Holy Infants – Serigraph on Naturally Aged Wood – Mount Athos

Description

Serigraph Depicting the Holy Innocents on Naturally Aged Wood

This is a beautiful image on naturally aged wood, clearly showing the cracks and antiquity, elements that enhance its unique value. Specifically, this image stands out not only for its theme of the Holy Innocents and the stunning serigraphy technique, but also for the wood used as its base. The monk who created this image used naturally aged wood from a restored cell of Mount Athos.

14,000 infants were slaughtered by King Herod, who, upon learning from the Magi (who, following the angel’s command, did not return to inform him of the location of the Christ child after worshipping Him), devised another plan to destroy the divine infant. He had heard that, according to the Scriptures, the birthplace of Christ would be Bethlehem. Since he did not know where exactly the child would be, or whether He was within Bethlehem or its surroundings, and because he assumed the child would be under two years old, Herod ordered all the children under two in Bethlehem and its vicinity to be killed. The massacre occurred suddenly so that the families would not have time to flee with their infants, and the tragic mothers witnessed their children being slaughtered in their own arms.

The Christian Church rightfully declared these children as Holy, for they died at an innocent age and were, in a sense, the first martyrs of Christianity. While they were not baptized with water, they were baptized in the blessed blood of their martyrdom. Their memory is honored on December 29th.

It is worth noting that the relics (perhaps some) of the Holy Innocents are kept in Constantinople, at the Church of St. James the Brother of the Lord, which was built by Emperor Justinian.

Since the image is handmade and the wood processing is done by hand, there may be slight variations in the wood, but not in the depiction.

The image is available upon request.

Dimensions: 27.5 x 19 x 2 cm

Origin: Mount Athos