Holy images of our Almighty are present in almost all Christian homes, because these icons are the main Orthodox relic, which occupies one of the main places in the home iconostasis and in churches. This icon is one of the most expensive and idolized among Christian shrines, because it is the face of our Savior. There are a huge number of icons of the Lord Jesus. Many divine images with holy images have healing properties. All the holy faces of the Almighty are mainly characterized by the fact that they carry within themselves the harmony and blessing of God.
A little history
Since ancient times, a certain canon has developed, which icon painters strictly followed. The names of some of them are widely known (Andrei Rublev, Theophanes the Greek, Dionysius), others remained nameless, but the icons they painted still amaze with the power of their influence.
Each detail on the icon has its own meaning and should evoke certain associations
Thus, the image of the cross is associated with the martyrdom of the Savior, the pointing finger symbolizes the providence of God. Everything has a symbolic meaning: composition, poses, gestures, even the choice of colors. Church canons of icon painting regulate every detail so that the message from the icon reaches the worshipers unambiguously, without allowing any heretical interpretations.
It is characteristic that there are no icons where the Mother of God would be depicted together with the adult Jesus. This emphasizes the greatness of her feat - the Mother, who gave her baby Son as a sacrifice for all humanity. According to ancient custom, the icons of the Mother of God and the Savior should be in the icon case in the red corner, where everyone who enters the house is baptized. Parents blessed the bride and groom with these icons, so they were called wedding (pair) icons.
The most revered icons of the Mother of God
Orthodox Christians especially honor icons of the Mother of God. She is their intercessor before the Lord and Her Son Jesus Christ, and in Rus' she was considered the guardian and defender of the Russian Land.
Typically, icons of the Mother of God and Christ depict Jesus as a baby or little boy making a blessing gesture in the arms of the Mother of God. Some of the most ancient icons are kept in museums, but lists (copies) of these icons are widely distributed, they can be seen in churches and in the homes of believers and even non-believers.
One of the oldest images of the Mother of God that has come down to us is the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, which is now kept in the Temple of the Tretyakov Gallery. According to legend, it was written by the Evangelist Luke himself. From Jerusalem it was transported to Byzantium, and then to Kyiv, from where in 1155 it was secretly taken to Vladimir.
For centuries they prayed in front of this icon when disasters occurred - wars, epidemics. They pray to her for healing of body and soul and for protection from evil.
The Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the great Intercessor of Russia and a precious national shrine, was found in 1579, when the Mother of God herself appeared in a dream to the simple girl Matrona and told where to look for her image. And indeed, at the site of a huge fire, an icon with fresh and bright colors was miraculously discovered. In Moscow, on Red Square, a cathedral was built in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.
Soldiers prayed before her on the eve of the Battle of Poltava and during the Patriotic War of 1812; during the Great Patriotic War she helped the residents of besieged Leningrad. There are many cases where this icon helped the dying to be miraculously healed, to restore their sight, and to recover.
The Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God is considered the ancestral icon of Russian princes. She is called Hodegetria, that is, Guide. The Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God came to Rus' from Byzantium and saved Smolensk in 1238 from the troops of Batu Khan.
They pray to her for healing from illnesses, finding peace in the family, and resolving difficult life problems.
The icon “The Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos” differs from others in its depiction of Christ as a shield - a symbol of protection and victory. The chronicle tells the amazing story of her help to the Novgorodians in 1170. In 1352, she helped hundreds of people recover from the plague.
They pray to her for the sending of peace in the family, for a cure for blindness and other ailments.
No one knows exactly how many images of the Blessed Virgin Mary were written. In the month book of the Moscow Patriarchate, 295 names are mentioned. And the number of revered images throughout the Orthodox world reaches seven hundred. We are familiar and recognizable to many icons of the Mother of God: Vladimir, Kazan, Iveron and others. But there are many icons that have unusual iconography, and are simply rare. We will consider some of them. Protector of the orphaned and abandoned.
The image seems to tell us that every child needs the protection and care of a loving mother, who is the main person in his life. Many children are deprived of parental love, and then their mother is replaced by the Queen of Heaven herself, who is always ready to warm and support the unfortunate child.
Cup of patience.
In 2000 in Russia, in the Church of the Martyr John the Warrior (Novokuznetsk, Siberia), the outlines of the Virgin Mary with the Child in her arms miraculously appeared on the window glass. An icon was subsequently painted from this image and called the “Cup of Patience.”
Ravensbruck.
An icon revered in the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Greek Catholic Church, depicting the Mother of God hugging the baby or youth Christ, already crucified on the Cross. It was first created using the embroidery technique by the Venerable Martyr Mother Maria in the Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1945, hence the name.
The Most Bright Star.
The Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “The Blessed Star” is a rather unusual and very rare image in the entire iconography of the Mother of God. According to Christian chronicles, this icon was created at the turn of the 17th - 18th centuries. It was at this time that she was found in one of the churches in the city of Murom. At the feet of the Mother of God are the Murom saints. In princely robes - Constantine, Mikhail, Theodore, in monastic robes - Peter, Fevronia and Juliana.
Panagia Tu Haru.
The image is located in Greece, in one of the most modest Byzantine churches, built in Lipsus in 1600 by monks from the island of Patmos. They called this image “The Mother of God of Death” because of the Most Holy Theotokos depicted on it, holding in her hands not the Child Christ, but the Cross with the Savior crucified on it. This is a unique image depicting the cry of a mother and Her martyrdom, which She had to endure, taking Her dead child into Her hands after an incredibly cruel and shameful torment. According to testimonies, in April 1943, a young girl prayed in front of this icon and received healing. In gratitude, she placed a simple bouquet of lilies in the icon. Soon the lilies withered, but remained on the icon. A year later, the lilies suddenly bloomed and fragrant again. Since then, this miracle has been repeated annually on the feast day of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Sedative.
Holy Mount Athos shines with its miraculous icons, like the sky with stars that shine in the darkness of the night. One of these luminaries leading us to salvation is the image of the Mother of God “The Calmifier”, which since ancient times has been kept in the depths of Holy Athos and hidden from the eyes of idle tourists. This image is revealed only to true admirers of the Mother of God and awaits its time of appearing to the world in recent times in order to reassure the faithful.
Gracious Sky or Sunny.
The icon has a deep mystical meaning. On it, the Mother of God is depicted standing in the sky with the Child of God in her arms inside a shining solar circle. In the pre-Synodal period, the icon was called the “Solar Mother of God.” This name was preserved among the Old Believers. The “Blessed Heaven” icon depicts the Mother of God not as she appeared in her earthly existence or miraculous signs, but represents the Most Pure One as she would appear at the end of the world. “The Gracious Heaven” is literally an icon of recent times. This is the apocalyptic Mother of God. This is her secret.
Before Christmas and after Christmas Virgo.
The miraculous icon “Before Christmas and after Christmas the Virgin” is one of the most famous shrines of the Nikolo-Peshnosh monastery. The Virgin Mary and the Infant God are shown with royal crowns on their heads. Jesus Christ holds the royal staff in his hand, and the Mother of God, as if helping Him, holds the scepter from below. Prayers before the image of the Mother of God saved the entire Moscow region from the plague of a terrible fatal disease - cholera. The icon became widespread after the rescue of the royal family. At the behest of the king, lists of the miraculous face appeared everywhere.
Cover us with the shelter of Your wing.
The Mother of God, covering with Her veil those who seek Her help, is depicted with wings. The icon is now in the State Museum of Ukrainian Fine Arts in Kyiv.
First steps.
The icon is very revered in the Holy Land. She talks about how the Divine and Human are combined: a baby taking his first steps towards his mother - and he is also God, the creator of our World. The icon is located in the monastery of St. Gerasim of Jordan, which stands three kilometers from the place on the Jordan where the Savior was baptized.
Ostrobramskaya.
On the Ostrobramskaya icon of the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary has her gaze downcast and her arms crossed. In addition to the halo, the Mother of God has a crown on her head; from Her comes a radiance with the stars in the night sky. This is one of the rarest types of iconographic depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary; it does not include the Infant Jesus. The Ostrobamskaya Icon of the Mother of God is kept in Vilnius in the chapel, which stands at the gate at the entrance to the city. The gate is called Sharp, so the icon in turn began to be called “Ostrobramskaya”.
