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  Ascension Icon by Andrei Rublev (late 14th - early 15th century). The Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ is traditionally celebrated, following the detail of Acts 1:3, on the Thursday 40 days after Pascha (Easter), which was last Thursday, though most Latin Rite dioceses (at least in the U.S., if not in other countries as well) transfer the celebration of this feast to the next Sunday, which is today.  In Greek, this feast is called 'Η Αναληψις : analepsis means a "taking up," although the term is used in narrative analysis (of films, novels, and other works) to indicate a flashback.  The events of this feast are outlined in Mark, Luke, and Acts: "So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into Heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God" (Mk 16:19). "Then He led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands He blessed them.  While He blessed them, He parted from them, and was carried up into Heaven" (...

Anastasis icon dated 1315 from the Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora in Istanbul, Turkey   Χριστος ανεστι!  Christ is risen!  (And you, of course, are responding, "Αλειθος ανεστι!  Truly He is risen!")  Today (for those following the calendar of the Catholic Church) is Pascha (Easter, for most English speakers), the most holy day of days, the feast of feasts, the day of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  Today is the true Passover, when Christ passed over from death to life, and because of this it truly bears the name Pascha ("Passover" in Greek).  To celebrate this miracle of miracles, the Eastern Church has a festal icon of Christ's Resurrection, just as they have icons for various other feasts. The icon of Pascha is 'Η Αναστασις , The Resurrection.  (Etymologically, anastasis literally means "standing again," combining ana (again) and stasis (standing).)  Though there are multiple Paschal icons, this is the most promin...

Like almost any product of man, icons contain differences depending on the culture in which they were made (besides even more differences from individual artists).  Thus among icons, there are different styles relating to the different cultures of origin: Greek (Byzantine), Russian, Coptic, Ethiopian, etc.  Usually in my posts, I include and discuss Byzantine icons, though Russian icons are also involved often.  In this post, I wish to give a brief overview of another style of icons: Ethiopian iconography. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church began when Christianity was first widely spread to Ethiopia (discounting the Ethiopian eunuch converted by St. Philip in Acts 8) in the 5th century by a group of missionaries known now as the Nine Saints: Abba Aftse, Abba Alef, Abba Aragawi, Abba Garima (Isaac/Yeshaq), Abba Guba, Abba Liqanos, Abba Pantelewon, Abba Sehma, and Abba Yem'ata.  It is conjectured that they were possibly refugees from persecutions after the Council of Cha...

"Am I not here, I, who am your mother?" I must apologize for taking so long to write about Our Lady of Guadalupe (Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe): though her image is not an icon in the typical sense (that is, made by human hands for the purpose of connection to Christ or the saints in Heaven), it most definitely should be classified as an acheiropoieton (an sacred image not made with human hands).  I apologize for not including it in my original post on these images: it didn't enter my mind until much later.  This post, then, is a supplement for my post on the acheiropoieta . St. Juan Diego (1474-1578) was a Native American from what is now Mexico (his birth name was Aztec: Cuauhtlatoatzin).  Originally a mystical and devout pagan, around 1520 or so he converted to Christianity, taking the name Juan Diego.  Shortly thereafter, in 1529, he became a widower, yet his faith remained strong.  It was in 1531 that the events for which he is now known began...

The original icon  The original icon without its riza (the metal covering revealing only the faces) The Axion Estin (Αξιον εστιν), "It is truly meet," is an icon of the Theotokos (Eleusa-style) located in the the Protaton, a church in the Karyes settlement of the famous Mount Athos in Greece, home to many ancient monastic communities.  The event which the icon takes it name from occurred in 980, so the icon was written sometime before then. The name of the icon comes from the opening words of a Marian hymn in the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.  Up until this famous event, the hymn only included the latter half, starting at "More honourable than the Cherubim," which was written in the late 700s by St. Cosmas the Hymnographer, foster-brother of St. John Damascene.  This section of the hymn reads thus: More honorable than the cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the seraphim. Without corruption thou gavest birth to God the Wo...

