Can a photograph of a Saint be considered an icon? According to the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, the answer would be yes – as in 2013 they added to Liturgical Calendar the celebration of the “Painted-by-Light” Icon of the Mother of God: a photograph of the Theotokos taken on the 3rd of September 1903.
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On the 31st March we commemorate Maria (Skobstova) of Paris, a Saint of the Archdiocese of Orthodox Churches of Russian Tradition in Western Europe. A remarkable woman, St Maria was latterly a nun in Paris during Nazi occupation. She was arrested along with her son, Yuri, and Fr Dmitri Klepenin. Both Fr Dmitri and St Maria’s son died at the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, whilst Maria – knowing her son had died – was sent to the Ravensbrück. After much suffering there, on the 31st March 1945 (being Holy Saturday), Mother Maria took the place of another and was executed in the gas chambers.
During her life, St Maria wrote poetry, embroidered, and painted icons. In Ravensbrück, she was working on an embroidery of the Mother of God. The embroidery did not survive, but survivors of the concentration camp remembered it clearly and described it. The above icon – Our Lady of Ravensbrück – is based on St Maria’s work.
There are a number of influences in the icon. The main composition is similar to some depictions of the Extreme Humilty Icon, which shows Christ dead in the tomb. Occasionally, this icon is shown with the Mother of God embracing her son (e.g, this modern painting), and of course St Maria would not have been unfamiliar with Michaelangelo’s Pietà and similar artworks. Christ on the Cross, rather than in the tomb, is similar to icons of the Mother of God viewing Jesus being crucified, as if from afar, and is again a common motif in the West and the East. A famous example in the East is the “Akhtyrkaya” (Ахтырская) Icon of the Mother of God, which is not named for the depiction, but the town where a wonder-working icon of this composition shone forth.
But why depict Christ as a child, rather than accurately as an adult. Here the theology is the theology of the Cross and of the life experiences of St Maria. Her youngest child and only daughter, Anastasia, died as an infant, a deeply traumatising experience that spurred Maria to become a “mother to all.” This she did, operating an open house in Paris for the many Russian refugees from the Soviet persecutions. Later, she helped a great many Jews in Paris escape the concentration camps – very successfully until finally she was caught along with her son, Yuri and her friend Fr Dmitri. Years before, reflecting on being a mother, she noted:
“The Cross of the Son of Man, accepted voluntarily, becomes a two-edged sword that pierces the soul of the Mother, not because she voluntarily chooses it, but because she cannot help suffering the sufferings of her Son.” [Mother Maria Skobstova, Essential Writings, 67.]
This thought, along with St Maria’s experiences, seeing her son die in the concentration camp, suffering herself whilst continuing to minister to those around her, all together “composed” the image of “Our Lady of Ravensbruck.” The icon speaks for itself.
Further Reading:
Detail from Christ the Bridegroom icon.
The Icons of Lent page has been updated with this year’s dates. Hopefully the articles within will provide useful. May our Lent be fruitful and productive, ending in the glorious celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
“The end draws near, my soul, the end draws near;
Yet thou dost not care or make ready.
The time grows short, rise up: the Judge is at the door.
The days of our life pass swiftly, as a dream, as a flower.”
– From the Penitential Canon of St Andrew
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St Ephraim in prayer
Pascha is early this year and so Lent is rapidly approaching; this Sunday, the 28th of January, marks the Sunday of the Publican of the Pharisee which is just two weeks before the beginning of the Great Fast.
As I have done in previous years, the Icons of Lent page has been updated with this year’s dates. Hopefully the articles within will provide useful. May our Lent be fruitful and productive, ending in the glorious celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
O Lord and Master of my life,
Grant me not a spirit of sloth, despondency and lust for power;
But rather grant me a spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love.
O Lord and God: grant me to see my own faults
And not to condemn my brother
For blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages,
Amen
– Prayer of St Ephraim the Syrian
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All Creation Rejoices. Icon of Dionysius, 15th or 16th Century
Many icons are inspired directly by the hymns of the Church and are indeed simply a visual representation of the words. One such icon is that of the Mother of God, “All Creation rejoices in thee…”
Detail from modern Romanian icon of the Bosom of Abraham by Elena Murariu.
The Sundays before the Nativity feast (Christmas) are dedicated to the Holy Forefathers and Ancestors of Jesus Christ. Among all the Old Testament Saints commemorated on these days, Abraham is perhaps the supreme example, being the common patriarch of Judaism (as the founding father of the Covenant between man and God) and Christianity (being seen as the prototype of all believers). This patriarchal image of Abraham has influenced his representation in iconography, and has resulted in many images – in the east and west – of “the Bosom (or Embrace) of Abraham“.
