Saint Maxim Sandovich

Orthodox icon of Saint Maxim Sandovich on thick plywood 20mm, which does not sting and keeps its shape over time. Preparation with acrylic stucco and have been used acrylic colors. It has been covered with varnish to keep the colors undiluted in time and humidity. Hanging clip included on the back of the icon.  

St. Maxim was born in 1886 in Zdynia, Poland. After completing his education in Jaslo and Nowy Sacz, he entered the Greek Catholic Basilian monastery in Krakow. Dissatisfied with the attempts to Latinize the Eastern rite to make it more acceptable to the Roman Catholic majority, he crossed the border into the Russian empire and entered the famed Orthodox monastery at Pochaev. He completed his seminary studies in 1911 and was ordained to the Holy Priesthood. Fr. Maxim returned home to serve the Orthodox faithful in the villages of Hrab, Vysovatka and Dovhe. After serving his first Divine Liturgy in Hrab on December 2, 1911, the Austrian authorities, suspicious of the Orthodox Faith for its alleged “Russian sympathies,” issued an order forbidding any further Orthodox services. Father Maxim ignored the order and continued to conduct services in village homes. He was repeatedly fined and held under temporary arrest. Before Pascha in 1912, he was again arrested and held in prison for two years in a Lviv prison until their trial began on March 9, 1914. After being found not guilty he immediately returned to his native village and continued minister to his Orthodox parishioners. With the outbreak of World War I, Father Maxim was again arrested and imprisoned on August 4, 1914 along with his entire family. Austrian soldiers led the 28 year old priest from his cell to a wall in the prison courtyard where he was bound and blindfolded. they ripped his priestly cross from his chest and threw it to the dirt, marking an “X” with chalk over his heart for a target. His feast day is on September 6.