Description

Nicholas of Mozajsk is a typical Russian icon. In his high-raised right hand he carries a scimitar, in his left hand a walled church, a kremlin. As early as 1306 in Mozajsk, a city near Moscow, there was a church dedicated to Saint Nicholas. When the Tatars invaded the city in 1380, the inhabitants of Mozajsk begged Nikolaas, the lifesaver, to protect them. According to legend, Nicholas literally fell off his pedestal and took a sword and swung it high in the air to terrify the besiegers.