The Falling
Asleep of Ksenia Pokrovsky
July 17, 2013
By Mary
Lowell
News that
Ksenia Mikhailovna Pokrovskaya had fallen asleep in the Lord on Sunday, July 7,
2013 was a profound shock. Though she had chronic hypertension, she had not
been ill. She was tired, yes, for many years, but still actively sharing her
wisdom and knowledge with clarity and generosity. For both her family and friends and for those
who only knew her by reputation, a light has gone out of the world. The
universal response of those closest to her and of her many students is that of
having suddenly become orphans.
Ksenia
Pkrosky: May her memory be eternal.
Ksenia
Pokrovsky: May her memory be eternal.
Ksenia’s
funeral on Wednesday evening, July 10 at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Salem,
MA was followed by the all-night chanting of the psalter. When morning came she
was carried from the church to St. Tikhon of Zadonsk Monastery in northeastern
Pennsylvania to be buried beside her son Dmitri († 2001). Keeping the Russian
custom, the mourners themselves closed the grave with shovels and hands full of
earth. The labor helped to lighten their burden of grief.
The main
elements of Ksenia’s biography (see Wikipedia) are well known. She was born in
Kirghizstan in 1942 during World War II when many Muscovites were evacuated
because the Nazis were less than 100 miles from the city. Ksenia’s heritage
flowed from many streams, including Tartar and Jewish ancestors, as well as
Russian, Polish and Bulgarian. She described her mother as “a romantic
communist.” It was her paternal great aunt Katya who taught her what a Christian
is and cultivated in Ksenia a love of art.
Ksenia met
her future husband, Lev Alexeyevich
Pokrovsky, while they were students at Moscow University. They were married in
1960 and lived together for 53 years. Lev became a teaching professor and researcher
of theoretical physics while Ksenia pursued biophysics. As she completed her
studies and worked in the field, Ksenia realized she was more interested in the
laboratory of metaphysics than in gathering data in the halls of science. The
Pokrovskys were a part of Fr. Alexander Men’s parish in the village of Novaya
Derevnya located a short distance from Moscow. When Ksenia told her dilemma to
Fr. Alexander, he was forthright, “Alright then, you will be an iconographer!”
Her life’s
work as an iconographer reflected a scientific mind that constantly
investigated every field of knowledge from chemistry and geology to psychology
and history, to philosophy and theology.
After Fr.
Alexander was murdered in September of 1990, the family with the exception of
one son immigrated to the United States in June of 1991. Together Lev and
Ksenia reared four sons: Yevgeny, Dmitry, Nikolay and Ilya; and a daughter
Anna.
Beyond the
facts of her life there are stories, a bottomless repository of stories that
would fill many books. Her family, friends and students will be telling these
stories for the rest of their lives. Besides being one of the finest
iconographers of contemporary times, Ksenia Pokrovsky was one of the great
personalities of the 20th and 21st centuries. Everyone who met her recognized
this instantly. For all her great knowledge, she remained simple and
approachable. She was very clear about the vocation of the iconographer, and
she was keen to separate it from the sometimes ego-satisfying aura of the artist. “An iconographer can never have ambition,”
she would say.
Her long-time
student Marek Czarnecki tells this story which illustrates Ksenia’s goal as an
icon painter.
“I once told
Ksenia that I thought she was the best iconographer alive. ‘No’, she said
(modestly and honestly) ‘there are many living iconographers much better than
me’, citing Zinon as an example. She did
know, however, where she had authority. ‘I understand some things well, and I
want to be able to leave what I do know somewhere, so it is not lost.’ She said she wanted her students to jump over
her. ‘That’s impossible, I said, ‘you are too high to jump over.’ Playfully but
emphatically she answered, ‘then I don’t want to teach you.’”
As an
iconographer her influence is immeasurable: a hero and pioneer to many
generations of icon painters in Russia; a consummate teacher of the sacred art
and a peerless example of the profession to hundreds in the West. Truly the
light of her accomplishments continue to shine forth in the world and will only
grow more bright as future generations come to know her.
Ksenia
Pokrovsky was the author of many new icons. Her “Synaxis Of All Saints Who Have
Shone Forth In North America” has become famous as the prototype for
iconographers to follow. The icon is owned by the Archdiocese of the Orthodox
Church in America (OCA) and is housed in OCA headquarters in Syosset, New York.
It was commissioned by Metropolitan Theodosius after Ksenia arrived in America.
It is fitting that Ksenia fell asleep on the Feast of the Saints of North
America, Sunday, July 7, 2013. The icon appeared on the OCA website that
Sunday. For us it was an unforeseen synaxis of events, though surely appointed
by God since before the foundation of the world.
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