Our Lady of the Gate
The Our Lady of the gate is a Russian Orthodox icon of the Virgin Mary . It can be found today in the Georgian monastery Iviron on Mount Athos in Greece . She is one of the most important icons of the Mother of God in the Orthodox Church and is considered miraculous by the faithful.
Names
The icon of Our Lady of the Gate is also called Panagia Portaitissa ( Greek : Παναγία Πορταΐτισσα) after its Greek name . Other names are - after their current place of storage - Virgin of Iviron , Iberian Madonna or Iwerskaja , after her name in the Russian language (Иверская икона).
Date of origin and legends
The icon of Our Lady of the Gate is said to have been painted by the Evangelist Luke , according to orthodox belief . She is one of the most important icons of the Mother of God in the Orthodox Church and is considered miraculous by the faithful.
According to recent analyzes, the icon is more likely to date from the late 10th or early 11th century. In the early 16th century it was covered with a border made of gold and silver sheet, which only leaves the faces of Mary and the baby Jesus exposed.
The numerous legends that have arisen since the early 16th century about the icon of Our Lady of the Gate and about its origins may be based on traditions from older Georgian sources. However, this cannot be proven with certainty.
Miraculous arrival in Athos
The face of the Blessed Mother shows a wound. She is said to have received this during the Byzantine iconoclasm , when she was willfully damaged by a soldier in Nicaea in Bithynia, thrown into the sea and then miraculously washed up on the beach of Athos.
Naming
Tradition has it that the name of the icon of Our Lady of the Gate goes back to an episode after it was found. After that it was said to have been hung up inside the monastery church several times, but was found again and again in miraculous ways at the entrance.
Icon type
The icon of Our Lady of the Gate belongs to the Byzantine type of Hodegetria, because of the way it is depicted . Their representation is comparable to the icon of the Blessed Mother of Smolensk and the Black Madonna of Częstochowa , which also belong to this type. What these icons have in common is that Mary points with her right hand at the upright child Jesus.
Later copies
Several copies of the icon of Our Lady of the Gate have been made over the years, some of which are themselves considered to be miraculous. For example, the Iberian icon from the 17th century, which has been protecting the entrance to the Kremlin in the Resurrection Gate in Moscow since 1669 . A 17th-century Iverskaya is in the New Maiden Monastery . It has been missing since the October Revolution and was replaced by a new copy in 1995. Other copies can be found in the Bulgarian monastery Roschen (1790) and in Montreal, Canada .
Copy of Our Lady of the Gate, Russia, 17th century
Copy of Our Lady of the Gate, Montreal, 20th century
literature
- Kriton Chryssochoidis: The Portaitissa Icon at Iveron Monastery and the Cult of the Virgin on Mount Athos. In: Maria Vassilaki (Ed.): Images of the Mother of God. Perceptions of the Theotokos in Byzantium. Ashgate, Aldershot et al. 2005, ISBN 0-7546-3603-8 .