Image and text: liturgical inscriptions on objects of ancient Russian pictorial embroidery (aspects of the problem)

Liturgical inscriptions, including prayer or hymnographic texts, are significant elements of the compositions made using the technique of pictorial embroidery on liturgical vestments. In ancient Russian tradition, such inscriptions performed several functions: they recorded the identity of a certain image with a traditional iconographic plot, played the role of a prayer appeal, and acted as a decorative element. The article is devoted to an aspect of the study of liturgical inscriptions, namely to the consideration of the embroidered text as a kind of “ideogram”, the semantics of which is closely related to the symbolism of priestly vestments. The object of the study is the omophorion medallion, created in the middle of the 17th century in the workshop of queen Maria Ilyinichna, which includes an image of the Lord’s Ascension and the text of the sticheron from the service of the Ascension. The chant on the borders of the medallion is interpreted in the article in the context of the holistic image of Christ “in glory”, determined by the semantics of the omophorion as an item of liturgical clothing of the bishop and the bishop’s actions during the lesser entrance, which are reflected in ancient Russian liturgical interpretations.