Iconography of saints. Icon of all saints, photos and their meaning

Among large quantity Saints revered by Christians include the martyr Christopher, who is depicted on icons in a rather unusual image. This saint is traditionally depicted with the head of a dog or horse, however, he is quite rare and is practically unknown to Orthodox Christians.

ROGOZH SACRY Holy Martyr Christopher.
Vetka. End of the 18th century Wood, gesso, tempera. 44.9x37.6 cm. On the back there is an inscription in cinnabar: “To the house of Alexander Dimi/Triev Shyshkin.”
The martyr Christopher is represented with a dog-headed figure, waist-deep, turning to the left. On his left shoulder is a thin red spear, which he holds with his left hand, his right hand is raised with two fingers. Human eyes look at the viewer, brown hair falls in long curls over the shoulders. The armor, the cloak clasp and the spear tip are gold, with a niello pattern on the same gold sheet, which also covers the saint’s halo, the background and the margins of the icon. The personal letter is executed using the usual sankir technique: a lighter reddish ocher is placed on a light brown base, followed by highlights. As a result, a dark skin color is conveyed. The master manages to give the animal’s mask a blissful, touching and trusting expression. In the design of fabrics there is a noticeable dependence on the style of Baroque and Rococo. On the cloak, the pattern and shading of the folds are brown-crimson, the final highlights are made using a gold-white technique. At the top of the middle there is the inscription: “S(Y)THY MU(SCHILNIK) CHRISTOPHOR.”
The coloring of the icon is based on a combination of the crimson tone of the cloak with the blue tone of the saint’s shirt and with the brown tone of the personal one. Dense yellow gold serves to unite them and create conventional depth. The master's work with color, techniques for modeling the form, as well as the color and rhythm of the stripes that frame the centerpiece and the entire icon are characteristic of Vetka icon painting of the late 18th century. // V.M. Forty.

Rare shot
At the entrance to the Intercession Church there is another practically unknown icon with the image of St. Christopher.

The Holy Martyr Christopher is depicted among the martyrs

The last compelling argument for organizing the study was a letter from a reader of the Starove website:

“Good evening! Today I was in the store of church utensils and icons “Sofrino” of the Russian Orthodox Church MP. I wanted to order an image of the martyr Christopher of ancient writing (with a dog’s head). They told me: “The image is not canonical. It was prohibited by the Holy Synod in the 18th century. Not everything that is on the Internet, right. The true image is this..." (and they show me on their computer the martyr Christopher in the image of a man carrying the Divine Infant on his shoulders). I answer: "The Council of 1971 abolished all oaths to the old rituals, canons, icons and removed anathemas from the Old Believers. A similar spelling of Christopher is still used in many local Orthodox Churches" They answer me: “This is none of our business. The plant's confessor forbade production. What you want is blasphemy. We don’t know where and how you will order such an icon, or who will make it for you, but only we have the true image.”
Just like that... It was not the oaths that became “as if they had not been”, but the resolutions of the Council of 1971 and all subsequent Councils of the Russian Orthodox Church. We are talking about the store of the art and production enterprise “Sofrino” of the Russian Orthodox Church MP. There are two branded stores in Moscow: 1) on Kropotkinskaya (central); 2) in Sokolniki (on the territory of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ), where I tried to place an order."

Nikon-Petrovsky “new items” in action: the “corrected” image of St. Martyr Christopher on top of an ancient fresco in Yaroslavl