  The original Vladimirskaya The Theotokos of Vladimir (Our Lady of Vladimir, the Virgin of Vladimir), Владимирская ( Vladimirskaya ) in Russian, is an Eleusa style icon of the Theotokos.  According to Russian tradition, it was written by St. Luke the Evangelist on a board from the Holy Family's table: upon seeing it, the Virgin exclaimed, "Henceforth, all generations shall call Me blessed. The grace of both My Son and Me shall be with this icon." The first historical mention of it is its sending by Greek Patriarch Luke Chrysoberges of Constantinople to Prince Mstislav (or Grand Duke Yury Dolgoruky) in 1131.  The icon was placed in a monastery near the city of Vyshgorod.  Andrei Bogoliubsky (son of Yury Dolgoruky and a saint among the Eastern Orthodox) built the Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir and installed the icon there in 1155.  (Tradition says the location of Vladimir was chosen because donkeys carrying the icon would not move past the town, and...

  The copy of Our Lady of Kazan given by Pope Bl. John Paul II to the Russian Church Our Lady of Kazan (Virgin of Kazan, Theotokos of Kazan), Казанская Богоматерь (Kazanskaya Bogomater: "Theotokos of Kazan") in Russian, is a close-up version of a Hodigitria icon that is one of the most venerated icons in the Russian Orthodox Church.  It is difficult to determine the exact history of this icon due to the many copies that were made of it.  Of the numerous ancient copies that exist today, there is still debate which one (if any) is the original. According to tradition, the icon came to Kazan (a city in Russia) from Constantinople in the 13th century.  When Kazan was besieged by the Tartars in 1438, the icon disappeared until it was found buried in a garden by a young girl named Matrona on July 8, 1579, after the location was revealed by the Theotokos in a prophetic dream.  The icon was placed in the Church of St. Nicholas in Kazan, where it cured a blind m...

On December 25, Christians everywhere (and non-Christians as well, to an extent) celebrated the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  Being one of the greatest feasts of the Church and one of the greatest events in the history of mankind, icons have been written to celebrate this glorious Birth.  The traditional style of the icon is attributed to the iconographer Andrei Rublev (who wrote the most famous form of the icon of the Trinity ). In the center of the icon is the center of history: Jesus Christ, as a Child, just as He was on the day of His Nativity.  The Son of God, Lord of the Universe, is just a small baby wrapped in swaddling clothes inside a manger (represented by the cave).  Next to Him is His Mother, the Theotokos, Mary, in her traditional coloring of blue robed in red, humanity robed in divinity through her Son's gift and grace.  In the cave with the Virgin and her Son are an ox and ass, representing the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaia...

The Virgin with Three Hands (or Three-Handed Theotokos) is known with many names: being from Serbia, it is commonly known by its Serbian name, Bogodorica Trojeručica (Богородица Тројеручица) or Trojeručica for short. It is also known by its Greek name, Panagia Tricherousa (Παναγια Τριχερουσα). It is a hodigitria icon of the Theotokos, and it is the most important icon of the Serbian Orthodox Church (according to Wikipedia, at least). The story is that this icon was made famous by its connection to St. John Damascene, the great defender of icons of the seventh and eighth centuries, whose theological thought was the basis of the defeat of iconoclasm at the Seventh Ecumenical Council. In 717, St. John Damascene was falsely accused of being an enemy of the state (by who is debated: some say the Caliph under whom he served, some say Emperor Leo the Isaurian, an iconoclast), and for punishment, his right hand was cut off. In response to this horrific event, St. John prayed before an...

The Acheiropoieta (αχειροποιητα, "Made Without Hands") are a collective name for a variety of icons which are believed to have been created, as the name directly states, without human hands. There are many of them (as far as I know, all of either Jesus Christ or the Theotokos), and their connection is mostly in their origin, so instead of trying to describe them in general, I will shortly describe most of the most famous ones separately. The Image of Edessa (or the Mandylion) is purported to be the first acheiropoeiton. I first heard the story of it from reading Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History , and that appears to be the first recording of the story. King Abgar of Edessa wrote a letter to Jesus, asking Him to come visit the king and heal him of a disease; Our Lord wrote a letter in response, saying that He would not come, but later one of His followers would come and heal the king. This came to pass, as Jesus' disciple Thaddeus (one of the Sev...