The oldest Novgorodian icons of St. Nicholas with the female saints and other chosen saints on the margins

Abstract

The veneration of St. Nicholas was extremely spread in the Medieval Rus’ culture. This fact found it’s expression in great variety of this saint representation as in the shades of meaning that are conveyed by the stylistic features of specific works. The St. Nicholas icons with the chosen saints on the margins are the subject of scientific research. Especially we will focus on such works of art, which composition includes the female saints’ representations. Despite a certain interest in the problem of interpreting the order of saints in the composition of the icons under consideration, researchers have not actively addressed this aspect of the topic, so the comprehensive iconographical interpretation was not provided. The aim of this study is to identify the iconographical characteristic and style features of the oldest Novgorodian icons of St. Nicholas with the female saints and other chosen saints on the margins. As a result of a comprehensive analysis, first of all, it should be mentioned that female saints played a great role in Medieval Novgorod culture. Secondly, taking into accounts some aspects of their cults and their representations on liturgical items, the female saints’ figures were an ecclesiastical symbol. Thirdly, female saints were protectors of the novgorodians and the Orthodox Christian in pre-Mongol era as in 15th–16th century.