Panagia Pathous
No person other than Christ is portrayed more than the Holy Mother of God. This should not be surprising since Mary’s entire existence signifies the Incarnation- of God becoming man, which is the central dogma of our faith. Besides this, no other person resembles Jesus more than Mary his mother.
As mentioned earlier, there are clear rules as to how icons are to be written and certain rules as how one portrays particular persons. The Mother of God can always be recognized by the combination of these rules:
Her name
Mary’s image can always be recognized because of her name, or rather her title, of Mater Theos (Mother of God) written (usually) in Greek shorthand on each side of her head. This is signified with the letters ΜΡ ΘΥ. However, some icons may not necessarily have this inscription around her head.
Her Clothing
Mary is always shown wearing a blue veil, typical of Jewish women of her day, signifying her humility and piety in the presence of God. Over the veil is a shroud, which is almost always red- a color signifying the divine- and also lays over the top of her dress, which is almost always blue or – signifying her humanity. There are a few exceptions to this, primarily western, in which the arrangement between the color of the veil and the shroud is reversed. This arrangement is the exact opposite of Christ, whose outer garments are blue over red and signify that he wears his humanity over his divinity. The arrangement on Mary calls to mind Gabriel’s words to Mary at the Annunciation: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you.” (Lk 1:35) In icons that include her full length figure, Mary wears scarlet slippers, a type of footwear that that was forbidden by Byzantine law to anyone outside of the members of the imperial family.
Stars
Mary is always portrayed with three stars representing her threefold inviolate virginity- before, during, and after Mary’s pregnancy. This is yet another way of using dogma as an identifying feature of a person’s identity. These stars can always be found on the top of her head and her two shoulders (excepting of course the icons in which the Christ-child covers a shoulder).
The Christ Child
Mary is most often (but not always) portrayed holding the Christ-child and it is this that almost always makes her unmistakable (though not necessarily, as you can see with the icon to the left of St. Anne and the Mary-child). The way to know Christ is by his halo. In other icons in which Mary is alone, the other details make her known.
All of this serves to point us ultimately to Jesus Christ, in whom Mary’s entire identity is faithfully entwined. Without Jesus, we would know absolutely nothing of Mary, which makes Mary the quickest and most easy way of finding Jesus.
Other icons of the Theotokos are below:
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