| Size: |
10x12 cm |
|
4"x4.7" inch |
| Material: |
Cardboard |
| Type : |
Orthodox |
| Image: |
Colorful with golden glares (lithography) |
All icons of Holy Mary in one place.
It is a colorful biblical icon with golden glare on a
cardboard base, in brand new mint condition. The picture doesn't reflect all
of the beauty and gold glimmer. Modern metallography and lithography
technologies were used to reproduce medieval and contemporary icons,
making the details excellent of this particular icon. Artificial gold
and silver foil was used during the printing process. You have to see
the original.
Icons on this poster:
Top:
The Holy Trinity (Father, Son & Holy Spirit) Rublev icon.
Center:
Mother of God Holy Mary and Baby Jesus "Nativity" icon.
Left
side from the bottom up:
"Inexhaustible Treasure"/"Inexhaustible
Cup" [Neupivayemaya Chasha] icon;
"Our Lady of Tikhvin"
[Tikhvinskaya Bogorodica] icon;
The "Quick-to-hear" Icon
[Skoroposlushnica] icon;
"Our Lady of Chernigov" [Chernigovskaya
Bogorodica] icon;
"Our Lady of Kazan" [Kazanskaya Bogorodica] icon;
"Our
Lady of Smolensk" [Smolenskaya Bogorodica] icon;
The Virgin
"Iverskaya" [Iverskaya Bogorodica] icon.
Right side from the
bottom up:
The Virgin "of the Sign" /"The Great Panaghia (all
holy)" [Znamenie] icon;
"Assuage my Sorrow" /"Relieve my sorrows"
[Utoli moya Pechali] icon;
"Nursing the Christ Child" /The
"Milk-Giver" [Mlekopitatelnica] icon;
Holy Mother "The Saint
Theodore" [Feodorovskaya Bogoroditca] icon;
The Virgin "Donskaya"
[Donskaya Bogorodica] icon;
Holy Mother "Pochaev" [Pochaevskaya
Bogorodica] icon;
"Axion Estin" /"It Is Truly Meet" [Dostoyno Yest]
icon;
Bottom: "Our Lady of Vladimir" [Vladimirskaya Bogorodica]
icon.
ICONS in the Orthodox Church
One of the unique characteristics of the Orthodox Church is its use of icons (i.e., holy images). Icons have been in use since the earliest days of the Christian Church. Icons, in their simplest forms, were found in the catacombs, grave sites and other places of ancient Christian worship. They included: the cross, the fish, the lamb and other symbols that represented Jesus Christ. By the fifth century, iconography began to be widespread. Beautiful paintings, mosaics, frescoes and other media of art were used to depict Christ, the Virgin Mary and the saints. The Church felt quite comfortable in depicting our Lord and His saints, for they felt the media of art was just another way to praise and teach about God-just as the Church used music and poetry. Icons were depicted on churches, homes and public buildings.
Icons served a many-fold purpose in the Orthodox Church.
They were used to help teach the faithful about God. A person can walk
into an Orthodox Church and see the whole Bible story unfolded on its
walls. Icons of Old and New Testament people and events were used to
teach the faithful-keeping in mind that many could not read- about the
Christian Faith.
Another purpose of icons was to aid the faithful
in prayer and meditation on the person or the salvific significance of
the event depicted. Icons kept the mind from wandering and helped focus
one's attention on prayer. They also served as a reminder to all the
Orthodox of God's omnipresent and immanence in the world.
There
was a brief time in the Church's history when civil and ecclesiastical
leaders renounced the use of icons as idolatrous. As a result, many
priceless icons were destroyed and people who were found possessing them
were persecuted; yet, many people continued to use icons in secret.
This prompted the Church to defend the use of icons for liturgical and
didactic purposes.
The Church defended its use of icons by
stating that if God became man in the person of Jesus Christ, then He
can be depicted. To say that He cannot be depicted is saying that Jesus
was not fully human (the Church believes that Jesus Christ was fully
human and fully divine; to say otherwise is heretical). And, if Jesus
can be depicted, His holy Mother and saints can be depicted as well.
Against
the charge of idolatry, the Church made it quite clear that the
faithful do not worship the wood and paint, but deeply respect and
venerate the person depicted. The Church made a clear distinction
between adoration (i.e., worship, due to God alone) and veneration
(i.e., deep respect). The pagans worshiped idols because they believed
that the deity was present in the stone or wood. The Orthodox make no
such claim concerning icons. Icons are only images of the person
depicted; therefore, do not venerate the wood but the person whose image
it bears. Thus, by the end of the eighth century, icons were restored
in the Orthodox Church and have served their proper purpose ever since.