We read in the Gospel According to Matthew how Christ went up Mount Tabor with three of his apostles: "Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white in the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias [Elijah] talking with him."
This icon was possibly painted in the workshops of the northern town of Novgorod. Probably for speed of execution, the master copied the figures of the prophets and apostles from standard images, and only details reveal their individual natures - a few variations in facial feature, the colour of the robes. The manner of painting and the surviving inscriptions indicate a date in the 16th century.