Zhdan Dementiev, 1630
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The forefather is depicted in a traditional manner — as a beardless young man. Another peculiarity of this icon is that Abel isn’t depicted full-length like the other forefathers in this tier of the iconostasis. He is holding up a scroll with his prophecy with his right hand.
Abel was the second son of Adam and Eve. He is considered to be the first persecuted righteous man and the first martyr. According to the Book of Genesis, Abel was a shepherd and his elder brother Cain was a farmer. Both of them made a sacrifice to God (the first mentioned in the Bible): Abel — the best lamb from his flock and Cain — new crop. But God favoured Abel’s sacrifice, but rejected the one of Cain. And Cain murdered his brother in a fit of jealousy and anger. After that Cain was cursed and his descendants were named the sons of the humanity, but not the sons of God like the descendants of Seth — the younger son of Adam and Eve.
The icon was restored by the team of I.P. Yaroslavtsev in the Inter-Regional Special Scientific Restoration Workshop of the Rosrestavratsiya Association in the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR in 1978-1979.
