For Each Occasion of Our Life and Faith
Icons are our window into heaven. For every moment of our lives, let icons and the words of the Saints guide our way towards salvation.
Lent & Holy Week
The Resurrection
The icon of The Resurrection is the definitive icon of Pascha, celebrating the absolute triumph over death by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The icon depicts Jesus Christ descending into Hades and pulling Adam and Eve from the tombs, symbolizing His victory back to the very beginning of mankind. The two golden bars under Jesus’ feet (note that His feet and hands still carry the signs of His crucifixion) are the gates of Hades which He has broken open. On the left of the icon, we see David and Solomon, representing those who died before Jesus’ crucifixion, waiting patiently in Hades for their Messiah. On the right side of the icon, we see Abel as a shepherd, the first person to die as a result of the Fall, as well as Saint John the Baptist, the final Prophet before the Messiah. In the darkness below, keys, locks & chains symbolize that He has entered and conquered both death and Hades.
The Crucifixion
Matching the deepest point of sorrow and lamentation during Holy Week, the icon of The Crucifixion shows Jesus Christ on the Cross, flanked by the Theotokos and John the Theologian. Blood spills from His hands, feet and side, as our Lord's body slides down the Cross towards death. But just as the Holy Friday services, called "Lamentations", look forward to the Resurrection, so, too, does the icon of the Crucifixion look past the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The Old Testament Prophets who prophesied Christ's death and resurrection surround the icon (Moses, Isaiah, Malachi and Jeremiah), reminding us that, as foretold, our Lord will vanquish - and already has vanquished - death for all time!
The Extreme Humility of Jesus Christ
The Extreme Humility of Jesus Christ depicts Jesus Christ, the Immortal God who created the universe, suffering as described in the Holy Week Gospels. He was reduced to the most humbling of circumstances, publicly put to death as a common criminal in a brutal and humiliating execution, betrayed by one of His closest followers for a handful of silver. Christ’s hands bear the bloody marks of the nails and His side still bleeds from the wound inflicted by a soldier. His head is inclined, eyes closed, in suffering and death. Only a God Who loves humanity deeply, passionately, would undergo such a terrible trial at the hands of His creation.