Icon at the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem
A famous variation of the Synaxis of the Mother of God is found in an icon at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The image is usually cropped to show the mouth of the cave and the holy family inside, and is widely shared at this time of year. The full image shows that the rest of the icon depicts the Nativity hymn “What shall we offer Thee…” as in Synaxis icons. Interestingly, here “the wilderness” is shown as a female ascetic, similar in appearance to Mary of Egypt.
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The day after every major feast in the Orthodox Church is usually dedicated to a saint who played a major “supporting role” in the events celebrated. So, the 7th of January – the day after we celebrate the baptism of Christ – is dedicated to St John the Baptizer of Christ; the day after the Annunciation is dedicated to the Archangel Gabriel; after Pentecost we celebrate the “day of the Holy Spirit”. And so, on the 26th of December we celebrate the Synaxis (Meeting) of the Mother of God.
St Stephen (right) with another defender of the icons, St Theodore the Studite
On Nov 28, the memory of the Holy Confessor and Martyr Stephen “the New” of Mount Auxentios. Born after numerous prayers for a child from his pious parents, John and Anna, St Stephen was born in Constantinople in 715 and dedicated to God from an early age. During the iconoclast controversy under Emperor Leo the Isaurian (716-741), Stephen’s parents fled the heresy that had taken over Constantinople and settled in Bithniya, giving the youngster over to the care of the monks of Mount Auxentios (now Mt Kayışdağ).
Stephen soon became a model of obedience and was raised to the position of abbot. At the same time, the new Emperor Constantine V turned out to be a fiercer iconoclast than Leo and moreover hated monasticism due to the intransigence of the monks’ icon-veneration. In 754 he held a council that outlawed the veneration of icons. Due to Stephen’s defence of icon veneration, the emperor accused the abbot of having an affair with a nun named Anna and sent him into exile, despite the nun denying any wrong-doing to the point of dying under torture. In exile, the saint performed healing through the holy icons and so turned more people from iconoclasm.
The enraged emperor transferred the saint to the island of Pharos for trial. Before the judges, Stephen bravely and eloquently defended the veneration of icons. Holding a coin bearing the emperor’s face, he asked, “If any man trample upon the emperor’s image, is he liable to punishment?”. When the judges replied yes, the saint said that an even greater punishment awaited anyone who would dishonor the image of the King of Heaven and His Saints. With that, he spat on the coin, threw it to the ground, and began to trample it underfoot. Dragged from the court, he was imprisoned for a further 11 months. Later, after more deceit from the Emperor Constantine, St Stephen was dragged from his cell, beaten and stoned to death; thus Stephen is given the title “New”, after the similar fate of the first-martyr Stephen. The year was 767.
Lovers of the feasts, from the heart with hymns let us praise in faith
godlike Stephen the lover of the Trinity,
for he honored the fair icon of the Master and of His Mother.
Now let us rejoice together and cry out to him with love:
“Rejoice, ever glorious Father.”
(Kontakion of the feast)
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Life of St Stephen the New (OCA website)
Life of St Theodore the Studite (celebrated Nov 11)
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Detail of bleeding hands on icon of St Nektarios, Rhodes
After yesterday’s post about St Phanourios of Rhodes, current news of a potentially wonder-working icon from the same Greek island. According to various sources, an icon of St Nektarios has been bleeding from the hands since December last year and, and is now starting to attract various pilgrims from around the Orthodox world.
Wonder-working icon of Rhodes
Saint Nektarios is a 20th century saint with an inspiring life-story that is known in detail, and numerous postmortem miracles attributed to him. Reposing in 1920, we have photographs of him and writings that reveal his “voice”, which all contribute to him being an incredibly popular and well-loved saint. Indeed, the Rhodes icon currently bleeding and exuding a myrrh-like fragrance (right) is based on a photograph of the Saint. Relics of impeccable provenance are readily available and kept in various churches in practically every country with a considerable Orthodox presence. Therefore it is no surprise that on the island of the “Holy Revealer” (i.e. St Phanourios), this icon of St Nektarios is garnering international attention.
Bleeding and weeping icons have been discussed here before. In this instance, the priest of the church, Fr Spyridon says: “Do not be afraid; it’s a good thing.” He also goes on to say: “There is no need to wait for something like this to obtain faith and do good deeds. Every day we have to offer ourselves, to be as God wants us to be, to not hate but to forgive.”
Links:
The story as originally reported in English
Article on Saint Nektarios: includes the photograph of St Nektarios upon which the icon is based.
More in depth life of the Saint: from an Orthodox perspective (his feast-day is November 9th)
A Reader's Guide to Orthodox Icons 
