Orthodox Byzantine Icons of the Lord

[Mayda]

Christ The Life-Giver



Date: 20th c. (Late) Heritage: Greek
L ocation: Theotokos Monastery, Myreleou, Greece

Christ blesses us with His right hand, His fingers formed into the shape of the Greek letters "IC XC", the abbreviation in Greek for "Jesus Christ". He holds in His left arm a jewel-studded Book of the Gospel. His blessing hand is turned inward as if to remind us that He is the Great Blessing, granting us to receive this incalculable gift: the opportunity to repent and inherit eternal life.

From the prototype of the first icon of Christ, miraculously made by the Saviour Himself, He is traditionally shown with a short beard and having long dark brown hair with reddish highlights, parted in the middle. Christ is shown with an outer blue robe, symbolizing the Humanity that He put on at His Incarnation, and with an inner red robe, representing His Divinity that remains for all eternity. In the cross, in the nimbus or halo around His head, are the Greek letters for "I AM" to remind us that although Incarnate in time, Jesus Christ is God before the ages, even before Abraham, and He is the same God Who spoke with Moses face to face. This loving Lord calls us to Him, and it is He Who also is the Creator and the Giver of Life