“The rule of faith and the example of meekness” is what St. Nicholas is called. A great saint of God, his name became famous throughout the world. In his attitude towards his neighbor and in his ardent service to God, he found a response in the hearts of the Russian people, was the ideal of Holy Rus', the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker occupies a place of honor in all Orthodox churches. Protector of the poor and orphans, the innocently convicted and travelers. Nicholas the Wonderworker is revered almost as a Russian saint, so great is the love for him among the people.
- The image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on holy icons
- Variety of icons of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
- How does the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker help?
- Holy relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker
- Transfer of holy relics to Bari
- Nicholas the Wonderworker – “Russian Saint”
- Social worker of his time
- Russian Church of St. Nicholas in Bari
- The life story of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
- Buy an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
- Calculate the cost of an icon
Dear brothers and sisters, we present to your attention an icon painted with faith and love in our workshop. This icon was painted based on the famous image of “Nicholas of Mozhaisk”. The plot of the icon contains a legend about the miraculous salvation of the city of Mozhaisk from foreign invaders.
In his right hand the saint holds a sword, ready to defeat the enemies of the Orthodox faith, in his left hand a temple, as a sign of patronage of Russian cities. Nicholas the Wonderworker is dressed in bishop's vestments. In the upper corners of the icon are depicted: the Savior with a blessing right hand and a closed Gospel in his left hand and the image of the Mother of God “Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos”.
The design of the icon is decorated with fine carved ornaments (engraved on gesso) and painted.
The image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on holy icons
How reliably do icon painters paint the image of St. Nicholas on icons? Can we find out what Nicholas the Wonderworker looked like during his lifetime? Based on anatomical and anthropological studies of the holy relics of Nicholas of Myra, which were carried out in 1953 by the famous scientist, Professor Luigi Martino, the true appearance of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was established.
It turned out that the image of the saint on the icons fully corresponds to the image obtained by scientists. This is a man of short stature, 167-168 centimeters, with a stocky build. Correct facial features with prominent cheekbones and chin.
And in the crypt of the Basilica of St. Nicholas, behind the shrine with the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, there is an icon, according to legend, painted on the basis of a lifetime image of the saint. The miraculous icon was presented to the Basilica by the Serbian Tsar Stefan Uros III as a token of gratitude for the miraculous deliverance from blindness.
On the icons, Nicholas the Wonderworker is immediately recognizable - he is a gray-haired old man in bishop's vestments. Wide forehead, regular facial features. White short beard and mustache. A friendly, spiritual face. Big, radiant eyes. His gaze simultaneously expresses love and severity. The saint looks with love at us from the icon, at people who bear the image of God. But in addition to the image given to us by God, the Lord calls us to achieve His likeness. And the stern look of St. Nicholas tells us how far we are sometimes from the goal commanded to us by God.
Saint Nicholas went through a long earthly path full of trials. He acquired God's likeness during his lifetime. Now, at the throne of the Lord, Nikolai hears our prayers. And knowing all our infirmities and weaknesses, all the needs of our souls and bodies, all our sorrows and experiences, he does not leave us, asking our Greatly Gifted God for what is beneficial for our souls and bodies.
Nikola Ugodnik is the name of the saint in Rus'. A holy saint is a saint of God - a person who pleases God. The icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker shows us the holy saint. We can take an example from the holy man depicted on it: how to live, how to correctly set life’s priorities, how to please the One to whom Saint Nicholas strove and found what he was looking for.
Literature
- Kondratyev I. I.
History of the Mozhaisk Kremlin. - M.: TAUS, 2010. - 232 p. — 1000 copies. — ISBN 978-5-903011-80-3. - Fedorova O. V., Ushakov V. K., Fedorova V. N.
Mozhaisk. - M: Moscow worker, 1981. - 288 p. — 30,000 copies. - Vlasyev N.I.
Mozhaisk in its past - a brief historical sketch. — 1925. - Mokeev G. Ya.
Mozhaisk is the sacred city of Russians. - Mozhaisk: Kedr, 1992. - 127 p. — 50,000 copies. - Vinogradov N.
About the ancient carved miraculous icon of St. Nicholas of Christ, located in the cathedral church of the city of Mozhaisk, Moscow province. — Mozhaisk St. Nicholas Cathedral. - M: Typo-Lithography by I. Efimov, 1900. - 16 p. - Savin A. G.
Mozhaisk Heritage No. 1. - M: Ekon-Inform, 2011. - 35 p. — 1500 copies. - Savin A. G.
Mozhaisk Heritage No. 2. - M: Ekon-Inform, 2011. - 38 p. — 1000 copies. - Savin A. G.
Mozhaisk Heritage No. 4. - M: Ekon-Inform, 2013. - 43 p. — 300 copies. - Ushakov V.K., Nikolaichenko I.I., Ovchinnikov V.M. and others.
Directory of the Mozhaisk municipal district. — Administration of Mozhaisk district. - Tver: Tverskoy PC, 2011. - 207 p. — 2000 copies. — ISBN 9. - IN AND.
Kukovenko. Masonic architecture and masons of Mozhaisk. - Mozhaisk, 2006. - 96 p. — 3000 copies. - B.E.
Yanishevsky. Mozhaisk and its districts in the XI-XV centuries. - M: TAUS, 2010. - 144 p. — ISBN 978-5-903011-78-0.
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Variety of icons of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
Icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The iconography of Nicholas of Myra is extensive and varied. The boundless love of the Russian people for St. Nicholas the Pleasant has generated great demand for icons with the image of the saint. Not only in every church, but also in the home of every Orthodox family from the red corner, Nikola blessed all household members.
The first images of the saint began to appear during the life of the saint. Byzantine icon painters created the iconography of the saint, and Russian masters supplemented and enriched it. And now our hearts are warmed by the endless number of holy images dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
The Lord glorifies Saint Nicholas to this day, showing us miracles through the icons of His saint. How many miraculous icons are now in Orthodox churches, what an endless line of believers flock to them. Icons with the appearance of a saint are loved and revered all over the world. Most of all in Russia there are churches dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Many villages and hamlets bear the name “Nikolskoye” in honor of the holy saint. Those seeking a godly life ask for and find his help.
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The carved image of St. Nicholas of Myra is one of the most revered in Rus'. Presumably, at the end of the 14th or beginning of the 15th century he was “miraculously revealed” in Mozhaisk and was nicknamed Nikola of Mozhaisk at the place of his appearance and subsequent stay.
Soon this image became famous for many miracles. And the Orthodox Christians reached out to him for help, finding consolation for their sorrows in Nikola. The Moscow Grand Dukes, and later the kings, began to visit Mozhaisk, bringing gifts, decorating the image itself and the church in which it was located in every possible way.
For several centuries, the image invariably remained in Mozhaisk: first, according to legend, above the entrance gates, then in the church built above them. The first gate church was of very modest size, then it was rebuilt and expanded several times to accommodate everyone who wanted to worship St. Nicholas. In 1804-1814, the passage fortress tower with the church was partially destroyed, and a huge St. Nicholas Cathedral in a pseudo-Gothic style was erected on this site.
In 1933, the cathedral was closed, and the carved image was sent to the Tretyakov Gallery, where it is still located and exhibited as a monument of Russian medieval art.
The icon is a full-length figure of a saint carved from oak. The saint is depicted in a tunic and phelonion; an omophorion - a ribbon (it was white) with black crosses - descends from the left shoulder. In his right hand he holds a sword, in his left - a “hail”, a model of a fortress or, more precisely, a model of an octagonal tower. The one-domed church, which was attached to the top with a wooden pin, was lost from the “hail” in ancient times.
The carved image of Nikola caused and still causes considerable controversy, which over time not only does not subside, but also becomes more acute. A very fundamental question is being resolved: is the image a work of Russian masters (more narrowly, Mozhaisk), or was it made in one of the European countries?
