INSCRIPTION ABOUT THE BUILDING AND PAINTING OF THE EPIPHANY CATHEDRAL IN KOSTROMA EPIPHANY CONVENT OF ANASTASIA (CIR4010)

The paper is dedicated to the scientific publication and commentary on the construction and painting of the Epiphany Cathedral in Kostroma Epiphany Convent of Anastasia (CIR4010) in 1559-1562/63. The Cathedral was built with the blessing of St. Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow, on the initiative and at the expense of Hegumen Isaiya (worldly Shaposhnikov) and the monastic brothers, as well as on the donations made by Prince Vladimir of Staritsa and others. The paper states that the Cathedral was consecrated by Archbishop Nikandr of Rostov on June 8, 1559, on the day of the namesake of Feodor, son of Ivan the Terrible, and the consecration ceremony was of a Church-state character. The inscription contains unique information, which has not been preserved in other sources, about the attachment of particles of the relics of St. Theodore the Black, Prince of Yaroslavl and his offsprings David and Konstantin in the antimins of the consecrated Church, as well as the fresco painting of the Cathedral, produced in 1562/61. Thus, the published inscription is a unique monument of memorial epigraphy, reporting both information on the architectural and art history of Kostroma in the late 1550s to the early 1560s, and containing important material about reverence of St. Theodore, Prince of Yaroslavl, and his offsprings in Kostroma land.