An Old Believer Copper Cast Icon


Today, we will look at an icon style and an icon characteristic of pre-Nikonian Russia and the Old Believers. The copper cast icon. These icons were forbidden by the Nikonian Church, but not for their composition, but rather their medium - the Nikonians believed wood carvings and copper casting came from paganism in pre-Christian Russia.

Above: Orthodox Christians show Nikonians the ancient traditions

This is, of course, untrue. Carvings and castings are Orthodox, and originate in Ancient Judaism. In Kings, it is stated about the Temple:

And he carved thereon cherubims and palm trees and open flowers: and covered them with gold fitted upon the carved work.

Additionally, the holy Stoglav Council states that during the Mystery of Baptism, a cast crucifix should be immersed in the baptismal font.

So let's look at this icon itself.

Those depicted
In the center is the Theotokos, holding Christ. He is blessing the viewer with a two-fingered sign of the cross.

This portion of the cast is noticeably more protruding than the remainder of the icon. The eyes in these casts are usually simple circles, as the carvings are usually folk-made, so techniques are at times primitive. However, places like the Vygoretsky Monastery also had professional workshops.
Above the Theotokos is a Deesis. St. John the Baptist is on the right, and the Theotokos is on the left. Christ Pantocrator is in the middle. This is a very common composition, seen in most icons containing multiple Saints. Above are a light and dark moon, signifying the Crucifixion.
The second level includes St. Michael the Archangel (Left) and St. Gabriel the Archangel (Right). As is typical, they hold IC XC orbs.
At the bottom on the left is St. Peter (See the keys) and on the right is St. Paul. He is holding a gospel book.

In the middle right is St. Sergius of Radonezh, possibly a patron Saint of the person this was done for. Another possible patron saint for the owner of this icon is the Saint in the middle left, who is difficult to identify. What appears to be a bishop sakkos and the inscription leads me to believe it could be St. Nicholas.

These types of icons are great to pray before and provide a nice, 3-dimensional perspective. 

I use the one above very often.

I hope you found this post informative and enjoyable!

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