This note is based on Scientific research S.K. Chernova – leading specialist of the Cherepovets Museum Association.
In Cherepovets there is also an image of St. Martyr Christopher Pseglavets, dating back to the 17th century, but this is not the only place where people became interested in the history of the unusual image. Blogger carabaas shares the story of the appearance of the image of St. Martyr Christopher with a dog's head from the collection of icons of the Rostov Museum:
This icon was originally located in the Rostov Museum, and got there by order of the New Believer Archbishop Jonathan (with whose blessing the museum itself was created in 1883). The background to the appearance of the icon was described in the Diocesan Gazette as follows:
“When reviewing the diocesan churches in August 1880, His Eminence in the church of the village “Bogorodskoye in Oseka” saw, among other things, an icon of the martyr Christopher, the size of a man, with the head of an animal, namely a dog. The Bishop noticed all the indecency in the temple of such an icon and ordered it to be taken out of the temple”...
Christopher is a holy martyr, revered by the Orthodox and Catholic churches, who, according to legend, lived in the 3rd century AD. The life of Saint Christopher, which was distributed in Cyprus and later in Rus', says that the saint was very handsome, but in order to avoid temptation, he begged the Lord to disfigure his appearance. Modern theologians, as well as Rogozhsky old-timers, adhere to this version, emphasizing the original ordinariness of the saint and at the same time “making peace with the mythologized Russian image of the saint that has taken root over the centuries.” (quote from the Encyclopedia “Myths of the Peoples of the World”. M., 1982. T. 2, P. 604).

Examples of traditional images of St. much Christopher

Eastern tradition of venerating St. martyr Christopher

The legend of the Eastern tradition says (see: Lives of the Saints, in Russian. P. 290; Menaion - May. Part 1, P. 363) that during the reign of Emperor Decius Trajan, a man named Reprev was captured during battle with tribes in eastern Egypt. He was a man of enormous stature, cynocephalic (that is, with a dog’s head), like all representatives of his tribe.
Even before baptism, Reprev confessed faith in Christ and denounced those who persecuted Christians. Emperor Decius sent 200 soldiers for him. Reprev obeyed without resistance. Miracles happened along the way: the rod blossomed in the saint’s hand, and through his prayer the loaves multiplied, just as the Savior multiplied the loaves in the desert.

Saint Christopher. Greek icon. Constantinople

The soldiers accompanying Reprev were amazed by the miracles, believed in Christ and, together with Reprev, were baptized by the Bishop of Antioch, Vavila. After baptism, Reprev received the name “Christopher”. When Christopher was brought to the emperor, he called two female harlots and ordered them to persuade the saint to renounce Christ, but the women, returning to the emperor, declared themselves Christians, for which they were subjected to cruel torture and died as martyrs. Decius sentenced Christopher to execution, and after cruel torture the martyr's head was glassed. (see: Lives of the Saints, in Russian. P. 290). One of the miracles of the martyr was that he remained unharmed after the emperor ordered him to be placed in a red-hot copper box.

Saint Christopher. Greek icon. 18 century

In Antioch, the memory of the martyr began to be venerated not immediately after his death, but some time later, so that even his real name was forgotten and was replaced by the honorary title Christophoros. This is quite understandable, since the saint was not a member of the local Church, but was a foreigner who served in a special cohort of the Roman army in Syria. Moreover, Christopher was not baptized Bishop of Antioch, and the Alexandrian presbyter Peter, who was in exile, who, after the execution, ransomed the body of the saint and transported it to his homeland. In the art of Byzantium, there were several variants of the image of the martyr, which were formed already in the early era. The most common image is of a young man dressed in patrician robes (frescoes of Dečan and the Church of St. Clement in Ohrid) or in military armor. The latter option is represented by the paintings of the Old Church (Tokali Kilisse in Goreme, Turkey, X - XI centuries), in the mosaics of the Hosios Loukas Monastery (second quarter of the XI century). In Rus', the image of St. Christopher as a young warrior was preserved in the deacon arch of the Church of St. George in Staraya Ladoga (last quarter of the 12th century).

