On the 31st March we commemorate Maria (Skobstova) of Paris, a Saint of the Archdiocese of Orthodox Churches of Russian Tradition in Western Europe. A remarkable woman, St Maria was latterly a nun in Paris during Nazi occupation. She was arrested along with her son, Yuri, and Fr Dmitri Klepenin. Both Fr Dmitri and St Maria’s son died at the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, whilst Maria – knowing her son had died – was sent to the Ravensbrück. After much suffering there, on the 31st March 1945 (being Holy Saturday), Mother Maria took the place of another and was executed in the gas chambers.
During her life, St Maria wrote poetry, embroidered, and painted icons. In Ravensbrück, she was working on an embroidery of the Mother of God. The embroidery did not survive, but survivors of the concentration camp remembered it clearly and described it. The above icon – Our Lady of Ravensbrück – is based on St Maria’s work.
There are a number of influences in the icon. The main composition is similar to some depictions of the Extreme Humilty Icon, which shows Christ dead in the tomb. Occasionally, this icon is shown with the Mother of God embracing her son (e.g, this modern painting), and of course St Maria would not have been unfamiliar with Michaelangelo’s Pietà and similar artworks. Christ on the Cross, rather than in the tomb, is similar to icons of the Mother of God viewing Jesus being crucified, as if from afar, and is again a common motif in the West and the East. A famous example in the East is the “Akhtyrkaya” (Ахтырская) Icon of the Mother of God, which is not named for the depiction, but the town where a wonder-working icon of this composition shone forth.
But why depict Christ as a child, rather than accurately as an adult. Here the theology is the theology of the Cross and of the life experiences of St Maria. Her youngest child and only daughter, Anastasia, died as an infant, a deeply traumatising experience that spurred Maria to become a “mother to all.” This she did, operating an open house in Paris for the many Russian refugees from the Soviet persecutions. Later, she helped a great many Jews in Paris escape the concentration camps – very successfully until finally she was caught along with her son, Yuri and her friend Fr Dmitri. Years before, reflecting on being a mother, she noted:
“The Cross of the Son of Man, accepted voluntarily, becomes a two-edged sword that pierces the soul of the Mother, not because she voluntarily chooses it, but because she cannot help suffering the sufferings of her Son.” [Mother Maria Skobstova, Essential Writings, 67.]
This thought, along with St Maria’s experiences, seeing her son die in the concentration camp, suffering herself whilst continuing to minister to those around her, all together “composed” the image of “Our Lady of Ravensbruck.” The icon speaks for itself.
Further Reading:
- The life of St Maria of Paris (Russian and French translations also available)
- “Akhtyrkaya” (Ахтырская) Icon of the Mother of God (Russian only)