The wooden icon depicts Saint Simeon full-length in an arching centerpiece, against the background of a river landscape. In his left hand he holds an unfolded scroll, with Christ watching over him from the sky. Episodes from the Saint Simeon’ life are depicted on the perimeter of the icon in 17 border scenes separated by inscriptions and plant motifs. The prevalent color scheme is light and dark blue, with some pink hues. The icon was painted by an unknown artist of the Stroganov iconographic school, which developed at the end of the 16th century.

Simeon of Verkhoturye is a Saint of the Russian Orthodox Church, revered as the heavenly patron of the Urals. Accounts of Simeon’s life are very brief and are known only from his hagiography, compiled at the end of the 17th century on the basis of stories of his contemporaries:

Metropolitan of Tobolsk and Siberia Ignatius compiled this tale after he had inspected the relics of the righteous man in 1695.

According to his hagiography, Simeon was born into a noble boyar family in European Russia. After his parents died during the Time of Troubles, he came to the Urals and settled in Verkhoturye. In 1620, he moved to the village of Merkushino, where he spent most of his life, trying to hide his identity. “Social simplification” was a feature of his Christian exploits. In the village he regularly attended the local wooden church of Saint Michael the Archangel.

Ten versts (miles) from Merkushino, on the bank of the Tura River, Simeon secluded himself in the summer to pray and to make his living by fishing. In winter he sewed fur coats for peasants in the villages of Verkhoturye uyezd. He was noted for his generosity, and in order not to be paid, he would leave his work unfinished and go out of the village. Simeon preached obedience and earned the fame of a righteous man by his asceticism and honesty in his lifetime. He preached Christianity among the Vogul-Mansi people. Simeon died in Merkushino in 1642, and was buried in the church graveyard. The relics of the Saint are in the Exaltation of the Cross Cathedral of the restored Verkhoturye Svyato-Nikolayevsky monastery.