Icon " our lady of all SC. Joy" with a frame of 107h76 cm

I have been painting this large icon for six years. After returning from a trip to Italy and visiting the best collections of late Renaissance paintings, I went to work in an icon workshop near Moscow. It was there, while making icons in the classic Byzantine style, that I came across the words of Antony the Great: Faith is unchangeable as a stone, and the Church grows like a tree. This thought haunted me for a long time and finally I understood the meaning. Modern man, free to move and get any information still needs clothes, housing, livelihood and fear of the unknown day coming. Needs do not change, and the help of the Creator, the virgin, and the angelic forces has become even more necessary for us due to the loss of orientation. Growing spiritual illiteracy leads to the fact that living with our eyes blindfolded by our reality, we see clearly when trouble is already on the threshold and do not understand that we could avoid it by being awake on happy days and thanks for Joy and Health.
There was a big old frame and I realized the tongue blade must be clear to all and he was Church-going and laity, it became clear what should be the size of the new hymn to the forces we gave birth to forces that love us more than anything, the forces of Love and Caring.
Based on modern realities, I wrote an icon in the European style, in order to show the identity of the great saints and modern people. Mary of Egypt and the Apostle Paul, Nicholas the Wonderworker and Alexander the Great, the Archangel Gabriel and the strongman Samson stood in a row with the simple petitioners. The mother of God gives us both the gold of Faith and the keys to all earthly doors, we only need to ask for it. Human free Will is sacred and silence is a rejection of help, but as soon as a request is made, all forces go to our aid! Hail Mary!