If the image is the creation of Mozhaisk carvers, then it should be recognized that the unknown master made many deviations from the canons of iconography. In Byzantium, from where the veneration of this meek Greek saint came to Rus', Saint Nicholas was never depicted with a sword and hail. The Russian carver, in essence, committed either terrible iconographic illiteracy or outright heresy, endowing the saint with attributes unusual for him. Another thing is that he did it brilliantly. Having received new attributes, Nicholas the Wonderworker also acquired new qualities - the heavenly defender of Russian cities and the heavenly warrior.
The second significant violation of the canons is that this image is a wooden statue. In 787, at the VII Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, sculptural images were banned as “a temptation and a stumbling block for the souls of the unenlightened and simple-minded.” This prohibition was fully recognized by the Byzantine Church, and the Russian Church followed it in the same way.
Apparently, complete disregard for the canons was the reason for the initial “great confusion” among Orthodox Russian people when they saw the image of Nicholas of Myra with hail and a sword.
The Western Church did not recognize the decrees of the Council of Nicaea regarding the depiction of saints in wood and stone. Therefore, from a Catholic point of view, the depiction of St. Nicholas in the form of a statue is not a violation of the canons. But sword and hail in Catholic iconography do not in any way correspond to the attributes of this saint. In the city of Baria, where the saint's ashes were transferred in 1087, and throughout Italy, Nicholas is represented on icons with the gospel in his hands, three golden balls are depicted above him in memory of three bundles of gold thrown by the saint into the house of a poor man who was ready to sell his poverty out of poverty. daughters. Above the head of St. Nicholas in heaven depicts the Savior with the Gospel in his hands and the Mother of God with an omophorion. And although the Catholic Church endows its saints with warlike attributes (the Apostle Paul is often depicted with a sword, which should emphasize the harsh uncompromisingness in matters of faith), it is doubtful that the meek Nicholas was presented in a different spiritual form. The sword is completely inappropriate in his hands, which is confirmed by the entire Western iconography of this saint
This is where another complexity of the issue lies. If we agree that the icon of Nicholas of Myra was made by Western masters, then why is he endowed with attributes completely alien to him? Heresy again? Catholic this time? But aren’t there too many free interpretations of the canons of saints?
And here the only logical assumption remains: the carved image of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk is an image of a saint unknown to us, and has nothing to do with St. Nicholas of Myra.
A. Nekrasov was a convinced supporter of the version that this icon came to Rus' from Europe. In the 1920s, he wrote about its origin: “This statue, more than any other ancient monument, is important for determining the influence of Western Europe on ancient Russian art. It can almost certainly be said that Nikola of Mozhaisky was taken from abroad and that he is not Nikola at all; it was even suggested that this is not an image of the Saint at all, but simply a tombstone sculpture of some bishop common in the West; which, however, is difficult to agree with..."
If this is so, then the honor of not only the Russian Orthodox Church, but also the entire nation, which has become a victim of its own gullibility, is affected. G. Mokeev, who sincerely defends the Russian origin of the image, writes with caustic irony regarding the statements of A. Nekrasov:
“The lack of specific scientific justification for such conclusions, the accumulation of erroneous statements, and finally, with gross atheistic tendentiousness, the researcher only discredited the phenomenon, and at the same time himself. After all, what happened?
The Mozhaisk people, unskilled in the art of carpentry and carving, having been deceived by the simplicity of their souls in the essence of an unknown Catholic funerary statue that was slipped to them by someone and brought from somewhere, immediately, back in the 14th century, began to blasphemously fool everyone with it, also, of course, simple-minded Russian people, illiterate Orthodox Christians priests, making forgery an object of holiness and public worship. “Linden” was accepted by the Russian Orthodox Church as the “Tree of Life”, and finally by the great Moscow sovereigns! But what is especially surprising is that the Great Saint himself, the Pleasant of God, began to play the game of the Mozhaisk magicians: having possessed the spirit of someone else’s idiot, he began to perform miracles every day! And so on for centuries!”
But we must honestly admit that G. Mokeev himself, shooting poisonous arrows of irony at other people’s conclusions, still did not add anything concrete to confirm a different point of view.
Other opinions have been expressed regarding the origin of the image. In particular, that it could have been made in Serbia or by Serbian craftsmen. But how to explain the main thing: for what reasons did Saint Nicholas receive the sword and the “hail”?
I am sure that the answer to this question is the key to solving the question of the origin of the image. By answering it, we will determine the country in which the image was made and, perhaps, we will determine the saint or person whom it depicts.
First of all, let’s pay attention to one detail – the “hail” in the hands of the saint. As already mentioned, in ancient times this “city” was dominated by a single-domed church with a dome, which was subsequently lost. If we mentally draw this dome over the city, which, in fact, is depicted as a squat tower, then we will see not a “city”, but a very ordinary temple. So maybe this reading of this attribute is the most correct?
If this assumption is correct, then this attribute definitely points to Western Europe, since it was there that a model of the temple, or a small copy of it, was quite often placed in the hands of sculptural or portrait images of various historical figures. Kings, dukes, counts and bishops, famous for the construction of remarkable cathedrals, appear before the Lord and descendants, carefully holding the erected temple in their hands, as a symbol of their charitable activities.
Here are just a few of these images.
1. Charlemagne presents the Aachen Cathedral to the Virgin Mary. Gilt relief on copper on the ark containing the relics of Charles in Aachen Cathedral. Made by order of Frederick Barbarossa in 1165.
2. Henry II and Cunegonde present the temple they built. Miniature from an 11th century manuscript.
3. Henry II and Cunegonde. XIII century. Statues the size of a man. Portal of the Sovereigns in the St. George's choir of the Bamberg Cathedral. Here the model of the cathedral is held in the hands of Cunegonde.
4. Statues of Henry the Lion (Duke of Bavaria and Saxony) and his wife Matilda (Mechtilda), placed in the building built by Henry the Lion in 1172-1194. Brunswick Cathedral.
In this tombstone image, the statue of Henry is distinguished from the carved image of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk only by the fact that they hold the sword and the temple in different hands, and also the presence of a halo around the head of the saint.
The sword and the temple, as symbols of military valor (or power) and church building, also penetrated into the art of England. An example of this is the seal of the English king John (John) the Landless, brother of Richard the Lionheart. While Richard was on the crusade, John stirred up trouble and seized the crown. Depicted sitting on a throne; the sword, which he holds with his right hand, lies on his knees, in his raised left hand there is a temple (the seal is kept in Paris in the National Archives).
5. King Henry II Plantagenet of England (1154-1189) is depicted on his royal seal holding a temple in his hands.
It should be said that Henry II Plantagenet is the father of Richard, John, and Matilda, the wife of the German Duke Henry the Lion. Does this mean that representatives of one royal family had similar symbols? It's hard to agree with this. Most likely, we have before us an artistic technique (if not a tradition), very bright and figurative, that persisted in the art of Western Europe for several centuries.
This artistic tradition also appears in Rus'. In 1198, Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (father of Alexander Nevsky) founded the Church of the Savior on Nereditsa, near Novgorod, in the princely palace monastery. In the western nave there is an image of the prince himself presenting a model of the temple to Christ. Researchers date this image to 1246.
But such symbolism, it seems, never took root in Rus'. And the image of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich with a temple in his hands is perhaps the only one in Russian iconography.
Undoubtedly, the majestic figures holding a temple in their hands, in which contemporaries saw not so much a specific structure, but guessed a sublimely transcendental idea, made a strong impression on the people of that era. These models, of course, were imitated everywhere, and these same attributes, sword and temple, could also appear in images of church hierarchs, who in those days not only preached and built temples, but also often took up a sword.
The history of the Crusades (during which, in fact, the symbols in question appeared) gives us many similar examples: for example, Peter the Hermit, the inspirer of the first crusade, and Bishop Adhemar, the spiritual leader of the same campaign. About the latter, historians wrote the following: “The miter of the spiritual ruler and the knight’s helmet were his alternating vestments.”
