Icons for the Nativity Fast

Top image credit: Pavla Varunina

The Nativity Fast is quickly approaching. It begins on November 28th, and lasts till Nativity/Christmas on January 7th. Below are some icons for feast days during the Fast, and Nativity icons in general. All dates are in the New Style with Old Calendar dates.

St. Matthew the Apostle (November 29th)

The above icon is an early 18th century Athonite icon. Interestingly, it uses the two-fingered sign of the cross, rather than the Greek sign, at such a late date. The icon uses bold colors, and the face is not usual for icons. The Saint has a light smile, and his facial features are almost realistic, but luckily do not dip into the horrifying academic-icon uncanny valley. The inscription to the left appears to be an ΜΤ, to inform the viewer that this is Saint Matthew. Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple (December 4th)

The Theotokos was presented by her parents to the Temple, where she served until her betrothal to St. Joseph.

The celebrations of this holiday date back to at least the 4th century, appearing in the writings of St. Gregory of Nyssa. Additionally, St. Gregory Palamas explained the importance of this feast:

... why the Chosen [the Theotokos] from among the elect turned out to be the Holy of Saints. Had her body purer than the spirit itself purified by the virtue of spirits, so that it could receive the Hypostatic Word of the Prepossessing Father Himself, - The Virgin Mary, as God's Treasure, was now placed in the Holy of Holies in order to serve as enrichment and as glorification.

In the above icon, the figures on the left are St. Joachim and St. Anne, the parents of the Theotokos, who is the small figure on the floor before the high priest, St. Zechariah. Surrounding it are images of the conception, birth, dormition, and life of the Theotokos. At the bottom right is a small icon of the Dormition.

This icon is done in a style that appears, at first glance, Russian, probably the Muscovite school. Unfortunately, I was unable to obtain a precise date for this icon.

St. Alexander Nevsky (December 6th)

St. Alexander Nevsky was a right-believing Russian prince, who defeated the Swedes and the Germans as the military leader of Novgorod. He later adopted the Great Schema. He stopped the Mongol army from marching on Novgorod using diplomacy, as well.

The above icon was painted by Osip Chirikov (Осип Семёнович Чириков) who worked in Mstera, a place where about half of the residents were Old Believers. The influence of this on icons such as the one above is obvious: the icons are not realistic or saccharine like those of the Synodal style, but rather draw from both pre-reform icons and new trends in Old Believer icon painting. A particular feature of these icons was attention to detail, especially for backgrounds and garments. Folds and threads are nearly visible, and the backgrounds are expansive. You can see a Russian landscape and beautiful churches of Novgorod in the background.

Above the main icon is a small icon of Christ Pantocrator, common in the revival of old Russian icons.

St. Great-Martyr Catherine (December 7th)

St. Catherine was martyred for her faith in Christ by the Romans. She was an aristocrat and adopted the Faith, suffering greatly for it after witnessing a vision of Christ and being converted.

This icon is from Borisoglebsk.  Borisoglebsk was a hotbed of Old Believers after the Nikonian schism, and after the old wooden church burned down, the Synodal church decided to demonstrate its majesty by building a frankly beautiful cathedral in 1678.

Photo credit William Brumfield

 However, the Old Believer presence here continued. The icons they created were semi-realistic, with detailed wrinkles, eyes, and anatomy, but remained stylized in terms of architecture and perspective. They are often bright in color, and utilize the gold background used in different icon schools.

St. Andrew the First-called (December 13th)

The above is an icon of St. Andrew the Apostle, whose life I don't need to explain, and a depiction of a Guardian Angel. The above icon is fairly typical, with no markers of being in a particular school, other than the elaborate and natural background confirming it is post-Petrine. It is clear that this was an icon commissioned for someone. Sometimes, when a Russian was born, their parents would buy an icon with their patron saint and a guardian angel, as a sort of "customized" icon.

The presence of Christ Immanuel adds to this - this icon would function as a sole icon are any time, containing a Saint, God, and the person's guardian angel.

This icon is unique given that it appears to not be elaborately decorated, as they would sometimes be for richer families, those who could afford commissions.  

St. John Damascene (December 17th)

St. John Damascene was a writer who lived under the Mohammedist rulers of Damascus. His family held high office as councillors, and he was able to avoid the punishments of the Iconoclasts and Emperor Leo by living out of the borders of the Byzantine Empire, where he defended the veneration of the holy icons.

The icon here was painted in 1905 by Bogatenko Yakov Alekseevich (Богатенко Яков Алексеевич). On the back is a note:

«Глубокоуважаемому С. В. Смоленскому от признательного Я. Богатенко на добрую память. Москва АЦЕ [1905] года, февраля месяца.»

This translates to "To the deeply respected S. V. Smolensky from the grateful J. Bogatenko for a good memory. Moscow ACE [1905], February. ”

So this was likely a gift to a personal friend of the painter. 

The icon itself is interesting; Saint John is using two fingers (Perhaps revealing that the painter was an Old Believer?) to write Byzantine chant, or perhaps an essay. Both would fit: Saint John also wrote many hymns for the Church, besides his famous essays.

The ornate borders were very common at the time, especially decorated with flowers. The little architectural details around the room are quite beautiful.

St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (December 19th)

St. Nicholas is a well-known wonderworker and bishop who worked against the Arian heresy.

He is one of the most popular Saints to be depicted in an icon. The above includes most of the typical elements of a Saint Nicholas icon:  Christ holding a Gospel book, and the Theotokos holding a Bishop's sakkos. Various other Saints are in the margins.  

