Orthodox Mom

View Original

15 Days for Panagia {day 8}

I wanted to post some of the different icons of Panagia and St. Joseph that Konstantina had sent me after my post on Day 2. She said the following in a comment,

"I am studying them for my masters degree I come across lots of material that is and is not Orthodox. The icon you have in this post, although nicely depicting St. Joseph with gray hair, is not Orthodox. It is influenced by the Roman Catholic idea of the holy family, which for reasons you mentioned in the post, is not how the Orthodox view of their betrothal. He was her guardian, not Christ's earthly father and for this reason a strictly Orthodox icon would not depict the three of them as a family the way St. Anna and St. Joachim are depicted with Panagia."

Here are a couple of them:This one is of the Flight int Egypt. I especially like how St. James, the brother of the Lord (one of St. Joseph's 8 children) is also depicted.This one is a little difficult to see but if you enlarge it you will see many of the events from Christ's early life depicted. I'm not sure what the name of this particular icon is though...Konstantina? :)Also, Elenie recently posted some very beautiful icons on her Scribd group, Orthodox Christian Education Resources, from the Life of the Panagia. They also have brief descriptions of the icons, including the meaning behind some of the colors chosen, etc. One that really caught my attention was of The Betrothal. It shows St. Joseph holding his rod with the 3 blooms and it also depicts Panagia and St. Joseph accurately in age. It's very lovely, be sure to check it out!Thank you guys for sharing these things with us!!