The spiritual labyrinth () is a rare iconographic type in Russian icon painting, which researchers date to the 18th century (less commonly to the early 19th century). In the middle register of these icons is a labyrinth representation, in the upper part the New Jerusalem, and in the lower part the underworld. Contemporary art historians interpret such icons as a visual representation of the idea that the path to the New Jerusalem passes through the labyrinth of life, which is filled with dead ends and false paths. Such icons were not objects of religious veneration; they served didactic purposes. As of 2023, only two icons of this iconographic type have been identified in the collections of Russian museums and Orthodox churches. One is in the collection of the State Museum of the History of Religion in Saint Petersburg, and the second in that of the New Jerusalem museum in Istra in Moscow Oblast.
Researchers have made attempts to determine the origin of "spiritual labyrinth" iconography, advancing hypotheses regarding its underlying literary source, the influence of Western European and Russian engravings, as well as frescoes or floor images in Catholic churches. The appearance of these icons was also linked to the arrival in 18th-century Russia of the sect of the Herrnhuters, and this iconography was also examined in the context of the development of the "symbolico-dogmatic" trend in Russian icon painting in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Contemporary Russian art historians and cultural scholars have attempted to determine the figurative meaning of the "spiritual labyrinth".
Representation and symbolism
Icon from the New Jerusalem Museum
The greater part of the icon is occupied by a circular labyrinth. University of Warwick art historian Sergei Zotov considers this icon an expanded version of the iconographic type of the "spiritual labyrinth".
The ages of human life in the form of male and female figures are depicted at the center of the icon and the labyrinth, on the steps of a stone pyramid. From infant to decrepit old man, they are arranged on this distinctive staircase. Above each figure the age is written (from 1 to 90 years). There is an hourglass above the figures hovering on wings. It measures the span of human life. The image is accompanied by the inscription: "This time of God with the hours of day and night as if on wings". At the bottom are depicted scenes of birth and death (representing the beginning of human life and its end), and between them stands Death in the form of a skeleton with a crown on its head and a scythe in its hands. According to Zotov, the viewer perceives themselves in the position of a deceased soul and it is from the center that they begin their mental journey through the labyrinth depicted around them.
In its movement upward toward the New Jerusalem, the soul can read the inscriptions present on the icon: "As if dwelling on the path in the present life, be with Christ in eternal beauty" and "Brother, do not believe the words of your enemy, until the swift course of this life has passed". At the top there are two exits from the labyrinth. The wayfarer is greeted by the inscription: "Since Christ lovingly calls and diligently opens the gates of paradise". In the upper part of the icon is a depiction of the New Jerusalem itself with twelve gates, as well as pure souls, who are accompanied to the New City by two angels. Above the New Jerusalem, in clouds that serve as a cartouche, is a depiction of the Deesis. The Theotokos and John the Baptist appeal to the Lord with a plea for the salvation of the human race. Above the New Jerusalem, beneath the Deesis, the Holy Spirit hovers in the form of a dove.
If the viewers fail to navigate the labyrinth, they find themselves in the lower part of the icon. The inscription here reads: "For my soul is filled with evil and my life draws near to the dark underworld." Twelve roads lead to hell (art historian Natalya Merzlyutina counted only eleven) with the corresponding sins inscribed upon them, namely — fornication, despondency, avarice, drunkenness, vanity, pride, murder, anger, mercilessness, envy, slander, and gluttony. Before the entrance to the underworld on the left are depictions of demons armed with the newest types of weapons at that time (cannons and rifles, as well as bows), which, in Zotov's view, symbolize the passions. According to Dolgova, this is also a depiction of demons striking "the human race with sinful passions" (Galina Zelenskaya holds the same view). The mouth of the fiery Gehenna is shifted to the right on this icon. Among the demons, one can also make out angels drawing repentant souls from the underworld.Fragments of the "Spiritual Labyrinth" from the New Jerusalem Museum
Icon from the State Museum of the History of Religion The composition of the icon employs the techniques of reverse perspective. The action unfolds in a single plane. The depicted content is treated in a conventional and flat manner; only the person in the labyrinth in the middle register and Christ on the throne in the upper register are rendered with greater volume. Anastasia Dolgova notes the icon painter's use of techniques from book illustration and engraving. In her opinion, the depiction of the labyrinth is especially close to engraving. The text on the "Spiritual Labyrinth" icon demands concentration and attentive reading, which is also characteristic of engraving and is poorly suited to an icon, in which inscribed texts "traditionally play a subsidiary, auxiliary role or carry sacred meaning, merely supplementing the image and being reproduced in abbreviated form with titlos".
