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« 2026. # 4 (190)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2026. № 4 (190), 1068—1075

UDK 75.046.3:27-526.62(477.83) “16/17”

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/

  • Received: 02.07.2026
  • Accepted: 16.07.2026
  • Published: ??.??.2026

ICONOGRAPHIC FEATURES OF THE ALTARPIECE «SAVIOR» FROM THE CHURCH OF THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. ARCHANGEL MICHAEL IN THE VILLAGE OF YASENYTSIA-ZAMKOVA

PELEKH Mariana

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5780-9650
  • Candidate of Art History, Associate Professor,
  • Associate Professor of the Department
  • of Graphics and Book Art,
  • Institute of Printing and Media Technologies;
  • National University Lviv Polytechnic,
  • 17, Pidvalna Str., 79000, Lviv, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: marjanna.peleh@gmail.com

LUKOVSKA Olha

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4074-7454
  • D. Sc in Art Studies, Professor,
  • Professor of the Department of Graphics and Book Art,
  • Institute of Printing Art and Media Technologies;
  • National University Lviv Polytechnic,
  • 3, Lychakivska Str., 79000, Lviv, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: olha.i.lukovska@lpnu.ua

Abstract. Introduction. The image of the Savior Blessing with Both Hands from the church ensemble in Yasenytsia-Zamkova represents an important example of the development of Ukrainian church art in the 17th—18th centuries. As the principal icon of a side altar, it reflects the synthesis of the Byzantine artistic tradition with the theological and liturgical concepts of the Greek Catholic Church. This rare iconographic type demonstrates both continuity with early Christian models and the originality of the Ukrainian iconographic tradition.

Purpose. The study aims to identify the theological sources, iconographic prototypes, and artistic features of the iconography of the Savior Blessing with Both Hands, as well as to determine its place in the development of Ukrainian church art.

Methods. The research is based on iconographic, iconological, semiotic, historical, and comparative methods, which make it possible to analyze the symbolism, theological meaning, and artistic characteristics of the iconographic composition within its historical and cultural context.

Conclusions. The iconography of the Savior Blessing with Both Hands constitutes a distinctive phenomenon of Ukrainian Baroque church painting, reflecting both the continuity of Byzantine tradition and the creative reinterpretation of Christological imagery in the Ukrainian cultural environment. The preserved monuments provide new opportunities for further research into regional icon-painting traditions and the evolution of Ukrainian church art.

Keywords: iconography of the image of Jesus Christ, Christ Blessing with Both Hands, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century church art, graphic prototypes, painting tradition of Western Ukraine.

REFERENCES

  • Slobodyan, V. (1998). Churches of Ukraine. Przemysl Diocese. Lviv [in Ukrainian].
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  • Marcus, Fabius Quintilianus. (n. d.). Institutio oratoria (Book XI, chapter 3: De gestu). IntraText Digital Library. Retrieved from: https://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0332/_INDEX.HTM [in Latin].
  • Stasenko, V. (2003). Christ and the Mother of God in woodcuts of Cyrillic books of Halychyna in the seventeenth century. Druk [in Ukrainian].
  • Aleksandrovych, V. (2006). Iconographic features of the composition of the icon ensemble of the pre-altar screen of the Assumption Church in Lviv (1616—1638). In: Preservation and Rescue of Sacred Monuments of Halychyna: Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference (Pp. 9—16). Studion [in Ukrainian].
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  • Derevska, O. (2024). Iconography of the Last Judgment in the interpretation of Nykodym Zubrytsky. The Ethnology Notebooks, 6 (180), 1440—1449. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2024.06.1441 [in Ukrainian].
  • Pelekh, M. (2015). Iconography of the «Savior with Angels» by Lviv painters of the seventeenth century. Pamyatky Ukrayiny (Monuments of Ukraine), 1, 30—33 [in Ukrainian].
  • Otkovych, M., Turetskyy, V., & Kubiv, S. (Eds.). (2005). The iconostasis of the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross of the Manyava Skete Monastery: Album-catalogue. Lviv: Branch of the National Research Restoration Center of Ukraine [in Ukrainian].
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