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“HOLY LAND” IN MODERN CITY: THE EXPERIENCE OF ANALYZING THE CULTURAL AND SEMIOTIC TRANSFER OF “PALESTINE” INTO THE ALTAI SACRED SPACE // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2020. Issue 1 (23). P. 174-192

The article discusses the phenomenon of transferring of Holy Land images into modern urban space on the example of Orthodox temple building and the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society (IOPS) social activities. The choice of the subject is due to the need to interpret the conscious transfer of Holy Land images into the iconographic concept of the Church of 14,000 Bethlehem Martyrs Babies (2008–2015), created in Altai region (Russia, Siberia) by two experts in hierotopy. One is the chairman of the Altai branch of IOPS, art professor and archpriest Georgy Kreidun who developed the concept and led the construction of the temple. The other is Russian Byzantinist, the author of the hierotopic approach Alexei Lidov, who proposed an iconographic concept of the church with Holy Land symbols. In this article I explore some “local” ways of building the links between the modern Orthodox community and the Palestine sacred landscape. It is postulated that along with the restoration of the “Russian Palestine” in the Middle East and the traditional practice of pilgrimage, the connection with the Holy Land is established today through hierotopic creativity and social activities. The analysis is carried out in the conceptual context of cultural-semiotic transfer, proposed by S. Avanesov, and the phenomenon of hierotopy, introduced by A. Lidov, and involves interviews with temple founders. The data were collected in the expedition to Barnaul in March 2019 and include interviews with Georgy Kreidun and Metropolitan of Barnaul and Altai Sergius. Interviews with Alexey Lidov published in open sources are also regarded. An ethnographic approach allows analyzing the historical and cultural foundations and motivations for the hierotopic creativity as well as the activities of the IOPS as the Holy Land transfer society. The identified motivation is concerned with (1) bridging the gaps in the Eastern Christian tradition (by referring to the images of the Holy Land through “early Christian matrices”); (2) memorizing some local aspects of Altai spiritual mission, historically and metaphorically associated with the Holy Land; (3) strengthening the liturgy spiritual aspects in the penitential church (through the connection of a sin of infanticide with the relevant images of the tragic beginning of the earthly life of Jesus Christ). The conclusion about the role of individuals in the formation of the Holy Land sacred landscape is made.

Keywords: hierotopy, Altai, Eastern Orthodox church, Orthodox Palestinian Society, New Jerusalems in Siberia, Russian Palestine, cultural and semiotic transfer, Holy Land images, sacralization, sacred landscapes.