Orthodox icon | Christ Emmanuel | Palekh painting school | 24827

This rare icon appears in Russia after the 12th century and goes back to the prophecy of Isaiah (7:14): “Therefore the Lord himself will give you[a] a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel”.

The task of the iconography of Emmanuel was to reproduce the word of God both in its pre-existence, in its eternal being before his incarnation, and in its existence after his incarnation. Emmanuel on the lap or arm of the Mother of God was a kind of proclamation of the perfect incarnation. Therefore, in early Byzantine art people shied away from portraying him as a child but showed a picture that was very similar to the “old man”. In icon painting he is shown as a boy, but often with senile features based on ancient and Non-Protestant role models of the so-called “old child” (Greek “paidariogeron”). Particularly characteristic is the hunched and bulging forehead, under which the serious eyes of an adult often look at the worshiper. Emmanuel alone, often in a round shield (lat. “Clipeus”) or medallion, plays an important role in the iconography of certain images of the Mother of God as a symbol of the incarnation of the eternal Word of God. The image of Emmanuel is limited to the area of the Eastern Church and its zones of influence.

On the edge:

A holy Guardian Angel.

Saint Mary Magdalene (third Sunday of Easter and July 22nd).

Mary joined Jesus as a disciple, among whom she apparently had a special position, because she always heads the lists of women in the New Testament.

Saint Venerable Anthony, founder of the Kiev Cave Lavra and father of Russian monasticism (July 10).

Saint Venerable Theodore of the Kiev Cave Lavra, Prince of Ostroh in Volhynia (August 11).