Key of understanding.
The history of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Key of Understanding” is closely connected with the history of a very similar image of “Adding the Mind,” which came to Rus' from the Catholic West in the 16th century. The prototype for its writing was the statue of the Virgin Mary from the Italian city of Loreto, about which there is a lot of evidence. The sanctuary of the statue of the Blessed Virgin of Loreto - the carved niche where the shrine is kept - also has the shape of an arch. A locally revered icon with this name is located in the cemetery church of the city of Balakhna, Nizhny Novgorod region. Before this icon, prayers are performed at the beginning of the youths’ teaching and they pray for the gift of learning abilities.
Gerontissa.
The miraculous image of the Pantokrator monastery on Mount Athos is the icon of the Mother of God “Gerontissa”. She is also called “Abbess” or “Elderwoman”. The Mother of God is the patroness of older people; children ask before Her face for the health of their parents and healing of terrible illnesses. The icon depicts the Mother of God in full height. The Mother of God stands with her arms folded in prayer. She stands alone, without the Holy Child. Near her feet there is a jug from which oil overflows.
Tree of Jesse.
The icon represents Jesse lying on the ground, from whose chest grows a family tree with images of the ancestors of Christ. The icon depicts the genealogy of Jesus Christ through the line of the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to Old Testament prophecies, Christ was to be born into the tribe of Judah from the royal family of David, the son of Jesse.
Mary, find grace from God.
In the 1830s, this image of the Mother of God was brought by a wanderer from Kyiv and donated to the caves of the future Belogorsk Resurrection Monastery. For more than forty years, the icon was in the damp cave air of the Alexander Nevsky Church and did not decay. The original icon and its copies disappeared during the destruction of the monastery in 1918 by the Red Guards. In 2014, one of the first copies of this revered icon returned to the monastery, which is now in the Church of St. Spyridon of Trimifuntsky Belogorsk Monastery.
Conversational.
On the Besednaya Icon, the Mother of God appears sitting on a felled (sometimes growing) tree, covered with greenery or strange flowers, with a “scarlet staff” in her right hand. To the right or left of the Mother of God is St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the kneeling sexton Yurysh. Above, in the sky segment, is Savior Immanuel, blessing with both hands. This event occurred shortly after the appearance of the Tikhvin Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, in 1383, when the Most Holy Theotokos Herself commanded sexton George to say that a wooden cross, not an iron one, should be erected over the newly built church in Her honor in Tikhvin: “Because My Son and God was crucified on a wooden cross, not an iron one.” Saint Nicholas promised to give a sign to those of little faith. Upon his return, Yurysh told the people and the priesthood about the phenomenon, but they did not believe him and began to erect an iron cross. A sudden gust of wind grabbed the man erecting the iron cross and dropped it harmlessly to the ground, after which the wooden cross was erected.
How to pray in front of icons
Many people believe that each icon needs to be addressed with a special prayer. Here, for example, is a prayer to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God:
Oh, Most Holy Lady Theotokos, Queen of Heaven and earth, the highest angel and archangel and the most honest, pure Virgin Mary of all creation, good Helper to the world, and affirmation for all people, and deliverance for all needs! Look now, O All-Merciful Lady, upon Thy servants, praying to Thee with a tender soul and a contrite heart, falling with tears to Thee and worshiping Thy most pure and wholesome image, and asking for Thy help and intercession. Oh, All-Merciful and Most Merciful Pure Virgin Mary! Look, O Lady, at Thy people: for we are sinners and imams of no other help than to You and from You, Christ our God born. You are our intercessor and representative. You are protection for the offended, joy for the sorrowing, refuge for the orphans, guardian for widows, glory for virgins, joy for those who weep, visitation for the sick, healing for the weak, salvation for sinners. For this reason, O Mother of God, we resort to You, and hold Your Most Pure Image with the Eternal One in Your hand As an infant, our Lord Jesus Christ, looking at You, we offer tender singing and cry: have mercy on us, Mother of God, and fulfill our request, for all things are possible through Your intercession, for glory is due to You now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
However, the clergy of the Orthodox Church believe that the main thing is that the prayer comes from a pure heart, that the thoughts of the person praying are pure, and that he is strong in his faith. Then the Most Holy Theotokos, our intercessor before the Lord, will certainly fulfill the request.
Description of the presentation by individual slides:
Icon Iconography of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary
Iconography of Jesus Christ and the Mother of God The presentation was prepared by a teacher of the highest category, MAOU Secondary School No. 1, Neman, Efimchik O.L.
The icon accompanies a person throughout his life: from birth, baptism and death. — For warriors, it is a symbol of invincible faith. — For those suffering, it is a support in the hope of ending suffering. — For all believers, this is a real window into the Kingdom of God. And in today’s lesson we will try to look at the icon both as an amazing work of art and as a symbol of love, faith and hope.
Jesus Christ Main types of images on icons of Jesus Christ: Infant with the Mother of God Savior Emmanuel Savior Almighty Savior Not Made by Hands
Jesus Christ, the true image of the Savior, has always interested Christians. at the beginning of the 4th century, the church historian Eusebius. argued that the image of the Savior was “beyond the power of human painting” and advised returning to “inner contemplation.”
Jesus Christ in 836, in a letter to Emperor Theophilus, seemed to confirm the canonical image of God in His human form: “. benevolent. with knitted eyebrows, red-eyed, with a long nose, brown hair, bowed, humble, beautiful in body color, with a dark beard, the color of wheat in appearance, with a motherly appearance, with long fingers, good-willed, sweet in speech, extremely meek, silent, patient. ".
Jesus Christ The image of Christ as we see it now took shape in Byzantium by the beginning of the 4th century, during the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great (306-337), who patronized the new religion, supported the Christian Church and moved the capital to the city of Constantinople. This is the so-called historical type of Jesus at the age of his suffering on the cross, with an elongated face, dark brown hair, and a small beard.
Jesus Christ Russian icon painters, depicting the Son of God in His human form, tried to recreate His spiritual essence, to reflect His divine origin. Icons always retain the majestic character of the image; He exudes stern, thoughtful peace, a call to meek obedience and high faith.
Emmanuel There is another special icon with Christ, called “Savior Emmanuel”. A chest or shoulder-length image of Christ, but only when he was a youth. He still has no hair going down to his shoulders, no mustache, no beard. A completely different face. A person unfamiliar with this plot will not guess that Christ is depicted. Well, of course, all the “Immanuels,” although different from the adult Christ, are similar to each other.
Emmanuel in the form of the youth Emmanuel in accordance with the prophecy of the eldest of the four great prophets of Israel, Isaiah: “. se. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel, which is also said to be “God with us”” (Isaiah VII: 14). Lord Emmanuel Simon Ushakov, 1697
Savior Emmanuel Icon from the wooden church in Kolomenskoye (1670). Modern icon, Athos Modern icon, Athos Modern icon, Athos Modern icon, Athos
At the age of 13, according to Jewish tradition, a boy becomes a “son of the covenant.” In the presence of adults and - of course - parents, he reads a passage from the Book of the Law. From this moment on, he is considered an adult and obligated to fulfill all the commandments. Childhood—and with it ignorance—is over. We just see the boy Jesus in the Jerusalem temple at the age of 12, that is, less than a year before coming of age. The Lord also does not preach anything, because due to his age he does not have the right to do so. But He “sits in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46). He is the Word who came into the world to deliver us from speechlessness. Three diseases: unreason, lust, money-grubbing - need to be treated throughout your life. They do not go away with age, like childhood illnesses or the dreams of youth. Although each of them has its own age. And Christ, completely healthy both in soul and body, inseparable from the Father and free from all sin, came precisely to communicate to us, the sick, His health. And He goes to the Cross no earlier than having passed through all human ages preceding maturity. Archpriest Andrey Tkachev 03/04/2011
Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd. The so-called “ideal” type of image of the Savior. This is a young man with lush and long curls falling on his shoulders. In the 2nd - 3rd centuries, a symbolic image of the “Good Shepherd” emerged - a young shepherd in a short tunic with a sheep on his shoulders, embodying the Son of God, sent into the world to shepherd the flock of God.
