Why did Moscow become the capital of Rus'? Why did Russian lands begin to gather around it, and, for example, not around Tver, Vladimir or Novgorod? The reasons can be sought in faith, economics, politics - both external and internal. Perhaps all of this mattered.
However, esotericists and heraldry experts believe that an amazing coat of arms of Moscow. He agreed to tell us why the coat of arms of the capital is so unusual historian and esotericist Mikhail KALYUZHNY.
— Mikhail, what is the secret of the Moscow coat of arms?
— The paradox is that due to the political storms that raged more than once in the history of our country, Moscow had several coats of arms. But only St. George the Victorious, according to mystics, brought Moscow not victory, but defeat: he almost deprived it of its capital status forever.
Since ancient times, various versions of the coat of arms and coins of Moscow have depicted either a foot warrior with a spear or a horseman slaying a dragon. Moreover, the rider was the personification of the great prince himself, and later the king.
No wonder, having conquered Khanate of Kazan, that is, having symbolically defeated the dragon, Tsar Ivan the Terrible added the greatness Tsar of Kazan to his official title. Since then, the dragon-slayer rider has become the main symbol of Moscow.
- But the rider on the horse is St. George the Victorious...
- Just not! Only foreigners called the Moscow horseman Saint George. The ambassadors of Ivan the Terrible answered the question of the Patriarch of Alexandria: “Is the blessed king on horseback on this seal?” - they answered: “The Emperor is on horseback.” There is a well-known quotation from the chronicle: “Under the Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich, there was a banner on money: the Great Prince was on horseback, and having a sword in his hand and at his side, he produced penny money.”
And on the state emblem placed on title page The Bible, published in 1663, gave the snake fighter a portrait resemblance to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Later, this tradition took root: with the change of ruler, the face of the horseman depicted on the coat of arms began to change.
- Which of our rulers was the first to call the horseman Saint George?
— Only Peter I officially named the horseman on the coat of arms as Saint George the Victorious, which greatly surprised his subjects. And in the Senate decree of March 8, 1730, five years after the death of the emperor, the Moscow coat of arms was already officially described as follows: “... in the middle of the (double-headed) eagle, George on a white horse, defeating the serpent, yellow cap and spear, crown yellow, the serpent is black, the field all around is white, and in the middle is red.” From this moment until the beginning of the 20th century, the rider on the Moscow coat of arms officially began to be called Saint George.
Seal of Ivan III
— From the point of view of magic and heraldry, how is a rider on a horse fundamentally different from St. George?
— The fact is that they always tried to depict symbols of good luck, victory and prosperity on coats of arms or banners. The rider on the horse, personifying the wise and fair prince, fulfilled this role perfectly. Saint George is a different matter.
By calling the horseman on the coat of arms George the Victorious, Peter I, without knowing it, brought misfortune to the city. As the life of George says, by the age of 30, thanks to intelligence, courage and physical strength, he rose to the rank of commander of a thousand - this is something like a battalion commander. Moreover, he became Diocletian's favorite. However, George could not calmly watch as the emperor executed the followers of Christ. And he openly admitted that he was a Christian.
They beat him with ox sinews, wheeled him around, threw him into quicklime, were forced to run in boots with sharp nails inside. George endured all this torment and did not renounce Christ. Looking at this, two noble dignitaries, Anatoly and Protoleon, who were secret Christians, revealed themselves to the emperor.
Diocletian executed them. And then he called upon the sorcerer Athanasius to either pacify his former favorite or poison him. The sorcerer presented George with two bowls of potions, one of which was supposed to make him submissive, and the other - to kill him. But the potions didn't work. And then the sorcerer Athanasius, falling at the feet of George, confessed Christ. At this point the emperor became completely enraged and executed both - Athanasius, who believed, and George.
— And how did the fate of St. George the Victorious affect Moscow?
— Bad times have come for Moscow with George on its coat of arms. During the period from 1730 to 1918, Moscow was repeatedly devastated by epidemics and fires, suffered terrible damage from the elements, and became the scene of bloody mass civil strife and other disasters.
—Who saved Moscow from such a patron?
— Oddly enough, Bolsheviks. Soon after October, the coat of arms with St. George the Victorious was abolished. And in 1918, Moscow again became the capital of the country, but with a new coat of arms.
It was approved by the Presidium of the Moscow Soviet on September 22, 1924. The new coat of arms consisted of several important elements. In the central part, a large five-pointed star was inscribed in the oval shield.
Against its background they depicted an obelisk of freedom and a hammer and sickle - these were the emblems of the workers' and peasants' state. The cogwheel and the rye ears associated with it became the personification of the connection between the city and the countryside. The anvil is the emblem of metalworking production, the shuttle is a symbol of the textile industry, and the dynamo is a symbol of electrification. At the bottom there was an inscription: “Moscow Council of Workers, Peasants and Red Army Deputies.”
— Was this coat of arms more successful than the previous one?
— Of course: the Bolsheviks were well versed in the magic of symbols. Throughout Soviet period Moscow remained the richest and most prosperous city in the country. During this time, it has grown many times over, both in population and area.