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The Popes, inspiring the army of Christ to fight the infidels and liberate the Holy Sepulcher, appeared at the Councils with not one, but two swords in their hands. One was supposed to symbolize the crushing power of faith, the other - the strength of the soldiers of Christ and their irreconcilability towards the enemies of Christ. The sword and faith, the sword and the temple were firmly connected in the minds of medieval people. Often the wars were exclusively religious: the liberation of Spain and Portugal from the Moors, the Albigensian wars against heresies in the south of France, the campaigns of German knights in the lands of the Slavs, Estonians and Livonians. Bishops and chaplains walked with the troops. Many of them are canonized by the Catholic Church. All of them could be depicted with a sword - a symbol of their struggle for faith, and with a temple - a symbol of the establishment of the Church of Christ. This is exactly what the carved image looks like, which we know as Nikola Mozhaisky. But who is hiding under this name?
The attributes of a saint will help us answer this question. First of all, let’s pay attention to the “hail” in his hands. If the previously stated assumption is correct that this is not a “hail”, but a temple, then its unusual shape is striking - it is octagonal. How many octagonal churches were built in Rus' and Western Europe in the Middle Ages? Not a single one in Rus'. But in Western Europe this architectural form found its place. One octagonal temple was built in Aachen, the capital of the Frankish kings, and one in Paris.
But their appearance is typical of Gothic buildings of medieval Europe and, apart from the octagonal shape, has little in common with the temple that Nikola holds in his hands. Therefore, we will not consider them, but turn to the third octagonal temple, which served as a prototype for the first two. It is this that is of greatest interest to our research. This octagonal temple was widely known in medieval Europe and enjoyed great fame. But he was not in Europe, but in Palestine - the cherished and desired goal of all the crusades. It was called Templum Domini, or Temple of the Lord - this is how the crusaders renamed the Mosque of Omar after the expulsion of Muslims from Jerusalem. *
* The Mosque of Omar (more correctly Quba al-Sahra, or Dome of the Rock) stands on the site of the ancient Jewish shrine - the Temple of Solomon. At the same place at the beginning of our era, King Herod built a magnificent and extensive temple, but it did not stand for long. After the capture of Jerusalem by Emperor Titus, Herod's temple was destroyed and lay in ruins for several centuries. In 638, Caliph Omar recaptured Jerusalem from the Byzantine Empire and ordered the holy place and the rock located there to be cleansed. In 685-691, by order of Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Mirwan, the Quba al-Sakhra mosque was built over the rock, which soon became one of the sacred places of the Muslim world. Every Thursday and Friday, the servants ground saffron, mixed it with musk, amber and rose water and left this mixture to infuse until Monday in order to wipe the rock, the dimensions of which are quite impressive: 17 meters in length, 13 in width, 3 in height. After this, Muslims were allowed to enter the mosque, and they, as in Mecca in front of the Kaaba, walked around the sacred stone several times with prayer. Such a reverent attitude towards this rock is explained by the fact that according to biblical legends, with which the Koran agrees, Abraham was going to sacrifice his son Isaac on this rock, but was restrained by an angel. According to legend, the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven from this rock, leaving an imprint of his foot on the stone, which is preserved as the greatest shrine. The Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099 and held it for almost a hundred years. They turned the mosque into a temple, installed an altar on the sacred rock, a statue of Christ at the entrance to the mosque, and erected a golden cross above the dome.
This temple (nowadays it is again a mosque) is a squat figure of eight, divided horizontally by an architectural belt into two equal parts, crowned with a massive dome on a low drum. The coincidence in shape with the temple that is placed in Nikola’s hands is simply perfect. The carver even carefully carved the architectural belt that separates the tile covering of different colors on the Omar Mosque.
If we assume that this particular temple is depicted in the hands of Nikola Mozhaisky, then the question arises - for what reasons? After all, the crusaders and their clergy were not its builders!
Perhaps here we are faced with the phenomenon of creating new symbols. Jerusalem was perceived in the Middle Ages as the center of the universe, the middle of not only the material, but also the spiritual world, its sacred part. The possession of this center and its temples turned from a purely material phenomenon into a mystical phenomenon. Accordingly, the perception of the old symbols also changed: the Jerusalem Temple in the hands of the saint became not a specific temple, but turned into a symbol of spiritual power over the world.
But which of the real figures of that time was worthy of holding this lofty symbol in their hands?
It is possible that this is an image of Peter the Hermit, the inspirer of the first crusade, or an image of one of the Jerusalem patriarchs. Let's say Arnould, the first of them. Arnould was chaplain to Duke Robert of Normandy, the valiant and glorious leader of the crusade. The sword and the temple of the Lord in his hands are laconic but expressive symbols of the activity of this warrior-priest. The subsequent Jerusalem patriarchs were the same in essence.
One could agree with this version, if not for one significant difficulty - neither Peter of Amiens nor any of the Jerusalem patriarchs were canonized. And Nikola Mozhaisky is depicted with a halo. Consequently, the prototype of the icon must be sought among the canonized Catholic figures of that time. Who could it be?
Considering many options, I settled on the only possible candidate - Bernard of Clairvaux.
Bernard was born in 1090 in Burgundy, in German France, in the castle of Fontenier, in the Tescelin family, who belonged to an ancient ruling family. In his youth he became a Cistercian monk, then founded his own monastic monastery in Clairvaux, of which he was abbot all his life.
He was distinguished by poor health, but was well-read, pious and eloquent, for which he received the nickname “mellower.”
Even during his lifetime, he was revered as a saint for his righteousness. But Bernard became most famous for inspiring all of Europe to the second crusade. Bernard's preaching was so fiery that he managed to inspire the European army to go not only to Palestine, but also to the north of Europe, where paganism still flourished on the coast of the Baltic Sea. He died in 1153 and was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1174.
When, after Bernard’s canonization, paintings and statuettes of him began to be created, it was natural that he was depicted with a sword, as an active warrior of the faith. This sword must be understood as the spiritual sword of faith. But how did the Jerusalem Temple fall into his hands?
And here we must remember Bernard’s second significant act - he founded and was the spiritual father of the Templar Order, the most popular and most active knightly order of those times.
The Templar Order was founded in 1118 or 1119. It was founded by the French knights Hugo de Payens and Godefroy de Saint-Omer and vowed to accompany pilgrims to the shrines of Jerusalem and protect them from Muslim robbery. King Baldwin of Flanders, the supreme lord of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, allocated a building next to the Temple of the Lord (Al-Aqsa Mosque) to the new order. From that time on, they began to be called “the poor knights of Christ from the Temple of Solomon,” or simply “templars (Templars from the French word tample - temple).
In 1127, the Templars arrived in Europe to receive official recognition of the church and approve their charter. Bernard of Clairvaux was enthusiastic about the activities of the new order. He wrote a charter for it, largely repeating the harsh charter of his own Cistercian order, and wrote words of praise about the activities and zeal of the Templars in the faith.
Thanks to Bernard's energy and his persistent appeals to the higher clergy and to the Pope, a Catholic council was convened in Troyes on January 14, 1128. At this council, Bernard presented the new order and said many kind words about it, which helped its official recognition.
By the time of Bernard's canonization, the Templar Order had become very powerful, participated in wars for faith not only in Palestine, but also in Spain, Portugal and Languedoc, and had commanderies in almost all European countries. His wealth was so enormous that there were legends about it. The symbol of the order was the image of the Temple of the Lord (Temple of Solomon).
The order seal gives an idea of this symbol. On it the Temple of the Lord is presented as it was during the Crusades. At that time, it was not the modern rounded dome that towered over it, but an elongated dome, reminiscent of the onion domes of Russian churches.
It was this octagonal temple, as a symbol of the Templar Order, that could be depicted in the hands of St. Bernard.
Now let us remember the description of the “hail” in the hands of Nikola: inside the octagonal “hail” there was a small one-domed (!) church, lost several centuries ago. And in general, the “hail” was surprisingly similar to the Omar Mosque.
