Deesis

Deesis (Great Deesis) The term Deesis, meaning 'supplication', 'plea' in Greek, formed on the basis of liturgical texts, in which the Church resorts to the intercession of the Mother of God, John the Baptist, angels, apostles, and saints. Since the 6th-7th c., a visual representation of Deesis is known in the east. In addition to the basic variant (see S.12824MŁ), the Great Deesis developed. In the Great Deesis, Christ in Majesty with open Gospels is shown among Archangels, revered by the Mother of God and John the Baptist, apostles, prophets, martyrs, hermits, and monks in hierarchical order. Depictions of Deesis in the form of cast metal icons were disseminated by the persecuted in Russia Old Ritualists, who opposed the liturgical reform introduced in the middle of the 17th century. Among the Old Ritualists, as well as among the faithful of the Moscow Orthodox Church, the images of Deesis depicting several figures were popularly known as 'siedmica', meaning the seven days of the week. In the life of a Christian, the week commemorating the Passion of Christ, known as the Holy Week, is the most important. Each day of the liturgical year is associated with remembrance of a saint, saints, or events. During the week, each day serves to commemorate something or someone: the first one, Sunday, commemorates the Resurrection, Monday is dedicated to the Heavenly Powers, Tuesday - day of John the Baptist, Wednesday - day of the Mother of God, Thursday - the Apostles and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Friday - the Crucifixion of Christ, Saturday - All Saints. The icons of the Great Deesis, because of the figures they show, were recognised as the individual days of the weeks in which the Heavenly Powers, in the form of Archangels Michael and Gabriel, with the Mother of God, John the Baptist, and other saints revere Christ. On the displayed icon, in addition to the already mentioned, there are depictions of Apostles Peter and Paul, John the Evangelist, and John Chrysostom. Depicted kneeling, there are St. Nicholas and Sergius of Radonezh, as well as Zosimas and Sabbatius of Solovki. Teresa Bagińska-Żurawska https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9243-3967