Inscription in Church Slavonic: 'After sufficient prayer, he made sure that the church was created, which was built in the name of the approaching Assumption celebration, and sent the sexton to the nearby villages.'

The icon is a fragment from a larger icon depicting the story of the Tikhvin icon. This particular scene takes place when the Dormition Church has been newly built to house the Tikhvin icon, and the cleric at left is telling the sexton Iuruish (the figure in blue with hands crossed on breast) at right to go and summon the people to the consecration of the new church. It was decided to put an iron cross atop the church. This scene is the prelude to the encounter of Iuriush with Mary and St. Nicholas when Mary tells Iuruish a cross of iron should not be used. That latter event is depicted in the Besednaya (“Conversational”) Marian icon type.

The fine painting, exquisitely detailed figures, feathery rock effects, harmonious soft colours is the work of a master painter of the Mstera School.

We are grateful to David Coomler, who helped us to identify this icon. His blog ‘Icons and their Interpretation’ is a valuable source of information when researching Russian icons.