One can understand why the Russian people of that time perceived the octagonal temple in the hands of the saint as a city. Examining numerous images and repetitions (carved and painted) of the icon of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk, I noticed that the octagonal temple, as an architectural form of a church building, was completely alien to the ideas of Russian people. Apparently, due to the fact that such temples were never built in Rus'. Therefore, the medieval artist was more willing to place the usual rectangular temple in the hands of Nikola. Another form of the temple simply did not correspond to the stable centuries-old tradition. She was, as it were, outside the established canons. The octagon literally falls out of the saint’s hands, being replaced by the usual quadruple. Even today, these established ideas are so strong that the sculptor V. Klykov, in his repetition of the icon of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk, placed a rectangular temple in the hand of the saint.
These difficulties with the perception of the form of the temple began in ancient times. The unusual broken line of the walls was perceived by some contemplatives of the icon or carvers as a city surrounded by walls. This is exactly how Russian cities were depicted in chronicles, with a certain degree of convention. Apparently, this explanation was readily accepted by the priests, the Mozhaisk princes, and ordinary residents of the principality and became traditional in the interpretation of this icon.
So that the inexperienced viewer would not experience difficulties in the future, an explanatory inscription “the city of Mozhae” was placed on the temple that the saint held in his hands. From here a new understanding of the functions of the saint emerged - heavenly protection and patronage of the city of Mozhaisk (where the icon originally appeared), and then of other cities of Rus'. Then Nikola’s patronage was extended to the entire Russian land.
Let's pay attention to Bernard's appearance. In Europe, he is usually depicted with a huge tonsure on his head, i.e. shaved top. But it is possible that this is almost complete baldness. Nikola is also depicted as bald in Russia.
Now a few words about the time of creation of the carved icon. In 1187, the Crusaders lost Jerusalem - it was taken by Saladin's troops. The Temple of the Lord was again converted into a mosque. Apparently the Templars, having lost their shrine, did not consider it possible to consider it their symbol.
Jacques de Vitry, Bishop of Acre since 1216, in his notes says that the Templars during his tenure at the episcopal see already had a new symbol: two knights sitting on one horse, and explains it as a symbol of poverty and a symbol of humility and pride.
Bernard, as already mentioned, was canonized in 1174. Therefore, his images, which included the original symbol of the Templars - the Temple of the Lord, were created in the period from 1174 to 1187. (last date - 1216), and are the most ancient.
How could the statue get to Mozhaisk?
In the period from 1307 to 1314. The Templar Order was subjected to severe persecution in France. He was found guilty of following blasphemous statutes, desecrating the cross, and even Satanism. The Templars were excommunicated, and the order itself was banned. Many knights were burned at the stake or died under torture.
But not all of Europe recognized the Templars as heretics. For example, in Spain, Germany and Scotland the order was not officially banned. But even there the Templars did not survive as an independent organization for long. Saving themselves from possible new accusations and persecution, they moved to other orders. The Templar Order ceased to exist.
It can be assumed that during the persecution, images of the saint with Templar symbols in his hands were destroyed or altered. The Catholic Church could not consider Bernard’s merit the establishment of a heretical order, so the Temple of the Lord, as a symbol of the Templars, was excluded from the iconography of the saint, and the cathedral from Clairvaux Abbey was placed in his left hand. The sword remained, but it was not very clear and not very appropriate next to the peaceful and quiet abode of Clairvaux. In addition, with the sword, the images of Bernard were too reminiscent of the images of the Apostle Paul. Therefore, the sword was replaced with a staff. It was with these attributes that Saint Bernard was depicted for the next three to four hundred years. Then his attributes changed again, and, starting from the 18th-19th centuries, he acquired his modern canonical appearance: a modest and meek monk with the Gospel in his hands.
But such an image does not correspond to the energetic and indomitable nature of the Abbot of Clairvaux. Suffice it to recall that Bernard confirmed popes on their thrones, convened councils, trampled underfoot (literally!) kings who kneeled before him, and called in his sermons for the complete destruction of the pagans. He was modest in life, but he was a warrior in spirit.
Apparently, during the period when the statues of Bernard were destroyed or altered, there were people who were afraid of such blasphemy (perhaps they were the Templars or monks from the Cistercian order), and took the statue to the east of Europe, to Poland, Lithuania or to the German colonies in the Baltic states . It was there that the icon could have received a different name. And from there she could get to Rus'.
Voznesensky, describing the life and miracles of Nicholas of Myra, makes an interesting remark: “Judging by local legends, a wooden carved image of St. was brought to Epifan in 1380 from Lithuania. Nicholas. He may have become the prototype of the carved image of Nikola Mozhaisky"
(Voznesensky A. Gusev F. Life and miracles of St. Nicholas... St. Petersburg 1899 p. 536)
But this image could also have been made in Poland (including Belarus), where there were monasteries of the Cistercian order. Later this order received the name Bernardine, named after Saint Bernard. Of course, the Polish Bernardines, honoring their spiritual patron, created his sculptures and decorated their temples with them. And they were forced, after the ban of the Templar Order, to remake or destroy these statues. Or save them in Rus'...
It should be noted that in the church in the Polish city of Gostun there is a copy of the image of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisky. I don't have a picture of this copy, but it would be interesting to see it. It is possible that this is not a copy, but another surviving ancient statue of St. Bernard.
***
In conclusion, I want to say that I am only considering a version. One of many. Perhaps it is not sufficiently reasoned and erroneous, but the fact is that there are no other explanations for the appearance in the hands of Nicholas of Myra of attributes alien to him. These attributes are filled with such sacred meaning and such lofty symbols that they transform the worldview of believers and change the very spirit of faith.
These symbols could not have appeared by chance; they had to have some kind of backstory. But in the case of the carved image of Nikola Mozhaisky, there are not even traces of this prehistory. Therefore, in my research, I turned to Western European iconography, where this symbolism was clearly worked out and repeated many times.
I don’t think that my conclusions should offend the religious feelings of an Orthodox person: our Holy Scripture came from the Jews, Christianity from the Greeks, many saints from various countries of the world. Our canons are a repetition of the Greek canons, our first churches are a repetition of the best temples of Byzantium. And even if the statue of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk is a repetition of the statue of St. Bernard, then this practically does not change anything either in the faith or in the Orthodox traditions. Moreover, Western symbols received a different high sound and a different spiritual meaning in Rus'.
How does the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker help?
Through His saintly icons, the Lord sends us what we ask for, what is necessary and useful for our souls. The saints, just like us, who have walked the earthly path, know our needs. They experienced the same experiences, overcame similar earthly difficulties. When we ask a saint for intercession, we ask that he convey our prayer to God and that the saint’s prayers will be heard faster than our sincere appeal to them. The icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker helps to establish a prayer connection with the patron saint. Having in front of us the visual image of St. Nicholas the Pleasant, our prayer does not dissipate into empty ideas and dreams. According to the faith of the one who asks, the Lord gives what he asks through the saints.
