The artist is Delabart
Vifania (“Poverty House”) is a historical village between Jerusalem and Jericho, where Jesus Christ stayed in the house of Lazarus. Spaso-Vifansky (Bifanievsky) Monastery, was founded by Metropolitan Plato (Levshin, 1737–1812) in 1783. Located at a distance of about 5 kilometers (3 versts) from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, conceived by Metropolitan Plato as a place of solitude. The Metropolitan with a group of monks is depicted in the foreground, in the distance the Trinity-Sergius Lavra is visible in the distance.
Metropolitan Plato is an enlightened church figure in Catherine’s time, author of “Brief Russian Church History”. Lecturer, since 1761 rector and professor of theology of the Trinity-Sergius Seminary. In 1763 he was invited by Catherine as a court preacher and law teacher of the heir to the throne Pavel Petrovich. From 1775 – Archimandrite, since 1787 Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomensky.
Having become the emperor, Paul retained a good attitude to his mentor, visited him in 1797 after the coronation and ordered Delabart to portray him with his brother.
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