Dimensions:  55.4 x 37.8 cm

Condition: Wearings

When Vladimir the Great brought Christianity to Kiev in AD 988, stories of Saint Nicholas came along, too. Nicholas is greatly revered in Russia as the protector of the weak from the strong, the oppressed from the oppressor, and the poor from the rich— he is the Russian champion of the disadvantaged. By the 1600s his name was synonymous with the word "icon" and foreign visitors often referred to an icon as "a Nicholas."

St. Nicholas is prominent in Russian Orthodox liturgy as Thursday prayers are dedicated to him as representative of all the saints. Nicholas is the only saint shown in three-dimensional statuary in the Russian Orthodox Church. (stnicholascenter.org)