St. Nicholas here is, as you can see, rather stern. You might notice he's glaring over your left shoulder. He is glaring at demons, and his holy glare destroys them with the power of Christ. This is a Russian folk tradition, and these icons began in Vetka, which I have mentioned in previous posts.

Additionally, I find the glare conducive to repentance.

St. Daniel the Stylite (December 24th)

St. Daniel the Stylite was a Byzantine ascetic, a follower of Simeon the Stylite, who accomplished the ascetic feat of living for 33 years on a pillar. He also challenged the miaphysite Eastern Roman Emperor at the time.

St. Daniel is on the left, and St. Simeon on the right. The pillars have been a bit elaborated upon to the point that they are towers, and a metal halo surrounds the head and shoulders of each Saint. 

Christ Immanuel sits at the top of the icon, blessing the Saints. The cloud style is not the bubbly one of Palekh and Mstera icons, but rather quite dark and realistic.

St. Spyridon (December 25th)

Saint Spyridon was a bishop of the Church just after Saint Constantine the Great's death. He is known for entering into conversation with a philosopher at the First Ecumenical Council and saying the following to him:

 “Listen, philosopher, to what I will say to you: we believe that Almighty God out of nothing created the Word and the Spirit of heaven, earth, man and the whole visible and invisible world. This Word is the Son of God, who came down for the sake of our sins on earth, was born of a Virgin, lived with people, suffered, died for our salvation, and then rose again, having redeemed the original sin with His sufferings, and restored the human race with Him. We believe that He is consubstantial and equivalent with the Father, and we believe this without any sly fabrication, for it is impossible to comprehend this mystery by the human mind. ” He was born of a Virgin, lived with people, suffered, died for our salvation, and then rose, redeeming the original sin with His sufferings, and resurrected the human race with Him. We believe that He is consubstantial and Equivalent with the Father, and we believe this without any sly fabrication, for it is impossible to comprehend this mystery by the human mind. ” He was born of a Virgin, lived with man, suffered died for our salvation, and then rose, redeeming the original sin with His sufferings, and resurrected the human race with Him. We believe that He is consubstantial and Equivalent with the Father, and we believe this without any sly fabrication, for it is impossible to comprehend this mystery by the human mind. ”

The philosopher converted and became Saint Spyridon's zealous defender. Saint  Spyridon also refuted the Arians with a miracle at the Council.

He picked up a brick and squeezed it: instantly fire came out of it, water flowed down, and the clay remained in the hands of the wonderworker. “These are the three elements, and the plinth (brick) is one,” said St. Spyridon, then, so in the Holy Trinity, the Three Persons, and so the Divinity is One. ”

Saint Spyridon had numerous other miracles, including resurrecting a dead child, and serving a Divine Liturgy where heavenly singing was heard.

He also taught a lesson about fasting:

Once, at the arrival of the Great Fast, a pilgrim knocked at the door of his house. Seeing that the traveler was very tired, Saint Spyridon said to his daughter: “Wash the legs of this man, and tell him to eat.” But in view of the fasting, the necessary supplies were not made, for the saint only ate food on certain days. Therefore the daughter replied that there was no bread or flour in the house. Then Saint Spyridon, apologizing to the guest, ordered his daughter to fry the salted pork meat in the reserve and. having set the wanderer at the table, began to eat, urging that person to imitate himself. When the latter, calling himself a Christian, refused, he added: "All the less it is necessary to refuse, for the Word of God spoke: All is pure (Titus 1, 15)."

St. Spyridon also freely gave his crops to the poor, and allowed all to use his pantry. 

His relics are in Corfu.

The above icon is a modern Old Believer icon, using modern techniques. The hat Spyridon is wearing was typical for bishops at the time.

St. Ignatius of Antioch (January 2nd)

Ignatius of Antioch is an extremely early Church Father who was one of the Bishops of Antioch. 

The icon above is by one Mikhail Dikaryev (Михаил Иванович Дикарев) a famous icon painter who was a favorite of the Romanovs. He painted one iconostasis that is now destroyed for them, and worked in Mstera like Osip Chirikov, mentioned above.

The landscape is remarkably barren, and the white churches in the distance add to that. 

The Nativity (January 7th)

For Nativity, we'll be looking at a beautiful Vetka icon with many details and complexities. Let's begin. The below is not in chronological order.

Herod

The little house in the bottom right is the palace of Herod. You can see him giving orders to his soldiers after his advisors warn him about the signs. His chair is beautifully intricate.

The Massacre of the Innocents

At first, you might think there is white grass the soldiers are treading on, with red flowers. It's not. It's the Holy Innocents, bleeding. This is an exceedingly gorey piece, but perhaps necessary to show Herod's brutality.

St.  Joseph is told to flee to Egypt

Here, St. Joseph is told by the angel to flee. St. Joseph sleeps in that odd bed peculiar to Orthodox icons.

The arrival in Egypt

The gates here are beautiful and red, and St. Joseph leads the way into the city. A strange figure is carved atop the gatehouse. I cannot identify this statue.

The Shepherds hear of the coming of Christ

The angel appears to be holding a very long horn, awakening the slumbering shepherds. They look rather alarmed, their necks inclined and twisted in different ways.

Strangely, we see a wide variety of sheep here: brown, white, and even red.

The Magi are told

They lie in sleeping bags, it looks like, surrounded by luxurious pillows and silk tents. Perhaps symbolic of abandonment of wealth to seek God.

The Magi travel

In this composition, they are pointing to an angel lowering a crown. Notice the beautiful, almost watercolored landscape under their feet.

Christ is Born

The birth. Christ is born!

Mary is surrounded by a red shroud, and there appears to be a midsize in the left corner. Multiple angels hail the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I hope you enjoyed this post. It's a bit early, but will soon be relevant.