pierces the chest of the mother of god and, of course, this detail sends us to such an event as the candlemasi remember the plot when joseph and mary brought the christ child to the temple and the elder meets him in the temple. simeon is also called semyon the god-bearer. we know that this is a symbolic meeting of the old new testament and so on. and here, the elder simeon m-m learns he accepts in babies. christ the messiah redeemer. he takes his baby's hands. christ and says to the mother of god such words and the gun itself will pierce your chest. may they be opened according to the thoughts of many hearts. that is, thereby he predicted to her that, that is, it is symbolic. this sword shows the grief of suffering and pain that the most holy theotokos will have to go through, that is, she will have to go through the death of her only son , another very interesting detail placed below e, under the cross, the skull and bones of adam are usually depicted here, we know that on golgotha adam was buried, and this blood, flowing down the cross, and falling on skull of adam still, all this is symbol