Description
Icon of the Holy Virgin of the Life-Giving Spring on Naturally Aged Wood
An exceptional representation of the Holy Virgin of the Life-Giving Spring on naturally aged wood.
The feast of the Holy Virgin of the Life-Giving Spring is celebrated on the Friday of Bright Week, after Pascha. This feast was established during the Byzantine period, in the 5th century.
In Constantinople, a holy spring of the Virgin was found by Emperor Leo I (457–474). Next to it, Leo built a magnificent church dedicated to the Life-Giving or Life-Bearing Spring, referring to the Virgin Mary. The Virgin is called this because she bore the giver of life, Jesus Christ, in her womb. Therefore, there could be no more fitting name for the spring that continuously flowed with healing waters for the faithful.
The inauguration of the church, which is known to all as the Church of the Virgin of Balukli, was held on the Friday of Bright Week. From the memory of the church’s dedication, the Church established the annual commemoration of the Holy Virgin of the Life-Giving Spring on this same day.
This is the first feast of the Theotokos after the Resurrection of Christ. This feast is not so much a remembrance of a great event as a reminder and celebration of the living reality that the Virgin Mary is the source of life. She brought into the world the Life-Giving Christ, the Savior of the world.
On Mount Athos, there are dozens of cells or huts, some of which are centuries old and often require restoration work. During these restorations, beams, doors, shutters, or anything else that has been damaged are replaced. However, the old wood resulting from these works is not discarded but carefully gathered, cut, and preserved by the monks to be turned into small works of art, specifically icons, which carry with them the blessings of the monks who lived in the cells from which the wood originates. Through the “Athos Heritage,” these collectible icons can be found in the hands of people who long to keep a piece of the living Athonite tradition.
As the image is handmade and the wood treatment is done by hand, there may be small variations in the wood, but not in the depiction itself.
The image is available upon order.
Dimensions: 19.5 x 25 x 2.5 cm
Origin: Mount Athos
