Saint Raphael Saint Nicholas Saint Irene icon Lesvos, Byzantine art wall hanging, Handmade Greek Orthodox icon wood plaque, religious gift(2)

This byzantine icon is a lithography with double varnish layer to ensure vivid colors and waterproof properties depicting Saint Raphael Saint Nicholas and Saint Irene is an god inspired artwork abiding to the Athonian technique that was gives this icon unique religious and aesthetic value.

The holy, glorious and right-victorious New Martyrs Raphael, Nicholas and Irene suffered martyrdom by the Turks on the island of Lesbos (or Lesvos), Greece, on Bright Tuesday (April 9, 1463), after the fall of Constantinople. St Raphael was the Abbot of Karyes near the village of Thermi on the island. St Nicholas was a deacon at the monastery, and St Irene was the 12-year-old daughter of the mayor of Thermi. The three saints were at the monastery with the village teacher and St Irene's father when the Turks raided it. Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene of Lesbos are remembered by the Church on April 9 and on the Tuesday of Bright Week along with St Eleni, New Martyr of Lesbos (who was also called Susanna).

These saints were unknown for about 500 years after their martyrdoms during the Turkish occupation of Lesbos. In 1959 the three saints appeared to the people on Lesvos in dreams and visions. They guided excavations of their own graves, called people to repentance, and cured many kinds of diseases.

The saints revealed how they were cruelly tortured at the monastery, calling it a "second Golgotha" (in the words of St Raphael). St Raphael's torture ended when his head was sawn off. St Nicholas died of heart failure when he was being tortured and Irene was tortured in front of her father and burnt alive in a clay cask, where her charred bones were later found. The teacher's head was cut off and placed between his legs when he was buried. A great deal of blood was shed at the monastery; the saints were martyred for the sake of their Christian faith and fatherland.

Found amongst the excavation was St Raphael's round metallic engo