Léonide Ouspensky

Russian icon painter, theologian, art critic, author of the concept of “theology of the icon”. Born in the village of Golaya Again, Voronezh province (now the village of Golosovka, Semiluksky district, Voronezh region) into a noble family.

He studied at the gymnasium of the city of Zadonsk, and after graduation in 1918-1920 he took part in the civil war in the ranks of the cavalry division of the Red Army. He was taken prisoner by the White Guards and sentenced to death (later pardoned); emigrated with the Volunteer Army to Constantinople (later to Gallipoli).

From 1920 to 1926 he worked as a miner in the mountain mines of Pernik in Bulgaria.

In 1926 he moved to France, where he worked at metallurgical plants in Le Creusot, and in 1927 - at an engineering plant in Paris. In Paris, he showed artistic talent. In 1929 he entered the newly opened Russian Art Academy of Tatiana Sukhotina-Tolstoy, then studied with Nikolai Milioti and Konstantin Somov. Under the influence of the future famous Parisian icon painter, monk Gregory (Krug), Leonid Uspensky turned to icon painting. He studied the technique of icon painting under the guidance of Peter Fedorov.

In 1934 he joined the "Icon" Society, and then (in the mid-1930s) - the Brotherhood of St. Photius. Together with Gregory (Krug), he took part in the painting of the church of the Tri-Saints Compound in Paris, of which he was one of the founders since 1931. He married the translator Lidia Savinkova-Myagkova.

During World War II, he was exiled to forced labor in Germany, but fled to France. At the end of 1944 he became one of the founders of the Theological Institute of St. Dionysius, professor of icon painting. He taught there until the 1980s. From 1945 to 1947 he was a member of the Union of Soviet Patriots.

From 1953 to 1958 he taught iconology (professor of theology of icons) at the Theological and Pastoral Courses at the Archdiocese of Orthodox Churches of Russian Tradition in Western Europe of the Moscow Patriarchate in Paris. At the invitation of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1969, he lectured at the Moscow Theological Academy.

The main work of Ouspensky's life was first published in 1960 in French. It was based on the lectures he gave at the Theological and Pastoral Courses of the Western European Exarchate. Subsequently, the book was supplemented with several more articles and carefully edited by the author. It was first published in Russian in 1988, after the death of the author.