The composition of this icon depicts the miraculous appearance of the Mother of God to St Sergius of Radonezh and his disciple and successor St Nikon. The Virgin is accompanied by St Peter and St John the Evangelist – Peter is holding the Keys of Heaven. St Sergius kneels before the Virgin and behind him his successor as abbot of the Trinity-Sergiev monastery, St Nikon, kneels in prayer. Behind them is a detail of an altar, which has a representation of the Kazanskaya Mother of God and St Nicholas hanging above it. An icon of the Trinity hangs above the scene. This icon of the Old Testament Trinity is the patronal icon of the monastery that St Sergius founded.

St Sergius was born in 1314 to noble parents in Rostov; his family moved to Radonezh to escape the Mongols. Sergius and his brother became hermits in 1335. His reputation as a man of great spiritual prowess soon attracted followers and he later founded the Trinity Sergiev monastery where he later served as abbot. In 1392 he retired to live a life of solitary and continuous prayer. His feast day is the 25th of September and he was declared a patron of the Muscovite state in 1422.