This painting is a half-length depiction of Saint Epimachus turned three-quarters to the right. He has long gray hair, a mustache, and a beard. He wears a mustard-colored chiton and a red himation and holds an eight-pointed cross in his right hand. He looks up to a white dove soaring in the sky and radiating light. In Christianity, the dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. It is always depicted with its wings spread.

Holy Martyr Epimachus was a native of Egypt. For many years, he lived in seclusion on Mount Pelusium. During a persecution against Christians at Alexandria (about the year 250 AD), Saint Epimachus came into the city, fearlessly confessed Christ, and destroyed pagan idols near one of the temples. For this, the saint was subjected to fierce torture: his body was pierced with iron nails, and he was pelted with stones.

Legend has it that, while being tortured, the saint declared,

Drops of his blood fell onto the crowd of people who had gathered around him, and one drop of it fell onto the eye of the bystanding woman, causing her to miraculously receive her sight. Then she cried out, “Great is the God in whom this sufferer believes!” After being subjected to many tortures, Epimachus was beheaded (according to other sources, thrown into a fire). Later, his relics were translated from Alexandria to Constantinople.

A painting of Saint Epimachus was presented to Grigory Babichev, a Cossack from Tsimlyansk, for many years of honorable service. It was carefully preserved by his family and later donated to the museum. During restoration, an earlier layer of paint was discovered on the painting, revealing a three-figure composition — an unidentified saint, Jesus Christ, and a guardian angel, all depicted from the waist up.