This document discusses various aspects of icons and saints in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. It covers icons of Christ, the creation of man in God's image, Christ's two natures, the synergy of God and man shown in other persons like saints, the role of saints as examples, teachers and intercessors, sometimes conveying important theological teachings. It then discusses the Theotokos (Virgin Mary), her major doctrines like being the new Ark, ever virgin, Queen Mother and new Eve. It covers her role in icons of mourning Jesus and leading the myrrh-bearers. Finally, it discusses Christ's sinless death and resurrection for our justification and salvation.

1. Doorway from Heaven and Windows
into Heaven: Saints, Icons, and Mary

2. Christ Pantocrator –
“Christ the Almighty”
“The Son is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn over all creation.” –
Col. 1:15 NIV
“Don’t you know me, Phillip, even
after I have been among you such a
long time? Anyone who has seen me
has seen the Father. How can you say,
‘show us the Father?’” – John 14:9 NIV
“For my eyes have seen your
salvation.” – Luke 2:30 NIV
“That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have
looked at and our hands have touched
– this we proclaim concerning the
Word of Life.” – 1 John 1:1 NIV

3. Man Created in
God’s Image
“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind
in our image, in our likeness, so that
they may rule over the fish in the sea
and the birds in the sky, over the
livestock and all the wild animals, and
over all the creatures that move along
the ground.’” – Genesis 1:26 NIV
“When Adam had lived 130 years, he
had a son in his own likeness, in his
own image; and he named him Seth.”
– Genesis 5:3 NIV
“Whoever sheds human blood, by
humans shall their blood be shed; for
in the image of God has God made
mankind.” – Genesis 9:6 NIV

4. Christ is Two Natures
in One Person
Christ is the Divine Hypostasis , the
Logos, being the second Person of the
Holy Trinity. He as the Person of the
Son is the image of the invisible Father,
and He also has full humanity which
was created in the image of God.
Christ as incarnate is both the Alpha in
His divinity and the Omega in His
ascended humanity. There is a perfect
synergy between the two natures in
His Person.
Details: Notice Christ in this icon – He
is wrapped in burial wraps and his bed
is a tomb. Also, He is born in a cave,
and He will be laid in a cave. Some
elements of this icon are borrowed
from the Protoevangelium of James.

5. The Synergy of God
and Man is Shown in
other Persons
“And we all, who with unveiled faces
contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being
transformed into his image with ever-
increasing glory, which comes from the
Lord, who is the Spirit.” – 2 Cor. 3:18
NIV
“ I am the vine; you are the branches.
If you remain in me and I in you, you
will bear much fruit; apart from me
you can do nothing. If you do not
remain in me, you are like a branch
that is thrown away and withers; such
branches are picked up, thrown into
the fire and burned. If you remain in
me and my words remain in you, ask
whatever you wish, and it will be done
for you. This is to my Father’s glory,
that you bear much fruit, showing
yourselves to be my disciples.” – John
15:5-8 NIV

6. Saints are Examples,
Teachers, and
Intercessors for us
Just as in the Old Testament, the name of
someone or something “gave power” to
those who knew it, so to the name given
to us in Baptism also gives us spiritual
fathers./mothers. While we are baptized
in the Name of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit, we are often given names
of saints. These names in Orthodoxy
have meaning to them or their parents
and are meant to be an example for the
new Christians in their life. We learn
from them and ask for their prayers to
Christ the One Mediator between God
and man. They are our friends who are
alive in Christ.
Sometimes our names are given to us by
our parents.
“O Christopher, robed in the purple of
your martyrdom, You came before the
Lord of heaven; Therefore with the choirs
of angels, You now sing the Thrice-Holy
Hymn. Intercede for the salvation of
those who honor you.” – Troparion for
Martyr Christopher of Lycia

7. Sometimes Saints
Teach us Not Just as
Moral Examples
At other times, saints’ names are taken
because they have an important
teaching or writings with which to
instruct us in our Christian life. As a
theologian, and with the name
Christopher, it only made sense I chose
a saint at my
Chrismation/Confirmation whose
Christology and ascetical writings I
place myself under, and whose title of
“confessor” was earned by his
conviction of who Christ was.
“Champion of Orthodoxy, teacher of
purity and of true worship,
enlightener of the universe and
adornment of hierarchs: all-wise
father Maximus, your teachings have
gleamed with light upon all things.
Intercede before Christ God to save
our souls” – Troparion for St. Maximus
the Confessor

8. The Highest Saint – the Theotokos
Theotokos Hodigitria – the
Mother of God, the Way Shower
The Dormition of the Theotokos – The
Mother’s Soul is held by Her Son and God

