St. Nicholas

St. Nicholas of Mozhaysk One of the most popular figures in Christian iconography was St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, who lived in the 3rd/4th c. Considered a benefactor in every need, St. Nicholas became the patron of sailors, fishermen, tailors, weavers, butchers, merchants, millers, stonemasons, brewers, apothecaries, advocates, travellers, and girls seeking husbands. The miracles he performed in his lifetime and after death contributed to the rapid development of his cult and the creation of numerous visual variants of his depictions. In Rus, since the time of the adoption of Christianity, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker has enjoyed continual veneration of his devotees, as evidenced by the significant number of his depictions, see S.12683MŁ, S.12796MŁ, S.12805MŁ, S.12866MŁ, S.12868MŁ, S.12950MŁ. On the displayed icon, he appears as the defender of the city of Mozhaysk, see S.12836MŁ. Scenes portraying the events from the life of St. Nicholas and the miracles he performed began to be placed around the figure of the saint, by the edges of the portrait icons, in the so-called 'kleimo'. For example, the birth of St. Nicholas, baptism, appearing to Emperor Constantine, ordination as bishop, comforting of captives, saving of the unjustly condemned, saving a boy from slavery and returning him to his parents, saving a youth from the deep of the ocean, healing of the possessed, returning of the carpet to the wife of an old man, laying a saint to the grave, the transfer of his relics to Bari, delivering three measures of gold for the dowry of the poor maidens, silencing of the storm at sea during the journey to Jerusalem. On the displayed icon, precisely described scenes show: the birth of St. Nicholas, his baptism, studies, gifting of the dowries to the three maidens, ordination as bishop, appearing to Emperor Constantine in a dream, participation in the Council of Nicaea and condemning the teachings of Arius, saving of the three innocent prisoners, miracle of the saint's icons, returning the enslaved son to his parents, and the burial of St. Nicholas. Teresa Bagińska-Żurawska https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9243-3967