The painting of icons, or holy pictures, was the first art that Russia made her own. By 988, the Eastern tradition of icon painting had been nearly destroyed by a series of Byzantine emperors, the original iconoclasts. But the newly converted Russians revived the art, combined it with powerful symbols of indigenous folk culture, and made it an inspiring expression of Christian faith. In this first episode, viewers see how the purely religious tradition of the icon soared toward abstraction in Russia, influencing the birth of modern art in the early 1900s, and then helped legitimize secular political power in the Soviet era. Audiences witness the rededication of a monastery that had been used as a military barracks. They also see an Old Believers baptism and experience the isolated serenity of Ferapontovo in the North, with its ethereal frescoes by Dionysius and the melodious bells that symbolized both power and faith. Viewers then visit the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev and go inside the beautiful Cathedral of the Assumption in the Moscow Kremlin at the time of the attempted Communist putsch of August 1991.