Russian icon of the Moscow school of the 19th century

Russian icon of the Moscow school of the XIX century.
"St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk with Sergiy Radonezhskiy and St. Xenia".
Tempera on panel.
It presents losses of the pictorial layer in the frame of the icon. It needs to be cleaned.
Measurements: 35 x 31 cm.

The icon of interest represents an unusual composition of St. Nicholas Miraculous, therefore very valuable when it comes to appreciate the cult of the saint. It is a reference to the apparition of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Mozhaisk. There are several versions of hagiographies of the saint, describing his miracles performed during his lifetime and after his death. In 1087, the relics of the saint were transferred from Myra (Lycia) to the Italian city of Bari. After this event, the veneration of the saint developed in Russia. In honor of the transfer of the relics to the Russian Orthodox Church a special feast was instituted, which did not exist in Byzantium. The saint was worshiped as a great bishop of Christ, equal to the rank of an apostle.
In turn, the auctioned icon tells an unusual passage from the postmortem life of the saint, which was properly developed in Russia. It is linked to the legend of the miraculous rescue of the town Mozhaisk, located between Moscow and Smolensk, from a sudden enemy attack. The inhabitants of Mozhaisk, whose town was an important defensive fortress on the western borders of Russia, were accustomed to expect the threat of Lithuanians and Poles. However, at the beginning of the 15th century, the inhabitants of the city faced a new one, the Tatar khan Yedigei. The Tatar nomads managed to burn down a large part of the town, including the church. After what happened, St. Nicholas appeared holding in one hand a sword, and in the other the fortress and the church. In gratitude for the miraculous help of the saint, the citizens of Mozhaisk carved a wooden icon, on which they depicted Miraculous Nicholas in the form in which they remembered him in the vision. One of the oldest versions of the icon, which is considered the first sculpture of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk, was carved from oak in the 15th century.
Since then, Miraculous Nicholas came to be perceived not only as the patron saint of Mozhaisk, but also as the defender of all the cities of the Russian land. For example, in Murom a stone church of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk was built with the money of Ivan the Terrible after a successful campaign in Kazan.
The sword of St. Nicholas is a reminder of the spiritual sword, which, according to St. Paul, "is the Word of God". In the case of this icon, the church is depicted without the walled construction of Mozhaisk Kremlin.