< SWITCH ME >
| A Treasury of Europe |
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| Written by Ziemowit Jozwik | ||||||
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In this column, we explore the wonders of Europe - artistic masterpieces and jewels of cultural heritage. These are the treasures which fill us with a sense of Europe's complex past - how beliefs and identities have intertwined to create the continent and the nations whose borders are often so hard to define. In the first instalment, Ziemowit Jozwik delves into the secrets of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa - simply a Polish national symbol, or something more mysterious?
Once again I look at the enigmatic countenance of the Black Madonna. Darkened by the smoke of candles and incense, by which She has been obscured for centuries. With two scars on her cheek as a reminder of a painful history. Scratched by people's sorrows and tears. Immersed in an eternity of whispered prayers. She stays calm, imperturbable. She looks at you with her hidden eyes concealing impenetrable mysteries. She holds her Infant, "showing the way". The Holy Virgin of "Bright Częstochowa", as she was called by the great Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, is one of the holiest Polish relics as well as a national symbol. Supposedly, she helped Polish troops to defend the monastery of Częstochowa in 1655 and during the Bar Confederation in 1772. Moreover, according to some publicists, the Polish victory at the Battle of Warsaw in 1920 should also be credited to the Holy Mother. In fact, sometimes it seems that hardly any Polish battle was won without Mary's assistance. The Black Madonna of Częstochowa is not a normal "holy picture." Even if its origins and the date of composition remain unexplained and hotly contested among scholars, we can lift the veil of secrecy slightly. According to legends, it was created by Luke the Evangelist, the first iconographer, in Jerusalem between 66 and 67 AD in the cenacle – that is, the room in which the Last Supper took place. About 300 years later, Helena of Constantinople (the emperor's consort) took the icon to Constantinople, where it stayed for five centuries in the emperors' chapel. Then it was transported via Bulgaria, Moravia and Bohemia to the Ruthenian Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia (the Polish-Ukrainian borderland). That country was successively a part of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and of Hungary and was also temporarily occupied by Turkic Tatars. Then, finally, after centuries of wandering, in 1382 the icon ended up in Częstochowa Monastery in Poland. More than a fairy tale storyEven if that story is a bit fairytale-like (especially its "sacred beginning"), it does not completely depart from the truth. The picture of the Black Madonna features the traditional composition found in Eastern Orthodox images; it contains some Greek-Byzantine threads and motives. It is also closely connected with the Eastern European heritage of the Saints Cyril and Methodius, who spread Christianity among the Slavic peoples. It even followed a similar route to those "brothers of Thessaloniki." There is something transcendental in icons. Their painters called themselves "writers" to match the old Slavic word "ikonopysannya" (icon-writing), from the mistranslated Greek "ikonographos." Before they could begin their work, the icon-writers had to make some religious preparations. These consisted of prayers, meditation, contemplation, a period of fasting and the study of theological works. Then the icon-writer drew a few drafts and freehands, and only then did he take a cedar board on which the image was to appear. It is said that icons are "drawn by the light:" that's why the ikonopys began his work by covering the whole picture with a coat of dark paint. After that he brightened particular spaces, creating forms and figures. Another dimension of the symbolism and theology of icons is the fact that each colour has a hidden meaning. The gold of the Black Madonna's aureole means God and divine nature. The blue-green background represents heaven, endlessness, eternity and, of course, hope. The gloomy brown colour of the face symbolises the human element and actually the long history witnessed by the Black Madonna of Częstochowa. The picture which most connects with Orthodox tradition and with Old Slavic choral singing became the strongest national symbol of Roman-Catholic Poland
What is so mysterious about this icon? That this picture, Greek-Byzantine of descent – a picture which seems to bear a greater connection with Orthodox tradition and with Old Slavic choral singing – became the strongest national symbol of Roman-Catholic Poland. Copies of the image were painted on the collars ("gorgets") of armour – on the armour of kings such as Jan III Sobieski, and later in the time when the Bar Confederation of Polish nobles fought "in defence of Religion and Motherland." It decorated the banners of insurgents in the uprisings of the 19th century, and partisans' flags and collars during World War II. Finally, Lech Wałęsa used to wear the miniature of this icon on his lapel. A personal interpretationFor me, this is some metaphysical, mystic evidence of Polish history. Even if my country was christened in western Christianity, because of its location between Rome and Constantinople it was also partly influenced by the Cyril and Methodius tradition. I have to think for a longer while to remember Roman religious terms such as "homily;" more natural for me is the Slavic "kazanie." I do not pray the Latin "prex", but the Slavic "modlitwa." The Black Madonna might be also an inspiration for the unknown medieval poet who wrote Bogurodzica (The Mother of God), the oldest Polish lyric. That poem was performed for some time as an anthem. For example, the winning troops in the biggest "Polish" medieval battle of Grunwald sung that song. It is worth remembering that this army, led by the Lithuanian king of Poland consisted of (apart from Poles) Ruthenians (Ukrainians), Belarusians, Lithuanians, Lipkas (Lithuanian Tatars), Moldovans and some Czechs.
This "Bogurodzica", Black Madonna, which nowadays seems to be a "real Polish" symbol is in fact a token of the forgotten Rzeczpospolita – The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Mother of God as an anthem of the Jagiellonian dynasty was a hymn sung by several nations. It is somehow a reminder of that period: delivered from western Ukraine to Częstochowa Monastery, it gives evidence of that "ancient wonderland" (which in fact had a lot of shortcomings) where people of East-Cental Europe lived together and created such "extravagant inventions" as religious tolerance (1573) or a constitution (1791). That pensive, gloomy countenance also focuses all the unimaginable historic tragedy of the region. Scars, hurts, wounds. But the iconographic Black Madonna – known as the Hodegetria, "the one who shows the way", gives us hope which is mightier than historical traumas. "Zyszczy nam, spuści nam. Title: A Polish version of the Bogurodzica hymn (Mother of God) Title: A Ukrainian version of Bogurodzica, sung by a Cossack choir Title: A Serbian hymn to the Mother of God, sung by Divna Ljubojevic Title: A Russian hymn to the Mother of God |