An excerpt characterizing Nikola Mozhaisky
Tikhon knew the prince’s habit of sometimes expressing his thoughts out loud, and therefore, with an unchanged face, he met the questioningly angry look of the face that appeared from under his shirt. - Have you gone to bed? - asked the prince. Tikhon, like all good lackeys, knew by instinct the direction of the master’s thoughts. He guessed that they were asking about Prince Vasily and his son. “We deigned to lie down and put out the fire, your Excellency.” “No reason, no reason...” the prince said quickly and, putting his feet into his shoes and his hands into his robe, went to the sofa on which he was sleeping. Despite the fact that nothing was said between Anatole and m lle Bourienne, they completely understood each other regarding the first part of the novel, before the appearance of pauvre mere, they realized that they had a lot to say to each other secretly, and therefore in the morning they looked for an opportunity see you alone. While the princess went to her father at the usual hour, m lle Bourienne met with Anatole in the winter garden. Princess Marya approached the office door that day with special trepidation. It seemed to her that not only did everyone know that her fate would be decided today, but that they also knew what she thought about it. She read this expression in Tikhon’s face and in the face of Prince Vasily’s valet, who met the hot water in the corridor and bowed low to her. The old prince that morning was extremely affectionate and diligent in his treatment of his daughter. Princess Marya knew this expression of diligence well. This was the expression that happened on his face in those moments when his dry hands clenched into a fist out of frustration because Princess Marya did not understand the arithmetic problem, and he, getting up, walked away from her and repeated the same words several times in a quiet voice. the same words. He immediately got down to business and started the conversation by saying “you.” “They made me a proposition about you,” he said, smiling unnaturally. “I think you guessed,” he continued, “that Prince Vasily came here and brought with him his pupil (for some reason Prince Nikolai Andreich called Anatoly his pupil) not for my beautiful eyes.” Yesterday they made a proposition about you. And since you know my rules, I treated you. – How should I understand you, mon pere? - said the princess, turning pale and blushing. - How to understand! – the father shouted angrily. “Prince Vasily finds you to his liking for his daughter-in-law and makes a proposal to you for his pupil. Here's how to understand it. How to understand?!... And I’m asking you. “I don’t know how you are, mon pere,” the princess said in a whisper. - I? I? what am I doing? Leave me aside. I'm not the one getting married. What do you? This is what it would be good to know. The princess saw that her father looked at this matter unkindly, but at that very moment the thought came to her that now or never the fate of her life would be decided. She lowered her eyes so as not to see the gaze, under the influence of which she felt that she could not think, but could only obey out of habit, and said: “I wish only one thing - to fulfill your will,” she said, “but if my desire it was necessary to express... She did not have time to finish. The prince interrupted her. “And wonderful,” he shouted. - He will take you with a dowry, and by the way, he will capture m lle Bourienne. She will be a wife, and you... The prince stopped. He noticed the impression these words made on his daughter. She lowered her head and was about to cry. “Well, well, just kidding, just kidding,” he said. “Remember one thing, princess: I adhere to the rules that a girl has every right to choose.” And I give you freedom. Remember one thing: the happiness of your life depends on your decision. There's nothing to say about me. - Yes, I don’t know... mon pere. - Nothing to say! They tell him, he doesn’t just marry you, whoever you want; and you are free to choose... Go to your room, think it over and in an hour come to me and say in front of him: yes or no. I know you will pray. Well, maybe pray. Just think better. Go. Yes or no, yes or no, yes or no! - he shouted even as the princess, as if in a fog, staggered out of the office. Her fate was decided and decided happily. But what my father said about m lle Bourienne - this hint was terrible. It’s not true, let’s face it, but it was still terrible, she couldn’t help but think about it. She walked straight ahead through the winter garden, seeing and hearing nothing, when suddenly the familiar whisper of M lle Bourienne woke her up. She raised her eyes and, two steps away, saw Anatole, who was hugging the Frenchwoman and whispering something to her. Anatole, with a terrible expression on his beautiful face, looked back at Princess Marya and did not release the waist of m lle Bourienne, who did not see her, at the first second. "Who is here? For what? Wait!" Anatole’s face seemed to speak. Princess Marya looked at them silently. She couldn't understand it. Finally, M lle Bourienne screamed and ran away, and Anatole bowed to Princess Marya with a cheerful smile, as if inviting her to laugh at this strange incident, and, shrugging his shoulders, walked through the door leading to his half. An hour later Tikhon came to call Princess Marya. He called her to the prince and added that Prince Vasily Sergeich was there. The princess, when Tikhon arrived, was sitting on the sofa in her room and holding the crying Mlla Bourienne in her arms. Princess Marya quietly stroked her head. The beautiful eyes of the princess, with all their former calm and radiance, looked with tender love and regret at the pretty face of m lle Bourienne. “Non, princesse, je suis perdue pour toujours dans votre coeur, [No, princess, I have forever lost your favor,” said m lle Bourienne. – Pourquoi? “Je vous aime plus, que jamais,” said Princess Marya, “et je tacherai de faire tout ce qui est en mon pouvoir pour votre bonheur.” [Why? I love you more than ever, and I will try to do everything in my power for your happiness.] – Mais vous me meprisez, vous si pure, vous ne comprendrez jamais cet egarement de la passion. Ah, ce n'est que ma pauvre mere... [But you are so pure, you despise me; you will never understand this fascination of passion. Ah, my poor mother...] “Je comprends tout, [I understand everything,” answered Princess Marya, smiling sadly. - Calm down, my friend. “I’ll go to my father,” she said and left. Prince Vasily, bending his leg high, with a snuffbox in his hands and as if extremely emotional, as if he himself was regretting and laughing at his sensitivity, sat with a smile of tenderness on his face when Princess Marya entered. He hurriedly brought a pinch of tobacco to his nose. “Ah, ma bonne, ma bonne, [Ah, darling, darling.],” he said, standing up and taking her by both hands. He sighed and added: “Le sort de mon fils est en vos mains.” Decidez, ma bonne, ma chere, ma douee Marieie qui j'ai toujours aimee, comme ma fille. [The fate of my son is in your hands. Decide, my dear, my dear, my gentle Marie, whom I have always loved like a daughter.] He walked away. A real tear appeared in his eyes. “Fr... fr...” Prince Nikolai Andreich snorted. - The prince, on behalf of his pupil... son, makes a proposition to you. Do you want or not to be the wife of Prince Anatoly Kuragin? You say yes or no! - he shouted, - and then I reserve the right to say my opinion. Yes, my opinion and only my opinion,” added Prince Nikolai Andreich, turning to Prince Vasily and responding to his pleading expression. - Yes or no? – My desire, mon pere, is never to leave you, never to separate my life from yours. “I don’t want to get married,” she said decisively, looking with her beautiful eyes at Prince Vasily and her father. - Nonsense, nonsense! Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense! - Prince Nikolai Andreich shouted, frowning, took his daughter by the hand, bent her to him and did not kiss her, but only bending his forehead to her forehead, touched her and squeezed the hand he was holding so much that she winced and screamed. Prince Vasily stood up. – Ma chere, je vous dirai, que c'est un moment que je n'oublrai jamais, jamais; mais, ma bonne, est ce que vous ne nous donnerez pas un peu d'esperance de toucher ce coeur si bon, si genereux. Dites, que peut etre... L'avenir est si grand. Dites: peut etre. [My dear, I will tell you that I will never forget this moment, but, my dearest, give us at least a small hope of being able to touch this heart, so kind and generous. Say: maybe... The future is so great. Say: maybe.] - Prince, what I said is everything that is in my heart. I thank you for the honor, but I will never be your son's wife. - Well, it’s over, my dear. Very glad to see you, very glad to see you. Come to yourself, princess, come,” said the old prince. “I’m very, very glad to see you,” he repeated, hugging Prince Vasily. “My calling is different,” Princess Marya thought to herself, my calling is to be happy with another happiness, the happiness of love and self-sacrifice. And no matter what it costs me, I will make poor Ame happy. She loves him so passionately. She repents so passionately. I will do everything to arrange her marriage with him. If he is not rich, I will give her money, I will ask my father, I will ask Andrey. I will be so happy when she becomes his wife. She is so unhappy, a stranger, lonely, without help! And my God, how passionately she loves, if she could forget herself like that. Maybe I would have done the same!...” thought Princess Marya. For a long time the Rostovs had no news about Nikolushka; Only in the middle of winter was a letter given to the count, at the address of which he recognized his son’s hand. Having received the letter, the count, frightened and hasty, trying not to be noticed, ran on tiptoe into his office, locked himself and began to read. Anna Mikhailovna, having learned (as she knew everything that was happening in the house) about the receipt of the letter, quietly walked into the count’s room and found him with the letter in his hands, sobbing and laughing together. Anna Mikhailovna, despite the improvement in her affairs, continued to live with the Rostovs.
