Krikščionių dvasininko paveikslas viduramžių Rytų Europoje

ENThroughout the Middle Ages priests, monks and Christians were struggling to obtain a certain position in the society, at the same time creating a visual image of a man devoted to God. The stone temples (34), the burial places of princes in temples (50) and those of bishops in crypts (Polotsk) built on the territory of present-day Belarus in the 11th-13th centuries demonstrate the aspiration for entering the Other World as a Christian. The author emphasizes the clothing of a monk, a priest and a warrior monk. The habit of a monk is minimized, it accentuates his renunciation of the worldly pleasures through its colour, crude fabrics, length of the robe, absence of decoration and adornment. Medieval art monuments present ministers of religion exclusively in dark colours and tones - black, brown, maroon clothing. It was obligatory that the robing covers the whole human body from neck to feet, long sleeves hide the hands, thus intensifying the relativity of the human figure. The clothing is meant to conceal the sinful body of a human, which helps to emphasize his devotion to Gods service through the openness of his face, his large spiritual eyes. The liturgical vestment of a priest demonstrates the riches of church and faith, therefore symbol bearing colours like purple, blue and white, decoration with gold and precious stones dominate. The author proves that the foundation of all the main types of clerical clothing was laid in the Middle Ages and they evolved in the following centuries without changing their symbolics and basic components.