0400 St Demetrius

Russian.
19th cent. 30×25.5x 2 cms.

St Demetrius was a Greek soldier and  and Pro-Consul of Achaia. He preached Christianity and was martyred by Emperor Maximian. after his friend had died in defence of St Demetrius in the gladiator’s ring.

He was widely venerated as a saint both in Greece and Russia and icons of him were well spread in Byzantine art from the 13th. With the most popular subject being his appearance at the siege of Thessolinica in 1207 when he killed King Kalojan of Bulgaria. In Russian iconography the victim is identified more generally as the embodiment of evil.

This icon, is a 19th  creation written on a much earlier Russian board. It was purchased from a German collector.