Icon - Saint Catherine - Russian Hand Painted icon - Wood

Russian hand painted icon of Saint Catherine.

Saint Catherine of Alexandria lived in the 3rd century. The daughter of noble parents, she was distinguished by a rare beauty, an alert mind, a desire for the truth and an unshakable faith in Christ. She is the heavenly patroness of learning and knowledge.

Saint Catherine was born in Alexandria and was the daughter of the king of Alexandrian Egypt, Constantine, The feast is celebrated on November 24.
Saint Catherine was endowed with great beauty and knew Greek philosophy, medicine, rhetoric and logic. All the young men of the neighborhood, as well as of the royal family, sought her hand, but none of them was chosen by her. She told her parents that she agreed to marry only the one who was more famous, richer, more beautiful and wiser than her.

Her mother, who secretly believed in Christ, sent her for advice to her spiritual father - a holy old man who lived in a cave not far from the city. After listening to her, the old man told her that he knows someone who surpasses her in all this and gave her an icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Christ.

Catherine prayed all evening; and her prayers were heard, and the Blessed Virgin appeared, who asked her Son to look at the young maiden before Him. But the Child turned his head so as not to look at Catherine, saying that she was proud, her ancestors were unworthy, she was not washed with the water of Holy Baptism and was not marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit. Saddened, Catherine returned to the old man; to teach her the right faith and to teach her to pray. The old man baptized her in the name of Christ. And once again Saint Catherine had a visit from the Holy Mother of God and Christ. But this time the Lord gently looked at her, giving her a ring - a wonderful gift for a heavenly marriage. When she woke up in the morning, she saw the ring on her hand.

At that time the emperor Maximilian himself was in Alexandria, on the occasion of the celebrations for a pagan festival. Because of this, many sacrificial animals were prepared on the occasion of the holiday. Looking at this injustice, filled with love and faith, Catherine went to the emperor. She spoke of her faith in the one God and exposed the errors of the pagans. In order to convince her where she was wrong, the emperor called fifty wise men to argue with her and shame her. But Ekaterina won the argument. Enraged, the emperor ordered all the sages to be burned. Through the prayers of St. Catherine, all the wise men accepted Christ's faith and became Christians. The emperor, seeing this, knew that he would not make her change her faith in this way. Therefore, he began to tell her about his riches and fame. But after she sharply rebuffed him, he threw her in prison. The emperor's wife was delighted with Catherine, and also accepted the Christian faith. In the most difficult moments of his martyrdom, an angel of the Lord appeared, and then the Lord Christ Himself. After much torture, she was killed on her 18th birthday. The miraculous relics of St. Catherine rest on Sinai in the Monastery of St. Catherine.