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Icons Page
(Click icon for a larger image)
This icon, from St. Katherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai, depicts Jesus
Christ
with two different looks on His face: One is of a loving man, and the
other
is a fearful judge.
The Portaitissa, or Keeper of the Gate, icon is from the monastery of
Iviron
on Mt. Athos. This icon was placed inside one of the chapels in the
monastery,
but whenever the monks would wake up in the morning, the icon moved itself
to
the gate of the chapel. The mark on the right cheek of the Virgin Mary is
from the knife (or sword) of pirate who stabbed the icon. When he did
this,
the icon started bleeding! The pirate repented and became a Christian at
that
moment. He later became a saint of the church. He is known as St.
Barbarian,
because in his humility, he didn't feel worthy enough to choose a higher
name for himself.
The Portaitissa was not originally owned by the monastery, but it drifted
there after being placed in the sea by the owners who wanted to keep the
icon
away from bandits who were burning icons. When the icon was seen by the
monks
at Iviron, they were amazed because it came to the monastery standing
straight
up on the water!
In the 10th century, in a church in Constantinople which held the veil of
the Holy Virgin, St. Andrew the fool for Christ and his disciple St.
Epiphanios beheld a majestic vision of the Theotokos (Mother of God). She
was escorted into the church by St. John the Baptist and many other
saints.
She knelt down in the center of the church and prayed, then she grabbed
her
veil and extended it over all the people in the church. For the Orthodox
Christians, this event represents the eternal protection we get from the
Virgin as she approaches her Son and intercedes for the salvation of the
entire universe.
St. John Climacus, wrote a book bearing the title "The Ladder of Divine
Ascent." It talks about our journey to Heaven involving steps. The icon
shows
how difficult the climb to Heaven actually is. It shows monks on the
ladder,
the demons trying to pull them off, the mouth of Hades swalling up those
who
have fallen off, the angels lamenting over those who have fallen, and
people
on the earth praying for those on the ladder. But, most importantly, the
icon
depicts Christ at the top of the ladder, waiting for our entrance to His
holy
Kingdom. The artist even depicts St. John Climacus at the top of the
ladder,
and the one is white robes behind St. John is probably the archbishop of
that
time. The Archbishop's name is Antonios.
Well, I wonder why there is an icon of St. Nicholas in this bunch. I
actually
wasn't looking for one, but when I was looking around in the icons of the
Holy
Mountain, I found the most gorgeous icon of St. Nicholas from the
monastery of
Grigoriou on Mt. Athos. St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is the patron saint
of
just about everyone: children, travelers, sailors, women about to be
married,
people in prison, etc. He once was traveling on a ship. And in a
terrible
storm, a sailor had fallen dead from the high mast of the ship. After the
storm had calmed through his prayers, St. Nicholas prayed also over this
man
and brought him back to life.
I don't know any amazing stories about this icon. But, I thought that I
would include it. Besides the fact that it is a very beautiful icon, I
also
kind of like the saints depicted in it. St. Gregory, I believe this
St. Gregory is the one for which the monastery "Grigoriou" on Mt. Athos is
named, St. Nicholas, who we were talking about before, and St.
Anastasia, who was a healer who didn't charge any money for her
services. She also anointed the bodies and perform burial services for
those who could not afford to have their loved ones buried properly.
If you have never heard of St. Seraphim, then it will help your spiritual
life
considerably to read even a little of what his life was like. He lived in
the forests with only his pet bear, Misha, to keep him company. He is
credited
with aquiring in a most full way, the grace and the Spirit of God.
People, in
his presence, have witnessed the Uncreated Light that the disciples saw on
Mt.
Tabor at the Transfiguration. People have seen him in his deepest state
of
prayer, and at these points they saw him floating off of the ground. His
main
message throughout his life, was aquiring the Holy Spirit. His way of
talking
about this included, not being idle, but making use of the gift of the
Holy
Spirit that each of us were given at baptism. This icon depicts a certain
time
in his life when he spent 1,000 days and nights on a rock praying to God
for
forgiveness. The icon you see on the tree is the one of the Virgin Mary.
It
depicts her humility and love for the will of God when she said to
Archangel
Gabriel (and to God), "Let it be done to me according to your word."
If you didn't click on the icon when you entered the Pitt/CMU OCF Home
Page
to get its explanation, you can check it out now: Click Here
This icon is the newest in the bunch. It depicts, on the right, the
tribulation of those who have abortions. You can see all the ladies going
to
the New Herodias. She is depicted as a queen with snakes for hair. (King
Herod was the one who killed all the male babies under 2 years old so that
baby Jesus would die with them.) You can see the doctor putting his sword
through the child, and feeding it to the beast. And you can see the
lamentation of the Angel, and of one woman as she loses her child to
abortion.
