Iconoclast orthodox spiritual music in the context of traditions and innovations in Russian culture of the XXI century

The article is focused on the ecology of culture, as far as church music of the Eastern Orthodox Church is concerned. Peter the Great’s and Catherine the Great’s reformers paved the way for Western cultural trends to influence the arts in Russia. Without downplaying the relevance of the Russian Baroque church architecture icon panting and church music, I’d like to address another issue, namely the masterpieces of the Ancient Rus witch were significantly disfigured. For instance, due to the new trends in architecture, wooden churches constructed in the 17th century were redesigned. Now the Orthodox Church architecture and icon painting are booming, but unfortunately the church music is facing a stagnation. Znamenny and other ancient Russian chants as well as chants arranged by Synodal School composers appear only at choral festivals. Wanting to underscore the crucial role of the Orthodox Church music, I am coining a new term: Iconoznachimost, that means the “icon like significance“ of the Russian Orthodox Church music. The Orthodox Church music refers to the prototype or to the Greek, eidos‘, in a similar way like orthodox icons go to the prototype.