The Image of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Source” in the Icon Painting and Singing Tradition: a Profound Synergy of Expressive Means

Abstract

Abstract. The fresco of the Mother of God bearing the title “The Life-Giving Source,” preserved in
the Serbian city of Niš (the birthplace of Emperor Constantine), presents the author with the grounds
for contemplating about the deep foundations of the synthesis of church art, which unites not only
the space of the church, the service to the saint, or the iconographic series, but also the color structure
of the hymns’ text. The service to the “Mother of God, the Life-Giving Source” was discovered by
the author as a manuscript musical score from the second half of the 17th century as part of Dmitri
Razumovsky’s collection in the Russian State Library. Analysis of the synergy of the color scheme of
the fresco from the city of Niš, the color painting of the musical text of the stichera hymns and their
compositional and melodic structure makes it possible to examine the combination of these properties
as a rich resource for studying church art in its entirety. An example of the perichoresis (exchange
of energies) of the artistic means of the fresco in the Church of the Mother of God of the city of Niš
and the singing church service in honor of the Mother of God, “The Life-Giving Source,” created
simultaneously in Serbia and in Russia, – during the second half of the 17th century, – demonstrates
the didactic principle of education by means of church art: the conveyance of the dogmatic foundations
of the doctrine through the synergy of all the artistic means participating in the church liturgical
action. In this case, the perichoresis is the unification of energies: of color painting of the musical
score of the liturgical chants, the melodic formulas and the color solution of the iconic image.

Keywords: Mother of God, “The Life-Giving Source,” fresco in the city of Niš, color writing of
the text of the liturgical service, compositional and melodic structure of the sticheras, synergy of
expressive means, perichoresis