Ksenia Pokrovsky

During World War II many Muscovites were evacuated to various locations in Central Asia as the Nazi army advanced to within 100 miles of Moscow.

Known by the code name Operation Barbarossa and launched in June 1941, the Nazi land invasion of the Soviet Union was the largest in the history of warfare.

Although a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, he fell prey to Stalin’s purges and was arrested on false charges in 1929 (posthumously rehabilitated in 1956).

Pokrovsky was raised by an atheistic mother whom she described as a “romantic communist”, but she was deeply influenced by the Orthodox Christian faith of her grandmothers.

Pokrovsky’s paternal great aunt, the artist Yekaterina Mikhaylovna Belyakova (1892-1980), was her model for creativity and also her mentor in the Orthodox Christian faith.

By postponing her baptism, she protected her parents against charges that might be brought against them for failing to shield their child from "obsolete religious views".

In the 1960s Pokrovsky was a promising biophysics student at Moscow State University, but her interest in science was always an inseparable part of her larger metaphysical quest.

After reading an article on the discovery of the DNA spiral, her Bulgarian grandmother Nevenka remarked, “Look, Ksenia, these are the tablets of the covenant" (meaning the commandments given to Moses, written by God Himself).

The Roman Empire, infamous for persecuting Christians, was in no sense an atheist state; but Soviet Communism was committed to full elimination of all religious belief.

Many places of worship were closed, transformed into museums of atheism, or other-use facilities (bars, theaters, warehouses, garages); in very many cases, they were utterly destroyed.

[1] Pokrovsky’s need to find a priest with whom she could discuss her doubts about a scientific career led her to Father Alexander Men, often referred to as the "Apostle to the Intellectuals”.

His understanding of world religions, charismatic personality and erudition attracted many converts, especially from intellectual and artistic circles, but also made him the target of KGB harassment.

The Pokrovskys became a part of his parish in Novaya Derevnya, a short distance from Moscow.Men encouraged Ksenia's interest in iconography, giving her his blessing.

During the 1970s, the Pokrovsky family rented a summer home (dacha) in Zagorsk, now Sergei Posad, which allowed Ksenia to spend many hours with her new neighbor, Mother Juliana (Maria Nikolayevna Sokolova).

She is widely credited with preserving the living tradition of icon painting and with transmitting it to her successors during one of the most difficult periods in the history of the Russian Church.

Ksenia’s proximity to Mother Juliana in these summer months was invaluable- they were spent discussing iconography, the meaning of its subject matter, as well as questions of technique, materials and style.

With the dissident movement on the rise, writing new icons was considered a criminal activity, on par with selling illicit narcotics, firearms, pornography or the possession of banned literature and foreign currency.

Even under the threat of prosecution, Ksenia Pokrovsky applied her scientific mind to understanding both the practical and theoretical attributes of icons.

Organizing a network of geologists, she was able to obtain the natural mineral and clay pigments with which historical Russian icons were made.

Often work was reciprocated with barter, supplying the family with food, medicine, goods and services unobtainable in public stores.

Recognizing the depth of her sincerity, talent and determination, she became friends with many museum curators and collectors who allowed her open access to their collections.

Her pedagogical talents and scholarship cemented a network of like-minded individuals into a clandestine movement that brought about the revival of tradition iconography in Russia in the late 1980s.

The murder of their close friend and spiritual father Alexander Men solidified the Pokrovsky family's decision to immigrate to the United States in June 1991.

Irina Yazykova, author of "The Hidden and Triumphant: the Underground Struggle to Save Russian Iconography", has said that "Ksenia Pokrovsky represented our most convincing contemporary witness to the icon's ability to unify Christians of different backgrounds.

Working with the Orthodox non-profit organization Hexaemeron, her first "Six Days of Creation Iconography workshop" was held in Lexington KY in 2003.

Her Funeral service was held at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, Salem, Massachusetts, followed by an all-night vigil kept by family and friends.