Russian Wall Crucifix Icon
Oil and gold leaf on wood panel
14.25" x 9" x .75"

The man ordering the Icon wished for his and his wife's patron Saints to be placed on both sides of the Crucifix. The Icon shows crucified Christ after His side is pierced as blood and water flows out. To His right is Aleksandr Nevsky and to His left Ludmila Cheshskaya. Overhead are two angels looking down in wonder, hands covered as a sign of respect. Image of the Holy Face, Mandylion, appears in the upper portion of the icon. The cross stands on a rock of Golgotha, with the skull of Adam showing out of a dark cave. Life-giving blood of the Savior anoints the perished and brings forth life, represented through the seedlings sprouting out of the rock. On each side of the cross is a sponge with vinegar and a lance.The sun and the moon look down from both sides of the cross bar, and the city walls of Jerusalem can be seen in the background behind the bottom crossbar. The shape of the cross is that of a 19th-century Russian crucifix.