The wooden sculpture from the collection of the Bishop’s House depicts Saint Nicholas of Mozhaysk — a hypostasis of Nicholas the Wonderworker, one of the most revered saints in the Russian Orthodox Church. According to legend, the first image of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk appeared around the 13th century in the town of Mozhaisk, hence the name. At that time the city was besieged by enemies. The citizens began to pray to Nicholas the Wonderworker and, according to legend, the image of the saint appeared in the sky with a sword in one hand and a miniature city in the other. The enemies fled in fear. Since then, Nicholas has been considered the heavenly patron saint of Mozhaisk, and an unknown master carved his figure out of wood. The sculpture has long been kept in the Mozhaisk Kremlin, and is now in the Tretyakov Gallery.
The sculpture from the Museum of the History of Orthodoxy in Siberia was created by an unknown author in the 17th century. The saint wears a long spacious garment — a dark inner cassock. On his sleeves, the saint wears epimanikia — cuffs with a gilded carved ornament. In Orthodox tradition, this element of the costume symbolized service to Christ.
St. Nicholas is dressed in a phelonion — a sleeveless outer garment worn by Orthodox priests during services. The top of the phelonion is decorated with a chessboard pattern, and below there is an ocher-red lining. Along the edge of the garment there is a decorative band with gold ornament: it imitates embroidery. On the neck of the saint, there is an omophorion — a broad white band with a red hem and crosses, stripes and tassels on the edges. In Orthodoxy, the omophorion symbolized the sheep that Christ saved in the Book of the Gospels. Through such a symbol, the priest was compared to a caring shepherd who protects his parishioners from the dangers of unrighteous living.
The silhouette of Saint Nicholas is elongated, his head is somewhat enlarged in comparison with the proportions of his torso. The unknown artist has carefully sculpted the facial features — the big sad eyes, the high forehead, the straight thin nose, but the hair and beard were only a rough sketch. The colors for the sculpture were muted. It was believed that dim colors would better accentuate the texture of the wood.
The sculpture from the Museum of the History of Orthodoxy in Siberia was created by an unknown author in the 17th century. The saint wears a long spacious garment — a dark inner cassock. On his sleeves, the saint wears epimanikia — cuffs with a gilded carved ornament. In Orthodox tradition, this element of the costume symbolized service to Christ.
St. Nicholas is dressed in a phelonion — a sleeveless outer garment worn by Orthodox priests during services. The top of the phelonion is decorated with a chessboard pattern, and below there is an ocher-red lining. Along the edge of the garment there is a decorative band with gold ornament: it imitates embroidery. On the neck of the saint, there is an omophorion — a broad white band with a red hem and crosses, stripes and tassels on the edges. In Orthodoxy, the omophorion symbolized the sheep that Christ saved in the Book of the Gospels. Through such a symbol, the priest was compared to a caring shepherd who protects his parishioners from the dangers of unrighteous living.
The silhouette of Saint Nicholas is elongated, his head is somewhat enlarged in comparison with the proportions of his torso. The unknown artist has carefully sculpted the facial features — the big sad eyes, the high forehead, the straight thin nose, but the hair and beard were only a rough sketch. The colors for the sculpture were muted. It was believed that dim colors would better accentuate the texture of the wood.