Saint Christopher. Greek icon

Icon from the Yegoryevsk History and Art Museum

Saints Christopher and George slaying snakes. Terracotta. Vinika. Macedonia. 6-7 centuries

Saint Christopher and the Yaroslavl Wonderworkers. Russian icon. 18 century. State Historical Museum

Saint Christopher. Icon. XVIII century State Museum history of religion, St. Petersburg

A modern image of St. Christopher, created under the influence of Catholic legends

Old Believer hagiography icon of St. Christopher

Saint Christopher with a wolf's head. Popular picture

Later versions of the writing of the chapter of St. Martyr Christopher in Rus'

Saints Florus, Laurus and Christopher. Perm icon.1888

Modern icon of St. Christopher Pseglavets

In Russia, the veneration of Saint Christopher is not so widespread, and on the icons sold in the church shops of the Russian Orthodox Church MP one can only find an image of the Saint in human form with the Divine Child on his shoulders. The image of Christopher Cynocephalus is revered unchanged only among Old Believer Church and remained only on those rare icons and temple paintings that the New Believers did not have time to “moderate.”

WHY DO WE SUFFER? Archimandrite Thaddeus Vitovnitsky On April 14, 2003, the famous Serbian ascetic and confessor, Archimandrite Thaddeus Vitovnitsky (Strbulovich, 1914–2003), reposed. We offer our readers a selection of instructions and teachings from the elder’s conversations. What are our thoughts, such is our life. If our thoughts are calm, quiet, noble and gentle, so will our lives. But when we mentally turn to the circumstances around us, we enter this circle of thoughts - we have neither peace nor peace. *** People loved evil more than good. Fallen nature! It is easier for them to think about evil than about good, but a person has neither peace nor rest from evil thoughts. How great is our fall! Marvelous! Scary! We cannot come to our senses, we cannot do anything for ourselves, we do not even realize how much we are terrorized by fallen spirits. It seems to us that these are our thoughts. We are tormented by envy, anger, hatred. This is the tyranny of tyrannies! The soul does not want this, but cannot free itself. From small nails she got used to it. Evil takes deep roots in the soul, and it is necessary to pull them out of it. It is necessary to transform into love, to be peaceful and calm, but it is not easy; see how terrible the fall of man is! *** We don't understand the meaning own life and the fact that every work here on earth and throughout the entire universe is the work of God. But we work with lukewarmness, without a soul, and no one would tolerate this, not only God. We know that the universe belongs to God, that the planet belongs to God; and no matter what work is entrusted to us, everything belongs to Him. We should not pay attention to who gives us the task, we must know that every work here on earth, in the universe, is the work of the Lord, and we must carry it out with all my heart, without reserve. When we work like this, we free ourselves from internal resistance. *** With our thoughts we attract or repel both friends and foes, family and friends. People pay little attention to their thoughts, and because of this there is a lot of suffering. *** It all starts with a thought - both good and evil. Our thoughts materialize. To this day we see that everything that was created and everything that exists on globe and in the universe, there is Divine thought materialized in time and space, and we are created in the image of God. A great reward has been given to the human race, but we do not understand this and do not understand how our thoughts affect others. We can bring great good or great evil, it all depends on our desires and on our thoughts. If our thoughts are peaceful and quiet, kind and generous, then this affects not only our own state, but we also exude this peace everywhere around us: and in the family, and in the country, and everywhere. This means that then we are workers in God’s field, we create Heavenly harmony, Divine harmony, silence and peace spread everywhere. *** We always have the wrong starting point. Instead of starting with ourselves, we want to correct others and leave ourselves for later. Everyone start with themselves - so we will have peace everywhere! Saint John Chrysostom says: “If a person does not harm himself, no one can harm him!” *** You have received grace, and it will be with you until you become attached in thought to some worldly care. If this happens, then first you will stop hearing prayer in your heart, and then you will gradually lose peace and joy. Then you will again begin to be tormented by the heavy thoughts of this world, which is controlled by demonic forces. If you want to preserve this grace, you must constantly pray in order to reflect difficult and sorrowful thoughts with prayer, and in this way you can maintain peace and joy. *** After all, we suffer because we have evil thoughts and evil desires. We ourselves are the cause of our suffering, because there is no repentance among our people. There is no repentance either among believers, much less among non-believers. Our bad thoughts and evil desires have ruined the beauty of the world, they simply broke it and brought evil and dangerous fruits. But we ourselves are to blame for everything and we reap the fruits of our thoughts and desires... We must be reborn through repentance. But this is not only confession to a priest, although this is also necessary to free a person from bad thoughts. This is a turn to Absolute Good, that is, a turn to God, because God is Absolute Good. For our own