The Old Testament parable and the relief picture from Chernihiv Saints Borys and Hlib Cathedral

The purpose of the study is to figure out the meaning of image system of relief, which was found in 1948 in the process of exploration of Chernihiv Saints Borys and Hlib Cathedral of the 12th century. The system of the mentioned relief images obviously bears resemblance to the one that we find in Old Testament parable of two eagles, cedar and vine (Ezekiel 17:1–10). As visual analysis proves, the vast majority of the main relief images – the bird, the tree and the vine – corresponds to the parable image system to a rather great degree. Consequently, we have some ground to suppose that Chernihiv relief picture presents an artistic interpretation of the parable: the relief bird, tree and vine can be identified as the parable (first) eagle, cedar and vine. Appealing to the Bible (Ezekiel 17:11–21), we should explain the relief allegories as symbols of the Babylon king Nebuchadnezzar II, the conqueror of Judea (“the eagle”), captive political elite of Judea (“taken by the eagle part of the cedar”), and new king of Judea Zedekiah (“the vine”). According to the Old Testament, Zedekiah swore the allegiance to the lord of Babylon by the name of God, but despised his oath trying to make military alliance with Egyptian pharaoh. This ancient political leader is denoted with the image of the second eagle in the parable. However, an author of the relief probably created another image instead of that very eagle, having used some biblical symbols (Ezekiel 17; 29; 32) / another biblical symbol of pharaoh (Ezekiel 29; 32). As a result, an image of a dragon (or some chimerical animal) appeared in the relief picture. Such a dragon, which is known by the name of “Chernihiv beast”, symbolizes the pharaoh and the evil one besides (for the image of pharaoh can denote devil in the Bible). Thereby, we suppose the relief as a message to Kyiv Rus princes: it underlines the importance of oath given to God and criticizes the feudal strives and military unions with pagan Polovtsian khans. Prospects for future research consist in particular of further exploration of Chernihiv relief and seeking for more or less full or partial analogies to it in the history of Christian artistic traditions, first of all of the medieval ones.