This icon displays four separate scenes depicting the births of Mary, Christ, John the Forerunner and St. Nicholas. At top left is “The Birth of The Most Holy Birth-Giver of God.” This scene is derived entirely from apocryphal sources (the Protoevangelion of James, the Pseudoevangelium of Matthew). It depicts Anna, the mother of Mary, reclining on a bed after giving birth. Servants prepare to bathe the newborn child. The father Joakhim, looks on from the right. This formulaic depiction is also followed on the other “birth” images. The upper right scene depicts “The Birth of the Lord of Us Jesus Christ.” Mary is seen lying before a cave in a hill. The newborn Christ lies in a manger inside the cave. A shepherd looks on as the three Magi approach. Below at left, Joseph, Mary’s husband, listens gloomily to an old shepherd (the devil in disguise) who is tempting Joseph to doubt the truth of the incarnation and virgin birth. Below a midwife prepares to wash the newborn child. The lower right image depicts “The Birth of the Holy Nicholas the Wonderworker.” Here as in the other birth scenes Nicholas’ Mother and Father look on as attendants prepare to wash the newborn child. The lower left corner displays the “Birth of the Holy John the Forerunner.” The architectural elements depicted in all but the Birth of Christ (upper right) indicate these were interior scenes.
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