Unique icon of Karelian saint found in attic in Finland

Moscow, April 27, 2017

Photo: karel.aif.ru

A rare icon of the Karelian saint Cornelius of Paleostrov was recently found in an attic in an apartment building in the Finnish city of Kuopio during repairs. The discovery of the icon just before Pascha is considered a kind of modern Paschal miracle. The icon had been so well preserved by sawdust that it was decided to place the icon in an Orthodox museum in Finland even without restoration, where it was established that it depicts St. Cornelius, reports Arguments and Facts.

St. Cornelius belongs to the Synaxis of Karelian Saints, together with, for example, the founders of Valaam Monastery Sts. Sergius and Herman. His monastic path began with Valaam Monastery. From there he roamed through Finland to the White Sea, until, finally, he became a hermit on Palia Island in Lake Onega in the north-west European part of Russia.

Despite the island’s remoteness, companions began to gather around him. The Paleostrovsky Nativity Monastery was founded on the island at the turn of the 15th century. The elderly Cornelius himself did not participate in the life of the monastery, but lived as a hermit in a cave, clothed as a schemamonk.

St. Cornelius of Paleostrov is sometimes depicted on icons of the Synaxis of Karelian Saints, and rarely alone, as on the icon found in Finland. The given icon was found in the second half of the nineteenth century.

The building in Kuopio was built in 1914. Barracks were located nearby, but the soldiers lived in the apartments in the building. It is also known that the building where the icon was found was also once home to merchants.