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| Master iconographer Ksenia Pokrovsky at an icon workshop held by Hexaemeron |
And so on July 7, 2013 it has come to pass that my beloved icon mentor Ksenia Pokrovsky has made her transition from this earth to the Eternal.
I am still in awe of the small miracle of her husband's message (dear Lev Alexeyevich Pokrovsky) getting through to me as he sent it out in Russian and somehow it translated and got to me--an unlikely happenstance. It was a very special blessing to have received the word in time to make the journey to her memorial service in Salem, Mass. last Wednesday night 7/10.
The timing of her passing has left a profound impact upon me for so many reasons. All my intentions and hopes to return to see her and Lev were continually postponed and never materialized. It was always one step too far to get the chance to go. But I was able to say goodbye there in the small Russian Orthodox church, with the beautiful song and liturgy as her body lay there with us, with those who loved her.
It turns out Ksenia had been sick for a long while. I knew she had been battling with insomnia and a delicate heart. It was heart surgery the week of July 4th that she never returned from.
Ksenia made this world a more beautiful place. I was made a better person in the great blessing of knowing her and having the time to have spent with her in the studio and her tremendous patience with me--even with my ignorance of so much...I am humbled at the simple knowing of the enormity of what I was graced with.
The plan of my life has strengthened in the wake of this transition. I have been given a clarity and renewed resonance of purpose to the larger goals of my own earthly journey, wading through the on-going awe of timing and Providence and grace. Ksenia gave me a compass to cherish and even though I didn't have the time to invest more with her, what was given was nothing short of a true gift in the lessons that were imparted.
I will always remember Ksenia's smile and humor and ability to see the bigger picture. Her making me sit and slow down and drink tea and be....the art of speaking without talking. And she would smoke her cigarettes and the birds would sing in her kitchen. Her beautiful hands that were so skilled and accomplished that so lovingly shared the skills and nuances of articulating line. The painful ache of being told that I didn't understand, and her encouragement of finding a way to get to there. Her telling me to scrape, re-do, and scrape more--and knowing the joy of finally arriving at a place of hearing her say "yes", as my heart filled to the brim at the happiness of making it to the place she intended. The way she said "tender"--to know there is love in the simple act of line, and that line in and of itself is obedience.
I cannot put into words the Beauty that was made manifest through Ksenia.
The act of climbing the stairs, as anticipation would build to enter into her world which encompassed not only Ksenia herself, but her sweet husband Lev who was always lovely to talk to, daughter Anna, grandchildren and countless other visitors who would pass through their home. And I too was treated as family, and had a place in her story.
For all this I thank Father Alexander Men who gave her the charge of passing on the gift of iconography.
She was gracious enough to take on a pregnant student, and then one that brought baby (Soren let me paint for so many months with him on my knee or lap). She understood me and my motherhood. She too, the mother of five, and one who found a way to the brush.
Ksenia's calling was great. I have heard stories of heart conversion from seeing the great icon of the Holy Trinity of Rublev, and her icons too are able to open the soul. They shout from the rooftops and from the mountains that Christ in his infinite beauty is present, is here, in the moment face to face with us though the icon--whether it be through Christ himself or his larger family and angels that sing of the reality of theology in line and color and form. The Incarnate Truth, present to behold.
Ksenia too has now passed through the window of Eternity that she knew so well in the day-to-day reality of her gift made manifest. Thanks be to God!
And may her soul bask in the glory of heaven and the fullness of the Resurrection.
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| Icon of the Resurrection written by Ksenia at St. Andew's Orthodox Church, Lexington, KY. http://www.izograph.com |
