Travel icon depicting the Mother of Consolation, 19th century

Bronze casting with polychrome enamels

Height × Width: 16 × 7.5 cm Weight: 180.3 g.

Tradition traces the origin of the cult to the miraculous rescue from a shipwreck of the son of Theodosius I, Arcadius, attributed to the intervention of the Virgin Mary. At the site where Arcadius was found, on Vatopedi Beach near Mount Athos, Patriarch Nektarios erected a sanctuary and placed the icon of the Otrada, which served as a model for copies later sent to Russia. Above the main scene, a square panel depicts the Anastasis, Christ’s descent into the underworld, framed by four seraphim who complete the composition and emphasize its celestial and sacred dimension. This object belongs to the group of icons of the Russian Old Believers, mass-produced from the 17th century onward and characterized by strict adherence to the canons of Byzantine tradition. These objects, often made of bronze and sometimes enriched with colored enamels, were generally small in size and intended for private devotion. Their portability allowed them to be easily carried and, if necessary, concealed, thus meeting the religious needs of a community that, after the schism known as the Raskol, endured periods of persecution by the official Russian Orthodox Church.