Құдайдың Мейірімі Иесус бейнесі

Depiction of Jesus Christ

The image of the Divine Mercy is a depiction of Jesus Christ that is based on the Divine Mercy devotion initiated by Faustina Kowalska. According to Kowalska's diary, Jesus told her "I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I myself will defend it as My own glory." (Diary 48)

Jesus is shown, in most versions, as raising his right hand in blessing and pointing with his left hand on the Sacred Heart from which flow forth two rays: one red and one pale. The depiction contains the message "Jesus I trust in you" (Polish: Jezu ufam Tobie). The rays that stream out have symbolic meanings: red for the blood of Jesus, and pale for the water (which justifies souls). The whole image is a symbol of charity, forgiveness and love of God, referred to as the "Fountain of Mercy". According to Kowalska's diary, the image is based on her 1931 vision of Jesus. Kowalska directed the painting of the first image in Vilnius by the artist Eugeniusz Kazimirowski. Since then, numerous versions of the image have been painted by other artists, including a popular rendition by Adolf Hyła in Kraków. They are widely venerated worldwide and are used in the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday, observed in Roman Catholic as well as some Anglican churches.

The first painting was made by Eugeniusz Kazimirowski, under the supervision of Kowalska and her confessor, Sopoćko, in Vilnius. Sopocko was a professor of theology at the University of Vilnius and introduced Kowalska to Kazimirowski, who was a professor of art there and had painted other religious images. Kowalska gave Kazimirowski specific instructions about the appearance and the posture of the image, which she said she had received from Jesus Christ in a vision. Sopocko himself posed as Jesus for the image as wearing an alb, and both he and Kowalska regularly visited the painter's workshop. The final painting satisfied neither Sopocko nor Kowalska, who later wrote that Jesus told her it was not that important for the picture to be beautiful since true beauty would be the blessing that he would bestow upon people by means of the painting. After its completion in 1934, the Kazimirowski painting first hung in the Bernardine Sisters' convent near the church of St. Michael, where Sopoćko was a rector. In her diary, Kowalska wrote that Jesus told her to inform her confessor that the proper place for the painting was in a church, not in the hallway of a convent. The first public exposition of the Kazimirowski painting was on 26–28 April 1935, at the Church of the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius. The image, including small reproductions of it on various devotional materials, was used by Sopoćko in promoting devotion to the Divine Mercy. In 1948, the Soviet authorities, who then occupied Lithuania, closed St. Michael's Church. The painting remained in the disused church building until 1951, when two pious women from Vilnius, Bronė Miniotaitė and Janina Rodzevič, bought the canvas from a guard and concealed it in an attic for several years. Later, they gave it to the parish priest at the Dominican Church of the Holy Spirit for safekeeping, but he chose not to display it in the church. Sopocko, who had relocated to Poland but was unable to take the painting with him, expressed concern about it to his friend Józef Grasewicz, who obtained the painting and moved it to his own parish church in Nova Ruda, Belarus. There, it was displayed and venerated by the local parishioners. In 1970, the Soviets closed that church and used it as a storage warehouse but left the painting hanging in the disused church, where parishioners continued to venerate it in secret. In 1986, Grasewicz arranged for the painting to be replaced by a copy and the original to be secretly transported back to the Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius, where it underwent a restoration that significantly changed its appearance, and it was then displayed and venerated in the church. In 2003, the painting, which had deteriorated because of exposure, attempts at cleaning, and the previous restoration, was professionally restored to its original look. In 2005, it was moved to its current location, above the main altar in the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy in Vilnius. A number of other artists have painted the image, but Hyła's rendition remains the most reproduced one. Another popular image was created in 1982 by American artist Robert Skemp, an illustrator of pop fiction paintings and posters during the baby boomer era. The Divine Mercy Shrine, Misamis Oriental, in El Salvador, Philippines, was built in 2008, and has a 15.24 m (50 ft) statue of the Divine Mercy towering above the shrine.

In 1959, the Vatican banned the image and its devotion for a number of factors. Some Polish bishops questioned Kowalska's claims and were uncomfortable with the image's similarity to the red and white Polish flag. Polish priests were reported to be interpreting the rays as a symbol of the flag. The ban on the image and devotion to it was lifted only on April 15, 1978, after pressure from Pope John Paul II, who was a great advocate for Kowalska.