However, for the modern viewer who approaches a mediaeval icon without some sort of preparation, it is something far more difficult, to comprehend than o painting on canvas. In order to enter the world of the icon, you should develop a capacity to understand its many conventions, the complexities of its subject-matter and a manner of working which was very different, from the painting of later ages. You should have a feeling for the slightest departures from established canons. Early Russian icons are illustrations of events from the Old and New Testaments, above all the ac-counts of the earthly lives of Christ and His mother, the Virgin Mary, illustrations of the lives of saints or depiction's of figures from Christian history or legend. Any icon is far more than a mere visual image, though.
Icons are objects of veneration, treated with profound respect.
The Orthodox believe that icons can bring about cures. They confide their innermost thoughts to them and look to them as a source of support. Legends of the miraculous appearance of icons take their place in mediaeval chronicles alongside accounts of the most important events. Icons were not only a part of the decoration of a decoration but a vital element in everyday life. The saints were always recognizable in icons, their faces at times so dissimilar that they might be taken to be portraits with a startling power, even now, to convey individuality.