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Ivan III, already a powerful ruler with vast
aspirations, considered the church too modest for him, and in 1484 ordered that
it be pulled down and a new cathedral of the
Annunciation built on the
same site. Soviet scholars claim that some of the icons from the original
iconostasis, painted by Theophan and Rublev, were preserved, and there is no
reason to question their assumption. The old church was pulled down, and
destroyed by fire in 1548, and traditional Orthodox custom forbids the
destruction of icons. On the contrary, the older the icon the more it is
venerated, and both Theophan and Rublev were well known that hardly anybody
would consciously destroy their works. In similar cases it would be normal to
use old icons, repainted or as is, for the new iconostasis or simply to
transfer the entire old iconostasis into the new church. In either case it is
the icons that count, and not the frame of the iconostasis. The Chronicle for
1547 notes that Rublev's icon "Deisus" was destroyed in the fire.
There is no record of any other "Deisus" that could have burned than
the one painted by or with Theophan for the old iconostasis. The logical
assumption is that old icons were incorporated into the new church iconostasis,
and that only "Deisus" burned and not necessarily the other icons.
Besides all this, some of the icons that we see today in the cathedral of the
Assumption are such extraordinary examples of Russian iconography that only
great masters could have painted them, and at that time there were no masters
other than the three that we have named: Theophan, Rublev and Prokhor.
Their three-tiered iconostasis: "Local," "Deisus," and
"Holiday" tiers in the church of the Annunciation, with specifically
arranged icons in each tier, is the first known of its kind, and it is possible
that this very iconostasis marked the beginning of what has become known as the
Russian classic iconostasis.
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