MOSCOW, June 6 Vladimir Tolstoy, advisor to the President of the Russian Federation on culture, proposed to develop rules for moving icons and other monuments of cultural heritage in order to prevent such situations as with Andrey Rublev's Trinity.
«Now the Trinity holiday has passed, and we should not wait for the next such event, but sit down in a narrow circle of professionals and work out these rules together with the church and follow them. If the professionals really say that there are threats, then we need to find other solutions, we need to be very calm, take a balanced and not hysterical attitude to everything,» Tolstoy told reporters on Tuesday.
He added that the «Trinity» is not the only valuable relic that is in the country's museums. “Of course, at some difficult moments in history, the icon begins to gain that very sacred role that is so necessary, but still there must be some clear rules, this cannot be a spontaneous decision,” he stressed.
In addition, he believes that it is necessary to take into account the opinion of professionals, «who are the only ones who understand what threats exist for these monuments.» “You can’t speculate on this, kindle a situation of confrontation between museums and the Russian Orthodox Church, this doesn’t exist, and it doesn’t need to be heated up,” Tolstoy concluded.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier decided to transfer the «Trinity» to the Russian Orthodox Church. On June 3, the feast of the Trinity, which was celebrated on June 4, the icon was delivered to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in a special van. The icon will be available for worship, then, as reported by the Ministry of Culture, it will have to be restored.
A masterpiece of ancient Russian painting, the icon «Holy Trinity», or «Hospitality of Abraham», was painted by Andrei Rublev in the 15th century for the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where it was located until the 20s of the 20th century. After the October Revolution under Soviet rule, in 1929, the icon was transferred to the State Tretyakov Gallery. On the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the finding of the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh in 2022, the icon was brought to the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra for veneration.