June 29, 2017 The Miracle of Kefallonia: The Snakes that Venerate Holy Icons In a tiny Greek village in the south of Kefallonia, a miracle occurs every year after the feast of the Transfiguration (Aug 6). Around…
June 23, 2017 The Miracles of the “Axion Estin” Icon of the Mother of God The Theotokos is considered by Orthodox Christians to be the Abbess of all the monasteries on Mount Athos. She oversees the welfare of the…
June 21, 2017 What Makes an Icon Holy? Perhaps most people reading this already know what “Icons” are within the Orthodox faith. Nevertheless, “Icon” is simply the Greek word for an image…
June 19, 2017 The History of the “Pimenovskaya” Icon of the Mother of God The iconographic type of the “Pimenovskaya” icon of the Mother of God is Odigitria. For the first time, the icon was mentioned in the…
June 16, 2017 A Brief History of the Tabynsk Icon of the Mother of God The Tabynsk icon of the Mother of God is known for its many miracles. The icon first appeared in the second half of the…
June 13, 2017 What Is Blessable as an Icon in the Orthodox Iconographic Tradition? One of the great difficulties that I believe the Orthodox Church has always had is control over her iconographers. More than ever, especially today,…
June 7, 2017 Why is John the Baptist Shown in Many Icons with Wings? As well as “the Baptist”, John is also known as “glorious prophet and forerunner of Christ”. Therefore, the presence of the wings is to…
May 31, 2017 The Iconography of Christ “Christ is the icon of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Col 1:15) It is only fitting that the first icon…
May 27, 2017 What Does This Hand Gesture Mean in Orthodox Iconography? Origin of the hand gestures In ancient Greece and Rome, there was a well-established system of hand-gestures used in oratory and rhetoric. Some of…
May 25, 2017 Iconographic Analysis of the Ascension Icon: An Icon of the Church Before Pentecost Forty days after Christ’s resurrection, He was taken up into the Heavens before the disciples, and so forty days after Easter, is the Feast…
May 18, 2017 The Inexhaustible Chalice Icon: Help in Battling Alcoholism Russian icons are, for the most part, essentially copies of prototypes that appeared in different times and places. Some of the prototypes are very…
May 9, 2017 Understanding the Icon of Mid-Pentecost Most icons showing biblical events from the traditional accounts of the life of Jesus make obvious sense in relation to the church year: the…
