Initiation Into Icon Painting Performed At The Icon Painting Faculty

On the evening of June 1, 2026, on the Day of the Holy Spirit, Archimandrite Luka (Golovkov), Dean of the Icon Painting Faculty of the Moscow Theological Academy, traditionally initiated 3rd-year students into icon painters at the Trinity Cathedral of the Lavra.

At the shrine with the relics of St. Sergius, a prayer service was held for the granting of God's help in the craft of icon painting through the prayers of the Saint himself and the holy iconographers: the Apostle and Evangelist Luke, Hierarchs Peter of Moscow and Theodore of Rostov, the Venerable Alipius, Lazarus, and Gregory, Andrei Rublev and Daniel Chorny, Epiphanius the Wise, Pachomius of Nerekhta, Dionysius of Glushitsa, Anthony of Siya, and Sophia of Suzdal.

In conclusion, Archimandrite Luka read a prayer over each student being initiated into icon painting, asking for the enlightenment of their minds and hearts and for a blessing on their upcoming labors:

"O Master, God of all, enlighten and grant understanding to the soul, heart, and mind of Thy servant, and guide his hands, that he may sinlessly and excellently depict Thy life, that of Thy Most Pure Mother, and all the saints, for Thy glory, for the adornment and beauty of Thy holy Church, and for the remission of sins of all who spiritually bow before holy icons, and reverently kiss them, and offer honor to the Prototype".

For the third year already, the initiation has taken place near the deeply venerated icon of the Holy Trinity painted by St. Andrei Rublev, which was returned to the local row of the iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral, to its historical place, in 2024.

MThA Press Office