Illarion Mikhailovich Pryanishnikov, a nice long Russian name. A great painter who died in 1894. Before he died he finished this masterpiece, the "Easter Procession", of 1893. Much more solemn than the next image.

The image evokes the religious devotion of the Russians, they were especially awed by colors, icons and mysticism. Not many understood the teachings of the Scriptures. They knew who Jesus Christ was/is: which is good. Images can be printed at 11 x 17 inches, for framing. I enhanced each carefully. Color is: AdobeRGB (1998)

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Ilya Yefimovich Repin, another Russian artist. He was a native of the Ukraine, he died in Finland in 1930. He was quite famous, with good reason. The Russians loved him and his wonderful paintings. His paintings also evoked a sense of national pride, and often depicted the common folks. He was well known as a portrait and icon painter as well. Note the intrusion or oversight provided by the Russian authorities present on horses!

This image too is an Easter procession - "Religious Procession in Kursk Province", painted 1880 -1883.

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Alexei Kondratyevich Savrasov, my final sample of great modern Russian religious artwork. He died in 1897, his final years were drowned by alcoholism. He was most famous for his landscapes. This image is of the Monastery near Nizhny Novgorod, the Pechorskiy Monastery or Cloister, it is near a river, it has some underground caves/tunnels as does the next item.

Lower image is another Monastery, the Pecherskaia Monastery (also called the Monastery of Caves, and also spelled Pechersky). This monastery is located in Kiev. Some websites confuse this Monastery with the one above. This monastery is the greatest of the Kievan monasteries. Founded in circa A.D. 1040, by St. Anthonii, it has some tunnels extending beneath it to the nearby Dnieper River. The front of this building was heavily damaged by the Germans in WWII. Originally the monastery was closer to the river, but was moved during the rule of its second abbot, St. Feodosii. The present buildings date from only the 17th century (rebuilt). IMAGE SOURCE: A History of Russia. Jesse D. Clarkson. Random House. 1961.

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Upper map showing rough locations of the great Bulgarian monasteries.

Lower map, via the experts at National Geographics (circa 1962). Bulgaria. Detailed.

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Maps of Serbia, upper one shows locations of monasteries in the Fruska Gora area.

Lower map, from National Geographics (circa 1962). Detailed. Showing the same area of Northern Serbia.

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maps showing some of the north central Monasteries of Romania.

Middle map is a detail of the upper region of Romania, where some monasteries are located.

Lower map again from the cartographics experts at the National Geographics Society (circa 1962). Detailed. All of Romania.

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Map illustrating several religious establishments in the Slavic world of A.D. 1050. At this time it is evident that Roman Catholicism has destroyed much of the earlier Pauline doctrines and early Byzantine plantings. Catholicism did follow the Roman armies. After the Tatar invasions and those via the Golden Horde, and of the turks of the 1400s, Orthodoxy again gains some control. Romania resisted the Ottoman Turks of the 1400s and became a haven for manuscripts which were moved from the Serbian and Bulgarian regions (which the Ottoman Muslim Turks devastated). Thus, in Romania, we find surviving Old Bulgarian and Serbian MSS..

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