In 1941, the strongest German army at that time could not take the capital. The city, then still predominantly made of wood, did not burn down even during massive raids by German aircraft, which bombed it with incendiary bombs. And in the post-war period, Moscow became a recognized world center of science, industry and culture. It was rightfully considered one of the most beautiful, clean and safe cities in the world.
“But today, on our coats of arms, Saint George reigns again.” How will his “rule” in the 21st century affect Moscow?
— After the return of the coat of arms with the image of St. George the Victorious, natural disasters became more frequent in Moscow again. The hurricane, which whistled over the city on June 22, 1998 with a wind speed of up to 31 m/s, knocked down more than 100 thousand trees and caused material damage more than 15 million dollars. The 2001 hurricane also caused a lot of trouble. After 1993, unofficial symbols of Moscow also burned - the Ostankino TV tower and the Manege. The Soviet coat of arms clearly ensured the safety of Muscovites much more effectively.
— So why was it necessary to change such a successful Soviet coat of arms to an analogue of the pre-revolutionary coat of arms?
“It’s all because of politics.” After the events of 1991 and 1993, the Moscow authorities hastened to get rid of the entire Soviet heritage, including the symbol of the city. But the federal authorities in the 1990s turned out to be wiser, placing on the country’s coat of arms not George, but a prototype of the princes of the pre-Romanov era.
The serpent fighter rider is also depicted on the state emblem of the Russian Federation. But his name is no longer Georgiy. The regulations on the State Emblem of the Russian Federation, approved by President B. N. Yeltsin on November 30, 1993, say: “The coat of arms shows a horseman slaying a dragon with a spear.”
Interviewed by Dmitry SOKOLOV
At the highest point of the Borovitsky Hill of the Moscow Kremlin there is a huge quadrangle of the Grand Kremlin Palace. Among the oldest Kremlin monuments, including such centuries-old shrines as the Assumption, Archangel, Annunciation Cathedrals, the Church of the Deposition of the Robe, the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great, this palace does not stand out for its antiquity, although its complex includes the Faceted and Golden Tsarina Chambers, the Terem Palace with six churches. The palace building itself, with three rows of windows on the facade, was built only in the middle of the 19th century by a group of Moscow architects led by K.A. tone .
The Grand Kremlin Palace cannot be called a museum in the usual sense of the word, because it is a place intended for official receptions and meetings. Meetings of supreme bodies are held here state power, and along the entire second floor with two rows of windows, which makes the palace appear three-story from the outside, there are halls dedicated to the Russian pre-revolutionary orders and bearing the names of St. George, Vladimir, Ekaterininsky, Andreevsky, Alexandrovsky, and the last two were combined into one meeting room in 1934 .
Among these halls, the largest is St. George's, built in honor of the Order of St. George the Victorious, and bas-relief sculptures of a warrior on a horse slaying a dragon are placed on the end walls of this ceremonial room. Its cylindrical vault is richly decorated with stucco, and in the piers there are marble slabs with the names of the St. George cavaliers and the names of the units that especially distinguished themselves in battles.
All the decorations of this beautiful white hall are dedicated to the victory of Russian weapons, from the 15th to the 19th centuries. Under the arches there are statues of allegories of victories, as well as kingdoms and principalities that were part of the Russian state.
Intended to be the “temple of glory of the victorious Russian army,” the St. George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace, with its solemn decoration, once again emphasized the importance that the state attached to the most important of all military awards, associated with the name of the holy Great Martyr George, who has long been considered in Rus' the personification of military valor.
The order in honor of the patron saint of warriors, George the Victorious, was established in Rus' in the second half of the 18th century by Empress Catherine II and was awarded solely for bravery on the battlefield. The statute of the order specifically stipulated that “neither high family, nor previous merits, nor wounds received in battles are accepted in respect when awarding the Order of St. George for military exploits; it is awarded only to those who not only fulfilled their duties in all respects.” oath, honor and duty, but on top of this he marked himself for the benefit and glory of Russian weapons with a special distinction" .
The order had four degrees, and first the fourth, lowest degree was awarded, which, like the third, was awarded the so-called small cross. A large cross and signs with a four-pointed gold star were added to the first and second degrees of the order.
The Order of St. George was the fourth order established in Russia after the first three, introduced by Peter I: the orders of St. Andrew the First-Called, the Holy Great Martyr Catherine and Alexander Nevsky. And he immediately acquired special meaning precisely as a military order, issued for personal bravery .
For example, the famous admiral Fyodor Ushakov, then still a captain-brigadier, received the Order of St. Vladimir, third degree, in 1788 for defeating Turkish squadron near the island of Fidonisi. But after some time, new details of the battle became known in the northern capital: Ushakov showed extraordinary courage and risked his own life while under enemy fire. Two months later, a new decree on awards for the same battle followed: Ushakov, as an officer who distinguished himself with special courage, also received the Order of George, fourth degree .
Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov, as an exception, was immediately awarded the Order of George of the third degree, bypassing the fourth, since by that time he was already a general. For the brave assault on the city of Turukaya, where he fought with a sword in his hands and was wounded, the brave commander was awarded the Order of George, second degree, and the Grand Cross. He earned the first degree sixteen years later for the victory at Rymnik .
The following facts speak about how this order was valued. In the entire history of Russia, the first degree was awarded only twenty-five times, and full Knights of St. George, who had all four degrees of the order, there were only four: M.I. Kutuzov-Smolensky, M.B. Barclay de Tolly, I.F. Paskevich-Erivansky d I.I. Dibich-Zabalkansky .
The popularity of the order in the army was very great, but it was awarded only to officers. In 1807 appeared new sign for lower military ranks, repeating the form of the Order of St. George, which became known as the "George Cross". Since 1856, it was also divided into four degrees, and a soldier who had all of them was also considered a “full Knight of St. George”.
Although the Order of St. George and the St. George Cross are different awards, both of them depicted St. George the Victorious, a warrior on horseback, slaying a serpent with a spear.
The sign was described in the first statute of the order as follows: “A large gold cross with white enamel on both sides along the edges with a gold border, in the middle of which the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Moscow is depicted on the enamel, that is: in a red field, St. George, armed with silver armor.. ". Silk ribbon, with three black and two yellow stripes. The cross for cavaliers of the third and fourth classes is similar to the large one in everything, except that it is somewhat smaller..." .
The order badge of Saint George slaying the serpent came from the coat of arms of the Muscovite kingdom. In general, since Kievan Rus Saint George was considered the patron saint of the great princes, as well as the heavenly patron of the Russian army. A horseman with a spear or sword appeared on the seals and coins of the Grand Duchy of Moscow after the victorious Battle of Kulikovo, and gradually he was united with the image of St. George the Victorious.
At the end of the 14th century, Tsar John III placed on the coat of arms of the emerging Russian centralized state an armed horseman slaying a winged dragon with a spear. Then he ordered to place an image of this horseman as the guardian of the central princely power on the Frolovskaya strelnitsa of the Moscow Kremlin, as the Spassky Gate was called in ancient times.
Under the Grand Duke Vasily III near the Frolovskaya strelnitsa a church was built in the name of St. George the Victorious. At the end of the last century, there was a statue of the holy great martyr from this church, carved from white stone in full human height, which for a long time was located in the Moscow Ascension Monastery .
Under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, when the coat of arms of the Russian state became double headed eagle, a rider on a horse was still placed on his chest, like the coat of arms of Moscow.
True, the complete identification of the “horse rider” with the name of St. George the Victorious occurred somewhat later, in 1730, when in the description of the coat of arms the rider was named after the great martyr.
The coat of arms of the Moscow province looked like this: “In a scarlet shield, the holy great martyr and victorious George in silver armor and an azure cape (mantle), on a silver horse, covered with crimson cloth with gold fringe, slaying a golden, with green wings, a golden dragon, with an octagonal with a cross at the top, with a spear" .
Saint George stepped onto the Moscow coat of arms from Russian icons as a beloved and revered image of the people, with whom heavenly help was invariably associated with all warriors.
Coat of arms of the capital of Russia
In 1993, the Moscow Government the coat of arms of the city of Moscow was approved in the form of a dark red shield with the image of St. George the Victorious in silver armor, striking a black serpent with a golden spear. What does the color scheme of the coat of arms mean? The color red means that we honor the memory of the soldiers who remained on the battlefield. Black dragon – forces of evil. Silver and gold colors of George's ammunition and weapons are success, superiority over the enemy.
From the history of the origin of the coat of arms of Moscow
History refutes the opinion that the image of St. George has always been on the coat of arms of Moscow. Let's consider the facts of the origin of the coat of arms. After the legendary Battle of Kulikovo, a secular horseman began to appear on the coat of arms of the Grand Dukes of Moscow, striking dragon spear. In the 16th-17th century and more early time Our ancestors perceived this image as the image of a sovereign. Associations about the similarity of the image of the horseman with St. George arose among overseas ambassadors visiting our country. The Russians eloquently argued that this was not the case. Each Russian sovereign approved a new coat of arms. The compositions and colors changed.
Since the 20s of the 18th century, the horseman began to be called Saint George. Tsar Peter the Great contributed to this. He made St. George the patron saint of the capital, listening to the reasoning of European men on heraldry. Essential change of coat of arms happened in 1883 - the rider was turned the other way. The knights wore a shield on their left hand, and the image of the warrior on the coat of arms began to look “in the face of the enemy.” After the 1917 revolution, the coat of arms was abolished. The new emblem was approved in 1924. In the center of the composition were depicted a star, a sickle and a hammer - symbols of the workers' and peasants' brotherhood.
