THE EARTHLY LIFE OF THE VIRGIN CYCLE

The third and the fourth tiers of the murals of the Assumption Cathedral accommodate the cycle of the Theotokos. The third is connected with the stories from apocryphal tales of the Hagiography of the Virgin, known from the 3rd-4th centuries, first of all, from the Protevangelium of James. Those texts have been translated since the Christianization of Russia. They narrate about the parents of the Virgin Mary – Joachim and Anne, about her birth, childhood and youth.  

The cycle starts from the southern wall and is continued on the northern wall of the Assumption Cathedral. The last two compositions portray the Virgin before her Dormition when she went to the Mount of Olives and the trees made obeisance to her, and the angel let the Virgin know of her soon death, as well as the scene of her Praying at the Sepulchre of Christ after His ascension.