"His Holiness Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia" 2003. Oil on canvas 34 x 28".

 

I probably succeeded in painting his portrait because we have the same birthplace, Estonia. The main thing that fascinated me about his person was his holiness. I thought starting the work that I had painted clerics before; and there couldn’t be anything really different. Yes, there could.

 

When I asked him in one of the Estonian monasteries to pose for the photographs that I was using to create this painting, I stepped quite close to him. And do you know what I saw? It could not be true, yet I saw it. His face had a glow. Our meeting took place in a rather shadowy room. At first I thought that it could not be make-up. It looked as if he had separate grains of gold dust on his cheeks. I have read in the Bible that the faces of great religious men glowed. Even today, when I look at people who have finished praying, I see some inexplicable gleam on their brows. Since that moment I had his calming influence even in my dreams. I had met a saint and I was fortunate enough to live in the same world with him.

 

The Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia in Moscow told me that politicians cannot just go and talk to such high rank person in Russia. But you, Aapo Pukk, did it. An artist can sometimes go on from the point where other diplomatic paths end. I had never experienced such a high standard security as I saw in my meeting with the Patriarch. And yet I have painted some very high officials in Estonia. On the occasion of the opening of the painting the Patriarch dedicated an hour and half in his residency to me and the people who were with me. We talked in Estonian. When painting the picture I did not want to depict just the symbol of religion and power but also a person. I was also quite fascinated by the idea of the background. On one occasion he posed on the stairs of the monastery church. The Patriarch and the leaders of the monastery in front and the wall of nuns in the background. Here I was interested in the real gift for the portrait art: the ascetic faces that were also like the signs of prayers, people, and masks in the eternal cosmic emptiness. They were existing people in monasteries.

 

As a religious person I felt the burden the Patriarch had to carry in history and the numerous prayers in the world that helped him in his work. Thanks to these prayers it was easy for me to paint the portrait. When I was finishing the portrait in my studio and some Russian clients of mine happened to come by, they were on the verge of taking it as an icon. I as an artist and it was not important, the studio somehow seemed to vanish and a Russian stood alone with his God and his saint.