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Icon. "Nicholas the Wonderworker (Summer)", inv. no. Ж-1521: photo 1 of 5
Photo 1 of 5
Icon. "Nicholas the Wonderworker (Summer)", inv. no. Ж-1521: photo 1 of 5
Image 1 of 5
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Painting and graphics · Icons

Icon. "Nicholas the Wonderworker (Summer)"

Inv. no. Ж-1521 · Painting and graphics

Project: Sloboda Ukraine Code. Church Antiquities

The icon shows a half-length, frontal image of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, with a high, open forehead, short light-brown hair, a mustache and a small beard. He wears episcopal vestments: a blue sticharion, a red phelonion with golden flowers, and a lilac omophorion with golden crosses. Full description

Date
19th century
Material
Wood
Technique
Levkas, tempera, gilding
Dimensions
31 × 26.5 × 2.5 cm

Photo: M. F. Sumtsov Kharkiv Historical Museum · CC BY 4.0

Description

The icon shows a half-length, frontal image of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, with a high, open forehead, short light-brown hair, a mustache and a small beard. He wears episcopal vestments: a blue sticharion, a red phelonion with golden flowers, and a lilac omophorion with golden crosses. His right hand is raised in blessing, his left holds an open Gospel. Around his head is a round halo in the form of a thin red circle; to the left and right is the Church Slavonic inscription: "Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker." In the upper corners of the icon, amid clouds, are images of Christ offering the Gospel and the Mother of God offering an omophorion. Christ wears a red tunic and blue himation, with a cruciform halo around his head; his right hand is raised in blessing. The Mother of God wears a blue tunic and red maphorion, with a round halo around her head. The image's field is enclosed within a thin rectangular red frame. The background of the icon is golden with a soft sheen; the field of the frame and the halo are decorated with a floral ornament, and the perimeter of the icon is underscored with a gold-and-red contour.

Legend: in folk tradition, the name "Summer Nicholas" refers not so much to the time of an event as to a depiction of Nicholas without a mitre.

The tradition of venerating Saint Nicholas in the Ukrainian lands dates back to the official adoption of Christianity in Kyivan Rus.

Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker is invoked for help, for the protection of children, and for keeping families and fields safe from fire. He is the patron of travelers, sailors, farmers, beekeepers and children, and a protector of the poor, the sick, and the condemned.

Record

Inventory number
Ж-1521
Title
Icon. "Nicholas the Wonderworker (Summer)"
Collection group
Painting and graphics · Icons
Date
19th century
Material
Wood
Technique
Levkas, tempera, gilding
Dimensions
31 × 26.5 × 2.5 cm
Digitisation
Project “Sloboda Ukraine Code. Church Antiquities”, 2026
Tradition
Orthodoxy

Updated 15 Oct 2026

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