“The Good Shepherd” Mosaic of the mausoleum of Galla Placidia (mid-5th century, Ravenna, Italy) “I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (Gospel of John) “The Good Shepherd” Mosaic of the Church of San Apolinare (mid-5th century, Ravenna, Italy)
Savior Not Made by Hands This is the oldest of the canonical images. According to legend, the first image of Christ was miraculously imprinted on the plate (ubrus) brought to his face. This cloth had miraculous powers - it healed the king of the city of Edessa, Abgar, from leprosy. Thus, the creator of the first icon was Christ himself. The original Holy Plath was kept in Edessa until 944, when it was transferred to Constantinople.
The Savior Not Made by Hands The icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands can be regular square or almost square in shape. The background is the circuit board. On the board is the face of Christ without a neck, without shoulders, only one face with strands of hair, more or less symmetrically diverging to the right and left. The eyes sometimes look directly at the viewer, sometimes they are raised, sometimes they are slanted in one direction or another.
The Savior Not Made by Hands In general, since there are no unnecessary details on the icon, but only the face on the entire board, and the main thing on any face is, of course, the eyes, then “The Savior Not Made by Hands” is perhaps the most expressive, most laconic iconographic subject. No wonder our ancestors painted it on their battle banners.
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In the workshops of the Holy Trinity Brotherhood many church crafts and folk arts are carried out. In the surprisingly short period of existence of the workshops, wood carving has grown into a truly folk craft. Today, the Holy Trinity Brotherhood produces unique carved iconostases, icon cases, lecterns, altars, thrones for the High Place, external crosses, lithium and funeral tables, pulpits and other church interior items. Many churches and monasteries sell icon cases made by Shchigrov craftsmen.
The small provincial town of Shchigry, known only for the fact that the writer Ivan Turgenev settled his “Hamlet of Shchigry District” here, suddenly became... an all-Russian center for the production of church decoration. Here they create genuine masterpieces that adorn the best churches in Russia and abroad. Where did such a miracle come from?
Home / Canvases / Icons of the Savior. Icons of the Lord Jesus Christ
strict order for the arrangement of icons in the house. But there are still certain traditions and rules, which we will now briefly tell you about.
Icon “Holy Family”, in what troubles it helps
This image is intended to preserve the family hearth and remind of the inviolability of marriage bonds. Helps deal with worldly problems and troubles:
- Believers turn to this image to save their family. Protects against quarrels between spouses, maintains peace and understanding in the family.
- They ask the image to be protected from adultery.
- He helps restore honor to a person who has been unfairly slandered.
- They pray to the image for both sinners and prisoners to help them find a godly path in life.
- The shrine helps to repay even a bad debt.
- Helps with ordinary human needs.
- Calms the unfair attitude of others.
But not only married couples turn to this image, people also come to him with requests for the gift of a wife or husband with whom they can spend the rest of their lives in love and understanding.
The best article for you, go to: What does the “Three Joys” icon help with?
And here is the prayer itself, with which it is customary to address the image:
“Oh, Most Holy Virgin, Mother of the Most Blessed Son, and the all-merciful betrothed Joseph, intercessors and intercessors of all Christians! Hear our prayers, beg your Son and our God Jesus Christ to grant to everyone according to his needs: to sinners he will give effective admonition, correction and salvation, to those in troubles and sorrows - help and consolation, to the embittered - softening of hearts, to the faint-hearted - patience and hope, those living in joy and prosperity - constant gratitude to the Lord, the sick - healing. Oh, holy Parents of the divine Son, be merciful to all who honor you, and provide us all with a powerful cover of your intercession from enemies visible and invisible. Confirm those in marriage in love, fidelity and unanimity, educate children, grant chastity to youth and open their minds to the perception of teaching. Protect your relatives from domestic quarrels and reward them with peace. Give us all love, harmony and understanding, piety and long days of life in good health. We, having found in you strong representatives and intercessors, will give thanks and together with you glorify God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Forever and ever! Amen!"
Location rules
A separate place is allocated for holy images, away from other exhibits of everyday life and interior design (posters, figurines, books, etc.). Such a place has many names - red (holy) corner, icon case, shrine, etc.
It is recommended to place icons in icon cases, or in other words, cabinets, where they will be less susceptible to erosion and the influence of external factors.
As you know, they pray facing east. Therefore, icons are traditionally placed on the eastern side. But this is not always possible, because... The layout of the living space does not allow. In this case, there is nothing wrong if you place them where it is convenient for you.
Icon order
When arranging icons, it is necessary to adhere to a hierarchical order. As mentioned earlier, the images of the Virgin Mary and Jesus are given the main place. The image of Christ is placed on the right, the Virgin Mary on the left (this could be your wedding set). These two images must be placed either above the other icons or at the same level.
Personalized icons and images of other holy saints can be placed next to the main icons (but not higher). And it would be useful to complete the home shrine with an Orthodox cross.
Icons in different rooms
The Church says that it is possible and necessary to distribute icons in different rooms.
In the kitchen
It would be appropriate to place images of the Savior. You can hang the “Last Supper” icon near the dining table.
In the nursery
They hang up the image of a Guardian Angel, in most cases, or the Heavenly Protector of the baby, i.e. personalized icon.
At the entrance to the home
It is allowed to place a cross or an icon depicting the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos.
In the bedroom
You can also hang icons, although there is an opinion that this should not be done. But this is not so, because marital intimacy is not sinful. In the bedroom, icons should be placed at the head of the bed.
And if you have any difficulties with choosing icons or additional questions, then you can always write to us through the feedback form and we will be happy to help you.
Iconographically, the Kazan Icon is usually classified as an abbreviated shoulder-length (that is, it is a shoulder-length image) version of Hodegetria, which translated from Greek means “Guide”. This name has a certain deep meaning. The Most Holy Theotokos is our Guide to Christ. On the one hand, this is expressed in the fact that She is the Mother of the Lord according to the flesh, thereby bringing down the grace of God on us, interceding for us before Christ. On the other hand, being human by nature, the Mother of God leads each of us to Christ.
- The figure of the Mother of God is presented frontally, with a slight tilt of the head towards the Infant. This is a symbol of mercy, love, maternal tenderness and at the same time admiration for the Savior of the human race.
- On one hand of the Virgin Mary sits the Infant Jesus Christ.
- The Baby Jesus Christ with his right hand blesses the Mother of God, and in Her person all Christians. The second hand of the Infant God is hidden by clothing.
- The views of the Mother of God and the Child of God are directed directly at the person praying. This especially emphasizes a person’s spiritual dialogue with the Lord and His Most Pure Mother. The glances turned by the Mother of God and Christ on the person praying express the fullness of communication between two personalities - God and His creation, man.
- The theological meaning of the icon lies in the intercession of the Most Pure Mother of God for us before Her Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. After all, Christ is the Way, Life and Truth for every Christian. Being the Mother of the Lord and at the same time human by nature, the Mother of God has the opportunity to most strongly pray to Her Son for each of us. This meaning is most visible in icons such as “Hodegetria”, where the Mother of God points her hand to Christ. The Kazan image is shoulder-length, so we don’t see the hand instructions. However, despite this, the meaning remains the same, only in the Kazan image it is hidden from a superficial glance.
The meaning of what the Holy Family icon helps with
First we need to find out why they don’t want to canonize this image. This decision is associated both with the technique of making the image and with the composition itself. So is it an icon or a painting?
- In the image we see Joseph the Betrothed hugging the Most Pure Mother of God, which, according to the clergy, symbolizes marital relations. And this is unacceptable in Orthodoxy.
- At the time of the birth of Jesus Christ, Joseph was a hundred-year-old man, which no longer corresponds to the image.
- The Gospel indicates that the relationship between Joseph the Betrothed and the Virgin Mary is more similar to patronage than to a marriage union. According to church legend, Joseph and Mary were betrothed, not married.
The best article for you, go to: Icon of St. Apostle Mark
Understanding the meaning of the image for believers, as well as how the Holy Family icon helps, it should be noted that the “picture” is considered the patroness of marriage and family. The image has its own rules, traditions and rituals. There are also holidays when only this image should be presented:
- Newlyweds - for a happy marriage;
- On a wedding anniversary - to preserve the integrity of the family;
- For the birth of a child - to ward off all misfortunes in the family.