Before the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker they pray:
What do they ask St. Nicholas the Wonderworker for in their prayers:
• about admonishing enemies and offenders • about help in solving financial problems • about help in legal disputes • about help in solving housing problems • about the return of a spouse • about convicted and imprisoned people • about curing cancer • about help in business • about searching works • about help in getting rid of alcoholism/drug addiction and other addictions • about successful surgery • about the well-being of children • about wanderers and travelers, sailors, drivers.
Holy relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker
In April 1087, ships entered the bay of the city of Myra, on the coast of Asia Minor. The sailors landed on the shore and resolutely headed to the place where, for more than 7 centuries, the relics of one of the most revered saints, Nicholas the Wonderworker, had rested. Since they were merchants and sailors, they often visited the port city and saw that it was in a difficult situation. The Seljuk Turks ruled over this territory. The inhabitants of the city stayed in it during the day, and at night they left the city, went upstairs to a fortified place, and the monks remained in the church itself.
Having tied up the monks, the aliens broke open the sarcophagus, stole the honest relics, loaded them onto the ship, and in a hurry headed to the city of Bari. The events of that night to this day are great sadness for some, great joy for others.
Back in the 11th century, after the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker to the Italian city of Bari, a special holiday was established dedicated to the transfer of holy relics. The universal church does not know this holiday, because for many it is a difficult event, however, for Rus' this day began to be perceived as a holiday. Therefore, in Russia there is a tradition, which does not exist in the Orthodox East, to celebrate the day of memory of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker twice - in winter and spring.
Nikola Mozhaisky - saint with a sword in his hand
Saint Nicholas is a Christian saint revered throughout the world. He was born in the third century and was a bishop in one of the Greek cities of Asia Minor. Images of this saint are similar in different countries. Nicholas appears on icons, as a rule, in the image of an old man in priestly robes, one hand folded in a gesture of blessing, and the other holding the book of the Gospel. Nikola Mozhaisky appears before us in a different guise. Read about the circumstances under which such an original and popular in Russia type of iconography of the ancient saint appeared in the ancient city of Mozhaisk.
In the very first sculpture of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisky, carved from oak in the fifteenth century, the meek clergyman suddenly received in his hands, instead of the Gospel, a small fortress with a church and a sword. Traditionally, Nikolai Ugodnik was considered a kind helper to the poor, traveling and orphans. In his Mozhaisk image, the saint armed with a sword acquired a formidable and warlike appearance. The appearance of an unusual appearance for the iconography of Nicholas the Wonderworker is associated with the legend of the miraculous salvation of the city from a sudden enemy attack. The Mozhais, whose city was an important defensive fortification on the western borders of Rus', were accustomed to expect a threat from the Lithuanians and Poles. However, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, the residents of the city were faced with an enemy that was not entirely “natural” for them - a detachment of the Tatar Khan Edigei approached the city. The nomads managed to burn down the church and many houses, but this was the last devastation. When the enemies again approached the city, Saint Nicholas himself appeared in the air above the St. Nicholas Cathedral of Mozhaisk. In one hand he held a sword, and in the other - a fortress and a church. Struck by the terrible vision, the enemies hastily fled from the city, and the residents of Mozhaisk, in gratitude for the miraculous help of the saint, carved an icon from wood, on which they depicted St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the form in which they remembered him in the vision.
It is believed that from then until the Time of Troubles, Mozhaisk remained impregnable to conquerors. The pre-revolutionary author A. N. Velichkov gives two interesting versions of the same ancient legend in his note dedicated to the shrines of Mozhaisk. According to the first, the Lithuanian Chancellor Radziwill, who captured a sculptural image of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisky during one of the battles, allegedly recalled the following: “I took St. Nicholas the Wonderworker with me and I went the old road to Smolensk... I stopped here on Kunye Bor. And when I was at that camp, the wrath of God came upon my cattle and on my horses, a great death, so that all my horses fell out - for such a sin of mine that I took Nicholas the Wonderworker of Mozhaisk... I cut off his ear with my saber, and there was a great miracle then: blood flowed from his head, and then I was very scared... and swore that I would put him in Mozhaisk again.” In the morning, the Lithuanian discovered that the ear he had cut off seemed to have grown back onto the head of the statue, and on the saint’s sword he saw the inscription in Russian “I am the great Nicholas the Wonderworker.”
In another version of the same story, the ear of the icon was cut off by the Polish king, who, retreating from Moscow, stole from the cathedral in Mozhaisk an image of the saint and an expensive old chandelier, that is, a temple chandelier. After the sacrilege, the king's soldiers began to go blind and their horses began to die. When only two royal horses remained alive in the Polish army, the monarch prayed to Nicholas, asking him to have mercy and allow him to go to Polish lands. Velichkov cites an interesting fact that indirectly confirms the authenticity of this legend. Until 1820, the St. Nicholas Church of Mozhaisk was decorated with five silver lamps donated by a certain noble person with an inscription in Polish, in which he thanked for the cure from blindness.
In 1812, the St. Nicholas Cathedral of Mozhaisk was again desecrated, this time by the French. The image of the saint was saved by burying it in the ground. After the war with Napoleon, a new grandiose cathedral was built in the exotic style of “Russian Gothic” to replace the dilapidated temple on the same site. In the appearance of the temple, so unusual for Orthodox architecture, some see supposedly non-Christian symbols. For example, on the outside of the walls you can see a pattern of six-pointed stars, reminiscent of the symbol of Judaism. It is worth noting that this type of star can be found in many cultures and religions, including on the monuments and ornaments of ancient Christians. There is an opinion that the star was interpreted by Christians of the first centuries in their own way. A six-pointed star consists of two triangles. The top of the first triangle looks up, and the other one looks down. For Christians, the upper triangle signified the divine nature of Jesus, and the lower triangle symbolized the human nature, while the triangles symbolized the Trinity. There is no doubt that six-pointed stars were very often not given any special meaning at all. For example, there are two such stars on the coat of arms of the city of Kolomna, and on some German tombstones, which can be seen, for example, at the Vvedensky cemetery in Moscow, a six-pointed star simply indicated the date of birth of the buried person, and a cross was placed opposite the date of death.
The image of Nikola Mozhaisky, after many miracles that happened in the town near Moscow, became so loved by believers that copies of it spread throughout the country. Moscow was no exception. The “flat” version of Nikola Mozhaisky appeared in a niche of one of the towers of the Moscow Kremlin, called Nikolskaya. It is symbolic that it was through these gates that the people’s militia led by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky entered the Kremlin after the victory over the Poles. The battles around the Nikolskaya Tower also unfolded shortly after the 1917 revolution. The Red Army soldiers aimed their heavy guns at the tower and the icon to defeat the cadets entrenched in the Kremlin. Despite the damage, the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker survived, but soon the new government decided to get rid of religious symbols on the Kremlin walls. The icon disappeared from the tower, and for many years no one could tell its further fate. Several years ago, researchers found out that St. Nicholas had not disappeared, but had been “walled up” in the tower under a thick layer of plaster for many decades. Today the restored image can be seen again in its rightful place. The legendary carved icon of St. Nicholas from Mozhaisk, which became the prototype for countless images and statues made of wood, is also located in Moscow today. During the Soviet years, the one and a half meter sculpture of the fifteenth century was transported from Mozhaisk to the Tretyakov Gallery.
Transfer of holy relics to Bari
In May 1087, a ship with honest relics arrived in the city of Bari. At the end of the 11th century, southern Italy was captured by the Normans. Byzantium lost control of this region, and it was during this era that Bari lost its capital status, associated with the presence of the viceroy of the Byzantine emperor there. Accordingly, having lost this status, the residents of Bari lost their sources of income.
Of course, the fact of the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas was largely due to the economic factor. St. Nicholas actually fed this region for many centuries, because Bari became one of the centers of European pilgrimage. Saint Nicholas at that time was revered not only in the Orthodox world, but was also the most revered saint in all of Europe. St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is often remembered in the West; it was in the Netherlands that the custom of giving children fluffy rolls on the day of his memory was born. These gifts became associated with Christmas gifts. Saint Nicholas became the same Santa Claus who is so revered in America, in English-speaking countries, and then merged with the image of our Father Frost. But in this image the main feature was preserved. Nicholas the Wonderworker is a protector, intercessor and benefactor. Saint Nicholas was considered the patron saint of both children and travelers. In his image, the Russian people saw a protector, an assistant, and even a sailing companion. The icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker will serve as a wonderful gift, expressing the depth of a loving heart.