good, we must keep good thoughts and good desires. But we don’t do this and that’s why we suffer. We hold a lot of evil inside us; it manifests itself in the family, at work, and throughout society, and the result is terrible suffering. You see where we have come... But it’s bad not only for us, but for the whole world. *** As soon as we are overcome by evil thoughts, we ourselves become evil. We Christians must not allow evil even in thoughts, much less in practice, otherwise this will mean that we do not have the strength to resist it. Meanwhile, there is Divine Power, Divine energy, Divine life in us, and when we respond to Last Judgment, we will also have to answer for how we disposed of the Divine power and life that were given to us. What did we create in the universe – harmony or chaos? Our thoughts act not only on us, on animals and vegetable world– they influence eternity. The first people died in the flood because of their black thoughts and evil desires, and now we are so bogged down in evil that we cannot free ourselves from it, and that time is approaching us again. The only salvation, the only way out, with God’s help, is in internal change, in a change of heart. *** Let's turn to goodness so that there is goodness around us. Let’s keep good, Divine thoughts, keep our spiritual peace, and it will shine in us and around us - that’s where the change will come. Anyone who is not included in evil, in his earthly ambitions, which deprive a person of peace and burden the soul, will feel this peace. Every person, no matter where he is, can contribute to this. This is especially important for the head of the family; he should try to fix his thoughts on silence and peace and cast all his cares and troubles on the Lord. The Lord took upon Himself all our burdens and said that He Himself would take care of what we should eat and drink, and what to wear, but we frantically hold on to our worries and create confusion for ourselves, our family and everyone around us. When I am burdened with worries myself I carry all the monastic household chores without placing them on the Lord, and this is where troubles begin for both me and the brethren, and then the easiest thing is difficult to do. And when I surrender all my worries, both myself and my brothers, to God, the hardest work is not a burden. And when there is no concern, then there is harmony and peace between the brethren. You see what a great power is in our thoughts - the power that destroys or gives the world. And if we know about this, then we will work to create peace in our home, in the family, in the state, because the state is one big family . *** Peace must be established in our souls, then there will be peace around us. Until we do this, there will be no peace. There is no peace in a family where the owner is restless with thoughts. Therefore, we must entrust ourselves and our loved ones to the Lord. The Lord is everywhere, and without His providence, without His permission, nothing happens on earth. When we root this thought in ourselves, then everything is easy for us; and if the Lord allowed us to do everything we want and how we want, a catastrophe would occur. Unprecedented chaos would ensue in space. *** The most important thing for spiritual life is keeping peace in the heart. Do not allow anxiety into your heart at all costs. Peace, silence, silence should reign in it. Mental chaos is the state of fallen spirits. Our mind must be collected, attentive, focused. Only in such a mind can God dwell. Along with keeping peace in your heart, practice standing before the Lord - this means you need to constantly keep in mind that the Lord is looking at us. With Him we must rise and lie down, work, eat and walk. The Lord is everywhere and in everything. *** A person who has acquired the Kingdom of God radiates holy thoughts, God’s thoughts. The role of a Christian in the world is to cleanse the universe from evil and spread the Kingdom of God. This world must be conquered by keeping Heaven in our own soul, because if we lose the Kingdom of God within ourselves, we will not help others and will not be saved ourselves. He who carries the Kingdom of God within himself imperceptibly transfers it to others. People are attracted to our warmth, our peace, and, wanting to be close to us, they will absorb the atmosphere of Heaven. And it is not at all necessary to talk about it - Heaven will shine in us, even when we are silent or when we talk about the most ordinary things; it shines within us, even if we are not aware of it. *** The Kingdom of Heaven, heaven, just like hell, is a state of the soul. We are either in hell or in heaven. When we are in a bad mood, it is hell, we have neither peace nor rest, but when there is joy in our hearts, we feel like we are in heaven. Therefore, we must continually work on prayer. There are few on earth who receive free grace. A soul caught in a circle of chaotic thoughts experiences hellish torment. For example, we leaf through newspapers or walk along the streets of the city and after that we suddenly feel that something has broken inside us, in our soul, we feel emptiness and sadness. This happens because while reading about various subjects, we lost our concentration of mind, it became distracted, and the atmosphere of hell penetrated into it. *** We must defeat evil with peace and heartfelt silence, peaceful and quiet thoughts. Otherwise, troubles and sorrows will continue to happen to us. If we ourselves do not humble ourselves, the Lord will not cease to humble us. The same misfortune, which brings us a lot of suffering and pain, will be repeated constantly until we