The Iconography Workshop has been operating under the guidance of Archpriest Sergiy Baranov since 1997 in Orsk.
The iconographers of the workshop painted icons for the iconostases of the Church of the Tabyn Icon of the Holy Theotokos in Kherson township, the Church of Buribai settlement, the hospital churches of Orsk: the Church of the Iveron Icon of the Holy Theotokos, the Church of the Righteous Saint John of Kronstadt, the Chapel of Saint Grand Duchess Elizabeth, the New Martyr, the chapel of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker at the City Railroad Hospital. Many icons, including those painted by Father Sergiy, were gifted to monasteries and poor parishes: the convent in Shamordino – an icon of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker; the Stavropegial Church of the Righteous Saint John of Kronstadt, Saint Petersburg – the Comforter icon of the Holy Theotokos; the Church of the Blessed Xenia of Petersburg at the Smolenskoye cemetery (for the St Xenia’s Chapel) – the icon of the Righteous Saint Anna; the Diveyevo Convent in Zadonsk – the Iveron icon of the Holy Theotokos (Athos image) and many others. Also the icons of the Holy Theotokos were painted for the Iveron Monastery in Samara.
In 2008, the iconographers made the iconostasis and painted the icons for the Church of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica at the First City Hospital of Orenburg (23, Gagarina prospect) and for the Church of the Venerable Saint Sergius of Radonezh in Orenburg (60A, Korostelev Brothers prospect).
From May 8th to 17th, 2008, upon the blessing of Valentin, Metropolitan of Orenburg and Buzuluk, and Gerasimus, Metropolitan of Zugdidi and Tsaishi (Georgian Orthodox Church), the priests of the Social and Missionary Circuit, senior priest Alexander Azarenkov and archpriest Sergiy Baranov, held a conference “Common Saints – Common Faith” and presented the Georgian Orthodox Church with the icon of the Great Martyr George.
In October 2008, upon the invitation of Benedict, shrema-hegumen and the elder of the Panagitsa Cell at the Simonopetra Monastery on Athos, Greece, archpriest Sergiy Baranov and the iconographers painted the Church of the Nativity of the Holy Theotokos.
The workshop, existing upon the alms of the people, renovates old icons and creates new ones according to ancient techniques and outline drawings. The specialists learned gilding and gesso carving. Gilding is executed in a special room without draughts, but with ventilation, which serves to rid the room of the unwelcome smells of lacquers and pine oil. Gesso carving is made in the following way: a special substance is applied on a wooden surface and after it hardens, a specialist carves a dimensional picture out of it with a lancet. The two exact copies of Athonite icons were made in this technique: the Images of Jesus Christ and the Holy Theotokos as an elderly nun. There are no similar icons in Russia. The style of iconography is canonical and mostly Byzantine and Athonite.
Almost all icons (hanging on the walls and the painted frescoes) at the Cathedral of the Great Martyr George in Orsk are copies of the images painted on Holy Mount Athos, as, according to Father Sergiy, there is no place which is more blessed with the Grace of God than Holy Mount Athos.