One of the first Russian wood engravers, creator of the first engraved illustrated Bible in Russia.

Koren's technique combines the influence of Catholic and Protestant illustrated Bibles (in particular, the Piscator Bible), the icon-painting tradition and the aesthetics of the popular prints that were emerging at the time. Due to the presence of non-canonical images of God (in the illustrations to the Six Days of the Book, He appears as an angel), the print run of Koren's Bible (about a thousand copies) was confiscated and almost completely destroyed. The only partially surviving copy of the book (36 sheets) is in the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg. Koren's authorship is indicated by the carver's personal signatures (most often, "Vasily Koren cut, Gregory signed").