To the left, we see the Orthodox (or correct) Family: It has the Mother
and
Father taking care of the kids, the kids playing, and it shows the Mother
carrying her cross because child-rearing was meant to be a struggle. But
it
was meant to be a struggle that is part of the cross that we pick up daily
to
follow Christ. It is not something to be rejected but something, if the
Lord
wills it, that everyone should accept humbly. Above the Orthodox Family
are
two people: On the right is St. Stylianos, who was a big help for
children
because he helped set up institutions which resemble the day care centers
we
have today. The other person, on the left, is the Holy Virgin Mary, who
accepted the pain and awesome responsibility of being the guardian of
Christ.
Imagine if she had decided, while she was pregnant, to abort Jesus because
she
couldn't handle the resonsibility. Where would we have been now?
I think this icon speaks for itself. It is a depiction of Abraham, in
the Genesis story, as he is about to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac.
Then the angel, in the upper left-hand corner, tells Abraham that he
doesn't have to sacrifice Isaac, but instead shows Abraham a ram caught
in a bush which he can substitute for his son. It is a story of fear,
courage, and enormous faith. This particular icon comes from the
monastery of Stavroniketa on Mount Athos.
This icon depicts one of the most famous Desert Fathers we have in the
Orthodox Church: St. Anthony the Great. He lived in the 4th Century,
and he was the first recorded ascetic to start living what we now call
the monastic life. The temptations he received manifested themselves in
many different physical ways: some through his thoughts, some through
his passions and desires, and some (as this icons depicts) through
bodily harm from animals. Many of the temptations were very hard but
St. Anthony, through the grace of God and the power of the Name of
Jesus, overcame all of them. He is celebrated on January 17th.
This icon is from an Albanian Orthodox Church in Chicago named St.
Nicholas. In 1987, either that or 1986, there was a shock in the
community
when the people in the church found out that the icon of the Theotokos was
weeping actual tears! They started holding services and people from all
over the United States flocked to Chicago to see this miracle. I was
present and got to see it first hand, and it was incredible. I even
served a liturgy there with my cousin, Nicholas Chakos, and we both
noticed that the back of the icon was perfectly dry, and it had been
weeping for about a half of a year by the time we got to see it. Also,
myrrh started flowing from the right hand of the Virgin Mary. It was
truly a miracle-working icon. The icon stopped and then started back up
crying for a short time after that, and then it eventually stopped for
good. The crying, however, did not stop. After that, the tears from
that icon were used to anoint other icons, and those icons started
crying! Icons to this day still weep from those tears. Cotton balls in
plastic bags are still moist from that icon in Chicago. God blessed us
with a sign calling us back to faith. May we recognize this sign from
God in our own lives. Amen.
He was a saint of the 20th century. He was a great and humble man who
lived the last few years of his life at a convent on the island of Aegina.
The miracles that Christ has performed through him fill countless volumes.
Even on his deathbed, there was a man lying next to him who also was
dying. The doctors took St. Nektarios' sweater and placed it on the bed
next to him, and the man was healed instantly. People who have one night
been terminally diagnosed with cancer have prayed to St. Nektarios. And
these same people have been medical wonders for the doctors can't explain
how something like that can just disappear from an X-ray. All these
things and more are done with the help of St. Nektarios. If you visit his
coffin on the island, you can receive some oil from the lamp which is lit
by his coffin. That oil, likewise has produced miracles through St.
Nektarios' intercession to Christ. This particular icon was painted by a
monk from a monastery in Greece that is on the island of Rhodes.
The story of this icon goes like this: The monks at the monastery of the
Taxiarche (The Archangels) in Lesbos (in Greece) had been holding services
when pirates attacked and killed the monks. Only a novice survived
fleeing to the roof/bell tower of the church. The pirates attempted to
come after him, but a strong wind held them back each time. Finally, they
got tired and left. The novice came down only to find all his brothers
slaughtered. In his grief, he was led to mix the blood of the monks with
clay to fashion an icon of the Archangel Michael. The icon has a large
head and a tiny body (which is currently covered) because the monk ran out
of the mixture and had to make the body small. Many wondorous miracles
have been performed by God through the people's prayers in front of this
icon.
This icon is from the Monastery on Mount Athos of Karakallou. The icon
depicts Sts. Peter and Paul a loving embrace. The two weren't always in
agreement with one another, and they often argued about many things, but
they never lost the love that they had for each other as brothers in
Christ. And they never lost the zeal that kept them preaching the Gospel
of Christ to all nations. For this reason, the Orthodox Church celebrates
their memories on June 29th. This particular icon is over 1000 years old.
It was once thrown into a fire by iconoclasts (people who hate icons).
Much to their dismay, it never burned!
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