The icon with the full figure representation of Boris and Gleb is one of the earliest ones of the available monuments of this iconography. The monarch Boris (?-6 August 1015) and Gleb (?-18 September 1015), sons of the grand duke Vladimir, were the first Russian saints who were canonized by the Russian and Byzantine church (before 1035). In Russia they were considered martyrs, because they had been murdered by their half brother, who thus earned himself the nickname “the cursed one".  Boris and Gleb were the defenders of the royal entourage. 
Because Vladimir had failed to appoint any of his sons to become his omnipotent successor to the Kiev throne in the event of his death, there was also no written succession law.  At most, what was known as the "Senior Official Principle” could be applied.  Jaraoslav, the eldest son, was in far-off Novgorod at the time of his father’s death.  Svjatopolk, a stepson of Vladimir, was therefore able to step in and take over the throne, but was bound to expect the opposition of the physical sons.  He felt directly threatened by Boris, who at this time had full power over his father’s military forces, being posted to the defense of the country’s southern borders against a nomadic tribe.  When he returned to Kiev, Svjatopolk had him murdered and not long thereafter his brother Gleb as well.  Not until 1019, after several battles, was Jaroslav able to defeat his stepbrother and take the throne...

Several old-Russian hagiographic and liturgical works concern themselves with the narrative representation of the life story of the holy brothers Boris and Gleb, whose baptismal names were actually Roman and David.  In their aspiration to present history as, above all, the history of Christian salvation, they do not provide us with biographical data, but testify primarily to the religious convictions that determined the saints’ actions.  It becomes clear that Boris and Gleb were not simply victims of political murder, but knowingly risked violent death right even through complete self -abandonment, in the execution of their calling to defend the succession of Christ.  Jaroslav the Wise promoted the worship of his brothers who died as martyrs.  Their worship was not restricted to the Russian church.  A church in Bohemia is said to shelter a part of the relics, the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople houses an icon of the two martyrs.  Praise at the end of a chronicle records Boris and Gleb as patron saints of the Russian people, keepers of the peace and helpers in times of war.