Today’s icon is primarily for a little practice in reading inscriptions. It is a Solvychegodsk icon from around the latter part of the 16th-beginning of the 17th century. The positions of the figures are very much that of the period, with a saint turned and leaning toward Jesus blessing in the clouds at left. The stylized rows of clouds around the saint are an interesting touch, and the use of color in the sky gives an impression somewhat akin to that of the late 19th-mid 20th century Norwegian artist Edvard Munch:
(Solvychegodsk Historical and Art Museum)
Now on to the title inscription, which is also the name inscription of the saint depicted:
It is partially abbreviated, as Church Slavic inscriptions on icons often are.
Let’s begin with the first abbreviated word at left:
We see the letters СТЫ, abbreviating СВЯТЫЙ / SVYATUIY, meaning “Holy,” or more loosely, “Saint.” It is an extremely common word in Russian icon name inscriptions. Notice the curved horizontal line above it, indicating abbreviation.
The next word is the category of the saint — the kind of saint he is. We again see that line of abbreviation, this time with a little inverted C in it:
It is the word АПОСТОЛЪ APOSTOL” — meaning “Apostle.” So this fellow is an apostle. The inverted C in the curved line of abbreviation (titlo) is to be fitted into the word below as the C in АПОСТОЛЪ. And we have to know that an O is to be inserted after the T. Notice that the letter T is written with a long vertical line at left connecting to the top crossbar. That is very common in old Slavic inscriptions, and makes the letter T often look like an English M, for which it must not be mistaken.
Now we come to the actual name of the saint:
This one is a little tricky, because it uses a variant spelling of the name. It is written as АНДРЕ, but the last letter that is represented in my transcription in the modern Russian font as E is actually this old letter, pronounced “ye/yeh” (shown here in upper and lower case). This very useful letter was removed from the Russian alphabet in 1918, a year after the Revolution. It was replaced simply by E, and one then had to know when to pronounce it as an e and when to pronounce it as “yeh”
In the inscription, it looks a bit like an inverted trident at first, because the left vertical — like that of T mentioned above — is lengthened, and the b shape of the lower right part is a bit faded in the inscription, and easy to miss if one is not careful.
So the writer has written the name as ANDRYE, instead of the usual ANDREY (АНДРЕЙ in Church Slavic). In any case, it is the name found in English as Andrew, so this is the Apostle Andrew.
There is still the final word, which further describes this saint:
It is the word ПЕРВОЗВАННЫЙ / PERVOZVANNUIY. The writer has put in an extra letter Ь after the first P (R in English), but the intent is Pervozvannuiy. We can see the З (Z in English) placed above the letters ВОВ (VOV), indicating that it is to be inserted after the O. Pervozvannuiy means “first-called.”
So if we put the title all together, we get:
Svyatuiy Apostol” Andrey Pervozvannuiy — “Holy Apostle Andrew the First-called.” And that is his common title in Eastern Orthodoxy.
Andrew’s title “First-called” comes from the account in John 1, where two disciples of John the Forerunner (Baptist) hear him speak of Jesus:
35 Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;
36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he says, Behold the Lamb of God!
37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and says to them, What do you seek? They said to him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where do you dwell?
39 He says to them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.
40 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
41 He first finds his own brother Simon, and says to him, We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
ICONS AND THEIR INTERPRETATION 