Only on November 23, 1993, the ancient image of the coat of arms was returned to Moscow. Who was this warrior? St. George the Victorious, depicted on the coat of arms of Moscow? George came from a noble Greek family, was a member of military service the emperor, he himself was a Christian. When Emperor Diacletian declared persecution of Christians, George came to their defense. For this he was subjected to terrible trials. George prayed to the Lord to strengthen him and steadfastly endured all the trials. Then the priests and the crowd of people demanded the execution of George. On May 6, 303, his head was cut off. Since then, every year on May 6th the day of the Holy Great Martyr George is celebrated. The history of Moscow began with Prince Yuri Dolgoruky. Yuri - translated from Greek means George. Maybe this is not a coincidence?
Numerous miracles associated with the image of St. George earned him the love and veneration of the Russian people.
It would seem that this is an indisputable truth: St. George the Victorious has been considered the patron saint of the Russian capital since ancient times, and his image is depicted on the Moscow coat of arms, which later became part of the state coat of arms. But why is the saint depicted without a halo? And is St. George really depicted on the coat of arms, which has undergone many symbolic changes throughout its history? Discussions about this are still ongoing.
How did Moscow rise?
A fateful event for Moscow occurred at the end of the 11th century, when the Kiev prince Vladimir Monomakh named his newborn son Yuri - this is how Saint George the Victorious became the heavenly patron of the founder of Moscow, Prince Yuri Dolgoruky. Its seal depicted Saint George on foot and drawing a sword - still without the serpent. Legend has it that one day, on the way from Kyiv to Vladimir, Yuri Dolgoruky stopped to visit the boyar Kuchka; Angry at the disrespectful reception, he ordered his execution, but, having loved his beautiful possessions, he ordered the city of Moscow to be built there. And as if he gave her coat of arms the image of his heavenly patron - a horseman trampling a serpent with a spear.
This, of course, is a legend, but this is where all mysteries begin. It is indisputable that the Moscow coat of arms, created in the 18th century, depicts St. George the Victorious. But when exactly it appeared in state symbols, historians have not yet come to a common opinion. It is believed that the emblem of St. George as a Moscow grand-ducal sign first appeared under Ivan Kalita’s elder brother, Prince Yuri Danilovich, as his heavenly patron. The image of a walking serpent fighter (a warrior swinging a sword at a serpent) in the Principality of Moscow is found on the coin of Grand Duke Ivan II the Red, son of Ivan Kalita. The first image of a horseman with a spear appeared on the seal of Dmitry Donskoy. The seal of his son Vasily I also depicts a horseman with a spear pointing downward, and since then this symbol has established itself as the Moscow emblem, becoming hereditary. On the coins of Vasily II, the grandson of Dmitry Donskoy, a clear image of a horseman appears, striking a serpent in the open mouth with a spear, reminiscent of the iconography of the “Miracle of St. George about the serpent.” Historian V.B. Muravyov, who studied the dramatic history of the Moscow coat of arms in his recent book “Legends of Ancient Moscow,” believes that St. George is definitely recognizable here and that from that time - the middle of the 15th century - the image of St. George the Victorious becomes a stable symbol of the Moscow prince and the Moscow principality . And under Ivan III, the image of the horseman acquires its final form, classic look.
However, since until the beginning of the 18th century this horseman was called a “rider,” researchers had two polar points of view. The “Orthodox” version says that this is St. George as the patron saint of Moscow and the Moscow princes. Supporters of the “secular” version consider the “rider” to be a purely Russian symbol of the warrior prince, the sovereign, who only during the time of Peter the Great began to be associated with St. George the Victorious. These disagreements arose, firstly, because of the Russian tradition of depicting both the patron saints of the princes and themselves on seals and coins, often without a halo and wearing a crown, which gave rise to seeing the image of rulers in the “rider”. The absence of a halo is the main fact that allows us to consider the “rider” a secular person. Secondly, judging by the surviving historical evidence, the Russians themselves often called this horseman a prince or tsar, while St. George in the “rider” on the Moscow emblem was recognized mainly by foreigners, due to the similarity of the horseman with the iconographic image of St. George the Victorious, and in Europe he was also very popular and was revered as the patron of chivalry. There are conciliatory versions that this is both the image of St. George and the Moscow prince, likened to a holy warrior. Or that initially it was the image of St. George, then from the time of Ivan the Terrible, who was crowned king, it became the image of the sovereign until the era of Peter the Great. There are many versions. But today the “St. George’s” are strengthening their position, citing arguments in defense of the fact that the Moscow horseman is an image of St. George the Victorious.
His veneration in Rus' has always increased in difficult but fateful times for the country. When Dmitry Donskoy gathered the forces of the Russian lands to repel the enemy, Rus' was languishing under the foreign yoke, and the image of the Holy Victorious was especially close to the Russian people as the Christian patron of the army, warriors for the Fatherland. This is evidenced by the thanksgiving Church of St. George in Kolomenskoye, which was founded by Dmitry Donskoy, returning from the Battle of Kulikovo, where St. George was seen on the battlefield fighting on the side of the Russians. (There was a legend that Saint George killed the serpent in the Kolomenskoye ravine.) George’s miracle about the serpent was an image of the victory of Christianity over the Gentiles. And probably, since the time of Dmitry Donskoy, Saint George has been revered as the patron saint of Moscow.