NIKOLA-WARRIOR
When you enter our church, on the right hand side of the wall you see an image of a saint with a raised sword in one hand and a church in the other. And not everyone recognizes in him the quiet and wise Saint Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, beloved by all Russia. Here he appears as a formidable warrior and creator. This is the image of the so-called Nikola-Mozhaisky. Why this particular image was chosen as a temple image will become clear from its history.
In 1408, a detachment of the Golden Horde Khan Edigei, who besieged Moscow, unexpectedly captured and burned Vereya and Mozhaisk. By 1412, Prince Andrei Dmitrievich (prince from 1389 to 1432), instead of a burnt wooden church, built a stone St. Nicholas Cathedral in Mozhaisk. And for the restored wooden fortress gates he ordered a holy amulet to be made - a carved icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker with a sword and hail in his hands: the gate Sword-Bearer was to guard the temple and the city from then on.
It is known that during the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars, when the enemy approached the city, a miraculous sign occurred: Nicholas the Wonderworker himself soared in the air above the fortress walls, as he was depicted in this icon - with a sword in one hand and the city of Mozhaisk in the other. And the frightened enemies fled.
Since 1541, a prayer pilgrimage of Russian Orthodox people began to visit St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Mozhaisk. By the end of the 16th century, 16 monasteries and 75 churches appeared in the city. Mozhaisk began to be called the “Holy City of Russians.”
Once in Moscow, a copy of the carved image of St. Nicholas with a sword and hail in his hands was placed as a talisman of the city over the St. Nicholas Gate of the Kremlin.
When Napoleon, who settled in the capital in 1812, tried to blow up the Kremlin, the tent of the Nikolskaya Tower collapsed, but the destruction stopped exactly at the edge of the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
During the October Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks, storming the Kremlin with the cadets defending it, mercilessly hit the Kremlin gates with direct fire cannons. They shot the left hand of the saint on the St. Nicholas Tower. The miracle worker remained with the sword in his right hand. After the battles, the shrine was covered with a red cloth, when suddenly, on a May day in 1918, on the eve of St. Nicholas the Great, many people on Red Square saw: the red curtain burst to the bottom, then began to tear off in pieces and fell to the ground. The icon of the “wounded” and “unsurrendered” Saint Nicholas was miraculously revealed again.
It is known that the Cossacks brought the icon of St. Nicholas with a sword in his hand to our region. It is interesting that on later icons the straight Russian sword becomes slightly curved - like a Cossack saber, since the Cossacks considered Nikola their heavenly patron.
When Ermak and his retinue set out on the road to conquer Siberia, three priests accompanied the Cossacks on the long and difficult road, and each hundred received an icon from the brothers. With these images in front, the Cossacks always entered into battle and during the battle they took care of them like a regimental banner. Among these shrines (icons of the Savior Not Made by Hands, the Lord Pantocrator, the Mother of God, the Honest Life-Giving Cross, the Archangel Michael) there was also an icon of St. Nicholas the Pleasant with a sword in one hand and the Temple of God in the other. The leader of the Cossack army, Ermak Timofeevich, was a zealous reader of St. Nicholas. In the Ermakov settlement, on the banks of the Chusovaya River, where the great campaign began, Ermak spent the winter and prayed in the chapel before the image of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk. The first chapel, built by the Cossacks on the very ridge of the Stone (Ural) Mountains, is also dedicated to St. Nicholas of Mozhaisky.
From the history of the conquest of Siberia, we know that after one of the appearances of Nikola the warrior “in heaven,” on October 23, 1581, Siberia, the capital of Kuchum, was taken. All subsequent conquest of the first Siberian kingdom was sanctified by special prayerful fervor to St. Nicholas. Wherever a place for a long stay was chosen, the first thing the Cossacks did was put up a cross, surrounded it with a palisade - this is how forts appeared in Siberia - and then erected a chapel, most often than others - in the name of St. Nicholas the Ugodnik. On the shores of Lake Baikal, almost all churches were built in the name of St. Nicholas. The miracle worker finally conquered this region with the light of the glory of his miraculous image, revealed in the village of Bolshoye Goloustnoye.
Material prepared by Elena and Igor Borovsky
Nicholas the Wonderworker – “Russian Saint”
Saint Nicholas is one of the most revered saints in the world. Even in earthly life, he gained fame as a miracle worker, and was perceived as an intercessor before God, for all the offended, hungry, offended, and in trouble. Moreover, he is perceived as almost a Russian saint, how great is his veneration in Russia.
The very first work of Saint Nicholas is his act on the three stratilates, which is well known to everyone. And which tells about the saint who saved from illegal execution three noble citizens of the city of Mirra, and then three stratilates - three Byzantine military leaders. The life of St. Nicholas says: “Combining meekness with rage, the saint of Christ, without any fear, tore the sword from the hands of the executioner, threw it to the ground, and then freed the condemned men from their bonds. He did all this with great boldness and no one dared to stop him, because his word was powerful and divine power appeared in his actions. He was great before God and all people.
The icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker presents us with the image of a man who actively helped people. When innocent convicts are executed, when a little son is kidnapped from his parents and made into a servant, Saint Nicholas, without hesitation, rushes to the rescue.
Nicholas the Wonderworker - a social worker of his time
Nicholas the Wonderworker is our modern social worker. We all remember the story of how he helped save the inhabitants of Myra from starvation. We all remember how at night, in order to save the daughters of one poor man from desecration, he threw a bag of gold to their father so that he could marry off his daughters and thereby ensure a normal, blameless life for young girls.
Once upon a time the saint, out of his modesty, did not dare to accept the priestly rank, but one day in a dream the Savior appeared to him in all his glory and the Most Holy Theotokos, who placed the hierarchal omophorion on him.
The love of the Russian people for Nicholas the Pleasant has strengthened over the centuries. In every Orthodox family there is an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
Going to the Holy Land, Russian pilgrims sail through the Italian city of Bari. Since ancient times, Russians have sought to venerate the holy relics of Nicholas. Especially the 19th century saw mass Russian pilgrimage.
Russian Church of St. Nicholas in Bari
At the beginning of 1850, Russian traveler Andrei Muravyov returned from Jerusalem to Russia. Suddenly, a storm blows up and washes their ship ashore, not far from Myra. The Basilica of St. Nicholas, which fell into complete desolation during the years of Turkish rule, makes a depressing impression on the Russian traveler: “I am ashamed to see how we, Russians, have forgotten our heavenly patron. Will there really be no money in Rus', for the honor and memory of the Wonderworker, whom we call upon daily in our prayers?” Fundraising begins, but Russia cannot secure this holy place. Half a century later, through the efforts of Emperor Nicholas II and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, a plot of land in Bari was purchased with the funds raised.
This is the glorious story of the building of our church. And a difficult church. It was supposed that this would be a memorial temple, a home for pilgrims. And at the same time, evidence of Russian Orthodoxy in the distant Catholic West. We thought about collecting photographs of all St. Nicholas churches, and there were thousands of them in Rus', and it was planned to attract the best artists. Petrov-Vodkin received an order for painting and made sketches. The pilgrims, unfortunately, did not get to this courtyard at the moment when it was built for them. The First World War broke out. The courtyard served as a refuge for Russians during difficult years. It served our refugees who fled Europe in flames. And to return to Russia, they traveled through Italy.
New in blogs
On the Day of National Unity, the Patriarch consecrated the restored gate icon of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisky on the St. Nicholas Tower of the Moscow Kremlin. The return of the great shrine is a significant event for all of Russia, said head of the presidential administration Sergei Naryshkin, who was present at the ceremony.
