The Russian flag: a tricolor icon

Anatoly Korolyov with RIA Novosti, the Russian News and Information Agency, has an article on the history of the Russian flag.



An excerpt:

On August 22, 1991, (following the attempted coup by the State Committee for the State of Emergency) a Supreme Soviet resolution on the national flag of the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic) restored the imperial tricolor. A presidential decree confirmed this decision and declared 22 August Russian National Flag Day.

The symbolic meaning of the tricolor has changed slightly. White is seen to be the color of moral purity, the Christian faith and eternity. Blue is the color of truth and the Mother of God, the protector of Russia, the Virgin. Red is the color of strength and life. Taken together, the flag represents the eternal Virgin and the Giver of Life.

And so it could be said that the Russian flag is a kind of abstract icon that depicts, through the symbolism of color, the Mother of God holding the infant Christ.