Despite the fact that the Orthodox Church has its own icon, the “Three Joys,” the image of the “Holy Family” has taken root and gained popularity in Russia.
Rising from the grave, Christ appeared first of all to the Mother of God
“So, from the story of St. We see from the Evangelists about the Risen Lord that the first to receive the news of the Resurrection of Christ from the Angels were the myrrh-bearing women, and that one of them, Mary Magdalene, was the first appearance of the Risen One; At the same time, the Gospel is completely silent about the Mother of God. This silence raises an involuntary question: could it be that the Lord Jesus Christ, who during his death throes on the cross entrusted His Mother to the care of his beloved disciple (John 19:26-27) and thereby fulfilled the duty of filial love and respect for Her, could forget about Her on His day fame?
The Holy Church resolves this question of pious bewilderment, containing in its tradition the belief that the Mother of God, before the myrrh-bearing women, was informed by an Angel about the resurrection of the Lord
and - that
Christ, having risen from the tomb, appeared to her before everyone else
. We find the expression of this belief of the Church in the Easter liturgical hymns. Everyone knows the chorus of the 9th song of the Paschal Canon: “An angel crying with the Most Grace: Pure Virgin, rejoice! And again the river: Rejoice! Your Son is risen three days from the grave, and raised up the dead; people, have fun." This belief of the Church is expressed even more clearly in the Easter Canon of the Theotokos: for example, let us cite Art. 2. (“and now”) of the 1st canto: “Having seen the resurrected Thy Son and God, rejoice with the apostles, pure God-gracious one, and rejoice first of all, for thou hast received the joys of wine, O Mother of God, all-immaculate.” In the Temple of the Resurrection in Jerusalem, not far from the Holy Sepulcher, they indicate the place of the appearance of the Savior to His Mother; Currently, there is a Catholic chapel of the appearance of Christ to the Mother of God here. - How can we explain that the Evangelists say nothing about the angelic gospel of the Mother of God about the risen Lord, or about the appearance of the Son to Her? St. John the Theologian, preaching about the appearances of the Lord after the resurrection, introduces two remarks into his narrative that show that St. The evangelists from the earthly life of Jesus Christ did not convey everything, due to the impossibility of conveying everything (John 21:25), but only that which most served to strengthen faith in Him as the Son of God (John 20:30-31). On the other hand, in the Gospels, after describing the circumstances relating to the Nativity of Christ, very rarely and very little is said about the Mother of God (Luke 11, 43-51; John 2, 2-5; Matt. 12, 47; John. 19:25-27), and of course this is not because there was nothing to report about Her, but because, imbued to the highest degree with the spirit of humility (Luke 1:48), She lived a concentrated life, hidden from the eyes of men (Luke 2:19), and Her violation could not have been pleasant. That's why St. The evangelists, observing the wishes of the Mother of God, did not speak in detail about Her, for She loved silence most of all.”(1)
Moreover, the Mother of God touched the risen Christ, which the Lord did not allow Mary Magdoline to do (John 20:17): “Rejoice, thou art glad, for thou hast received joy from the Archangel; Rejoice, comforted one, for Thy hand touched the risen Christ.” Ikos 10 From the Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos in front of the icon “The Queen of All.”
(1) - Saint Demetrius of Rostov “Lives of the Saints” Published by the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra 1999. p.492 April. Appearances of Our Lord Jesus Christ after His Resurrection
Even during the earthly life of Christ the Savior, His image appeared, called the “Savior Not Made by Hands.” One day, the ruler of the city of Edessa, Abgar V Ukkama, who was suffering from illness, heard about the miraculous healings that Christ performed, and sent his servant to Him. Then the Lord washed his face and wiped it with a towel, and a print remained on the cloth. This image, sent to the king of Edessa, became the first icon of the Church, and also served as the beginning of the iconographic type.
Most icons can be classified into one type or another that have a common pattern, which is called the iconographic type. Towel in Church Slavonic is ubrus, which is why the icon is also called “Savior on ubrus.”
History says that the Miraculous Image, installed in a stone niche in the city wall of Edessa, over time, when a pagan idolater became the ruler, turned out to be covered with tiles or bricks. And another option for depicting the Savior Not Made by Hands was the Savior on tiles (bricks). In the middle of the 10th century, the image was transferred to Constantinople, the day of its glorification is August 16.
The Troparion to the Image Not Made by Hands also sounds on the feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy (the first Sunday of Great Lent), which is associated with the restoration of icon veneration: “We venerate Your Most Pure Image, O Good One, asking forgiveness of our sins, O Christ God: for by your will you have deigned to ascend in flesh to the Cross, that you may deliver You created it from the work of the enemy. Thus we cry out to You in gratitude: You have filled all joy, O our Savior, who came to save the world.”
Other well-known iconographic types of Lord's icons include:
“Savior Emmanuel”, where Christ is depicted as a youth. The word "Emmanuel" means "God with us" and is associated with an ancient prophecy that was fulfilled when God came to us at Christmas.
Lord Emmanuel. Icon
“Savior Almighty” (in Greek Pantocrator), that is, the One who contains everything in His power and will. In this ancient image, the Lord holds the Gospel in his left hand and blesses with his right. The Gospel can be opened, and then on its pages we see the words of our Teacher: I am the light of the world, I give you a new commandment, that you love one another
or His other teachings.
Savior Almighty. Icon
The fingers of the blessing hand are folded so that they form a monogram of the name Jesus Christ in Church Slavonic - ІС ХС. A straight index finger denotes the letter I, a half-bent one - C, a crossed ring and thumb - X, a half-bent little finger - C. The priest and bishop also bless us with the name of the Lord. When a blessing sounds at a service, we respond to it with a bow, during personal communication we fold our palms, as if receiving God’s gift, and kiss the hand of the clergyman, the servant of God.
In the icon, the Lord is depicted dressed in a royal purple tunic and a blue cloak - himation. As a rule, the background of the icon is golden (or light), because God dwells in impregnable light. There is always an inscription on the icon indicating who it depicts. On the icon of the Savior there are four letters: ІС ХС, and in the baptized halo surrounding the head, three Greek letters ο ων - OH (in the Greek tradition located from top to bottom, in Russian - from left to right), denoting the sacred name of Jehovah, which God called Himself in the Old Testament. Sometimes the figure of Christ is surrounded by a mandorla - a multi-colored halo, denoting the radiance of His holiness.
Christ in a mandorla carried by angels
The icon “Savior on the Throne” depicts the Lord sitting on the Throne, and the image “Savior in Powers” shows the Lord surrounded by images of Angelic Powers inscribed in a rhombus and an oval (fiery radiance). This icon is based on the visions of the prophet Ezekiel and the apostle John the Theologian, as well as on the words of the Lord about His Second Coming: When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy Angels with him, then He will sit
on the throne of His glory;
and all nations will be gathered before Him .
On the icon “Christ the Great Bishop” the Lord is depicted in the robes of a bishop, because He is the High Priest of the Church. And on the icon “Savior of the King of Kings” the Lord in royal vestments holds in his hands the attributes of royal power - a scepter and an orb.
Christ the Great Bishop. Icon
The Lord came into the world in humiliation, hiding the Divine greatness and diminishing Himself. But throughout His earthly life He remained the King of the universe and will appear as such at the Second Coming.
The icon “Do not weep for Me, Mother” depicts the Lord falling asleep in the sleep of death in anticipation of the Resurrection. The name of the image was given by the verses of the Venerable Cosmas of Maium, sounding on Holy Saturday: “Do not weep for Me, Mother, seeing in the Tomb... for I will rise and be glorified, and exalt with glory unceasingly, like God, I believe and magnify You with love.”
Don't cry for me, Mati. Icon
Some icons, which are not independent iconographic types, have amazing and memorable names: “Savior Wet Brad” or “Savior Ardent Eye”.
The icon “Sophia the Wisdom of God” symbolically reveals Christ in the form of an Angel, because Scripture calls Him the Angel (Messenger) of the Great Council. The Great Council preceded the creation of man. The omniscient God knew everything that would happen, knew that the man He created would fall under the power of sin, knew (when we talk about God being above time, the forms of past and future tense are rather conventional) that in order to save man, He Himself would have to come to earth . In a sinful world, this will lead to death on the Cross. And the Eternal Council determines the Incarnation and salvation even before the creation of the world, and Christ proclaims and reveals it.
