babble). 31 The condemnation of heretics was assisted not only by verbal arguments, but
also by an event that happened just when the discussion was at its height: “And while
they were disputing about miracle-workers with Perfir, who swore that Nikola was an
ordinary man, at that very time Nikola the Miracle-Worker of Gostun in his church by
his image did forgive a boyar from Tula Grigoriy Sukhotin, who had not the use of his
arms or legs; and at the prayer service he was straightway restored to health, whole and
hearty”. 32 This miracle took place in the Moscow Kremlin in the Church of Saint Nicholas
of Gostun (no longer extant) built in 1506 for an image of Saint Nicholas which had
become famous shortly before this in the village of Gostun in former Kaluga province. 33
From the chronicle text we learn that one of the most important points of dispute with the
heretics was the veneration of Saint Nicholas. Denying miracles and miracle-workers as
the Lutherans did, the heretics regarded Saint Nicholas as an ordinary mortal, but their
delusion was straightway disproved by the miracle of the healing of the boyar.
The above-mentioned discussion has been used by historians of art to explain the
remarkable enrichment of the hagiographical cycle of Nicholas in Russian icon painting
of the second half of the 16 th century, in particular the incredibly detailed representation
of the “Miracle of the Patriarch Athanasius.” The latter had refused to consecrate an
icon triptych commissioned by a devout townsman, which depicted Christ, the Virgin
Mary and Saint Nicholas, because he regarded the bishop of Myra as an ordinary mortal
unworthy of such company; subsequently, however, the patriarch was rescued at sea
during a storm thanks to a prayer to Saint Nicholas, after which he recognized him as
a saint and miracle-worker. 34 However the struggle against echoes of Lutheran views
which had penetrated into Russia also explains other innovations in representations
of Saint Nicholas, first and foremost, the spread of inscriptions with the word
“miracle-worker.”
Russian documents of the 16 th century also refer to other conflicts with Lutherans over
the veneration of icons, in which again, a considerable role was played by the image
of Saint Nicholas. In 1558 during the Livonian War waged by Ivan the Terrible, the
town of Rugodiv (Narva) was captured by the Germans, but Muscovite troops managed
to take it back. Their success was assisted by a fire for which the impious Germans
were responsible: a certain nemchin (a European foreigner with no respect for Orthodox
images) who was brewing beer cut up an icon of Saint Nicholas and cast it into the
flames. This caused a fire to break out. The Moscow commanders broke into the town
14
Journal of Icon Studies
31 “Никоновская летопись под 7061 (1553) г.” Полное собрание русских летописей vol. XIII, (Moscow 2000), p.
233.
32 Ibid. In all probability the miraculously healed Grigoriy Sukhotin was from the same branch of the Tula noble family
of Sukhotins as the future husband of Tatyana Lvovna Tolstaya-Sukhotina, the elder daughter of Lev Tolstoy, whose
estate of Yasnaya Polyana was also in Tula province.
33 “Воскресенская летопись под 1506 (7015) г.”, Полное собрание русских летописей, vol. 8, (Moscow, 2001), p.
247.
34 E.S Smirnova. “Икона Николы из Боровичей”, Сообщения Государственного Русского музея. Issue no. 7,
(Leningrad, 1961), pp. 52-59.