Transfiguration of Christ Our Lord icon (3)

$ 19.00

Mounted on wood Sizes

3 x 5 4 X 6 5 X 7 6 X 8 8 X 11 11 x 17

Quantity

Contemporary orthodox icon of the Transfiguration of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ (3). Copy if an icon of Theophanis, Mount Athos 16 cent.

Commemorated August 6th.

The event portrayed in this Orthodox icon is recorded in Scripture (Matthew 17:1, Mark 9:2 , Luke 9:28 ). Jesus took three of His trusted disciples, Peter, James, and John, to the top of Mount Tabor. There the full glory of His divinity was revealed to them. Jesus was transfigured. His face shone like the sun, and His garments became glistening white. Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ.

A bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice came from the cloud saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him." Hearing this the disciples fell on their faces filled with awe. Jesus came to them and told them to not be afraid. This divine light that the disciples witnessed is the divine light of which we all can become partakers. We are to strive to purify ourselves so we will become worthy of God's grace to be united with Him like the disciples were on Mount Tabor.

Gregory Palamas says: "Let us, considering the Mystery of the Transfiguration of the Lord in accord with their teaching, strive to be illumined by this Light ourselves and encourage in ourselves love and striving towards the Unfading Glory and Beauty, purifying our spiritual eyes of worldly thoughts and refraining from perishable and quickly passing delights and beauty which darken the garb of the soul and lead to the fire of Gehenna and everlasting darkness. Let us be freed from these by the illumination and knowledge of the incorporeal and ever-existing Light of our Savior transfigured on Tabor, in His Glory, and of His Father from all eternity, and His Life-Creating Spirit, Whom are One Radiance, One Godhead, and Glory, and Kingdom, and Power now and ever and unto ages of ages."

Orthodox Icon of the Nativity, the child-Christ and His mother are shown in a cave, surrounded by impossibly sharp, inhospitable, rocks which reflect the cruel world into which Jesus was born. Christ child is shown in a manger in a cave. In this time period animals were not sheltered in wooden barns, but in caves and recesses in the hills, and so this stable is shown in the Icon. In the top center we see the Star representing the heavens and the Holy Trinity which sends down a single shaft towards the baby Jesus. This represents the star that is being followed by the Magi, the wise Persians from the East, who are bearing gifts to the Christ.

But they are shown in the distance, still on their journey. They are not there. Along the top of the rocks are angels bringing the glad tidings of the birth of the world's Savior. On the right, the shepherds who are people not highly regarded by anyone else. They are the first to be given the Good News of Jesus birth. But they are also shown outside of the cave, still by their flocks. They too are not at Christ's side yet. Besides His mother, the only company Jesus Christ has in the first few hours of His earthly life are a lowly ox and Donkey.

The presence of the Ox and the Donkey in the Nativity icon fulfills one of many prophecies in the Old Testament book of Isaiah:The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib (Isaiah 1:3). Here the animals are also shown providing warmth to Jesus by their breath. in the center bottom is a Jesse Tree.Named after an Old Testament patriarch, the tree's presence is to remind us of another fulfilled prophecy from Isaiah:A shoot shall sprout from the stump (tree) of Jesse and from his roots a bud shall blossom.

The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him (Isaiah 11:1-2). On bottom right we see a midwife.According to the Evangelium, Joseph brought along two women a midwife and a woman called Salome to help with the birth of Jesus. Salome is identified with a woman who later became a disciple of Christ, was the mother of the Apostles James and John, and was one of the women who discovered the empty tomb after Christ's resurrection. Joseph is found in the bottom left of the icon, away from his betrothed and her Son.

He seen listening to an old man and looks troubled. He is beset with new doubts regarding this birth, and these doubts are delivered to him by satan in the form of an old man. icon also acknowledges, as do the hymns of the Church, the great mystery of this event.

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