ST NICHOLAS (OF VYAZHISHCHI), SURROUNDED BY SCENES FROM HIS LIFE

A hagiographic icon of St Nicholas was painted in Novgorod in the early 15th century; unfortunately, it was badly damaged. It was a sacred image in the Vyazhishchi Convent, but during the reign of Ivan the Terrible it was transferred to Moscow along with other revered Novgorod relics. It occupied a place in the Local tier of the central iconostasis of the Assumption Cathedral, at the entrance to the Peter and Paul side-chapel in the 16th-19th centuries. St Nicholas the Wonderworker was one of the most revered saints in Russia — patron of travellers, rescuer of sailors, guardian of the family. All these features are attributed to the saint based on his hagiography, which is reflected in marginal scenes surrounding the icon.