The Icon of Our Lady of the Incarnation
(Our Lady of the Sign, Znamenie)
Acrylic & gold leaf on wood panel
42 x 30 x 3 cm, 2023
The name of the iconographic type "Incarnation", in which the Mother of God is depicted with raised hands and Christ Emmanuel in a medallion, is connected with the prophecy of Isaiah: "A young woman is now with child, and she will give birth to a son, and she will give him the name Immanuel" (Is 7 :14). In Byzantine iconography, the appearance of God to Moses in an unburnt bush on Mount Sinai was considered a prototype of the incarnation of Christ. A bush engulfed in flames was compared to the womb of the Mother of God, which remained unburnt, having received the deity. The fire was considered a type of Christ, who is " The true light, which gives light to every man, was then coming into the world." (John 1:9).
