St. Nicholas

Mid-12th century
Church of Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio ("The Martorana"), Palermo, Sicily

The white scarf with crosses is an omophorion, a distinguishing garment worn by bishops in Orthodox churches. For slapping the heretical priest Arius at the Council of Nicea, he was imprisoned and deprived of the omophorion and other episcopal vestments. But Christ and the Virgin Mary appeared to him in prison, set him free, and returned his episcopal vestments to him (Tradigo, 308). In this icon Christ is pictured left of the saint's head and the Virgin Mary is on the right, holding an omophorion.

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Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.