The Glory of the First Adam as Depicted in a Fresco at Sucevita Monastery
The Glory of the First Adam as Depicted in a Fresco at Sucevita Monastery

Author(s): Arhim. Hrisostom Rădășanu
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, History of Church(es), Theology and Religion, History of Religion
Published by: Editura Doxologia
Keywords: Fresco; Adam; deification; divine glory; glory of God; new creation; vocation; iconography; monastery;
Summary/Abstract: The Sucevița Monastery in north-eastern Romania is a foundation of the Movilești family of voivodes, built between 1583 and 1586. What distinguishes the monastery’s central church is its remarkable exterior frescoes – richly detailed images that convey profound theological meaning that refer to the idea of dogma in images at a time when literacy was very limited. A hermeneutical reading of Sucevița’s exterior iconography offers a compelling entry point into the understanding of Orthodox theology, serving as a visual equivalent to sacred text.The present analysis focuses on identifying, within this pictorial framework, the elements that articulate the role of the first Adam in the act of Creation. The icon under analysis captures the moment when Adam is called to name the animals – an act of co-creation with the Logos, a connection to divine energies, and a revelation of man’s deep vocation as king of Creation, as both microcosm and macrocosm.This interpretive approach is grounded in the writings of key Church Fathers: Irenaeus of Lyons, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Maximus the Confessor. The central purpose of this analysis is not archaeological or art-historical, but theological – namely, to understand the saving role of the second Adam, Jesus Christ. Moreover, the relationship between the two persons follows the iconological pattern of type and antitype, a structure clearly reflected in the Sucevița fresco.In Christ, man becomes once again the bearer of divine glory, called to experience first within himself and then in relation to Creation, the work of God’s divine and deifying energies. Through Christ, man becomes once again co-creator with God, in a theanthropic act intended to advance the glory of the new heaven and the new earth towards the Kingdom of God. All this is suggested by a 16th-century iconographic text from a monastery in north-eastern Romania.

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