The Virgin Mary
The
Virgin Mary is the most popular saint in Greece, which is why the Greeks call
her Panagia, The All Saint or the All Holy, and her life and wonderworking
is recorded in thousands of icons and stories, both from the Bible and popular
belief. Because Mary is such a well-known saint, we will not focus on her
biography here, but rather the many aspects of her life that the Orthodox
church venerates. Mary has thousands of epitaths in Greece, and below, we
will encounter just a few.
Mary was the daughter of St. Joachim and St. Anne and her birth is a popular
motif in icons. In Skiathos Town, the top church
in Plakes, above the Old Harbour, is dedicated to this moment and even though
the locals call the church Panagia Limnia
(the Virgin from Limni) the official name is I Gennisi tis Theotokou,
The Birth of the Mother of God. Here, we find several icons of the Virgin's
birth where St. Anne is seen resting in bed whilst baby Mary is in her cradle.
St. Joachim sits next to them in prayer and one of the servants is offering
St. Anne something to drink.
Another
popular motif is the presentation of young Mary in the temple (left), where
she served until the Archangel Gabriel appeared
to her with a rather important message, the Annunciation. Note that in the
icon of the Presentation everyone, Mary, her parents and the priest, all have
halos, whilst Mary's friends are just two ordinary girls.
The next motif
we encounter is, of course, the Annunciation itself. This moment is called
Evagelismos (Happy Message) and gives its name to the Evagelistria
Monastery on Skiathos. At first glance all Annunciation icons look the
same: the Archangel Gabriel delivering God's message to Mary but if you look
closely you can see that the Virgin's hands differ in the various icons.
In
this first icon we see Mary holding her hand out, as if she is saying "no
way!". The story goes that she did hesitate when given the message that
she was going to be the mother of Christ and
this is depicted by her hand.
In the next Annunciation icon, Mary has accepted her fate and is now holding
her hands towards her heart. She is ready for her task!
A ray of light is pointing towards her and Mary is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Gabriel sometimes holds a lily in his hand,
which signifies the message he delivers to Mary.
We meet
this flower in earlier icons of Mary with her mother St. Anne (right): the
young Virgin holds it to her mother, as if to show her what her fate is. The
lily also symbolises her purity.
As you can see, the Virgin's clothes never really change, and they are almost always blue and red. Blue signifies heaven but also royalty, she is the Queen of Heaven, and the red signifies the blood of Christ and again royalty.
The next chapter
in the Virgin's life is Motherhood and here we encounter the many versions
of Mary and the Child that we have all seen. Each and every one is different
though and subtle differences make them easy to recognise to the Orthodox.
The first three are called Glikofilousa, the Sweet Kisser, and here
we see the Virgin and Child in a tender embrace.
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This
next one is quite unusual and is called the Nursing Virgin. This is actually
one of the earliest ways of depicting Mary and it is believed that this motif
came from the Coptic Christians in Egypt, who borrowed the imagery from the
ancient sculpures of the goddess Isis and her son Horus.
The Hodegetria, The Virgin Who Shows the Way, (below) is much more common and depicts Mary pointing towards Jesus with her hand, telling us to follow him. Because the name also means The Driver, this is a common charm for bus- and taxidrivers in Greece. This icon is considered the oldest one and the original is said to have been painted by the apostle Luke.
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On Skiathos, there are two churches near the Evagelistria Monastery which are called Zodochos Pigis, the Life Giving Well, and here we find icons of the Virgin sitting in or hovering over a fountain with Christ. It symbolises the Virgin as the Life Giver, and if a woman has prayed to this particular one for a child and subsequently has had one, she will name the child Zoe or Zosis (Life) to thank her. The actual well supposedly existed near Constantinople, and pilgrims would flock to it for its healing powers.
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Finally, we come to the death of the Virgin Mary. This icon is called I Kimisi tis Theotokou and really means the Sleep of the Virgin Mary. It is an incredibly moving icon that shows the Virgin having just fallen alseep, surrounded by the apostles. Above her Christ is holding her soul in his arms in the form of a baby. Although this icon can be found in nearly every Orthodox Church there is one particular Church, not far from Kastro, which is dedicated to the moment and subsequently called I Kimisi tis Theotokou.
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On the 15th of August this moment is celebrated all over Greece and a special woven icon of the Sleeping Virgin is carried around in a procession, much in the style of Christ's funeral procession at Easter.
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For a detailed description of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Skiathos Town, see our book "Exploring Skiathos Town".