Most of the time, I pick art for the bulletin at a purely gut level and then I do some research about the piece and its artist. Generally I'm filling in gaps to what I already know or recognize about the painting, but sometimes I learn something completely new!
This week we have Procopius the Righteous Praying by Nicholas Roerich. I didn't know anything about the subject or the artist, but I liked the image of a monk or holy man above a busy river blessing the boats and ships as they went by. But I did some more research and discovered that Roerich is remembered in history for one specific contribution: The Roerich Pact of 1935.
Roerich was a Russian philosopher and painter who dabbled in amateur archeology. His paintings reflected his spirituality and appreciation of his culture. Procopius was a German merchant who gave up all his possessions and converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity during his travels. In Russian, those who give up all their possessions are called yurodivy, "fools for Christ."
Other than his paintings, Roerich is the instigator of the Roerich Pact, an international treaty that legally recognized that the defense of cultural objects is more important than the use or destruction of that culture for military purposes, the protection of culture always has precedence over any military necessity. This is a HUGE moment in the history of warfare and one for which Roerich was on the short list for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Over the past several weeks we've been hearing from First Corinthians. A central theme of the letter is the distinction between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God, which is seen as foolishness. The wisdom of the world says that you win wars by being utterly destructive, destroying culture destroys a people. The wisdom of God disagrees. Both Roerich and his subject, Procopius, were fools for Christ. Different in their own ways, but each serving the Lord.