What is the SIGNIFICANCE of this event FOR ALL OF RUSSIA?
The icon, walled up in the 30s of the last century, was found under a layer of plaster in the spring of this year. This image was moved to the Kremlin gates in 1491 and updated in the 16th-17th centuries. a carved image of St. Nicholas with a sword and hail in his hands was installed over the Nikolsky Gate of the Kremlin, built in 1367 under Dmitry Donskoy.
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The veneration of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisky in Russia, as recognized by all (both Christian and pre-Christian) sources, was so deep that the Western world considers him a Russian saint
(Russian Father Frost, as they say, is not at all the same as Western Santa Claus).
In Rus', Nikola Mozhaisky was also called Mikola. “Mikola is the same God,”
says a popular saying. Since the time of Peter I, He has been revered as the patron of the Russian Navy.
According to legend, the image of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk, as he is depicted on the icon, was revealed to the Russians and their enemies in the sky with a sword raised high in one hand and a city-posad - a symbol of the humanized universe - in the other. Unlike other divine and saintly images, St. Nicholas of Mozhaisky is also depicted in the form of carved wooden sculptures, which are not characteristic of the Russian Christian tradition and which, like in Moscow, but long before it, were placed above the guard gates of Russian kremlins in the northern cities of Rus'.
During the Time of Troubles, when the sculpture of Nikola of Mozhaisky was taken to Lithuania and “disappeared in captivity” until 1619, hundreds of sculptural statues of Nikola spread throughout the Russian land right up to the Urals and Siberia. In many cities, images of the formidable St. Nicholas, writes the famous modern researcher academician of architecture Gennady Mokeev, unanimously raised their naked swords against their enemies, with all their symbolic appearance calling and blessing the Russian people to cleanse Orthodox Russia from “filthy Lithuania and Poles”, from the Catholic invasion
.
It was through those Kremlin gates, which were marked with the image of Nikola Mozhaisky, that the people's militia of Minin and Pozharsky burst into the Kremlin in 1612 when it was captured.
Now the name of Nikola Mozhaisk is often associated with the city of Mozhaisk, which was first mentioned in the chronicle of 1231. However, numerous archaeological sites - fortifications, sites, mounds - indicate that the surroundings of modern Mozhaisk were inhabited already in the Neolithic era.
This is what people of the pre-Christian Vedic tradition know about Nikolai Mozhaisky.
The truth about Nikola Mozhaisky is reliably preserved by all genres of folklore and the Russian Vedas. According to them, the Vedic Orthodoxy of Nikola Mozhaisky - Veles (from the Russian word mozhaesh, moga, can, see V. Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary) was known to the first townspeople on earth from the third mile of the universe, i.e. more than 30 thousand years ago. This, in particular, is told in the epic “Volkh Vseslavyevich”. Russian Vedas and folklore tell what miracles the Great Magus Veles performed. He gave the townspeople herds of cows and herds of horses, taught them agriculture and crafts, read and gave them the Book of the Vedas, for which he was popularly called the Wonderworker.
The epic “Sadko” also mentions the name of Nikola Mozhaisky, figuratively pointing to His role in the evolution of life from the beginning of the universe. Blue flammable stone
, to which Sadko comes, is the sacred stone Alatyr, located at the crossroads of roads to Prav, Nav and Yav. According to the epic, Sadko, finding himself at the bottom of the sea in the kingdom of Navi, learns the way back to his homeland from the son of Svarog Veles, who appears to him in the form of a gray-haired old man. In honor of him, Sadko, upon returning to Novgorod, erected temples to St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk.
Veles - Nikola always helps the human soul on the straight roads of the universe: in the blue sea - the cosmic abyss. At the bottom of the sea, a guest of Vodyanoy or the King of the Sea, Sadko actually metaphysically meets the Almighty - Svarog. When Svarog goes on vacation, which happens when changing cosmic miles, the control of the universe is performed by Veles - Nikola, appointed by Father Svarog to guard the gates of Rule. Only the guardian of the gate of Prav, Svarozhich Veles, can let Sadko through the kingdom of death of Nav into the divine abode and help him return from Prav to Reality.
Veles, the patron saint of the Earth and all its inhabitants, taught people sorcery. Veles' disciples were the sorcerers-heroes Boyan and Khodynya - the creators of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign"; the image of Vasily Buslaev was based on Veles, who was violent in his youth. Corinthian in his collection “People’s Russia” conveys the people’s perception of the gray-haired old man
Nikola-Veles: He appears “either in the form of a kind grandfather (Mikola the Merciful), then his appearance passes with the heroic tread of ... Mikula Selyanovich.”
Now, according to Russian tradition, the sixth verst of the universe has begun, therefore the image of the miracle worker is being revealed throughout all of Rus', the keepers of the Vedic tradition emphasized in a conversation with me. Nikola-Veles is now walking across the expanses of the earth, especially the Russian Severau, and gladdens the hearts of people. In temples, chapels, icons, sculptures and other countless monuments, His Divine image is presented as a guardian of the gates of the kingdom of eternity - the divine abode - from unwanted penetration from the kingdom of Navi - Koshchei's kingdom of death
.
In Veliky Novgorod, on Velesovaya Street (now Volosovaya) there is a temple to Veles (now Blasius). “The Tale of Bygone Years” calls Svarozhich Veles – “Hair, the God of Cattle.” Bible preachers who came from Byzantium borrowed the virtues of Veles, and churches in Rus' in his honor were renamed the churches of Blasius, the Sebastian bishop, and St. Nicholas the Saint, the mythical Italian bishop from Myra and Lycia.
The Church, the keepers of the Russian tradition emphasized, appropriated the virtues of the miracle worker Nikola - Veles, wanting people's Rus' to forget the parental family of Svarog, and on parental days - holidays to honor unknown foreign “martyrs-pleasers”. However, Russians still celebrate parental holidays in honor of Nikola Mozhaisky: May 9 - Spring Nikola, July 27 - Rocking Nikola, December 6 - Winter Nikola or Bratchina. No matter how hard the heirs of the Byzantine church try, the proverb answers them: “The brotherhood does not bow to the priest’s court.” In honor of Veles-Nikola, the people also cheerfully celebrate the New Year's Eve lavish evening, Maslenitsa and Yarilin week and other holidays.
The glorification of Nikola Mozhaisky on the Nikolskaya Tower of the Kremlin on National Unity Day this year coincided with a period of active discussion among Russian liberals, in particular among the Russian leadership, of various options for integration or even Russia's entry into NATO. This is perceived by many in the country as another stage of low-level bowing and capitulation to the West. It is symbolic that it is precisely protection from invasion from the West: from Koshchei’s kingdom of death -
The inspirer of the Russian Spirit, the Divine Sword-Bearer and Wonderworker Nikola of Mozhaisky, has always served and continues to serve.
The life story of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
There were many stories surrounding the saint's tomb. They reflect many episodes of early Byzantine history. It first occurred to Michael Archimandrite to connect them together in the first half of the 9th century. In the 10th century, it occurred to some saint to supplement this life with episodes from the life of another Saint Nicholas - Bishop of Pinar, who lived 2 centuries later than Saint Nicholas of Myra. This life, composed of two, became the basis for all subsequent biographies of the saint. However, the most amazing miracles of St. Nicholas, for which he is so revered and loved by Orthodox people, relate specifically to the ancient St. Nicholas of Myra - a saint of the 4th century.
Buy an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
In the icon painting workshop “Radonezh” you can buy an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. If your heart is inclined towards one of the presented samples made in our workshop, we will paint the icon you like with faith and reverence. If you did not find the desired image on the pages of the site, our icon painters will make a custom-made icon according to your sample, or offer other samples of icons of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from the extensive database of the icon-painting workshop.
If desired, the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker can be consecrated in the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra.
Free delivery within Moscow.
Other samples of icons of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, made in our workshop.
Peace and goodness to you, dear brothers and sisters, and may the holy saint of God, Nicholas of Myra, accompany you throughout your entire life’s journey.
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