Ksenia Belyakova POKROVSKY

1941 - 2013
Ksenia (Belyakova) Pokrovsky, 71 of Sharon, MA, internationally known Russian Orthodox iconographer, died unexpectedly, Sunday, July 7, 2013 at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Born in Kyrgyzstan March 9, 1941, she was raised in Moscow where she met and married her husband Lev Pokrovsky in 1960. She received her degree in biophysics from Moscow University in 1966. By 1968, she left behind the laboratory to embark full time on her life-long vocation as an Orthodox iconographer, with the blessing of Father Alexander Men (d.1990), her close friend and spiritual father. Working on historically important icons, she developed a high level of skill as a restorer, but was better known as one of the foremost pioneers of the restoration of the tradition of icon-writing in contemporary Russia.
She immigrated to the United States in 1991, and established her Izograph Studio outside of Boston. Her icons are revered in many churches and private collections around the world, including Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow. She was the author of the renowned icon, "Synaxis of All Saints of North America" as well as the complete interiors of St. Andrew Antiochian Orthodox Church, Lexington, KY, and St. Mary Magdalene Church in Manhattan. She was a gifted scientist, iconographer, artist, teacher and friend whose loss is deeply grieved by the many lives she changed.

In addition to her devoted husband of 54 years, Lev Pokrovsky, she is survived by three sons, Eugene, Nikolai and Ilya, a daughter, Anna Gouriev, and two brothers, Eugene Shpitalsky and Igor Belyakov. She also leaves behind her 10 beloved grandchildren, great-grandchildren as well as her many devoted friends and students. She was predeceased by her son Dimitry in 2001.

Funeral services were held at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, Salem MA, on Wed. July 10, 2013 at 7:00 P.M, followed by an all-night vigil kept by family and friends, with burial the next day, July 11, at St. Tikhon Monastery Cemetery, South Canaan PA.