Translated by Ollie Richardson

22:02:47
24/12/2017

t-34-111.livejournal.com

According to the ZIK information agency:

“All modern defenders of Ukraine were represented on an icon in the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in the city of Kremenets in Ternopil. The latest image was made on a large-scale – 70 sq.m.

In the center – Saint Georgy, who fights against the devil. The demon is represented by a two-headed eagle, who Yury Pobeditel pierces with a spear topped with a blue-yellow tape.

On both sides are the figures of people. These are modern Ukrainians who fight for their land.

On the large cloth there Maidan protesters can be found, among who are the Heavenly Hundred, a man with a wooden board, a female volunteer, and a journalist.

Another symbol can be found at the top – the tower of the burning Donetsk airport with the Ukrainian flag (fireproof, apparently), which represents the Ukrainian struggle. Red-black flags flutter along side it.

In the front row there is a collective image: a Ukrainian soldier in full combat equipment, a medic, and a military priest-chaplain.

At the top of the icon there are archangels, and above everything there is the image of Deus Pater in blessing. The Son of God is symbolised by a cross resembling the emblem of the Ukrainian Armed Foces. The Holy Spirit of God is in the form of a dove shaped like a trident.

The Ukrainian war is one of liberation, but not an aggressive one, that’s why it is blessed by the Lord, it is said in the church. The creations of the icon painter Vasily Stetsk caused a discussion on the Internet even before the completion of the work. On Facebook, under the photos of an image some express admiration, others call it uncanonical (, in other words).

“We sought to reflect a turning point in the modern history of the Ukrainian nation in the wall painting of our cathedral. To give these events a certain theological understanding and to emphasise an educational moment for modern and future generations,” say priests …

The unusual icon in the cathedral is called an attempt to restore the ancient traditions of the Ukrainian Orthodoxy, and it is said that it can become an example for other priors”.