Candlemas: The History and Traditional Russian Icon of the Feast

Candlemas is one of the most important feasts in the Christian churches, the first event in the Gospel story that proves the truth of the Incarnation of God to earthly people. On the fortieth day after the Nativity, the Virgin Mary and James brought the Christ Child to the temple in Jerusalem, where they were met by the elder Simeon nicknamed the Theodochos, or God-receiver. According to Church tradition, Simeon was one of the legendary translators of the Septuagint (the Old Testament in Greek). When he saw in the text of the prophet Isaiah the words “Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son” (Isaiah 7:14), he was confused and wanted to correct the word “virgin” to “wife,” but the angel, who appeared to him, revealed to him that his life would not be cut short before he saw the Virgin. When Simeon saw Mary and took the Christ Child in his arms, he exclaimed, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32). Both Byzantine and Russian icon traditions invariably included this composition in the cycles of the Lord’s feasts.

Candlemas: The History and Traditional Russian Icon of the Feast

According to the evidence from the 11th century, the celebration of the Purification was recorded already during the reign of Emperor Justinian (527-565), and quite early, in the 8th century, Candlemas began to be included in the main Lord’s feasts. Considering the widespread and high significance of the Feast, the scene of the meeting of Simeon and the Christ Child began to be used in the decoration of churches with frescoes (usually at the level of the church vaults, along with other scenes of the Gospel cycle), as well as in templons and entire festive rows of icons. The Candlemas scene was also used in small icons combining especially significant for the customer Gospel events.

Detail of Menologium, showing saints and martyrs of December, January, and February. Second half of the 11th century. Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai, Egypt.

The iconography of the feast developed quite early. One of the oldest examples can be found in the mosaics of the 5th-century basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. In this scene, one can see, on the one hand, the future features of the medieval Byzantine and Russian iconography of Candlemas, and, on the other hand, that the gravitation toward the late antique perception of art was still alive. This early monument is especially valuable to historians precisely because of its transitivity and vividness, as this composition was created long before the formation of rigid iconographic canons. In Old Russian art, Candlemas, as well as other scenes of the Lord’s feasts, originated primarily in monumental painting, but most often this scene can be found in the festive row of the iconostasis, which has been spread in the interiors of churches since the 15th century. The Candlemas scene in such icons is easily recognizable by the presence of Simeon the Theodochos with the Child in his arms, His parents, and a ciborium (a canopy over the altar), showing that the event took place inside the temple. Thus, the Russian icon embraced the entire scope of the general Christian artistic tradition.