THE PLANT IMAGERY IN THE AESTHETICS OF THE CULT PRACTICE OF THE ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17721/sophia.2022.20.6

Keywords:

plant imagery, Armenian Apostolic Church, aesthetics, Cult Practice, khachkar, pomegranate, shakaran

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of plant imagery as an important aesthetic-semantic component of the cult practices of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Armenian Apostolic Church is not only a unique, ancient institution among the circle of Christian churches, but also represents an original cultural world, manifested in a cult rich in its theological content and artistic form, that's why it deserves to be present in the religious studies, aesthetic, cultural, historical research discourses. Using textological, semiotic and phenomenological methods, the authors analyze the implicit content of individual plant images of the cult space of the church. Various elements of the Armenian sacred art were used to reveal the foundations of the dogma, which ensured the formation of an original the-aesthetics. Armenian sacral art formed the aesthetic world of imagery of the Christian religion. The organic inclusion of plant imagery in the general Christian picture of the world, reflected in the artistic representations of the art of sacral sculpture and church poetry, the inspiration of which was the biblical and early Christian imagery, which symbolic interpretations deepened the understanding of the evangelical truths and constituted the original aesthetic world of the Armenian national culture was proved. In the article, the authors pay attention to the study of plant imagery in cult practices, in particular with the example of monumental khachkars, liturgical texts of the shakarans dedicated to the Holy Virgin and the Christian saints, which are especially popular among the Armenian people, first of all St. Gregory the Illuminator. Thus, the plant imagery occupies an important place in the temple cult practices of the Armenian Apostolic Church, as well as in the aesthetic sphere of the Armenian national culture and ethno-consciousness.

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Published

2023-03-04

How to Cite

Кондратьєва, І. В., & Фенно, І. М. (2023). THE PLANT IMAGERY IN THE AESTHETICS OF THE CULT PRACTICE OF THE ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH. SOPHIA. Human and Religious Studies Bulletin, 20(2), 28-31. https://doi.org/10.17721/sophia.2022.20.6