Grand Duke Ivan III began new era in the history of Russia, when Moscow, which created the Russian lands around itself into a single cohesive state, became the successor of the Second Rome after the fall of Constantinople. Perhaps this was also related to the strengthening of state veneration in Moscow of St. George the Victorious, who was the patron saint of the Byzantine emperors. In 1464, a white stone high relief icon of St. George appeared on the Kremlin Frolov Tower. The image was hoisted over the main gate of the city with outside, and two years later from inside placed the image of another patron of Moscow, Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki, entrusting the saints with the protection of the Kremlin from enemies. When Italian masters built the Spasskaya Tower on the site of the Frolovskaya Tower, an image of the Savior was later placed above its gates, and the sculpture of St. George was moved to the St. George Church near the Spasskaya Tower, and then to the Ascension Monastery. (In the 17th century, Saint George was again entrusted with the protection of the city, placing his image above the Resurrection Gate of Kitay-Gorod, leading to Red Square. It was to this icon that Marina Tsvetaeva appealed in 1918 in her famous poem: “Guardian of fatal Moscow, come down from the gates!”) The image of St. George was on the grand ducal banners of Ivan III, with which he went to the Great Stand on the Ugra, and the victory was attributed to the patronage of St. George.
During the formation of the national state, the personal emblem of the Moscow prince becomes the emblem of the state. And under Ivan III the prototype of the Moscow coat of arms finally appeared. The famous state seal of 1497, which N.M. Karamzin considered the source of the symbolism of the Russian state emblem, had on front side an image of a horseman slaying a serpent with a spear, and on it back side The double-headed eagle appeared for the first time. The horseman is easily recognizable as the iconographic image of the “Miracle of St. George about the Serpent.” According to O.V. Yakhonta, the horseman on this seal accurately reproduces the image of the sculptural icon of St. George from the Frolov Tower. There is another version that the image of the horseman was borrowed from the tombstone of Metropolitan Theognostus in the Assumption Cathedral, where the “Miracle of George on the Serpent” was minted. Researchers, those who see Saint George in this horseman, believe that his image on the state seal and in Moscow symbols of the time of Ivan III was also a sign of the succession of the Moscow princes of Vladimir and to the Kyiv princes. In addition, the role of the Moscow prince as a stronghold of Orthodoxy was symbolically emphasized.
However, this rider does not have a halo.
The authors of the book “Symbols, Shrines and Awards of the Russian State” give a very interesting explanation. In their opinion, this image of the horseman does not correspond to the ancient Orthodox canons and in some other elements, for example, he stabs the serpent in the neck, and not in the throat, but this image of St. George the Victorious “most of all resembles its embodiment in works of Western European art of the Renaissance, especially Italian.” In other words, the Italian craftsmen, who arrived at the call of Ivan III to build the cathedrals and fortresses of the Third Rome, could, at his own order, carry out state seal, where they depicted St. George in the more familiar traditions, as was customary in Europe - without a halo.
Under Ivan the Terrible, a snake-wrestler rider was installed on the chest of a double-headed eagle as a symbol of the unity of the Russian principalities around Moscow. A crown appears on the horseman's head, apparently as a sign of Ivan the Terrible's acceptance of the royal title. Adherents of the “secular” version, who consider the horseman to be an image of the Tsar as a defender of Russia, support it with such evidence. Ambassadors of Ivan the Terrible stated that the seal depicted “the sovereign on horseback.” When in mid-17th century century, the Duke of Tuscany asked the Russian ambassador whether the horseman depicted St. George the Victorious, he replied: “Our great sovereign on an argamak” (a thoroughbred horse). In the inventory Armory Chamber about the coat of arms of 1666-1667 it is said that on the chest of a double-headed eagle “a king on a horse stabs a serpent with a spear.” The clerk of the Ambassadorial Prikaz, Grigory Kotoshikhin, claimed that the seal of the Moscow principality was carved: “The king on horseback defeated the serpent.” (There is also a very simple explanation: “A man on a horse stabs a serpent”). If the horseman is the sovereign, then what about the serpent? There is no disagreement about the symbol of the serpent: it is a biblical image of evil and the personification of the enemies of the Russian land.
Supporters of the “St. George” version give their interpretations of the listed facts. Firstly, the very absence of a halo in the image of St. George the Victorious (and other deviations from the canons) on the seal of Ivan III and under his successors made the horseman in the minds of the Russians a “tsar” or “a man on a horse,” that is, a secular symbol. Hence the vague name “rider”. V.B. Muravyov proposed a more complex explanation: the rider on the Moscow coat of arms was called “sovereign” by Russian officials. Such identification of an image on a state sign (coin, seal, emblem) with the sovereign himself (or his heavenly patron, which also symbolized the sovereign) “has been traditional for Russia since ancient times, and the Russian bureaucracy did not dare to abandon this tradition.” So this is the official interpretation government officials, which emerged from the ancient rule of minting the image of the ruler or his heavenly patron on state signs. Foreigners not associated with the Russian bureaucracy openly called the rider on the eagle's chest Saint George, including Samuel Collins, the personal physician of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. But, according to G.V. Vilinbakhova and T.B. Vilinbakhova, Europeans easily recognized Saint George in the horseman because he was depicted without a halo, as was customary in Europe.
