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St. Dismas the Good Thief
The Ran Collection
In its original version, this is the painting of the Russian Orthodox icon of the Good Thief in Paradise created in 1560 in Moscow. It has an authentic title "The Wise Robber Pah", as it traditionally accepted by the Russian Orthodox church.
The Good Thief Dismas is the one of two thieves, crucified along with Christ and the first man allowed in paradise. At the icon the thief is depicted with a cross on his shoulder and in the Garden of Eden.
Among Christians, the name of the Thief is differ from place to place and from the different times and centuries. Dismas is his best known name and appears first in the 12 century in the Gospel of Nicodemus. Or it can be Dizmas ( «Word of the suffering and death of the cross of Christ» in manuscripts of 16 and 17 centuries). Also, it is the Wise Robber Rah (in the captions for Orthodox icons) and Dima-Galilean (Erminiya Dionysius Furnoagrafiota), and some others, such as the wise Robber Barbarian (for icons of 17 century), and also Vary.
Luke's gospel reveals the last hours of Jesus' being on earth; one of the thiefs, Gestas, betrated Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But Dismas rebuked his fellow robber: "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." Dismas then begged: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom", and The Lord replied, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
The fact that Dismas lived a wicked life and was sorry for that life means that the traditional moral drawn from his story is still intact. The figure of St. Dismas is very common for prison chapels since he represents the God's willingness to forgive even at the last moment even the worst robbers. This also means that God loves all his children.
St. Dismas is a special patron of condemned prisoners, criminals, reformed thieves and undertakers.
The icon is replicated by Katrin Schwarz in 2004. It is sanctified in Jerusalem, Israel, in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the Church of Resurrection). Church of the Holy Sepulchre is one of the holiest places in the world for Christians, who come here for 2000 years to visit the place where Jesus of Nazareth died, was buried, and rose back. The certificate of the church can be found at the back of the wooden board. This exact copy is done from the icon of a prisoner who was sentenced in one of the jails of the Northern Russia.
Copyrighted.
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| Hand-painted, oil on wood, 10"x3.5" |
$400.00 |
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