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.

Identifying Mary in Iconography

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:

Icon of the Theotokos “Odigitria” (“Directress”), painted by the Fathers of Vatopedi Monastery, Mount Athos

Theotokos Life Giving Spring

Mother of the Sign

Theotokos of the Passion

Glykophylousa

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