Supporters of the “secular” version also point to the fact that on the state emblem, placed on the title page of the Bible published in Moscow in 1663, the serpent fighter rider on the chest of a double-headed eagle is given a portrait resemblance to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. However, the largest researchers of Orthodox medieval Moscow M.P. Kudryavtsev and G.Ya. The Mokeevs claim that the image of the king on a horse, killing a serpent with a spear, is given here instead of the traditional coat of arms of Moscow - St. George the Victorious. And they point to the inscriptions above the coat of arms from the book of the prophet Isaiah: “I have appointed a king with righteousness and ruled all his ways”; “This will build My City” (Is. 45: 13).
Alexey Mikhailovich considered himself a defender of Ecumenical Orthodoxy. The Moscow kingdom became the main patron of the Eastern Patriarchates, which vegetated under the Ottoman yoke. The idea arose of the liberation of Constantinople and the creation of an Orthodox empire on the territory of the former Byzantium and the Balkans under the rule of the Moscow Tsar. Moscow, built in the image of the Heavenly Jerusalem - the City of God, was also called the New Jerusalem on earth, according to the prophecies of the book of Isaiah about the election of a new people and city, to which the glory of the people of God will pass: “For you leave your name for the saturation of My chosen ones, but you will be beaten Lord; But those who work will call Me a new name” (Isaiah 65:15). The depiction of Alexei Mikhailovich as a warrior killing a serpent here symbolizes the idea of Rus' as the last world stronghold of Orthodoxy, and such a variation could well have taken place in the book.
Scientists have not come to a common conclusion about the identification of the Moscow horseman, but it was he who became the prototype of the coat of arms of Moscow. The word “coat of arms,” literally meaning “inheritance,” began to enter Russian usage under Alexei Mikhailovich. In 1672, the “Titular Book” appeared, which collected images of 33 coats of arms of regions and cities that were part of the full royal title. Even earlier, in 1669, the tsar ordered the craftsmen to depict 14 seals “in coats of arms” in the paintings on the walls of the Kolomna Palace, that is, to place state emblems on shields, by analogy with European coats of arms. Young Peter I drew attention to them.
Saint Yegory on horseback
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In 1722, the emperor established the Heraldry, which was supposed, among other things, to draw up city coats of arms - according to Peter's plan, these coats of arms were supposed to be placed on the banners of the troops stationed in a particular city. On the recommendation of Jacob Bruce, the Piedmontese Count Francis Santi, who knew European heraldic rules well, was appointed to the position “for creating coats of arms” - according to them they were going to create Russian coats of arms and correct traditional Russian emblems. However, Santi wisely assessed that success would come only if he did not copy European heraldry for Russia, but created Russian one according to Russian traditions. In addition, having thoroughly studied the “Titular Book”, Russian seals and portraits of sovereigns, he saw that coats of arms actually exist in Rus', in some way corresponding to the provisions of Western European heraldry, and this caused him to respect the ancient Russian and Moscow emblems. That is why he retained the right of Russian heraldry to have its own laws. Thus, Saint George on the Moscow coat of arms was depicted facing the viewer with his right side (as on most icons of the “Miracle of Saint George on the Serpent”), that is, on the left heraldic side. Whereas, according to the rules of heraldry, it was necessary to do the opposite and turn the rider to the right heraldic side, with his left side towards the viewer. In Western Europe, this rule arose due to natural reasons: living creatures, such as a horseman or a lion, were always depicted with their left side facing the viewer, so that in battle or in a tournament these figures on the knight’s shield, which he held in his left hand, would not appear to be running away from the enemy.
The sketch of the Moscow coat of arms looked like this: in a red field, Saint George with a golden crown, in Greek half-armor covering his chest and back, thrusts a spear crowned with a cross into the mouth of a black serpent. And here he is depicted without a halo, but his holiness was indicated by the cross at the top of the spear. In the subsequent history of the Moscow coat of arms, it was increasingly brought closer to the requirements of European heraldry.
After the death of Peter the Great, Santi was falsely accused of plotting against Peter II, and he spent 15 years in Siberian exile. His design, although it never became the official coat of arms of Moscow, was approved by the Senate in 1730 as a coat of arms for the banner of Moscow regiments. At the same time, the state emblem was approved with the Moscow coat of arms on the chest of an eagle: “George on a white horse, defeating the serpent, epancha (cloak. - E.L.) and the spear are yellow, the crown is yellow, the serpent is black.” So, the saint’s cloak on the coat of arms is not red, as on the icon - a symbol of the shed blood of the great martyr, but golden. Heraldic canons are becoming more and more established.
