St Tryphon with falcon, Russian icon print mounted on wood | Size: 13 x 10 x 2 cm ( 5" x 4" )
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The icon is a rare depiction of St Tryphon, a third-century Christian Martyr. A young goose-herder from a village of Kampsade in Phrygia (now Turkey), St Tryphon became famous for his ability to drive out evil spirits and cure diseases. He was martyred for his faith at the age of seventeenduring the Decian persecution.
The saint is depicted on horseback, wearing a short tunic and a cloak. In his right hand is a falcon, a reference to a miracle attributed to his intercessions. According to a later Russian legend, St Tryphon helped Boyar Trifon Patrikeev, a falconer of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, to find a lost hunting falcon, in commemoration of what a church in the name of the saint was erected in Moscow. In the foreground, amidst a rocky landscape, is a pond with geese.
In the upper right corner of the composition appears Christ stretching his arm towards the saint in a blessing. The borders of the icon depict Guardian Angel and St Fyodor.
St Tryphon is widely revered by both Western and Eastern Christians. In Russia, St Tryphon is traditionally venerated as a patron of birds and a heavenly protector of hunters
