MOSCOW, May 18. /TASS/. The Russian Imperial House supports the decision to transfer the Trinity icon of Venerable Andrey Rublev to the Russian Orthodox Church and expresses its certainty that the preservation of the holy image will be observed through the joint efforts of the Church and the state, Alexander Zakatov, the director of the office of the House of Romanov, told TASS on Thursday.
"The Russian Imperial House welcomes this decision with great gratitude to the museum workers and restorers who have discovered the authentic iconography, created by Andrey Rublev. Having been in the museum for a long time, the icon has served as a reminder of our people’s spiritual origins. Andrey Rublev himself painted the icon for the Church, and not for a museum, though. Its transfer to the church is the right decision, of course. Such relics should be in churches, not in museums," Zakatov said.
He stressed that the Russian Orthodox Church has enough clergymen, including those with professional secular education, who, Zakatov believes, will definitely be appointed responsible for the preservation of the shrine.
"Of course, certain rules that contribute to its preservation in exactly the original form in which it was discovered, restored and preserved, should not be violated in any case," Zakatov said.
He recalled that before the revolution, the Trinity icon was in the Trinity Cathedral at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius, but was covered by a gold and gem-encrusted jewelry frame, which also, according to Zakatov, is a work of art in itself. Nevertheless, he stated, this concealed from believers the spiritual beauty of the icon itself and of the image created by Rublev. The art historians and restorers take the credit for "correcting this historical error" in the 20th century and "opening to view" what the icon painter originally created.
"Thank God that this has happened. We now have an opportunity to see the icon as it was painted by the Venerable Andrey Rublev himself. It is good that it will be in a church and access to it will be provided. Its preservation is, of course, is the joint responsibility of the Church and the state. The Imperial House is sure that this requirement will be observed," Zakatov concluded.
The Trinity was painted by Rublev in the first quarter of the 15th century. It is one of the masterpieces of Russian icon-painting art. In 1929, the Soviet government transferred the icon to the State Tretyakov Gallery. On Monday, it became known that The Trinity has been returned to the church. On the June 4, the Feast of the Holy Trinity, the icon will be placed at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior for public worship. After some time, it will take its historical place at the Trinity and St. Sergius Monastery.