XII century depicted it on the walls of the Dmitrievsky Cathedral in Vladimir! There, on the bas-relief, griffins lift Alexander to heaven …
The riddle is represented by Saint Christopher ("Christ-bearer"). In the Western tradition, he was depicted with a human head, and in the Eastern tradition, with the head of a dog. In the 17th-18th centuries, icons and frescoes with Pseglavets in Russia were destroyed as "contrary to nature, history and truth itself," and at the same time they made new ones, sometimes with a horse's head. It is now unknown how many images were in total and how long ago they appeared.
It is believed that the creature with a dog's head and a human body belongs to that pictorial "line" that began from the Egyptian sphinx, a creature with an animal body and a human head, and Anubis, the god of the dead - he was depicted as a man with a dog's head. By the way, the Coptic Orthodox Church (Egypt) is known for the Pseglava saints Achraks and Augani.
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Daughters of Jerusalem
In the X-XIII centuries, the whole of Europe was embraced by the cult of the Black Madonna. A huge number of her images appeared: her face is black, her hands are black, the baby is also black. At that time, hundreds of cathedrals and huge abbeys were built, but most of them were dedicated to the Virgin Mary, including the Black one.
Its sanctuaries were built by the Order of the Templars, who in 1139 received from Pope Innocent II the right to build their own churches. It is interesting that, as a rule, in the hand of the baby on the icons and statues - something like a casket. It can be assumed that this is an image of the Ark of the Covenant, because the Templars were looking for it in the East. True, sometimes the baby or the Madonna herself holds a ball in her hand.
In the first hundred years, from 1170 to 1270, about 80 large cathedrals and up to half a thousand churches in honor of the Black Madonna appeared. There are opinions that the Templars brought her most revered images from Byzantium during the Crusades. But where did they come from in Byzantium, there is no data. In search of the origins of the cult, they point to Ancient Rome: there were temples in honor of Isis, who miraculously conceived the infant Horus. There are similarities with other goddesses, such as the Celtic ones. But Isis and those goddesses weren't black! And the Christians could not take over the Black Lady from the Jews, since the Jews have a male god. If European Christians in the 11th century copied the statues of the Christians of Black Africa, then, one wonders, which ones? Orthodox Ethiopians did not have such statues. However, it is clear that the Mother of God had nothing to do with the black race.
There is a verse in the Song of Solomon: “Daughters of Jerusalem! I am black, but beautiful, like the tents of Kidar, like the curtains of Solomon,”and so on. But this is clearly not about Madonna. Perhaps the blackness of the goddess reflected traces of the ancient European cult of mother earth, but how can this be verified?
Meanwhile, in the X-XIII centuries, the Black Madonna was literally raised on the banner - they carried her image on their flags - the knights of three orders: Benedictine, Cistercian and Templar. Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the most active members of the Cistercian order, dedicated his life to the worship of the Black Madonna. In the temples of the Templars, she stood in the most honorable place. Jeanne d'Arc prayed to the Black Madonna for victory, and Jeanne's mother prayed to her for her daughter when she was captured.
In the 16th century, Ignatius de Loyola, deciding to organize the Jesuit order, gave his sword to the Black Madonna of Montserrat in Spain. By the way, the Virgin of Montserrat is still an object of pilgrimage for childless women from all over the world. It is believed that if you touch her and think about the child, he will soon really be conceived.
In Poland, one of the revered images is the Black "Mother of Boska Czestochowska"; in Italy - the Black Madonna of Loret; in France - "The Underground Mother of God" of Chartres Cathedral near Paris, the Black Maiden of Languedoc, Madonna of Le Puy-en-Velay and others.
The Black Madonna of the Cathedral of Notre-dame-du-Port in Auvergne is a copy made in the 17th century instead of the destroyed ancient Byzantine one. Similarly, a replica of a sculpture believed to have been made before Christianity can be seen in Chartres Cathedral. The fact is that in the XV-XVII centuries, Protestants and all kinds of revolutionaries waged a whole campaign to destroy black maidens. Stone statues were smashed with sledgehammers; wooden statues and icons were chopped down with axes and burned.
Later, through the efforts of the Jesuits in Germany and France, hundreds of copies of these items were made. Most of them are made in the image of the Loret statue of the Madonna and Child, which, like a dome, is encircled by a golden royal robe.
Today, 272 statues of the Black Virgin are known in France, 50 in Spain, 30 in Italy, 19 in Germany; icons and statues in her honor are also found in Mexico, Bolivia, Ecuador, Greece, Switzerland, Cuba and Brazil.
In Russia, the Loret statue was depicted on the "Adding Mind" icon. The first such icon was kept in the Spaso-Preobrazhensky city of Rybinsk, now it has been lost. Another stands in the Intercession Church in the city of Tutaev. In Moscow, there is a similar icon in the Tikhvin Church near the VDNKh metro station.
Brad goddesses
There is another mystery in the Christian iconography of the West: the crucified virgins, sometimes maidens with … a beard. Their names are different in different countries (Vilgefortis, Liberata, Kummernis, Ontokommena, Livrade, Ankumber), but the name Julia is often heard: St. Julia of Corsican; Saint Julia of Carthage; Saint Julia of Nonza.
Sometimes the girls are usually dressed, sometimes they have a crown on their heads. It happens that a certain troubadour sits near the crucified bearded maiden, and her right shoe falls off her foot.
According to one of the widespread legends, in the II century, a certain virgin who strongly believed in Christ took a vow of celibacy. But her pagan father wanted to marry her off (to a prince, by the way); the maiden prayed that the marriage would not take place, and a miracle happened: she grew a beard. Then the prince himself refused her, and the good dad was so furious that he ordered his daughter to be crucified. Later, Catholics recognized her as a saint, the patroness of girls seeking to get rid of annoying admirers.
Good version, but it doesn't explain many other cases! For example, the German version depicts a bearded girl in a royal crown crucified on a cross; at the foot of the cross lies the head of Adam; above the crucifix it is written that the virgin is called INRJ - Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. And above all this, there are two large luminaries like the Moon and the Sun and a flock of stars.
Sometimes oddities are blamed on a double mistake: allegedly a certain Italian artist depicted Christ in long Byzantine clothes on the cross, and the pilgrims mistook this for an image of a virgin. Not bad either - but where did the bearded Saint Paula come from then, who was tortured in Spain along with two hundred other martyrs?..
If you go deeper into antiquity, then there will also be brown maidens. In Cyprus there was a statue of Aphrodite with a beard and a scepter. Even Aristophanes once mentioned Aphrodite as a male deity. Venus appeared in male and female guise. That is, the source of the legends about bearded goddesses may be far, far away, in the unwritten pagan past …
Dmitry KALYUZHNY