learn to overcome it with peace, silence and humility and not attach importance to it. Therefore, one who strives for God goes through many trials. It happens that the people closest to us despise and reject us, and we must peacefully, with understanding, accept this and not judge anyone. Because we are all fighting, all our relatives, near and far, are all in the fight! Let's imagine that in their place we could have done much worse, and accept it. *** If you are visited by sorrows, it means that the Lord loves you. By the difficult trials and sorrows that the Lord sends us, we learn that He loves us. The Holy Fathers said that if your inner world is not indignant, then you have chosen the wrong path. This means that you are doing something at the will of the enemy, and he does not touch you, because you are in his power. Everything is fine with you, there are no special temptations, which means he is holding you, and you do not notice that you are in his power. *** When a person is in the power of a demon, a false peace can reign in his heart for a long time, the demon does not touch him, and he has no temptations. In our country, peace and silence are replaced by battle. This is God’s permission for us to become real warriors of Christ and know how to defeat evil. We need time to eradicate the bad qualities in ourselves that have been strengthened in us since childhood and often make themselves felt; we must gain spiritual experience to become free from them. We need the help of experienced people who have themselves gone through these stages of spiritual growth, so that they can explain to us how we can overcome the bad in ourselves, how we can preserve (or return) spiritual peace. Saint Isaac the Syrian tells us: “Keep spiritual peace with all your might. Don't give it up for anything in the world! Make peace with yourself. And both earth and Heaven will make peace with you!” *** Our life depends on our thoughts - if they are full of peace and goodness, then our life is like that, if thoughts are destructive, we will have neither peace nor rest. As soon as someone says a word against us, we explode. From this we can determine what state we are in. You see how weak we are, how carelessly we keep the world. We need to learn to keep peace in our hearts. *** We here must learn Heavenly life, be obedient and completely devoted to the will of God; no matter what happens to us, accept everything as if from the hand of God, without doubt. What about the circumstances? He knows what we can bear and what we cannot. He knows what temptations we can overcome, that we can overcome peacefully, so that if something like this happens again later, it will no longer touch our heart, because the soul will not participate in it. Events take their course, and we interfere with them, destroy our spiritual world, interfere where we don’t need to. Events that the Lord has allowed go their own way, and if we have acquired peace of heart, they will pass us by and not harm us, but if we get involved in them, we suffer. *** Our heart flares up so much, and the flame in it is the stronger, the greater the concentration of our mental powers in God. And then you will see how circumstances gradually begin to change, everything around us begins to change, because we begin to radiate love and peace. The thoughts of those around us change too! If someone rebelled against us, we responded in kind, but now we have stopped the war. We want peace. And the other side has no one to fight with. One of the warring parties must give in, and that is us! The Lord commanded us to love our enemies and pray for them. *** It is not others who interfere with us, we interfere with ourselves. We are our own greatest obstacle. We think about the evil that is around us and circling everywhere; but if evil did not exist in ourselves, it would not affect us. Evil is in our soul, and we are to blame for accepting it and not preserving it, destroying the world. Someone there is threatening us, slandering us - let him, he has free will. Let him do what he wants, but we have our own business - to preserve our spiritual peace. *** The cause of illness is mental decline. Illness comes from thought. Usually we all have both good and bad thoughts. As are thoughts, so is life. The spirit feeds on thoughts, just as the body feeds on bodily food.*** Thoughts are suggested to us from all sides. We live, as it were, among mental radio waves. If we could physically see them, we would understand what a dangerous network this is. Each of us carries a “radio receiver” within us, but the human “receiver” is much more accurate than any radio station or television, only its (mental) functions are damaged. How perfect man is, how exalted! But he doesn’t know how to appreciate this, he doesn’t know how to connect to the Source of life in order to feel the joy of life, and the enemy constantly inspires him with different thoughts. *** Let us pray to the Lord with all our hearts. You just need to ask from your heart, like a child of your parents: “Help, Lord, every soul and don’t forget me, Lord! Help everyone find peace, and help them to love You just as the angels love You. And give me strength to love You as Your Most Holy Mother loves You. Give me such strength too, Lord!” Because the struggle is powerless against love, no one can fight it. Love is an invincible force, for God is Love. Archimandrite Thaddeus Vitovnitsky Books by Archimandrite Thaddeus Vitovnitsky in the online store "Sretenie" Thaddeus Vitovnitsky, Archimandrite. Peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. - M.: Novospassky Monastery, 2010. April 14, 2017

