Patron Saint's Day: St Lazarus Saturday
On the bright feast of Radonitsa, 14 May 2002, the first stone was laid for a church at the Northern Cemetery in the Belarusian capital, built to honour the Resurrection of Saint Righteous Lazarus the Four Days Dead. Metropolitan Philaret (Vakhromeyev) solemnly placed a capsule in the foundations, and a panikhida, or memorial service, was then held. The church rises opposite the crematorium as a sign of the triumph of life over death, of light over darkness.
Father Sergey Nezhbort, who leads the monastery’s icon-painting workshop, explains the thinking behind the artwork: “In the scenes and themes set on the church walls, we wished to show prayer for the departed and help for them. The main subject is the Last Judgement. This is a rare choice, as the Last Judgement scene has its own set place in church art and never dominates a whole church’s decoration. Very few churches are painted this way. Among the rare examples are the frescoes in the side chapel of the monastic church in Chora, Constantinople (now Istanbul), which show the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the Last Judgement that follows. So we had this daring aim: to devote the entire church’s painting to the theme of the Last Judgement and the Second Coming. For a long while, we weighed if, and how, this could be done — how to make it plain, easy to read, and full of meaning. Taking inspiration from churches of various periods, we sought to create something of our own, perfectly suited to this building’s form.”
The artists painted the entire church on wet plaster. The chief demand of this method is that the painter must begin and finish a section in a single day, before the damp lime sets. Working in fresco demands intense concentration, speed, and a very clear idea of how each small part fits into the whole. One misstep — may miss it, but if you look, you will spot how it differs greatly from painting on a dry wall.
The artwork falls into two parts. In the conch, the Risen Saviour appears, holding Adam and Eve by their hands. All to the Saviour’s right speaks of Paradise; all to His left, of hell and its torments. And yet, for all the scenes that show the pains of sinners, the overriding feeling is one of light — the joy of meeting Christ, and of the new life that awaits every Christian.
The church’s beauty is the work of the monastery’s own workshops: mural, icon-painting, building, carpentry, metalwork, gilding, sewing and embroidery.
Metropolitan Philaret consecrated the church in May 2005. The grounds also contain a monastic cemetery. Here, every Saturday, the Divine Liturgy is celebrated, followed by a panikhida.
