A votive (votary) pendant is a special oblation to an icon. Believers leave it next to a holy image together with a prayer of healing or in gratitude for their recovery.
The pendant from the museum’s collection shows a female figure wearing floor-skimming clothes with uncovered, untressed hair. Her left hand rests on her chest — the pose of praying or prayerful Intercession with Christ. The latter, in addition to praying, can also mean receiving a blessing or listening to a sermon.
The museum houses a total of 52 such items. They came from the museum’s founder Kapiton Kolpakov, as well as from the Kargopol churches when they were closed. The pendants are made of simple metal or silver and are usually small. They are believed to be the work of Kargopol craftsmen, who also made embroidered pendants.
The custom of decorating revered icons came from Byzantium. Ancient Rus believers willingly adopted the practice of placing special crosses, jewelry or coins next to holy images. For example, Empress Catherine II presented her diadem to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.
In the 17th century, special plates of precious or base metals with images of male and female bodies, body parts or internal organs began to be placed next to holy images. Christians fastened them to an icon case from the inside. The 1874 register of the Vladimir Church mentioned pendants in the form of hands and legs at the images of the Mother of God of Vladimir and Paraskeva Friday.
On January 19, 1722, the Holy Synod ordered to collect pendants and transfer them to the church treasury. To that, the Kargopol priests replied that “there are no pendants and other things next to the images.” This way, 54 entries were repeated word for word, which enabled preserving many old items. The 1722 document containing the answers of the priests is stored in the State Archives of the Novgorod Region.
The tradition of putting pendants next to the revered images continued to exist in Kargopol until the early 20th century, and not only in churches. In 1911, the students of the Kargopol Theological School, returning from a pilgrimage to the Oshevensky Monastery, visited the village of Ryabovo. In one house, they saw an icon of Three-handed Theotokos with pendants shaped like arms, legs and other parts of the body. The story of how the icon came to be there is the following: one day, a woman with a sore arm had a dream, where the Mother of God appeared to her and ordered her to go to the village of Ryabovo to kiss the icon of Three-handed Theotokos. The woman did just that, and then she was healed. Since that time, other pilgrims began to come, and the icon was passed through generations.
The history of the first icon of Three-handed Theotokos is connected with the legend of the votive offering: it is believed that John of Damascus, who had his hand cut off, prayed in front of an icon of the Theotokos for healing. When his hand was miraculously restored, he had a silver replica of his hand fashioned and attached it to the icon.
The pendant from the museum’s collection shows a female figure wearing floor-skimming clothes with uncovered, untressed hair. Her left hand rests on her chest — the pose of praying or prayerful Intercession with Christ. The latter, in addition to praying, can also mean receiving a blessing or listening to a sermon.
The museum houses a total of 52 such items. They came from the museum’s founder Kapiton Kolpakov, as well as from the Kargopol churches when they were closed. The pendants are made of simple metal or silver and are usually small. They are believed to be the work of Kargopol craftsmen, who also made embroidered pendants.
The custom of decorating revered icons came from Byzantium. Ancient Rus believers willingly adopted the practice of placing special crosses, jewelry or coins next to holy images. For example, Empress Catherine II presented her diadem to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.
In the 17th century, special plates of precious or base metals with images of male and female bodies, body parts or internal organs began to be placed next to holy images. Christians fastened them to an icon case from the inside. The 1874 register of the Vladimir Church mentioned pendants in the form of hands and legs at the images of the Mother of God of Vladimir and Paraskeva Friday.
On January 19, 1722, the Holy Synod ordered to collect pendants and transfer them to the church treasury. To that, the Kargopol priests replied that “there are no pendants and other things next to the images.” This way, 54 entries were repeated word for word, which enabled preserving many old items. The 1722 document containing the answers of the priests is stored in the State Archives of the Novgorod Region.
The tradition of putting pendants next to the revered images continued to exist in Kargopol until the early 20th century, and not only in churches. In 1911, the students of the Kargopol Theological School, returning from a pilgrimage to the Oshevensky Monastery, visited the village of Ryabovo. In one house, they saw an icon of Three-handed Theotokos with pendants shaped like arms, legs and other parts of the body. The story of how the icon came to be there is the following: one day, a woman with a sore arm had a dream, where the Mother of God appeared to her and ordered her to go to the village of Ryabovo to kiss the icon of Three-handed Theotokos. The woman did just that, and then she was healed. Since that time, other pilgrims began to come, and the icon was passed through generations.
The history of the first icon of Three-handed Theotokos is connected with the legend of the votive offering: it is believed that John of Damascus, who had his hand cut off, prayed in front of an icon of the Theotokos for healing. When his hand was miraculously restored, he had a silver replica of his hand fashioned and attached it to the icon.
