Father Michael (Mikhail Yermashkevich) serves in the Church of St. Barbara in Vitebsk. He graduated from the graphic arts department of the Vitebsk State University named after P.M. Masherov. But this person does not just serve in the church, but restores and renovates the old building, creating new paintings and icons that fit so well into the general interior of the church.
Hey! This text has been translated into English using automatic Google translation. So I apologize for the inaccuracies in the text. The original in Russian can be seen here
Among his paintings we find the famous story “Saint Dominic”, which is presented here in a new way to the viewer. His original name is Santo Domingo de Guzmán Garcés or Domingo de Guzmán Garcés. He was born in 1170 in Caleruega (Spain), and died in 1221 in Bologna (Italy). He is the founder of the Order of the Brothers Preachers, or the Order of the Dominicans. Saint Dominic is depicted traditionally in a white tunic of a Dominican monk and a black cloak. His iconographic symbols are also present – a lily, a star above the forehead, a book, the founder’s (patriarchal) cross.
There are two significant works in his work, one of which is “ET VERBUM CARO FACTUM EST” (And the word became flesh). In it, the main thing is the transfer of the main idea through the construction of figures in the composition. The artist in the picture combines several biblical myths, combining them into one idea. The work presents Easter and the Nativity of Christ, the mystery of the incarnation and resurrection, the annunciation and bow to the sage. We see all this on one canvas.
His other painting “HOC EST ENIM CORPUS MEUM” (For this is my flesh) is built on the same principle. In it, Mikhail Yermashkevich contrasts Jewish and Catholic Easter. There is a crucifix in the center of the work, because Jesus opened heaven through sacrifice. On the left we see a biblical story – the exodus from Egypt and the so-called waters of baptism. The lamb, as a prototype of the sacrifice of Christ and the shed blood, is also depicted to the left of the crucifixion. On the right, you can see an empty coffin and a rolled stone. This is how the author, using classical biblical myths, conveyed his vision and understanding of Christianity in his works.
under the general title “The Way of the Cross” a legend from the New Testament about Jesus carrying the cross and his subsequent crucifixion, reflecting in this project the pain and anguish of the great messiah. This series is a classic example that has been used since the Middle Ages to convey biblical stories in churches, when illiterate people could get acquainted and learn this or that covenant through the images and pictures depicted on the walls of the church. In the same way, a series of works by Ermashkevich dedicated to the Way of the Cross was built. All works are in the form of a circle, so here you can see how the artist fits this or that plot or composition into this format, because. it has its own characteristics. The author used the image of Christ in almost every work from the series. This allowed the artist to focus on conveying the features of the internal state and mood of the main character at one time or another. We can see the pain and suffering embracing Christ while he was carrying the Cross, and the next moment a picture appears in front of us, in which the mother is already mourning the deceased, and so this or that image pops up in front of us, a beautifully conveyed state of the soul in difficult times. All works have a rather dark color scheme, which emphasizes the complexity of the current situation.
