Occurs from the festive row of the iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral of the Pavlovo-Obnorsky Monastery. The icon presents one of the iconographic tidbits of the holiday composition, celebrated by the Orthodox Church on the first Sunday after Easter. The plot goes back to the text of the Gospel of John, narrating about the appearance of the risen Christ to disciples and the assurance of Thomas, touching the Savior’s wounds and, thus, being assured of the truth of His resurrection.
In accordance with the Gospel narrative, Jesus Christ is depicted in the center of the composition on the background of the closed doors. On two sides of Him compact groups are represented by 10 apostles who have already received the visions of the risen Teacher, in the foreground on the left – the Apostle Thomas, stretching his right hand to the Savior and touching His ribbed ribs. The figure of Thomas is highlighted in the composition with a bright cinnabar cloak, contrasting with the restrained clothes of the others depicted in the tone.
The principle of rhythmic repetitions plays an important role in the composition of the icon. The thin elongated figure of the Savior is correlated with the doorway behind His back, which allows us to recall the words of Christ: “I am the door: if anyone else sees me, it will be saved.” The outline of His right arm bent at the elbow and the line of the lowered left are repeated in the bevels of the roof of the building, the contorted figure of Thomas replicates the outline of the architectural construction to the left, while the static structure of the group of apostles headed by the apostle Peter is underlined by the vertical of architecture on the right side of the iconic plane.
This compositional construction allows the icon painter to achieve an amazing harmony of the whole, which is also facilitated by a restrained terse coloring, built on exquisite color combinations with a predominance of delicate bleached tones.
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