Who are these (Russian?) saints and why are there bells attached to this icon?

by -----iMartijn-----

http://imgur.com/a/gLxmg

Got this from a friend. I can't find anything about them on the internet. From what I have found, they are probably patron saints regarding people working with medicines.

commiespaceinvader

This isn't exactly my field of expertise and I can't talk about the bell but what I can say is that this is a depiction of St. Peter and St. Paul as this is what is says right next to them.

The style and the use of Cyrillic strongly suggests that this is an Orthodox depiction and like in Catholicism Peter and Paul – meaning the Apostoles; Peter of allegedly establishing the papacy fame and Paul who wrote all the letters in the new testament – are treated as the preeminent apostles. Though while the Orthodox Church does recognize Peter's special role of leadership in the early church, unlike Catholics they do not regard him as sporting any extraordinary authority for Peter with regard to faith or morals.

However, Peter and Paul are regularly painted together and also in the Catholic context share the same feast day (as well as having their alleged remains buried in the same church) in an acknowledgment of their role of spreading the Christian message in early Christian history. Like Cyrill and Method in the Orthodox Church (the guys who translated the Bible into a slavic language and spread Christianity in the East) their iconography is that of a pair. Today, the feast of Peter and Paul is one of the most important ecumenical events between Eastern and Western Church because it seems fitting that when celebrating the saints that both regard as of eminent importance, one gets together.