People please God in different ways: the Heavenly Father endows everyone with talents in due measure and accepts labors from everyone for His glory, therefore the Church glorifies the saints of God in different faces.

Holy prophets

Prophets include holy people who received from God the gift of insight into the future, who proclaimed to the world the ways of His Providence; at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they predicted future events, especially about the promised Savior.

The most revered prophets: Elijah (August 2), John the Baptist (July 7, September 11). There are well-known prophetesses, for example, righteous Anna (February 16).

In the iconography of the prophets there is always an image of a halo as a symbol of holiness and special chosenness of God; on their heads there are prophetic caps (for example, the prophet Daniel) or a crown, like the kings David and Solomon; Prophets are also depicted with their heads uncovered; the scrolls in their hands contain excerpts from the texts of their prophecies. The prophets are dressed in a tunic (underwear in the form of a shirt to the toes) and a himation (outer clothing in the form of a cloak), and on the shoulders of some (the Prophet Elijah) is a mantle - a sheepskin cape.

The last of the prophets who proclaimed: “...repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2) and who saw with his own eyes the fulfillment of all the prophecies about the Savior was John the Baptist, whose iconography is very diverse.

He is depicted wearing camel hair or a chiton and himation; The “Angel of the Desert” icon is widespread, where John the Baptist has wings behind his back - a symbol of the purity of his life as a desert dweller. On this icon, the holy prophet John the Baptist holds in his hand his own severed head, which is a feature of icon painting when events that are far apart in time are depicted simultaneously, and also in the same way as St. martyrs are depicted with the instruments of their suffering for the Lord, and virgins are depicted with a palm or flower branch as a symbol of purity. The figures of the prophets are most often depicted from the waist up and in full height.

Holy Apostles

Apostles(in Greek - messengers) - disciples of Christ who accompanied Him during public service, and subsequently sent by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself to all ends of the earth, spreading faith throughout the world. The apostles Peter and Paul (July 12) are called supreme.

Traditionally, the holy apostles are depicted with scrolls or a book in the form of a codex, with halos around their heads; the clothes of the apostles - tunic and himation.

On icons, the Chief Apostle Peter is usually depicted with a bunch of keys, which means a set of church Sacraments, which are symbolic keys to the Kingdom of Heaven: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it; and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19).

