Holy Virgin Hodegetria, Selected saints

An image of the Mother of God represented in center belongs to the iconographic type known since the 17th century as Our Lady of Shuya. Its iconographic features manifest themselves chiefly in the Child’s pose: his raised right hand with a scroll rests on the right bent bare leg. The Mother of God supports the Child’s left leg. The association with the death and resurrection of Christ is emphasized by a red background and an inscription above the Child’s figure “Ц(а)р(ь) Сла (вы) // И (ису)с Х (ристо)с Ни // кa”. The Theotokos with the Child is surrounded by the half-figures of the saints symbolizing the Church and venerated as the protectors of praying people. In the central part of the icon is an image of John the Baptist holding a scroll with an inscription “Се агне //цъ Б (о)ж//ии взе” (John, I, 29). To his left is the figure of Elijah the Prophet with a scroll with an inscription “Г(оспо)дь рече // ко Илье // что ты здесе // се” (3 Kings, XIX, 9, 13) – the first words of the Lord’s speech to Elijah on Mount Sinai. To the left is the Archangel Michael. Symmetrically to the figures of Michael and Elijah are the images of Peter and Paul. Peter is holding the key from the gates of paradise and a scroll with an inscription. On the border sides are the figures of Nicholas of the Wonderworker, Archdeacon Stephan, the martyrs Paraskeva Pyatnitsa and Barbara. 

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  General view