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An Umbrella - Pavel Viktorovich Ryzhenko (1970-2014)

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Before the Battle - The Prayer of Peresvet, 2005, by Pavel Ryzhenko.

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Jacob Andries Beschey - Adoration of the kings - 

The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, lay before him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and worship him. It is related in the Bible by Matthew 2:11: “On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another path”.

Christian iconography has considerably expanded the bare account of the Biblical Magi given in the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew (2:1–22) and used it to press the point that Jesus was recognized, from his earliest infancy, as king of the earth. The scene was often used to represent the Nativity, one of the most indispensable episodes in cycles of the Life of the Virgin as well as the Life of Christ.

In the church calendar, the event is commemorated in Western Christianity as the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6). The Orthodox Church commemorates the Adoration of the Magi on the Feast of the Nativity (December 25). The term is anglicized from the Vulgate Latin section title for this passage: A Magis adoratur.

Jacob Andries Beschey (1710 in Antwerp – 1786 in Antwerp) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman who mainly painted religious paintings that were in the style of, or inspired by, Peter Paul Rubens.

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In the heavens, all things are moved by the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit is on earth too. He lives in our Church. He lives in the Mysteries. He is in the Holy Scriptures. He is in the souls of the faithful. The Holy Spirit unites all things, and therefore the saints are close to us. And when we pray to them, then the Holy Spirit hears our prayers, and our souls feel that they are praying for us.  -  St. Silouan the Athonite

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O Lord come to my aid, O Lord make haste to help me 

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When in childhood I called upon Thee consciously for the first time, Thou didst hear my prayer, and Thou didst fill my heart with the blessing of peace. At that moment I knew Thy goodness and knew how blessed are those who turn to Thee. I began to call upon Thee night and day; and now, even now, I call upon Thy name.

Glory to Thee, satisfying my desires with good things Glory to Thee, watching over me day and night Glory to Thee, curing affliction and emptiness with the healing flow of time Glory to Thee, no loss is irreparable in Thee, Giver of eternal life to all Glory to Thee, making immortal all that is lofty and good Glory to Thee, promising us the longed-for meeting with our loved ones who have died Glory to Thee, O God, from age to age

(from the Thanksgiving Akathist)

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“Man’s purpose is: to give birth to Christ within oneself, to become God, for it is for this reason that God became nourishment for men.”

~St. Justin Popovitch

(Art: Not By Bread Alone, by Michael Dudash)