Since 1994, the Russian Store is a trusted online purveyor for genuine antique Russian and Greek icons, Catholic reliquaries, and other Christian religious artifacts. We are based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. 

We don't have a physical Store location. Our office is located in Boston MA, USA and, unless otherwise noted, all of our items shipped from Boston. 

On our web site, you can see only a part of our inventory. Please contact us if you are looking for a specific item and we will advise you if we have it in our inventory or can locate it for you.  

You can fill out the form in if you need any additional information about our items or services. You also can subscribe to receive our periodic e-newsletter from us with updates on new arrivals and exclusive offers. 

For over 25 years, our company provided fine authentic artifacts of Christian veneration to a large number of individuals, museums, and religious institutions. The 100% satisfaction guarantee that we offer to our customers is based on our confidence in our items and desire to make sure that our customers are delighted with every purchase they make from us.  

We are always interested in acquiring items and collections in our area of specialty. Please contact us for additional information.

We are an enthusiastic supporter of the Museum of Russian Icons and partner with the Museum on a variety of projects. For example, we co-curated an exhibit of liturgical silver of the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, daughter of the Russian Emperor Alexander II, that took place at the Museum in the fall of 2018.   

Yes, we do ship worldwide. Since 1994 we shipped to many countries from Russia to Australia and are very familiar with postal and customs regulations. We guarantee the safe arrival of all items purchased from our store. 

We unconditionally guarantee all items sold by our store to be authentic antique items and will accept them back at any time and issue full cash refund should an independent reputable expert reasonably disagree with our opinion.

Our customers can return any item purchased in our store for a full no-questions-asked refund. For more information please see «Our Pledge to Our Customers».

For most of the items, retail prices are listed on our web site. To protect the privacy of our customers, prices for some of the most valuable articles are available "by request only." We frequently provide reductions in prices to our customers for certain categories of items. Please subscribe to our mailing list if you wish to be notified about upcoming reductions. 

For the convenience of our customers, we do offer a variety of layaway options at no additional cost. Please contact us for more information. 

We put extra care and use protective packaging to prevent any possibility of damage in transit.  In addition, we guarantee safe and damage-free arrival of all items purchased in our store. 

We accept payments US dollars and, infrequently in other currencies convenient to the purchaser. We accept major credit cards, PayPal, checks and money orders (originating from a US institution), as well as transfers via various money-transmitting services. All items are shipped after receipt of the full amount of the payment.  Please contact us if you prefer to pay us by a method of payment not listed here and we will be happy to consider it.

Unless stated otherwise at the time of purchase, we ship purchased items within 48 hours from receipt of payment. Within USA, items are normally shipped via UPS Ground service with a signature requirement for valuable items. Outside the USA, items are shipped via USPS Express Mail with full Internet tracking. Depending on your location, it takes from 1 to 8 days for domestic shipments to arrive and 8-14 days for shipments going to addresses outside of the USA. We offer a variety of delivery options for hard-to-ship items and hard-to-deliver destinations. We guarantee the safe arrival of all items purchased from our store. 

We unconditionally guarantee all icons to be authentic antique items that are over 100 years old and will accept them back at any time and issue full cash refund should an independent reputable expert reasonably disagrees with our opinion.

We acquire single icons and entire collections from antique auctions and private collections in Europe and the United States. All of our items are sourced legally and ethically. 

We are always looking to acquire genuine icons. Please see «Sell us your items» on the web site. Contact us to get additional information.

Generally, we do not purchase icons from Russian Federation, Greece, the Balkans, and countries of the former Soviet Union (with an exception of the Baltic States) due to difficulty with obtaining export permissions required by law in these countries.

Unless requested otherwise at the time of purchase, all icons purchased in our store are outfitted with high-quality hanging devices before shipment to the purchaser.

In addition of being beautiful hand-painted spiritual art objects, Orthodox icons are venerated by most Christian denominations and are found in many houses of prayer that are not necessarily Orthodox. 

We unconditionally guarantee all our reliquaries to be authentic antique artifacts with undisturbed certifiaction seals from the Catholic Church and will accept them back at any time and issue full cash refund should an independent reputable expert reasonably disagrees with our opinion.

As a rule, we purchase reliquaries in Europe. The problem of preserving the most important shrines has become particularly acute at the present time due to the secularization of life of Europe. Under current conditions, purchase of holy relics from places of neglect and their transfer to their new guardians is essentially the only way to preserve these precious physical manifestations of Christian faith.

In addition to their original preserved certification from the Catholic Church, all reliquaries sold in our store come with Certificate of Authenticity.

Even though Catholic Code of Canon Law 1190 places restrictions on selling relics, we, as an Orthodox store, are not subject to such restrictions.

We helped hundreds of Christian customers to find reliquaries with relics that are special to them, including members of the Catholic and Orthodox clergy and religious communities of various Christian denominations. We are delighted when we find new and loving homes for relics that we have in our custody.

There is absolutely no restrictions from obtaining antique relics either for personal or public veneration, provided that it is done in legal and ethical manner. 

The separation of the Churches - The Great Schism took place in the year of 1054. Over the first thousand years, Christianity has acquired shrines, saints and martyrs, who are equally revered in both Orthodoxy and Catholicism. For example, St. Nicholas, Saint George, the Apostles, and many others. Such relics are universally venerated by most Christian denominations.

In addition to relics pertaining to the Savior and his Passion, the Virgin Mary, the Holy Family, and the Apostles, all pre-Schism Saints and Martyrs are universally venerated by most Christian denominations.

Unfortunately, we have seen many spurious, questionable and unethically sourced relics offered to unsuspecting buyers on eBay and other online auctions. We believe that online platforms such as eBay do not offer items backed by a solid guarantee from a reputable trusted seller, which is the exact reason many of our clients prefer to purchase from our store.

We are always looking to acquire genuine antique reliquaries that are in good condition and have original undisturbed certification. Please contact us if you believe that you have an artifact we might be interested in. 

According to the Catholic Church, the relics are divided into three broad categories. First-class relics are parts of the bodies of the saints and the instruments of Christ's Passion (Arma Christi). Second-class relics are objects sanctified by close contact with saints, such as articles of clothing, objects used in life, or, in the case of a martyr, the instruments of his/her torture. Third-class relics are objects touched by either first- or second-class relics. With very few specific exceptions, we don't carry third-class relics. 

Please contact us if you have a question or would like any information about us or our items. We are looking to hear from you and will to respond promptly.