Virgin Mary Glykophilousa – Silkscreen on Naturally Aged Wood – Mount Athos

Description

Silkscreen of Virgin Mary Glykophilousa on Naturally Aged Wood

Icon on naturally aged wood depicting Virgin Mary Glykophilousa.

According to tradition, the original icon was saved during the Iconoclasm by a woman named Victoria, the wife of a senator. She secretly venerated the icon at her home despite the prohibition. During a search by iconoclasts, Victoria took the icon and went to the sea. With tears in her eyes, she prayed to the Virgin Mary to protect it. After venerating it one last time, she cast the icon into the sea, hoping that a miracle would preserve it.

Indeed, the icon did not sink but stood upright and floated on the waters until it reached the port of the Philotheou Monastery on Mount Athos. Since then, the miraculous icon has been housed in that monastery.

The naturally aged wood used for these icons comes from cells on Mount Athos that are being restored. These pieces of wood have absorbed the prayers of the monks who lived in the cells and carry a small part of Mount Athos’s long history. Monks refuse to discard pieces of their heritage; instead, they transform them into extraordinary works of art with their skilled hands. The cracks running through the surface of the wood attest to its history and its previous use in a cell of the Athonite State.

Since the icon is handmade and the wood is manually processed, there may be slight variations in the wood but not in the depiction.

The icon is available upon order.

Origin: Mount Athos

Dimensions: 32 x 24 x 2 cm