Dolgova analyzed the semantic and compositional structure of the icon. The icon is divided along the vertical central axis into two parts opposite in meaning (the death of a young sinner on one side of the axis and an elderly righteous person on the other). There is also an analogous, horizontal division(the fiery Gehenna below and the New Jerusalem above). The composition "is supplemented by text and emotionally reinforced by the color scheme".
The "Spiritual Labyrinth" icon has three parts. The upper part depicts the New Jerusalem, the central part — the earthly world, the lower part — the underworld with the fiery Gehenna. At the center of the composition is the labyrinth, in the middle of which, against a relatively realistically rendered landscape background, is placed a person who, according to Dolgova, is kneeling. His red garments stand out against the dark green background of the scene. Above this figure, depicted at the center of the labyrinth, is the inscription: "How I wish to walk the path". The labyrinth is circular on an ochre-yellow background and has only one exit at the top. To the underworld, on the other hand, several paths lead, each corresponding to twelve sins: envy, slander, murder, fornication, drunkenness, pride, vainglory, despondency, wrath, avarice, gluttony, and overeating. Dolgova notes that to the seven deadly sins (pride, envy, gluttony, lust, wrath, greed, and despondency) the icon painter, guiding a Christian onto the true path, adds additional ones. This allows one to penetrate into the spiritual world of a person of that era.
Around the edges of the labyrinth is a text which Dolgova was only partially able to decipher. From three sides runs the inscription: "Brethren, do not believe the words of your enemy, until the sorrowful [illegible] course of this life has arrived. As if [illegible] dwelling in life, be with Christ forever [illegible]. Show me Thy ways, O Lord, and teach me Thy paths. Draw me not away with sinners and with those who work iniquity destroy me not". The line along the lower edge of the labyrinth is entirely indecipherable. Dolgova was only able to identify the source for two lines: 1) "Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths" (); "Do not drag me away with the wicked, with those who do evil, who speak cordially with their neighbors but harbor malice in their hearts" (). The catalogue of the London exhibition of 1992 erroneously stated that the text was taken from Psalm 88, and the catalogue of an exhibition in Finland in 1995 stated it was from Psalm 38.
On both sides of the labyrinth are two death scenes — that of a righteous man and that of a sinner. The righteous man — a venerable man on the left with a full beard in dark green garments under a red blanket. His soul, depicted as the figure of an infant, is received by an angel also in red garments. The sinner's soul (also in the form of an infant, while the sinner himself has the appearance of a beardless man) is received by a feathered monster with clawed paws, in which it holds two scrolls (Dolgova acknowledged that she was unable to decipher the text written in them).
A small arch in the Renaissance style opens the entrance to the New Jerusalem. Jesus Christ, in a red chiton and dark green himation, sits on a throne in the Baroque style. His vestments stand out clearly against the "reddish-ochre, warm and light-filled" overall color scheme of the upper register of the icon. From him radiate beams of light. The soul of the righteous man in white garments kneels beside an angel in red vestments. Dolgova assessed the buildings of the New City depicted by the icon painter as "buildings of different types, executed in the spirit of Western Renaissance architecture". Here and there between them are dark green trees, which also stand out by their color against the relatively even overall background.
The lower register of the icon is also executed in a reddish-ochre palette, "but this is no longer the color of warmth and light which fills the New Jerusalem, but the color of fire condemning sinners to eternal torment". The fiery Gehenna is represented on the icon as a monster with red eyes and an enormous mouth. In its mouth blaze yellow tongues of flame, signifying the underworld. Fragments of the "Spiritual Labyrinth" from the State Museum of the History of Religion
Icons in the collections of Russian museums
As of 2023, only two icons on the subject of the "spiritual labyrinth" were within the purview of art historians (however, art historian Galina Zelenskaya asserts: "the profound spiritual and didactic content, expressed in vivid imagery, contributed to the appearance of various recensions of the 'Labyrinth' in icon painting and in the Russian popular print — the lubok"). One of them is part of the collection of the Museum of the History of Religion in Saint Petersburg. The second is in the collection of the New Jerusalem museum in Istra in Moscow Oblast.
Dolgova asserts that the first of the two icons was painted by a master of the Moscow school of icon painting in the late 18th century, and attributes its execution to the traditional icon-painting technique (tempera on wood). The dimensions of this icon are (the website of St. Tikhon's Orthodox University provides slightly different information: , tempera on wood, second half of the 18th century). Dolgova notes that the provenance of this icon and its location before entering the museum collection are unknown. The icon from the collection of the State Museum of the History of Religion has been exhibited many times and is well known to specialists. At the same time, Dolgova asserts that as of 2011, the iconography of this icon has been poorly studied, and in the museum catalogues its description is "given schematically, in some cases even with an erroneous reference to the texts of a written source".