Sophia the Wisdom of God. Icon
From the book of Archpriest Mikhail Braverman
“Orthodox worship” .
It is impossible to imagine the spiritual life of a Christian without icons. He prays before them in churches and at home, trying to replenish his red corner with new holy images. They not only inspire a person, but also allow him to tune in to a conversation with the Almighty, to feel confident that his appeal has been heard, and that what he asks will be fulfilled according to His love and mercy. Since ancient times, icons have been a unique form of theology, which developed rapidly and not by chance, because it is the only one that is understandable to all Christians without exception, regardless of what language and culture is native to them. Description of all icons depicting the Lord God - Jesus Christ.
Orthodox iconographic art is rich in various variations of the image of Jesus Christ. The most common iconographic types are Pantocrator and Savior Not Made by Hands. There are many known miraculous faces, some of them are located in monasteries, cathedrals, churches in Russia, Ukraine, and Greece.
II. The first icons of the Savior and the Mother of God
Church Tradition claims that the first icon of the Savior appeared during His earthly life. This is the image that we know as the Savior Not Made by Hands (acheiropoietos). The history of the origin of the first image of Christ is conveyed to us, first of all, by the texts of the service to the Savior Not Made by Hands on August 16: “Having depicted the image of Your most pure face, You sent to the faithful Abgar, who desired to see You, invisible Cherubim according to your Divinity...”
(Stichera 8 voices at Vespers)22.
Or the stichera at Matins (4 voices): “... sending God’s inscribed letters to Abgar, asking for this salvation and health, from the likeness of Your Divine image.”
Mentions of the history of Avgar are found quite often, especially in services performed in churches dedicated in honor of the Image Not Made by Hands. But liturgical texts do not convey details about the origin of the image: they speak only about the fact itself23.
As for the ancient authors, they do not mention it until the fifth century. This is apparently explained by the fact that the image remained walled up, its location was not known, and it was forgotten. The oldest mention of this image known to us is in the monument called “The Teachings of Addai.” Addai was the bishop of Edessa (541) and in his work (if only the “Teaching ..." was really written by him) he obviously used some local tradition or written monuments unknown to us. The oldest writer known to us, whose authorship is recognized as indisputable, who speaks of the Image Not Made by Hands, sent by Christ to King Abgar, is Evagrius (VI century). In his “Ecclesiastical History”24 he calls this image a “God-created icon.”
As for the board itself with the image of the face of Christ imprinted on it, it was kept for a long time in Edessa as the most precious treasure of the city. His veneration was widespread throughout the East, and in the eighth century Christians celebrated the Image Not Made by Hands in many places, following the example of Edessa25.
During the times of iconoclasm the Rev. refers to the Image Not Made by Hands. John of Damascus, and in 787 the Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council mention him several times. The reader of the Constantinople Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, named Leo, who was present at this Council, said that during his stay in Edessa he worshiped this image26. In 944, the Byzantine emperors, Constantine Porphyrogenitus and Roman I, bought the Image Not Made by Hands from Edessa. It was solemnly transferred to Constantinople and placed in the temple of Our Lady, called Pharos, and Emperor Constantine himself composed a sermon in honor of the Image, in which he glorified it as the palladium of the Byzantine Empire. Probably, the service of the holiday celebrated on August 16, the day when the transfer of the Image Not Made by Hands to Constantinople is remembered, dates back to this same time, at least for the most part. After the defeat of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204, traces of the icon were lost27.
In France, there is a miraculous icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, which is currently kept in the sacristy of the cathedral in the city of Laon. This icon is considered to be of Balkan, perhaps Serbian, origin and dates back to the 12th century. In 1249, this icon was sent to France from Rome by Jacob Panteleimon Tarcinius, the future Pope Urban IV, to his sister, the abbess of a Cistercian monastery28.
Day of celebration of the Savior Not Made by Hands Fr. However, the service of this day is far from being limited to the memory of the transfer of the Image from one place to another. The main thing in it is the dogmatic justification of the Image and its content.
The meaning of the expression “image not made by hands” should be understood in the light of the Gospel of Mark, ch. 14, art. 58: This image is, first of all, Christ Himself, the incarnate Word, revealed “in the temple of His Body”
(John 2:21). From the time of His appearance, the Mosaic prohibition of the image (see Exodus 30:4) loses its meaning, and the icons of Christ become irrefutable evidence of the incarnation of God29. Here is not an image of God made according to human conjecture, but the authentic face of the Son of God who became Man, which the Tradition of the Church elevates to direct contact with His living face. On the day of the Savior Not Made by Hands, the Church venerates the first icon of God who became Man.
As we have seen, the stichera cited above, as well as other texts of the service, emphasize the historical origin of this image. In the eyes of the Church, it is especially important to emphasize that the Person of Jesus Christ and His image are not some personification of high moral qualities or a wonderful idea, that the Savior is not some kind of ideal, sublime and abstract, but a specific historical Person who lived in a certain place and at a certain time. “By raising to the prototype of the Savior the image of Adam, which crawled onto the earth from living human beings, we see and touch and describe the Indescribable being,”
- says the service of the holiday (2nd stichera of the first tone at Small Vespers).
Of particular importance in terms of our analysis are the Old Testament and New Testament readings of the service. As is known, the totality of the read texts of the Holy Scripture reveals the meaning of the celebrated event: its Old Testament transformations are shown in the proverbs, and their fulfillment is revealed in the New Testament readings, the doctrinal content of the holiday and its eschatological significance are indicated. And the selection of these readings reveals exactly what we already know from the works of St. John of Damascus, that is, how the Church understands the Old Testament prohibition, its meaning, its purpose, as well as the meaning and purpose of the New Testament image.
The first two proverbs are taken from Deuteronomy (the first is chapter 4, v. 1, 6–7 and 9–15; the second is ch. 5, vv. 1–7, 9–10, 23–26 and 29; ch. 6 , vv. 1–5, 13 and 18), the third is from the 1st Book of Kings, ch. 8, art. 22–23 and 27–30.30
The first two proverbs speak of God's revelation of the law to Israel on Mount Horeb, on the way of the chosen people to the Promised Land. The meaning of these proverbs boils down to the fact that in order to enter this Promised Land and to possess it, it is absolutely necessary to observe the given law and worship the one true God, uncompromising worship, without any possibility of admixture with the cult of other “gods.” At the same time, a reminder is given, already known to us, about the impossibility of depicting God, who remains invisible: “You have heard the voice of His words, and you have not seen the image except the voice” and “Equip your souls with great care, for you have not seen any likeness...”. In other words, the entire law and, in particular, the prohibition of worshiping other “gods” and the prohibition of the image are an indispensable condition for the fulfillment of the promise given to the chosen people and their installation in the Promised Land. This land has a symbolic meaning: it is the image of the Church, the image of the Kingdom of God.
The third proverb is also a transformation of the New Testament Revelation. This is Solomon’s prayer at the consecration of the temple he built: “For if God truly dwells with man on earth, if heaven and heaven do not dominate You, since this temple, which I created for Your Name...”. This speaks of the future coming of God to earth, of His participation in the course of temporary human history and of His presence, Who “does not suffice even the heavens of heaven,” in the earthly temple built by man.
The meaning of these proverbs is revealed in the apostolic reading of the holiday. This is the Epistle to the Colossians, ch. 1, Art. 12–17: “Giving thanks to God and the Father, who has called you to partake of the inheritance of the saints in the light: Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and brought us into the kingdom of the Son of Thy love: for Him are the Imams deliverance through His blood and the remission of sins: Who is the Image of the invisible God, The firstborn of all creation..." This text, as we see, points to the fulfillment of prophecies: “The inheritance of the saints,” the “Kingdom of the beloved Son” is the Church, the image of which was the Promised Land. Thus, the entire course of events of the Old Testament, the entire law that protected the purity of the chosen people, its entire sacred history is revealed as a preparatory process for the appearance on earth of the Body of Christ, the New Testament Church. And in this preparatory process, the Old Testament prohibition of the image leads to the appearance of the One who was invisible, to the “image of the invisible God,” revealed by the God-man Jesus Christ. “Moses was granted the vision of the glory of God of old, darkly of Thy rear ones, asking: but the new Israel, now in the face of Thy Redeemer, sees clearly” (2nd troparion of the 4th song of the canon).
