About 1497.
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The priest Zacharias is depicted on the right. The Virgin’s parents and the maidens who are accompanying the Mother of God from Nazareth to Jerusalem can be seen on the left. The parents and the priest are bending over Mary. At the top of the icon, Archangel Gabriel is giving food to the Virgin sitting on a step of the credence altar. The priest Zacharias is depicted on the right. The Virgin’s parents and the maidens who are accompanying the Mother of God from Nazareth to Jerusalem can be seen on the left. The parents and the priest are bending over Mary. At the top of the icon, Archangel Gabriel is giving food to the Virgin sitting on a step of the credence altar.
This iconography is based on the subject from the ‘Protoevangelion of James’ in accordance with which Mary was taken to the temple at the age of three in fulfillment of her parents’ vow to dedicate their child to the service of God. Joachim called upon the maidens of Jerusalem who accompanied the Virgin to the temple. The priest Zacharias met her at the entrance. Mary remained in the temple until the age of twelve. She received food from an angel.
The icon was restored by O.V. Lelekova in the All-Union Research Institute for Restoration in 1968.