A new era of the Moscow coat of arms began under Catherine the Great. On winter St. George's Day, November 26, 1769, she established the Order of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George in Russia. Since then, November 26th Winter Palace An annual reception was held in honor of the order's celebration. For ceremonial dinners, the Empress ordered a porcelain St. George service: all its items bore images of order insignia and the St. George ribbon. And the throne room in the Winter Palace was St. George's Hall, created by Giacomo Quarenghi on the orders of the Empress.
Under Catherine II, Moscow returned to the creation of its official coat of arms after the reform of local government, when each Russian city was required to have its own, highest approved coat of arms, by analogy with free cities Western Europe. Comrade of the King of Arms, Lieutenant Colonel I.I. von Enden unsuccessfully corrected the already existing Moscow coat of arms, namely: he changed the rider from ancient half-armor into the full armor of a medieval knight. This tradition was adopted in Europe, since St. George was revered as the patron saint of chivalry, but for Orthodox Russia such an interpretation of Saint George the Victorious was alien. In addition, the spear on the coat of arms has lost the cross. However, the Russian tradition of depiction on the left heraldic side was preserved. The colors have also been preserved: a red field, a white horse and a black serpent. The color of the cloak is unknown, but it is believed that it was gold, as described in the statute of the Order of St. George. On December 20, 1781, the Empress approved this particular coat of arms of Moscow as the official one.
Only in the middle of the 19th century was it created according to the rules of European heraldry. This change is connected with the wishes of Nicholas I and with the activities of the German baron B.V. Kene, manager of the Arms Department of the Department of Heraldry, who was also involved in the creation of the Great State Emblem. “In accordance with the requirements of heraldry,” he turned the figure of the horseman to the right heraldic side - with his left side towards the viewer. Even False Dmitry I, on his seal, tried to “unfold” the Moscow horseman in a European way, and the encroachment on the Moscow coat of arms seemed to be the “destiny” of foreigners. In order to hit the serpent on the left of the horse with a spear, the rider had to drop the bridle and take the spear with both hands. However, the spear that crowned it was returned to the spear. The horseman was still depicted in full knight's armor, but under Alexander III in 1883 the half-armor was returned to him. Instead of gold, the mantle of St. George became “azure” - blue. (O.A. Revo presumably connects this with the possible desire of the heraldry to bring the colors of the Moscow coat of arms into line with the colors of the national flag of Russia: white horse, blue cloak, red shield). Instead of a black serpent, a golden dragon with green wings appeared. In the old days, they did not separate the serpent and the dragon - they were one and the same creature, the image of the biblical enemy. Historian G.I. Korolev, who wrote the brilliant study “The Serpent or the Dragon,” one of possible reasons the transformation of a serpent into a dragon in the 19th century is considered to be the same desire to bring Russian heraldry into agreement with Western European heraldic rules.
Domestic heraldists were very upset by these changes, because it was the Moscow coat of arms, as the most solid and earliest established in Rus', that should have been protected from arbitrary innovations. Formally applied Western heraldic rules without taking into account the features of the national coat of arms seemed to be alien principles, a disregard for national traditions.
The iconographic image of St. George the Victorious, which was perceived as a holy symbol of ancient Moscow, remained a favorite among the people. The writer Ivan Shmelev cites a conversation he overheard between two Moscow apprentices: “St. Yegory guards our Moscow with a shield and a spear, that’s why it’s written in Moscow... What’s in our eagle’s heart? Moscow is written on the coat of arms: Saint Yegory himself, ours, therefore, Moscow. I went from Moscow to all of Russia.”
Victorious
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The image of Saint George the Victorious as a warrior crushing the enemy was turned to during the Great Patriotic War. Both the cavalryman on the poster, striking a swastika with snake heads with a spear, and Kukryniksy’s cartoons, where a Soviet soldier stabs a fascist reptile with a bayonet or into Hitler’s skull, are inspired by the motifs of the Moscow coat of arms. It is significant that the battle for Moscow began the day before winter holiday St. George, and the capture of Berlin took place on the eve of spring. May 6, 1945 fell on Easter, which believers perceived as a sign of imminent victory, and a day later the surrender was signed fascist Germany. The medal "For Victory over Germany" was worn on St. George's ribbon.
On November 23, 1993, by order of the mayor of Moscow “Restoring the historical coat of arms of Moscow”, its historical coat of arms was returned to the capital, modeled on the first officially approved coat of arms of Moscow in 1781: on a dark red shield, St. George the Victorious, in silver armor and an azure mantle, on a silver horse, striking with gold spear of the black serpent. And although it is a pity that our coat of arms retains the appearance of a medieval knight, far from the Orthodox image of St. George, now it is at least turned to the traditional left heraldic side for Russia. And most importantly: Saint George the Victorious returned to the Moscow coat of arms again.
When writing this article, materials from the site were partially used
Acceptance date: 20.12.1781, 16.05.1883, 23.11.1993, 01.02.1995, 11.06.2003
The coat of arms of the city of Moscow is an image on a dark red heraldic shield with a width to height ratio of 8:9, deployed to the right of the viewer, a horseman - St. George the Victorious in silver armor and a blue mantle (cloak), on a silver horse, striking the black Serpent with a golden spear.