The Gospel read on the day of the Savior Not Made by Hands, at Matins and at the Liturgy, is one and the same. This is the Gospel of Luke, ch. 9, art. 51–56 and ch. 10, Art. 22–24. “And it came to pass when the days of His ascension were ended, that He established His face and went to Jerusalem. And the messengers sent before Him: and they went out into all the Samaritans, that they might prepare for Him: and they did not receive Him, for His face was coming to Jerusalem. When James and John saw His disciple, they said: Lord, do you want, say, that fire will come down from heaven and consume them, just as you did Elijah?” But Jesus rebuked them: “You do not know what spirit you are: for the Son of Man came not to destroy the souls of men, but to save. And I went completely into another world. And turning to the disciple, he said: all things were handed over to Me from My Father: and no one knows who the Son is, except the Father: and who the Father is, only the Son, and whoever the Son wills is revealed. And turning to the disciple, he said in one word: Blessed are the eyes that see even as you see, for I say to you, for many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see: and to hear what you heard, and did not hear.”
As we see, with regard to the image, both the Apostle and the Gospel text are in their meaning opposed to the first two proverbs: there - “you have not seen the image of God”, here - “blessed are the eyes who see even as you see” - you see “the image of the invisible God” - Christ. Therefore, the last words of the Gospel reading are addressed only to the disciples. After all, the man Jesus was seen not only by the disciples, but also by everyone around Him; but only the disciples saw in the servant's form the Son of Man - the Son of God, "the radiance of the glory of the Father." These words, as we have seen, Rev. John of Damascus understands this as a resolution of the Old Testament prohibition. The visible side of this resolution for us is the celebrated image: “Before was seen to be a Man; now appearing in an image not made with hands..."
(2nd Troparion of the 1st Song of the Canon).
The first part of the Gospel reading (Luke 9:51–56) emphasizes what distinguishes the Apostles from the world around them, that is, what distinguishes the Church from it:
they are of a different spirit, and their motives and methods of action are not those of the world.
(Remember that this difference also determines the difference in the means that the Church uses, including its art.) If proverbs reveal the purpose of the prohibition, then in the Gospel reading, on the contrary, the purpose of the image is revealed. Let us note that the difference in spirit between the Apostles and the world is revealed by the Savior just before His entry into Jerusalem. And so, starting with the proverbs, through the New Testament readings, we see, as it were, the growth of Revelation in symbolic images: the Old Testament is a pre-preparatory work for the New Testament; The Promised Land, to which Israel goes, reveals the image of the New Testament Church. The New Testament is the fulfillment of these provisions and types. But the New Testament is not the final goal, but only the next stage on a person’s path to the Kingdom of God. The image of this Kingdom, the image of the “highly Jerusalem” is earthly Jerusalem, and the entry of the Savior into it is an image of the entrance into the Kingdom of God. In the Old Testament, the confession of the true God and the absence of His image was an indispensable condition for Israel’s entry into the promised land: in the New Testament, the confession of Christ and His image, the confession of faith in this way, plays the same role: this is a necessary condition for entry into the Church, into the Kingdom of God , to that heavenly Jerusalem where the Church leads us. That is why this Gospel is read on the day of the Savior Not Made by Hands. If the Apostles are led to Jerusalem by the Savior Himself, then we are led to the heavenly Jerusalem by His image: “We glorify Thee, O Lover of mankind, looking upon the image of Thy sight: hereby the entrance into Eden is not forbidden, O Savior, grant to Thy servant”
(stichera on the verse, Glory, tone 6 th).
Thus, by the very choice of texts of Holy Scripture and their comparison, the Church reveals to us a grandiose picture, showing us the slow and laborious procession of the fallen world towards its promised redemption.
So, the Church affirms the original existence of the true image of Christ. In addition to the Image Not Made by Hands, there were, of course, images of Him made by people who saw and knew Him, for which we also have historical evidence. This evidence is all the more valuable because it comes from Eusebius of Caesarea, the only ancient author who can be considered iconoclastic. He not only asserts the existence of Christian images: “He even thinks that in his time authentic portraits of Christ and the Apostles still exist, he claims that he himself saw them”31. Indeed, having described the famous statue of Christ erected in the city of Paneas by the bleeding wife, known to us from the Gospel (see Matt. 9:20-23; Mark 5:24-34; Luke 8:43-48), Eusebius continues: “ They said that this statue reproduces the likeness of Jesus; it has survived to this day, and we saw it when we were in this city. It should not be surprising that the pagans thus preserve the memory of the benefits they received from the Savior. We saw images of the Apostles Peter and Paul and Christ Himself, which have been preserved in color to this day. This was natural, since the ancients had the custom of honoring them in this way, without ulterior motives, as saviors, according to their pagan custom.”32 Eusebius, we repeat, cannot be suspected of exaggeration, since the theological movement to which he belonged was far from approving of the facts that he describes.
If the icon of Christ - the basis of Christian image-making - conveys the features of God who became Man, then in the icon of the Mother of God we have the image of the first man who realized the goal of the incarnation - the deification of man. The Orthodox Church affirms the blood connection of the Mother of God with fallen humanity, bearing the consequences of original sin; she does not distinguish Her from the offspring of Adam. But at the same time, Her exceptional dignity as the Mother of God, Her personal perfection, the highest degree of holiness She achieved explain Her exceptional veneration. Of the entire human race, She was the first to achieve the goal that is set for all people - the complete transformation of all human nature. She is the only one of all created beings who has already crossed the line that separates time from eternity, and is already now in that Kingdom, the coming of which the Church awaits after the Second Coming of Christ. “She who has inconceivably contained God,” “truly the Mother of God,” so solemnly proclaimed the Fourth Ecumenical Council (Ephesus, 431). She, together with Christ, rules the destinies of the world.
Therefore, Her icons occupy a particularly significant place for us: in church and worship their place is alongside the icons of the Savior. Icons of the Mother of God differ from icons of other saints and icons of Angels both in the variety of iconographic types, as well as in their number and the intensity of their veneration33.
Church Tradition attributes the first icons of the Mother of God to the holy evangelist Luke, who after Pentecost painted three of them: one of them belonged to the type that we call “Tenderness,” which depicts the mutual caressing of the Mother of God and the Child. Natural human feeling, maternal love and tenderness are emphasized here. This is the image of a Mother deeply grieving over the upcoming suffering of her Son and experiencing their inevitability in silence. Another image belongs to the type called “Hodegetria” - Guide. Both the Mother of God Herself and the Child are addressed directly to the viewer here. This is a strict and majestic image, where the Divinity of the Youth Christ is especially emphasized. The third icon apparently depicted the Mother of God without the Child. The information about her is extremely confusing. Most likely, this icon resembled our images of the Mother of God in Deisis, that is, addressed to Christ in prayer.
Currently in the Russian Church there are about ten icons attributed to the Evangelist Luke; in addition, there are twenty-one of them on Mount Athos and in the West, eight of them in Rome. Of course, all these icons are attributed to the evangelist not in the sense that they were painted by his hand; not a single one of the icons he himself painted has reached us34. The authorship of the holy evangelist Luke here must be understood in the sense that these icons are copies (or rather, lists of lists) from icons once painted by the evangelist. The Apostolic Tradition should be understood here in the same way as in relation to the Apostolic Rules or the Apostolic Liturgy. They go back to the Apostles not because the Apostles themselves wrote them, but because they have an apostolic character and are invested with apostolic authority. The same is the case with the icons of the Mother of God painted by the Evangelist Luke.
The tradition that Evangelist Luke was the first to paint icons of the Mother of God is conveyed to us, among other things, by the texts of the service on the days of the celebration of some icons of the Mother of God, for example the Vladimir Icon (May 21, June 23 and August 26), which belongs to the type of Tenderness. At Vespers, in the sticheron of the lithium of the sixth tone, the following is said: “First of all, the gospel mysteries were written on Your icon by the evangelist, and brought to You, the Queen, so that you may internalize it and do a mighty job of saving those who honor You, and you may rejoice, for You are the merciful One, the Creator of our salvation. , as the mouth and voice of the icon, as God was ever conceived in the womb, you sang a song: behold, from now on all the generations will please Me. And to that sight you spoke with authority: with this image is My grace and strength. And we truly believe that you declared this, O Lady, thus you are with us...”