Four icons of the holy evangelists are always placed on the Royal Doors. The evangelists Matthew, Mark and Luke are depicted while working on the Gospels, sitting indoors behind open books, and the holy evangelist John is among the mountains on the island of Patmos, where, according to Tradition, he dictated the inspired text to his disciple Prochorus.

Saints Equal to the Apostles

Equal to the Apostles- these are saints, like the apostles, who labored in converting countries and peoples to Christ. Such, for example, are Tsars Constantine and Helen (June 3), the baptist of Rus', Prince Vladimir (July 28), and Grand Duchess Olga (July 24).

Images of saints equal to the apostles have basically the same iconographic symbolism; differences may be in the images of clothing that is characteristic of its time and people. Often in the iconography of saints equal to the apostles, the image of a cross appears - a symbol of baptism and salvation from eternal death.

Saints

Saints - patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops and bishops who achieved holiness through the purity of their personal lives and became famous for their tireless care for their flock and the preservation of Orthodoxy from heresies and schisms. Among their great host, the most revered saints among the Russian people are: Nicholas the Wonderworker (December 19 and May 22), Ecumenical teachers Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom (common memory February 12); Moscow saints Peter, Alexy, Jonah, Philip, Job, Ermogen and Tikhon (common memory October 18).

Only bishops can be counted among the saints, since they, leading the community, receive the gift of teaching and continue the continuity of apostolic succession through the ordination of new bishops.

On the icons the saints are depicted in their liturgical episcopal vestments. On their head they may have a miter - a special headdress, decorated with small icons and precious stones, symbolizing the Savior's crown of thorns (but more often the saints are depicted with their heads uncovered); they are dressed in sakkos - outer clothing, signifying the scarlet robe of the Savior; on the shoulders there is an omophorion - a long ribbon-shaped cloth, decorated with crosses, which is an obligatory part of the bishop's vestment. The omophorion symbolizes the lost sheep that the gospel good shepherd carries home on his shoulders.

Saints are most often depicted with a book in their left hand; the right hand is in a blessing gesture. Sometimes the saints hold a cross, chalice or staff in their hands. The figures of saints can be full-length or waist-length.

Holy Martyrs

Martyrs- which includes the majority of saints - those who endured suffering and death for the name of Christ, for the right faith, for refusing to serve idols.

Those who have undergone particularly severe torment are called great martyrs. Among them are the healer Panteleimon (August 9), St. George the Victorious (May 6), Saints Barbara (December 17) and Catherine (December 7).

The holy martyrs accepted death in the priesthood, and the holy martyrs died in monastic vows.

Separately in Rus' they honor passion-bearers who died at the hands of murderers and villains. The first Russian saints were the passion-bearing princes Boris and Gleb (August 6).

The prototype of martyrdom is Christ Himself, who witnessed with his own blood the salvation of the human race.

Martyrs(from the holy first martyr Stephen (Acts 7) to the new martyrs of our time) - continuers of the apostolic ministry, and therefore there is a cross on their icons. It is depicted in the hands of a saint and is a symbol of both the apostolic gospel and the symbol of sacrifice. Joyfully giving earthly existence in exchange for heavenly existence, the martyrs become co-workers with Christ Himself.

The iconography of martyrs uses the color red as a figurative expression of suffering for the faith, and the red robes of martyrs are a symbol of shed blood.

Confessors The Church refers to those who suffered a lot for Christ, openly professing their faith, endured persecution, torment and torture for this, but survived, avoiding martyrdom. Since the 6th century, confessors have been called saints who have attested to the Christian faith through the special righteousness of their lives.

Reverends

Reverends (those who have become like the Lord) are saints who became famous in monastic feats. Through fasting, prayer, and labor, they created great virtues in their souls - humility, chastity, meekness. Almost every monastery is glorified before God by a holy saint. In Rus', the Venerables Sergius of Radonezh (July 18 and October 8) and Seraphim of Sarov (January 15 and August 1) are especially loved. Among the venerable women, the most famous is Saint Mary of Egypt (April 14).

