Before the revolution there were nearly a hundred sisters working at this obedience in the Novo-Tikhvinsky monastery. The icons painted by the sisters as well as the miniatures and souvenirs became widely popular; some of them were presented as gifts to the Royal Family.
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| A sister at work |
Now the monastery is being reborn, and so is the icon-painting workshop upon the blessing of abbot Abraham. Today there are seven sisters working at this obedience. We all feel the great responsibility of our task, since so many people will be praying in front of the icons we create here.
One gets an extraordinary feeling working at an icon. Before painting an icon of a saint, the Savior, or the Mother of God, we pray for spiritual help in this work, we try to read the life of the saint we are about to depict. Sometimes approaching the work is almost frightful: because you know that people will be looking at this icon and, beholding it, they will ascend to God in their minds.