The image of the Trinity originated from the Trinity Church in the village of Divnaya Gora, Yaroslavl Oblast. It is based on the iconography developed by Andrei Rublev for his famous icon of the Trinity in the Cathedral of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius Monastery. Rublev painted his icon between 1408 and 1425.
The scene is based on the Old Testament story of Abraham meeting God represented by three men. They predicted the birth of His son (Genesis 18:1–15). In the Christian tradition, this story is understood as describing the appearance of the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) in the form of three angels, even prior to the Incarnation.
All the elements of the composition have both a literal and a symbolic meaning. For example, the building symbolizes both Abraham’s tent and the Divine Economy — the plan according to which the world was designed from the moment of its Creation, with all the living beings and people, their sin and redemption. The red drape symbolizes the Veil of the Temple in Jerusalem which, in turn, represents Christ’s flesh. Mary was weaving the veil when she learned that she would conceive a child. During the Crucifixion, the Veil of the Temple was torn in two from bottom to top. The Oak of Mamre is interpreted as both the Tree of Life and the wood of Christ’s cross. The Mountain represents the heavenly world. Thanks to Christ’s atoning sacrifice, people could hope to get back to this world.
Scenes of “The Hospitality of Abraham” have been known since early Christian art, such as catacomb paintings, decoration of sarcophagi and liturgical attributes. Since the 6th–7th centuries, this scene has been used in church décor, such as the mosaics in martyria. For example, this scene can be seen in the Basilica of San Vitale, in Ravenna, Italy. By the 14th century, a version of the canonical image “The Hospitality of Abraham” similar to Rublev’s Trinity was often used to decorate folding encolpia and travel tabernacles.
Andrei Rublev chose to depict three angels sitting
at a table, without Sarah and Abraham offering them food. The displayed
composition preserves the main distinctive elements of Rublev’s original icon —
the rounded contours of the angels, leaning over the table towards each other,
and the outline of the table itself. Unlike in Rublev’s icon, the images at the
top of the board — the building, tree, and three-part mountain — are
characterized by elongated proportions. This may be due to the larger size of
the iconostasis, for which the icon was intended.
