Zhdan Dementiev, 1630

Copy

Forefather Simeon is depicted full-length and is turned to the central image. He is holding an open scroll with his prophecy in his hand. The margins, the halo and the background of the icon are decorated with a copper cover with stamping. 

Simeon was the second son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Simeon (one of the twelve tribes of Israel that occupied the southwest of Canaan and bordered on the east and south by the tribe of Judah). According to the Biblical history, Simeon was a cruel man. Simeon and his brother Levi took violent revenge against the inhabitants of Shechem after their sister Dina had been raped there. Even his father Jacob castigated Simeon for it and divided his descendants as a penance for that act of cruelty. His sons obtained possession of only a small part of Canaan. The descendants of Simeon have never played an outstanding role in the history of the Jewish people and gradually intermingled with the neighbouring tribes.

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.