DOME AND VAULT PAINTING

Paintings inside the drums of the domes represent the heavenly Powers, prophets and forefathers. Vaults accommodate Scenes from the New Testament related to the Terrestrial Life of Christ.

Traditionally the image of the Pantocrator is depicted inside central domes of churches. But there is a composition ‘The Paternity’ painted inside the central dome of the Archangel Cathedral. God the Father is held by six-winged seraphim; he is holding the Child on his lap. There is the Holy Spirit in the image of a pigeon above the Child's head. The composition illustrates the basic dogma about the Divine triunity. That idea was vital in the epoch of Ivan the Terrible because of theological controversies about the triune Godhead.

'The Symbol of Faith' is depicted over the central nave vault and over the southern and northern vaults. Those are the places where the main events of the New Testament should be placed according to the canon.

On the northern slope of the main vault we can see frescoes related to the First Ecumenical council of Nicaea which was summoned by Byzantine Emperor Constantine V in 325 year A.D. The Nicene Creed (Symbol of Faith) was confirmed there, as well as the crown and the hierocracy entered into an alliance with each other.

The painting in the center of the main vault is a pictorial rendition of the second article of 'The Symbol of Faith' – ‘The Paternity’. ‘And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the begotten of God the Father, the Only-begotten, that is of the essence of the Father; God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten and not made; of the very same nature of the Father, by Whom all things came into being, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible’. The Scenes ‘Annunciation’ and ‘The Nativity’, explaining the third article of the Creed, are depicted over the southern slope of the vault: ‘Who for us humanity and for our salvation came down from heaven, was incarnate, was made human, was born perfectly of the holy virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. By Whom He took body, soul, and mind, and everything that is in man, truly and not in semblance’.

There are half-length images of Archangels Michael and Gabriel. It’s considered that it’s just they who come for the holy soles.