18th CENTURY VERY LARGE ANTIQUE RUSSIAN ICON OF JESUS HOLY FACE - IMAGE NOT MADE WITH HANDS
Hand painted with egg tempera, on the wood panel.
Kovcheg (raised borders)
Size 21 by 18"
Authenticity guaranteed. Certificate of the Authenticity available upon request of the buyer.
This composition, also known as the Sudarium and the Saviour Uncreated-by-human-hands, is inspired by the legend of the miraculous transference of Christ’s countenance onto a piece of cloth which He used to wipe his face. This image, uncreated by human hands, was said to have been sent by Christ himself to Augarus, king of Edessa. In Edessa Augarus attached the cloth to a “board which did not decompose” and placed it in a niche made for it above the gates of the city. For some time the cloth was covered with a tile and the image miraculously imprinted itself on this piece of ceramic as well, so that there were now two images uncreated by human hands – on cloth and on tile. Legend tells us that these images were brought to Constantinople, and they were reproduced in great numbers in Byzantium and the Slavonic countries. Both types of Vernicle can be found in medieval Russian art from the twelfth century onwards. The composition of the cloth Vernicle varies mainly in the way the cloth itself is depicted: initially it was show with a smooth surface in accordance with written sources, but since the fourteenth century, when it became simply a background, it was usually depicted folded. Subsequently the composition became more complex with the introduction of half-length figures of Archangels Michael and Gabriel holding up the cloth, while in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the archangels can also be found depicted full-length to the sides of the Vernicle. Later Russian compositions sometimes show a variant influenced by the Western legend that the image was imprinted on the head-cloth of St Veronica who gave it to Christ on His way to Calvary. The image of Vernicle came to be regarded as a protector, a “bringer of victory.” It was placed above city gates and on military banners. The Vernicle was on the banner of Ivan the Terrible’s forces during their attack on Kazan, and chronicles tell us that it was also on Dmitry Doskoi’s banner when he defeated the Tatar-Mongols at the Battle of Kulikovo Field in 1380. The quite exceptional veneration of St.Nicholas is well known. In the liturgic weekly cycle of the Orthodox Church, among the days of the week dedicated to the Saviour and to different orders of heavenly and earthly sanetity, only three persons are singled out by name: the Mother of God, John the Forerunner and St.Nicholas. The reason for this special veneration of this bishop, who left neither theological works nor other writings, is evidently that the Church sees in him a personification of a shepherd, of its defender and intercessor. "Having fulfilled the Gospel of Christ… thou hast appeared in truth as a most hallowed shepherd to the world. According to his Life, when St.Nicholas was raised to the dignity of bishop he said: "…This dignity and this office demand different usage, in order that one should live no longer for oneself but for others." This "life for others" is his characteristic feature and is manifested by the great variety of forms of his solicitude for men - his care for their preservation, their protection from the elements, from human injustice, from heresies and so forth. This solicitude was accompanied by numerous miracles both during his life and after his death. Indefatigable intercessor, steadfast, uncompromising fighter for Orthodoxy, "he was meek and gentle in his disposition and humble in spirit".

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