Our Lady of Perpetual Help

This icon ranks as my favorite icon of Mary. It has a very special place in my life; my parish and my diocese are under the patronage of this title of Mary and I have a special devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows. This icon is perhaps the most copied icon in the world and serves as a visible link between the East and West.

This type of icon belongs to a group of icons called the “Hodegetria,” which means literally “She who shows the way.” It is so named because Mary points with her right hand to Jesus, acting as “Directress” to Christ. This particular icon however, because of its distinct elements, is known as the “Theotokos of the Passion.” It is believed that this icon is a true copy of the original icon of Mary written by St. Luke the Evangelist.

There are a few flaws in this icon. Mary does not have a star on her right shoulder though this seems to be because the artist placed it on her head to the left of the main star on her head. This may have been because he was did not know where it went or perhaps because he did not wish to place it over the folds of her mantle. In some copies of this icon, Jesus and Mary are portrayed wearing crowns, which do not belong in iconography. Perhaps most prominently, Mary is wearing a red dress and a blue mantle over her veil. This is different from other depictions of Mary due to the icon’s Western influence.

Theotokos of the Passion (17 century)

The icon was written in Crete in the 15^th or 16^th century during the artistic decline following the sack of Constantinople and had some Italian artistic influence. In the Western Church, red was traditionally associated with blood and humanity, while blue was associated with the heavens and the divine.  While the color scheme is a clear break from traditional coloring in icons, the intention to portray Mary as a human being overshadowed by the divine presence remains. It should be noted however that all other icons of the Theotokos of the Passion use the traditional Eastern color scheme (see right).  While all of these details are incorrect, the theology is very much preserved.

In this icon, Mary directs our attention to Jesus with her right hand. In Mary’s arms is Jesus, looking visibly frightened. He clutches Mary’s hand tightly. A sandal is slipping off one of his feet. This is due to a tradition in which the child Jesus, while playing, was approached by St. Gabriel and St. Michael bearing the instruments of his Passion. He ran to his mother and was quickly picked up, which is why his right foot is hooked around his left and his sandal is slipping off. His face is shown to be older and more mature signifying that he had a divine intellect and knows that what the angels present to him is a vision of things yet to come. His face is calm and reflective, considering what he sees. Yet his body shows that he is terrified. This is reflective of the reality that Jesus experienced while in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. There, he sought to unite his human will and nature with that of the divine will and that of the Cross. It was an extraordinary struggle that showed both of Jesus’ natures distinctly. We see much of that mystery depicted here for our mediation.

St. Michael

St. Gabriel

Jesus looks at the angels who still bear the instruments of his passion. To the right, in the red clothing, we see St. Gabriel, carrying the nails and the Cross , depicted in the traditional Byzantine way with the sign, cross beam, and place for the feet. St. Michael is to the left bearing the lance and the sponge, which are both in the jar of vinegar that he carries. Both of the angels calmly adore Jesus.  Both carry their objects with veiled hands, telling us that these objects are holy and worthy of veneration. This also tells points to the fact that these objects are not so much symbols of his bloody passion as they are of his glorious Resurrection.

Mary looks not at Jesus, but at us. She considers us carefully. In her eyes, which are half closed, we see an expression of ineffable sorrow at what is to come. Yet we also see a look of compassion for all of us, her children, who are grieving because of our sins and sorrows. She desires us to come to her Son for consolation and joy, he who took the Cross for us. She wants us to seek the will of Jesus and to aid us in accomplishing it. This is why, perhaps, this icon was given the formal title of Our Lady of Perpetual Help by Pope Pius IX in 1865.

This icon, which has produced many miracles through the centuries, represents a beautiful expression of some of the most central mysteries of our Catholic faith and draw us closer to our Mother and to Jesus.

The Pantokrator

Jesus Christ Pantokrator

Since Apostolic times, there have been those who have tried to recreate the likeness of Christ. Even at that time, Roman, Egyptian, and Greek art had reached a high level of expression that portraits could practically be taken as photographs. Those who saw his face may have even made his likeness. Eusebius, a church historian during the time of Constantine, attested that he had seen portraits of Christ that dated to apostolic times. This, unfortunately, cannot be historically verified since the Iconoclasm wreaked so much damage to existing icons. Nevertheless, it is not wrong to assume that likenesses of Christ passed on carefully by iconography may in fact be accurate. There are actually icons that match up well with the Shroud of Turin (which has an incredible amount of scientific evidence indicating that it was the burial shroud of Christ).

Perhaps the most common and oldest icon of Christ is the Pantokrator (or Pantocrator). This title is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name El Shaddai, which means “Almighty” or “All-ruler” in English. The name Pantokrator carries with it the connotation of one who has not only done great deeds but continues to do them in the here and now.

In this icon, Christ faces the viewer. Behind Christ’s head is a halo (a symbol of holiness in iconography) inscribed with a Greek cross. In the Greek cross are three letters- omicron, omega, and nu, which spell HO ON or “Who Am” in English. This is the name that God gave Moses at the Burning Bush in Exodus 3:14. This is the all-holy name of God- YHWH or the Tetragrammaton. This name was so holy that it was rarely spoken in Judaism. To use it flippantly was to ask for death.   There are two sets of letters on each side of his head- IC and XC. This is an abbreviated form of that name of Jesus (IHCOYC) Christ (XPICTOC). The entire background behind Christ is gold- symbolizing glory and the divine presence.

His eyes are looking straight forward into the very soul of the viewer. His forehead is high and convex, signifying a seat of wisdom. His nose is long and slender, contributing to a look of nobility. His mouth is small and closed in the silence of contemplation. His hair flows down behind him in rolls, signifying the endless flow of time. His neck and body are powerful and strong- a sign of his divine power and might.

Jesus is usually wearing a red robe clothed with a blue cloak called a himation. The himation can also be green in other icons. The red represents his divinity, the blue or green represents his humanity. Jesus is thus shown to be divine, but clothed in humanity. The himation is distinct from the cloak, giving expression to the dogma that Christ’s natures do not “inter-mingle” but are distinct. The himation is often shown to be tight near Christ’s waist, or a girdle is used to express the teaching that Christ has not shed his humanity when he ascended to heaven, but will remain man forever.

Detail of the right hand giving a blessing

In Christ’s left hand is a book, embossed with a Cross, which denotes that it is a book of Gospels. If the book is opened the icon is not technically an icon called “Christ the Teacher” and not the Pantokrator. When the book is open, there is usually a scriptural verse for the viewer’s instruction.   Christ’s right hand is raised in an unmistakable blessing. The hand that gives the blessing is shaped so that the fingers form the letters IC XC. The index finger is straight up to form an I. The middle finger is curved to show a C. The ring finger and thumb come together to cross, forming an X and the pinky curves to form another C.

All of these features converge together to give us a very powerful image of Christ, in which he is mystically present, striking us at once with fear of the Lord and with love, assuring us that Christ the “All-Ruler” will be there for us despite any hardships or difficulties.

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See the gallery below for other Pantokrator icons.

Written by a monk of Mount Athos (20th century)

From Chilandar, a Serbian Monastery in Northern Greece

From the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople

Theophanes the Greek: Fresco in the center of the cupola of Spas na Ilyine Church (The Church of Transfiguration of Christ) in Novgorod. 1378

Metropolitian Jovan Zograf. From Transfiguration Church in Zrze (nearby Prilep, Pelagonia). 1384