The author of the sketch of the coat of arms of Moscow is the artist K. K. Ivanov. In general, the compositional design of the coat of arms of 1780 was preserved, but St. George acquired the traditional armor and pointed helmet for Russian warriors. Compared to the 1781 coat of arms, the colors of the armor and mantle of the rider, as well as the spear, were also refined. The color of the dragon, in contrast to the 1883 coat of arms, was left black (as in the 1780 coat of arms).
Approved November 23, 1993, by order of the Mayor of Moscow No. 674-RM “On the restoration of the historical Coat of Arms of the City of Moscow”; re-approved by Moscow City Law No. 4-12 “On the coat of arms and flag of the city of Moscow” (approved on February 1, 1995 by Resolution No. 12 of the Moscow City Duma) and by Moscow City Law No. 39 “On the coat of arms of the city of Moscow” dated June 11, 2003.
Sketch of the coat of arms of Moscow 1991, artist K. K. Ivanov
In fact, the historical coat of arms was restored in 1991, when the artist K.K. Ivanov proposed his sketch (where the rider looked like a Greek), but the coat of arms was not approved then, although it was used unofficially. The coat of arms was officially restored only in 1993.
The heraldic image and description of the horseman - as St. George the Victorious - do not correspond to the norms of Orthodox iconography, in which saints are usually depicted with a halo.
In addition, being turned to the viewer's right side, the image of the horseman on the modern official coat of arms of Moscow contradicts the rule of Western European heraldry, according to which living creatures on the coat of arms should be turned only to the viewer's left (right heraldic) side. This rule was established so that the figure depicted on the knight's shield, which was traditionally held at the left side, did not appear to be running away from the enemy. In the coat of arms of Moscow in 1883, the rider was turned to the viewer’s left (heraldic right) side, but in 1993, with the restoration of the historical coat of arms, the rider was again turned as in the coat of arms of 1780.
The snake-wrestler rider as a symbol of the Moscow principality has been known at least since the 16th century and was the central element of the coat of arms first of the Moscow kingdom, and then Russian Empire. The image of a horseman is also present in the central part of the coat of arms Russian Federation However, according to the official description of the coat of arms, this element is not described as St. George and is not mentioned as the coat of arms of the city of Moscow.
Project of the Soviet coat of arms of the city of Moscow 1924:
a) In the central part, a five-pointed star is inscribed in the oval shield. This is the victorious symbol of the Red Army.
b) The obelisk against the backdrop of a star, which is the first revolutionary monument of the RSFSR in memory of the October Revolution (placed in front of the Mossovet building). This is a symbol of the strength of Soviet power.
c) The Hammer and Sickle is the emblem of the workers' and peasants' government.
d) The gear wheel and the associated rye ears, depicted along the oval of the shield, are a symbol of the connection between the city and the countryside, where the wheel with the inscription “RSFSR” defines industry, and the rye ears - agriculture.
e) Below on both sides are emblems that characterize the most developed industry in the Moscow province: on the left is an anvil - this is the emblem of metalworking production, on the right is a shuttle - textile production.
f) Below, under the inscription “Moscow Council of Workers, Peasants and Red Army Deputies” depicted on the ribbon, there is a “dyna” - the emblem of electrification.(description given according to the site)
The coat of arms was drawn up by the architect D. Osipov.
Approved By the Presidium of the Moscow Soviet on September 22, 1924. But this coat of arms was not widely used and was simply forgotten quite quickly.
Historical coat of arms of the city of Moscow
Coat of arms 1780: The modern coat of arms of the city is based on the historical coat of arms granted by Catherine II on December 20, 1781 (PSZ, collection 1, vol. 21, No. 15304) along with other coats of arms of the cities of the Moscow province: " in the scarlet field, the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George on a white horse, slaying a black dragon with a spear".
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Coat of arms 1883: In 1883, the coat of arms acquired external decorations in accordance with the Quesne reform: " In a scarlet shield, the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George, in silver armor and an azure robe (mantle) on a silver horse covered with crimson cloth, with gold fringe, striking a golden dragon with green wings with a golden spear with an eight-pointed cross on top. The shield is crowned with an imperial crown. Behind the shield are two gold scepters placed crosswise, connected by St. Andrew's ribbon". The figure of St. George the Victorious was turned to the heraldic right side. The dragon turned from black to yellow-green, and the Saint’s cap became azure. Approved on March 16, 1883 (PSZ, vol. XXXIII, No. 32037) |
Coat of arms 1730:
The description of the Moscow coat of arms was contained in the “Znamenny Armorial” approved by the Senate order on March 8, 1730 for descriptions of the coats of arms of regimental banners. In the description of the Russian state eagle in the Znamenny armorial of 1730, the Moscow coat of arms is described as follows: " George on a white horse, defeating the serpent, the cape and spear are yellow, the crown is yellow, the serpent is black, the field around is white, and in the middle is red".