At Matins, in the first song of the canon, we hear:
“Having written Your all-honorable image, the divine Luke, the inspired writer of Christ’s Gospel, depicted the Creator of all in Your hands.”
If the second of these texts only points to the very fact of painting the icon of the Mother of God by Saint Luke, then the first text, in addition, asserts that the Mother of God Herself not only approved Her icon, but also imparted Her grace and power to it. The Church uses this text in the service of several icons of the Mother of God of different types, but which all go back to the prototypes written by the Evangelist Luke. By this, the Church emphasizes the continuity of grace and power inherent in all copies of these icons, as reproducing (with their characteristic symbols) the authentic features of the Mother of God, captured by the Evangelist Luke.
As for historical evidence, the oldest of them that has come down to us dates back to the 6th century. It is attributed to the Byzantine historian Theodore the Reader, who lived in the first half of the sixth century († c. 530) and was a reader in the Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Theodore speaks of the sending from Jerusalem to Constantinople in 450 of the icon of the Mother of God, painted by the holy evangelist Luke. The icon was sent by Empress Eudokia, wife of Emperor Theodosius II, to her sister Saint Pulcheria35. In the 8th century, Saint Andrew of Crete and Saint Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople (715–730) also speak of the icon of Our Lady Hodegetria, attributed to the Evangelist Luke, but located in Rome. Saint Herman adds that this icon was painted during the life of the Mother of God and sent to Rome to Theophilus, the same “sovereign Theophilus” mentioned in the introduction to the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Another legend says that the icon, painted by the evangelist and blessed by the Mother of God, was sent to the same Theophilus, but not to Rome, but to Antioch.
One way or another, in the 4th century, when Christianity became the state religion and there was no longer any need to fear the desecration of shrines, the icon, which once belonged to Theophilus and was kept in a private house in Rome, became more and more famous. From a private home, the icon (or its reproduction) is transferred to the temple, and in 590, Pope St. Gregory the Great (590–604), in a solemn procession of the cross with the singing of prayers, transfers the revered icon of the Mother of God, “which is considered to have been painted by St. Luke” (quam dicunt a S. Lucas factam),
to St. Peter's Basilica.
In addition to the icons painted by the Evangelist Luke, Tradition also speaks of the miraculous, revealed image of the Mother of God. Its origin is briefly outlined in the service to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (July 8 and October 22): “The Divine Word of the Apostles, the Gospel of Christ, the great voice of the evangelist of the universe, having created the Divine Church in Your most holy name, Mother of God, and to You, Lady, they come, begging You to come consecrated for that matter. But you, O Bogomati, said: go in peace, and I am there with you. They then find on the wall of Your church, O Lady, an image similar to..."
(sedalen of the 3rd song of the canon). Tradition says that these Apostles were Peter and John and that the temple was built by them in Lydda. (Celebration of the Lydda Icon of Our Lady - March 12)36. In the 8th century, Saint Germanus, the future Patriarch of Constantinople, passing through Lydda, ordered a copy of this icon to be made, which he later, during the iconoclasm, sent to Rome. After the victory over iconoclasm, this image returned to Constantinople. From this time on, the image of the Lydda Mother of God is also called Roman (celebrated on June 26).
What images can be found, their distinctive qualities
Less common faces are: King of Glory, King by King, Christ of Halki, Agney of God, All-Seeing Eye, Good Shepherd, Only Begotten of the Son and Word of God, Unsleeping Eye.
Was it possible to capture the correct and real image of Jesus Christ in order to depict Him and honor this image as sacred? The discrepancies in the icons indicate that such a real image of Christ did not exist and does not exist.
The disciples of Christ were Jews and it would never have occurred to them to make an image of Jesus and worship before him. There is not a single hint of this in any Gospel or in any letter of the Apostles. Well, if there was no image of Him during the life of Jesus, then people who lived several generations later could not depict Him correctly.
God was pleased to hide the bodily appearance of Christ from the eyes of people, so that they would not make idols from His images and would not worship them. However, people still violated this instruction of the Bible and simply made different, completely dissimilar images of Christ and worship them, believing that the grace of God is given through them.
Look at the different images and judge for yourself! Pay attention to different eyebrows (round, straight), different lips, different head shapes, different cuts and even eye colors. Where is the correct image of Christ? He's gone! But artists have invented and are inventing His image on their own, as they say, whoever is good at what.
Icon of the Savior to order - the origin of icon painting
Icons of Christ the Savior occupy the main place in the Orthodox church and in the home of every believer. The image of the Lord Jesus Christ is the most important in icon painting; in fact, icon painting itself began with the need to capture the image of Christ.
Today, when anyone who feels such a spiritual need can buy an icon of the Savior, few people think about what difficulties the first icon painters faced. Jesus Christ is perfect God and perfect Man—the God-man. This is very difficult to convey through the means of art, therefore the icon of the Savior Jesus Christ is in no way a portrait of Christ in our usual modern understanding of a portrait. The icon of Christ the Savior is his image in which the mystery is preserved: “Christ, being depicted, remains incomprehensible” (St. Theodore the Studite).
Icon of the Savior: evolution and canonization of the image
Early Christians depicted Christ as a lamb, a fish, a good shepherd with a sheep on his shoulders, etc. At the Council of Trulla in 682, these symbolic and allegorical images were prohibited, and the Church accepted as the canonical image for icons of Christ the Savior the historical type of Christ - the human image in which the Son of God revealed Himself on earth. So, around the 4th century, a special canon for the image of the God-Man was developed in icon painting, which we are accustomed to seeing on icons of the Savior Jesus Christ.
Such a different Christ. Rare and unusual icons of the Savior
“The honor given to the image goes back to the prototype, and the one who worships the icon worships the hypostasis of the person depicted on it,” wrote St. John of Damascus, revealing the essence of the Christian theology of the icon.
It is symbolic that the first Christian icon was precisely the image of our Lord Jesus Christ and appeared during His earthly life - this is the plate (“Mandylion”), known to us as the “Savior Not Made by Hands,” which the Savior sent as a gift to the king of Edessa, Abgar V Ukkam.
The church historian Eusebius of Caesarea reports these events as follows: “... King Abgar, who gloriously ruled the nations on the other side of the Euphrates, but was tormented by a disease that was beyond human power to cure, having learned about the name of Jesus and His miracles - everyone testified about them in agreement - I decided to beg Him, sending a messenger with a letter and a request for deliverance from the disease.”
"Savior Not Made by Hands"
The Savior could not go to Abgar himself, but knowing about his strong faith, he handed over to the king with one of his disciples, the Apostle Thaddeus (according to other sources - with one of the king’s servants) his image on the board (ubrus) icon, which he created miraculously, attaching a pure white cloth to his most pure Face and imprinting it on the fabric.
Later, Christian iconographers painted many other icons, including other interesting images of the Savior, which we would like to show to our readers.
Shroud of Turin
Another miraculous image of the Lord, imprinted on His burial shrouds. Kept in Turin (Italy), a full-size exact copy is an altar icon in the lower church of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow.
"Saved by the Good Silence"
This image of the Savior in the form of a winged angelic youth with arms crossed on his chest, sometimes dressed in a sakkos and miter, appeared in the Balkans and Greece around the 14th century, and penetrated into Rus' around the end of the 15th century.
The sakkos, miter and rich clothes testify to the high priestly dignity of the God-Man, his arms crossed on his chest signify His sacrifice for the redemption of humanity, and the wings signify his messengership.
Ethnic images of the Savior
In Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew. The Lord became incarnate to save all humanity. Therefore, despite the fact that God became human precisely in the Jewish people and had a Semitic appearance, for other peoples His icons are often painted in the guise of this particular people or race. Thus, there are known images of the Savior or icons of the Mother of God with the Child of God in the guise of blacks, Asians or Indians.
