Why are Plato & Aristotle depicted in frescoes of the Annunciation Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin?
One of the oldest Moscow churches was built in 1484-1489. Although Italian masters were working in the Kremlin at that time, architects from Pskov were invited for the Annunciation Cathedral. The grand ducal house church was home to particularly valuable items – icons and relics. The cathedral’s iconostasis is a real treasure: it contains icons of the 14th-15th centuries, masterpieces created by Andrei Rublev and Theophanes the Greek.
The vault of the church’s galleries is painted with images of ancient poets and philosophers – Virgil, Homer, Aristotle, Plato, Plutarch. But what connection do they have to the Orthodox Church?
There actually is a valid connection, you only have to pay attention to the scrolls in their hands. For example, Socrates wrote: “No evil will befall a good man. Our soul is immortal. After death, the good will be rewarded and the evil will be punished.”
Plato, meanwhile, holds a scroll with the following saying: “We must hope that God himself will send down a heavenly Teacher and Instructor to men.” That is, they depict sayings about life and morality that are consistent with Christian teaching.
So, there is no contradiction. Moreover, Christian ascetics and teachers themselves referred to philosophers to show that the ancients had a premonition of the emergence of a new faith.
