The icon of the Blessed Virgin in the novel “Odysseus Polichroniades” by K. N. Leontiev

This article deals with the image of the icon of the Virgin in the novel “Odyssey Polihroniades” of K. N. Leontiev. It proves that the holy faces of the Virgin in the novel become a link between the Greek and Russian Orthodox traditions. The author traces the biography of the writer and explains special Leontiev’s attitude to the icons of Our Lady. As it is revealed in the analysis the Virgin images in the Eastern Christianity represent intercession and the protective function of the icon. Besides, The Orthodox Christian consciousness shares the same prayer tradition. It is these images of the Virgin through which a special connection between an icon and a prayer as well as its correlation with the prototype are revealed in the novel. The specific character of the Greek world is discovered in the novel “Odysseus Polichroniades” through the holy face of the Mother of God. The icon of the Mother of God gives the Greek world special symbolism in the artistic space of the novel adding thereby the dynamics to the static Greek world.