"Savior of the Watchful Eye"
The icon appeared in the 14th century. on Holy Mount Athos. Depicts the Savior reclining on a bed with his eyes open, his head propped up with his right hand. The Mother of God and an angel stand before him, and an angel hovers above the bed, holding instruments of passion in his hands.
"All-seeing eye"
Not an image of the Lord Jesus Christ in its pure form, the icon allegorically depicts the omniscience of God. Appears in Russia from the end of the 18th - first half of the 19th century. In the central medallion is Christ in the form of a youth.
"Savior Emmanuel"
A rare image of the God-man at the age of 12, which is correlated with the Gospel text: “And when He was twelve years old, they also came, according to custom, to Jerusalem for the feast.” “Emmanuel” is translated as “God with us.”
Mixed hypostatic image of the Trinity
Such an image of the three combined faces of the Savior (image of the Holy Trinity) was supposed to illustrate the essential unity of all the Persons of the Divine. It could be found in Russian churches of the pre-synodal era. During the Synodal period, it was forbidden to depict the Holy Trinity in this way.
"Christ is the Lamb of God"
An icon of the Savior, depicting Him in the form of a white lamb with a halo with the inscription “Jesus” and, often, with the banner of a cross on the flag, which speaks of victory over death. In the later church tradition, such an image of the Lord is not used.
The second version of the same icon is the image of Christ as a youth in a sacrificial bowl, over which angels are blowing repids.
"Spas - the Great Bishop"
“Thou art a Priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek...”, says Psalm 109. It is precisely such a High Priest that the Savior is depicted on this icon.
"Spas - King of Kings"
Image of Christ on the throne with the regalia of royal power. Unlike the “Great Bishop,” here the Savior holds in his hands not the Gospel, but a scepter and an orb, a crown on his head instead of a miter, and royal robes on his shoulders instead of a sakkos and an omophorion.
The Savior with his beloved disciple
A rare image of the God-man with the Apostle John the Theologian, who reclines on his chest. This disciple of Christ, whom He loved most of all, did not betray the Savior until the crucifixion and at the cross took the Most Holy Theotokos into his care.
“Don’t cry for me, Mati”
A rare image representing the Lord Jesus Christ in the tomb with the instruments of the Passion of the Lord behind his back and an image of the Virgin Mary weeping over her son. The name of the icon is taken from the irmos of the ninth song of the canon of Cosmas of Mayum for Holy Saturday.
Christ in the Crown of Thorns (“Christ is the King of the Jews”)
The image of the Savior, sending us back to the time of His demonstrative shame, to which the procurator Pontius Pilate gave him in order to try to thereby quench the thirst for blood of the Jews and preserve the life of the Lord. The image passed into the Orthodox tradition from the Catholic West.
"Prayer for the Chalice"
Another image of the God-man, showing Him at the beginning of a difficult redemptive path. The disciples of Christ could not stand it and fell into sleep, and the Savior alone, fearing the upcoming torment in his humanity, prayed to God the Father: “If it is possible, let this cup pass from me!”
Jesus blessing bread and wine
An icon that refers us to the events of the Last Supper, when the Lord established the Sacrament of the Eucharist and once again informed the disciples about the sacrificial path ahead of Him.
“Christ is the Vine” (“True Vine”)
An image whose iconography has a number of meanings. Firstly, allegorically it recalls the sacrifice of the Savior. Secondly, it represents the tree of the Church headed by its founder. Thirdly, it refers those contemplating the image to one of the parables of Jesus Christ.
“Bear each other’s burdens”
A rare icon of the Lord with a man on his shoulders. The name is taken from the Gospel covenant: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
"Christ the Good Shepherd"
Another image that gives an allusion to the parable of the good shepherd who leaves 99 sheep to find one lost sheep. It also reminds us of the sacrifice of the God-man: “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep...”. In composition and meaning it echoes the image “Bear each other’s burdens.”
"Blessing of the Children"
“Do not prevent the children from coming to me,” Christ said to his apostles, blessing the little pure souls. The image reminds us of the events of Mark 10:13-16.
"The First Steps of Christ"
A rare image of the Savior “The First Steps of Christ” is located in the ancient monastery in the name of St. Gerasimos of Jordan in the south of the Jordan Valley.
"The Holy Family at Work"
The icon depicts the Savior in adolescence, who is engaged in carpentry along with his betrothed father, Saint Joseph the Betrothed. The Virgin Mary is also present in this image, busy with a typical woman's work - spinning thread.
"The Temptation of Christ by the Devil"
The image of “The Temptation of Jesus Christ by the Devil in the Wilderness” reminds us of the events preceding the beginning of public service and the preaching of the Savior, when the God-Man, weakened by forty days of fasting, was tempted by Satan and put him to shame three times.
"Old Denmy"
The first images of Christ as the “Ancient of Days,” that is, in the form of an old man, are known no later than the 6th century (Church of St. Constance in Rome). In Rus', similar images have also been known since ancient times. For example, there is such an icon in the Church of the Savior on Nereditsa (Novgorod the Great, 12th century). The name of the icon is taken from the book of the prophet Daniel, in whose vision God appeared in the form of a handsome, mighty old man.
Andrey Szegeda
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The image of our Lord Jesus Christ - features of iconography
However, even after the canonization of the face, there were still discrepancies in the painting of icons of the Savior. Only by the 9th century. The image on the icons of Christ the Savior was finally established in the form of a middle-aged man, with classic facial features, a straight nose, light eyes, a mustache and a small, slightly forked beard, dark brown hair, combed in the middle and strands hanging down over the shoulders. It was this image that was established as the canon for the icon of the Savior Jesus Christ. A distinctive feature of the iconography of Christ was also the cross-shaped halo, symbolizing the Savior’s sacrifice on the cross.
The icon reflects the Church’s faith in Jesus Christ as the God-man, the iconography expresses this through the color of Christ’s clothes - on the icons the Savior appears in a red tunic (lower garment) and a blue himation (upper cloak): the red color symbolizes His human nature, blue - the Divine; often on the right shoulder of the chiton you can see a gold stripe (klav) - a sign of royal dignity.
Icons of Christ the Savior do not allow liberties and can:
- Depict only the canonical face of Jesus Christ
- Represent the Savior half-length or full-length; there are main and shoulder images
- Depict Christ not only as an adult, but also as a Child or a Youth, as well as in an angelic form.
Savior Not Made by Hands
One of the most revered images of Jesus Christ in Rus', which came from Byzantium: this is the face of the Savior, imprinted, according to legend, on a towel-“ubrus” and on a clay board - a tile, under which ancient Christians hid a shrine with the face of Christ.
Spas Emmanuel
The image of Christ in childhood or adolescence.
Savior Almighty or Panktokrator
The main type of icons of Christ, representing Him as Lord and Savior.
Savior Good Silence (Sophia the Wisdom of God)
The image of Christ before the Incarnation in the form of the Angel of the Great Council: the Savior is depicted with wings, in a white dalmatic with wide sleeves, his hands folded on his chest as a sign of silence, keeping secrets.
Savior on the Throne
Represents Christ as king and judge, the throne is a symbol of the royal glory of the Savior, often the Mother of God and John the Baptist are depicted next to Christ.
What types of icons of the Lord are there:
• Icon of Christ the Almighty and Heavenly Judge. • The face of the Lord in the form of a preacher among worldly people. • In addition to the above images of Jesus, there are holy images of Christ, where he is depicted in the form of a boy or toddler (such images of the Almighty do not form a separate type).
In most images, the Savior is depicted with a cross-shaped halo on his head. This halo is a symbol of the Divine light that the Lord showed to his followers on Mount Tabor. By depicting such a symbol, the two essences of Jesus Christ are denoted - the Heavenly nature and the earthly, human nature.
In almost all images he is depicted holding a book in his hands: open or closed - the Bible, the sacred message of salvation that the Almighty brought to people.
• The holy image of the Lord Pantocrator is an icon that any Christian church must have, usually it is located in the center of the church. In this icon he is depicted during his preaching activities: smooth hair that falls to his shoulders, a small beard and mustache, his right hand is depicted in a blessing gesture, and in his left hand he holds the Bible. • The image with the crown of thorns is a suffering icon. Because this symbolizes the suffering and sins of people, which Jesus, according to the will of his Father, took upon himself.
