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The Virgin Hodegetria (Greek: “she who points the way”) is named after the famous Byzantine icon from the Hodegon Monastery in Constantinople. The original image depicted the Mother of God turned tow...
St Boris and St Gleb were the youngest of the twelve sons of Grand Prince Vladimir of Kiev. Boris ruled Rostov and Gleb ruled Murom. After Prince Vladimir’s death in 1015, their elder brother, Svyato...
Four martyrs with the name of Paraskeva were worshipped in the Byzantine-Slavonic world – the Roman St Paraskeva (2nd century, 26 July/8 August); St Paraskeva from Sicily (3rd century, 28 October/10 ...
The Virgin Hodegetria of Smolensk is one of the most popular images in Old Russian painting. The original icon was allegedly brought to Russia by Princess Anna Monomachus of Byzantium, the bride of P...
This image is a version of the Virgin Hodegetria in which the Christ Child is half-turned towards His mother. Mary holds Jesus with her left arm and turns His left leg so that His bare foot is visibl...
Our Lady of the Sign is a waist-length image of the Virgin Mary with her hands raised upwards and a medallion on her breast depicting the Christ Child. Jesus’s right hand is raised in blessing; He ho...
The Creed (Confession of Faith) is an authoritative formulation of the beliefs of the Christian religion. Jesus Christ gave the first creed to His disciples before His Ascension into heaven: “Go ye t...
St Demetrios of Soluneia (270–306) was the proconsul of Thessalonika in the fourth century. He was put to death for preaching Christianity in the Roman town of Sirmium in the northern Balkans. The fe...
The Coronation of the Virgin is not a traditional subject in Russian art and is rarely encountered in Orthodox church painting. The iconography of the subject was probably influenced by West European...
Jesus Christ is generally depicted wearing a crown of thorns in the last hours of His life on earth. Although there are many different types, thematic variations and manners of execution, the face of...