FESTIVE TIER

The Festive tier demonstrates the New Testament events, which are celebrated by the Church with specific festivity. Usually, the festive icons are located in the order of the Church year, where days are dedicated to Church feasts and saints, or according to the Gospel events' chronology. Their sequence is observed in the left part of the festive tier of the Archangel Cathedral.

The tier consists of nine icons from among the Twelve Great Feasts, two icons pertaining to the Resurrection theme – the Raising of Lazarus and the Descent into Hell, and the Crucifixion icon. The iconography of festive scenes absorbed both traditional themes and West-European novelty, which was quite popular in art of the second half of the 17the century.

The Crucifixion is the only signed icon in the iconostasis. It was painted by Mikhail Milyutin, artist of a delicate lyrical gift and the most gifted student of Simon Ushakov.