The cycle of Pentecost Sundays in the Stara Skaryava iconostasis is one of the last examples of its application in Ukrainian art, and even from the second half of the 18th century, this cycle was rarely used.
This cycle became popular in Ukrainian iconostases in the mid-17th century. It originated and spread, with a few exceptions, among artists in Lviv and Zhovkva. The oldest known iconostasis where this cycle first appears is the iconostasis currently located in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Zarudtsi. It was transferred here, as researchers note, from the St. Nicolas Church in the Krekhiv Monastery. The authorship of the icons of that Iconostasis likely belongs to masters from the Lviv Painting Center, and Vira Sventsitska (a well-known researcher of Ukrainian art, particularly iconography, a longtime employee of the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum of Lviv and the custodian of the museum's funds) even suggested that it could have been the work of Mykola Petrakhnovych, a renowned Lviv artist of the first half of the 17th century.
Later, in the second half of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century, the cycle of Sundays of Pentecost is often found in ensembles created by artists from the Zhovkva, including Ivan Rutkovych and artists from his circle.
The cycle included icons corresponding to the six Sundays between Easter (Resurrection of the Lord) and the Whit Sunday, namely, the Thomas Sunday, the Sunday of Myrrhbearers, the Sunday of Paralytic, the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, The Sunday the Man Born Blind, and the Sunday of the Fathers of the First Nicene Council. These Sundays in iconography were represented by compositions: the confession of St.Thomas, the Myrrhbearers, the Healing of the Paralytic at the Pool of Siloam, Christ and the Samaritan Woman, the Healing of the Man Born Blind, and the Appearance of Christ to Peter of Alexandria. In iconostases, the icon of the Image of Edessa was traditionally placed in the center of the cycle.
The iconography of these scenes was generously represented in European, especially Dutch, graphics of the 16th-17th centuries, from which it spread to Ukrainian art, initially in graphics (engravings with these compositions from the early 17th century often illustrated the Triodion, Didactic Gospels, and other publications of Ukrainian printing houses).
The painting of the cycle in the Stara Skaryava iconostasis is attributed to an unknown artist with rather modest artistic abilities. However, its value lies precisely in the fact of the appearance of this cycle in the iconostasis at the beginning of the 19th century. This may indicate the long tradition of its use in the artistic environment of Zhovkva, even during a period of decline, which fell during this time.
Read about icons of this tier by following the links:
Christ and the Samaritan Woman
Appearance of Christ to Peter of Alexandria
The description was prepared by Roman Zilinko, art historian, icon painter