Monastic asceticism is a special type of following Christ, which involves a complete renunciation of all worldly attachments. The basis of monastic feat is fasting and prayer as the path of knowledge of God and the desire for life in God. But monasticism is not only a means of personal salvation. “Save yourself, and thousands around you will be saved,” these words of St. Seraphim of Sarov indicate that the difficult monastic feat is marked by special gifts of God, using which the ascetic leads to the salvation of all his spiritual children.

The monks are depicted in full height and to the waist, in monastic vestments; right hand - in a nominal blessing finger; in the left - there may be an unfolded or, most often, a rolled scroll; A characteristic detail of the iconography of the saints is the rosary - a symbol of monastic prayer work.

The background for icons of saints can be a panoramic image of the monastery in which the saint labored.

Standing on the pillars are depicted the holy venerable pillars, who have chosen this type of extreme asceticism for themselves as a way of withdrawing from the world and concentrating on unceasing prayer.

Often on icons (this applies to all the iconography of saints) there is an image of the blessing right hand of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Mother of God, angels and archangels.

The figures can be single, but there are also multi-figure compositions, called “icons with selected saints.” Single figures are depicted surrounded by hagiographical marks - individual scenes from the life of the saint.

Unmercenary

Unmercenary had the gift of healing and used it free of charge, healing illnesses both physical and mental. Such doctors were, for example, Saints Cosmas and Damian (July 14), the great martyr and healer Panteleimon (August 9), etc.

Blessed (foolish)

Holy Fools For Christ's sake, taking on the guise of madness, enduring reproaches from those around them, they exposed human vices, admonished those in power, and consoled the suffering. Among them (Aug. 2), Ksenia Petersburgskaya(February 6) and other saints.

External madness, combined with the gift of foresight, behavior that goes against the generally accepted, but allows, regardless of their faces, to expose sinners and call for salvation through awareness of one’s own imperfection and repentance - these are the main features of the feat of foolishness.

The blessed ones are depicted on the icons in the form in which they accomplished their feat: naked or with a light bandage around their loins, in shabby clothes, with chains on their shoulders.

An obligatory element of the iconography of holy fools - nimbus.

Holy saints

Being family people and living in the world, the righteous saints were awarded holiness for their especially pious and pleasing way of life to God.

Forefathers- the first righteous people in human history.

These are the Old Testament patriarchs (forefathers Adam, Noah, Abraham etc.), as well as the righteous Joachim and Anna(September 22) - parents of the Mother of God (to whom the Church has adopted the still high title of Godfather), righteous Zechariah and Elizabeth(July 8) - parents of St. John the Baptist, and the betrothed of the Mother of God - righteous Joseph. The forefathers participate educationally in the history of the salvation of mankind, being in the flesh the ancestors of Jesus Christ, and in the spiritual sense, they are an example of combining the righteousness of life with the anticipation of future liberation from eternal death. On the icons the patriarchs are depicted with scrolls containing texts from Holy Scripture; the forefather Noah is sometimes depicted with the ark in his hands.

The great Russian saint, the Righteous One, also belongs to the list of righteous saints John, the Wonderworker of Kronstadt(January 2), who was a priest - a representative of the white (married) clergy.

The figures of saints are depicted both in full height and waist-length. The background is often a panorama of the city where the saint lived, a monastery or a church.

Holy saints

Holy saints- these are kings and princes who used the greatness and wealth received from God for works of mercy, enlightenment, and preservation of people's shrines. Among them - (September 12 and December 6) and Dimitry Donskoy(June 1st).

The main theological meaning of all the iconography of the saints is victory over sin, and therefore over eternal death, salvation and entry into the Kingdom of Heaven. According to St. John of Damascus, “the saints were filled with the Holy Spirit during their lifetime, but when they died, the grace of the Holy Spirit is present with their souls, and with their bodies in tombs, and with figures, and with their holy icons - not in essence, but by grace and action."