Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Savior

In the most famous Icon of the Holy Apostle John, he is represented with a young face. This is the Icon also called “The Beloved Disciple”, in which the Saint rests on the chest of Christ the Savior, during the Last Supper. However, this is not the only Icon in which Saint John is depicted as a young man of about sixteen years old, without a beard and with brown hair. He is painted with this face in all the scenes of the life of Christ – at the Transfiguration, the Crucifixion of the Lord, but also in those described by the Acts of the Apostles – at the Ascension of the Lord, the Descent of the Holy Spirit. When he is depicted in portrait, Saint John is depicted as an elderly person – “The Theologian”. He is represented as an old man of about sixty years old, with a high forehead and a long beard, holding in his hands the book of his Gospel, which is often open to reveal certain verses to us. Saint John is also represented writing the Gospel himself or dictating the Book of Revelation ...

The miracle-working icons of the Mother of God kept at the Vatopedi Monastery are: "Vimatarissa", meaning "Altar", "Paramythia", meaning "Comforter", "Pantanassa", meaning "Cancer Healer", "Elaiovrytissa", meaning "Oil Fountain", "Antiphonitria", meaning "Against the Voice", "Esfagmeni", meaning "The Stabbed One", and "Pyrovolitheisa", meaning "The Shot One", the latter located above the entrance gate to the monastery. Vimatarissa (Altar) The Mother of God Vimatarissa or Ktitorissa is the most famous icon housed in the Vatopedi Monastery, considered to be the protector of the settlement. It is placed in the katholikon of the Monastery, on the bishop's chair in the Holy Altar. According to tradition, when the ship carrying Arcadia, the son of Emperor Theodosius the Great, was wrecked, he was saved by the miraculous help of the Mother of God, who...

As the Holy Fathers affirm, “ what Scripture tells us in words, the icon announces to us and makes present to us through colors ”. Holy Scripture speaks to us about the Incarnation of the Son of God, who came into the world to save us – and the icon does the same. Moreover, there is such a close connection between the act of incarnation and the icon that Saint Theodore the Studite states, in the context of the iconoclastic disputes, that “he who rejects the icon ultimately rejects the mystery of the incarnation of the Word”. We know that the Incarnation of the Son of God is the foundation and reason for the representation and veneration of icons: if Jesus Christ had not taken human form, we would not have been able to represent Him in icons. And as for the representation of saints, this would not have been possible either, precisely because through God’s work of redemption of the human race, man received the opportunity to become a saint. The saints become models of holiness that we m...

Icons, as we see from the etymology of the word (εἰκών – mirror image, living representation), are images, representations of either God in the Trinity, or of the Savior Jesus Christ, or of saints or angels. They adorn our churches and homes, not only because of their aesthetic character, but also because of their liturgical character - because, being sacred images, they give us the real feeling of the presence of God or of the saint represented in the icon. Through icons, people contemplate the Kingdom of God and enter into a direct dialogue with divinity, for as Father Dumitru Stăniloae stated, "the icon represents a true window through which man and God can look at each other face to face". Because they are representations of holy persons, they are not made just like that, but according to precise criteria, imposed not so much by the rules of art and culture as by the doctrine of the church. These criteria are contained in the so-called Ermines of painting, which show us h...

Along my spiritual journey, I also learned to differentiate between idols and religious objects that I can kiss, and before which I can bow and kneel in prayer. A first temptation I had in this regard was when I started turning all the icons in the house face down. This temptation was very strong at first, and generally came about because of watching several videos of some sects, which considered icons and holy objects to be idols. It took me some time to realize that no, the icon is not an idol, but like a photograph, it is a tool with which you can get closer to the person who is painted in it, such as the Savior, the Mother of God, and the saints. Then, having escaped this first temptation, and having begun to put the icons back in their place around the house, I was tempted by another temptation, namely that of not kissing or worshiping the people in the icons (especially the Mother of God and the saints), the relics of saints, or other holy objects, such as the Holy Cross or the H...