SOLOVETSKY MONASTERY OF STS ZOSIMAS AND SABBATIUS

A large icon called the Solovetsky Monastery of Sts Zosimas and Sabbatius, with Life Scenes of Sts Zosimas and Sabbatius stands in the central area of the iconostasis. It was painted later than the others, in 1566-1568, especially for the Assumption Cathedral by order of Metropolitan Philip II Kolychev, when he was elevated to the Russian arch-see by Tsar Ivan the Terrible from the hegumen of the Solovetsky Monastery, where he performed great transformations and helped the monastery to flourish. The centrepiece of the icon depicts its holy founders with their brethren against the monastery's background.