9. Prayers and Hymns
to the Theotokos
“Most Holy Theotokos, save us.”
“O Victorious Leader of Triumphant
Hosts! We thy servants, delivered from
evil, sing our grateful thanks to thee, O
Theotokos! As thou possessest
invincible might, set us free from every
calamity so that we may sing: Rejoice,
O Unwedded Bride! “ – Kontakion to
the Mother of God
“Forasmuch as thou art a well-spring
of tenderness, O Theotokos, make us
worthy of compassion; Look upon a
sinful people; Manifest thy power as
ever, for hoping on thee as we cry
aloud unto thee: Hail! As once did
Gabriel, Chief Captain of the Bodiless
Powers.” – Prayer before the icon of
the Theotokos

10. Mary is the Virgin
Mother of God
Mary gave birth to the Person of the
Logos and He took flesh from her,
having come from a virgin womb as
Adam was made from virgin soil
(Irenaeus reference).
“All of creation rejoices in you, O full of
grace: the assembly of angels and the
human race. You are a sanctified
temple and a spiritual paradise, the
glory from whom God was incarnate
and became a child; our God, existing
before all ages. He made your womb a
throne, and your body more spacious
than the heavens. All of creation
rejoices in you, O full of grace. Glory to
you.” – Hymn to the Theotokos, Liturgy
of St. Basil
“But why am I so favored, that the
mother of my Lord should come to
me?” – Luke 1:43 NIV

11. Major Marian
Doctrines
Mary is seen as the new Ark, for she
contained in her womb He who gave
the Law, was its fulfillment, the bud
of Aaron’s staff, and the Mana from
Heaven.
“The cherubim spread their wings
over the place of the ark and
overshadowed the ark and its
carrying poles.” – 1 Kings 8:7 NIV
“The angel answered, “The Holy
Spirit will come on you, and the
power of the Most High will
overshadow you. So the holy one to
be born will be called the Son of
God.” – Luke 1:35 NIV
The overshadowing is represented by
the color of divinity (red) covering her
blue from the waters of creation.
This is the exact opposite of her Son’s
inner red with blue garment outside.
She is overshadowed with divinity, he
is tabernacled in the flesh.

12. Mary is the Ever
Virgin
Mary was a virgin before, during, and
after Christ’s birth.
“Then the man brought me back to
the outer gate of the sanctuary, the
one facing east, and it was shut. The
LORD said to me, ‘This gate is to remain
shut. It must not be opened; no one
may enter through it. It is to remain
shut because the LORD, the God of
Israel, has entered through it. The
prince himself is the only one who may
sit inside the gateway to eat in the
presence of the LORD. He is to enter by
way of the portico of the gateway and
go out the same way.’” – Ezek. 44:1-3
NIV
The 3 stars; one on each shoulder and
one on her head show this in icons.

13. Mary is “Our Lady,” the
New Eve, and the Mother
of the Church
She is the Queen Mother, and it makes
sense, since Christ is the King of Israel,
and the one greater than Solomon, so
too should she who is His mother be
greater than Bathsheba. As Elizabeth
said, she is “the mother of my Lord.”
Just as Christ repairs Adam’s will by
assenting to the will of God in
Gethsemane (Luke 22:42), and she
consents to God’s will that Christ be
her child (Luke 1:38), even though “His
death was a sword that pierced her
heart as well” (Luke 2:35).
“Do not lament Me, O Mother, seeing
Me in the tomb, the Son conceived in
the womb without seed; for I shall
arise, and be glorified; and, as God, I
shall unceasingly exalt all who extol
Thee in faith and in love.” - 9th ode
Matins of Holy Saturday

14. Mary Mourns Her Son and Leads the Myrrh Bearers – A
Sword Shall Pierce Your Heart
The ultimate Jewish tragedy – a male in his 30s dies without a family of
His own at the hands of His enemies and abandoned/betrayed by His
friends, with His mother and female friends left to mourn.

15. By Virtue of Christ’s
Sinless Death…
Christ calls us to take up our cross,
deny ourselves, and follow Him. He
goes to Jerusalem, to Calvary, to die
willingly as the sacrifice that gives an
answer from the Father.
Christ’s death was the death that
spoke a greater word than the blood of
righteous Abel. It released the Spirit
and raised the Dead. So too, in our
baptism, we have been united with
Christ’s death and resurrection. We
live with the wedding garment having
been rescued from death and sin and
made alive to Christ Jesus.
Saints are those who have run the race
set before them. In repentance we
have faith working in love for God and
our neighbor. We deny our sin and
seek to take all our thoughts captive to
Christ in repentance (metanoia).

16. …He was Raised for
Our Justification
Because we died a death like His in
baptism, at the end of the race is a
resurrection like His…one to life and to
the inheritance prepared by the Father
for us before the foundation of the
world (Matt. 25:34).
“Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling down death by death, and
upon those in the tombs bestowing
life.” – Troparion of the Resurrection
Icon: Christ raises up Adam and Eve in
the “bloodstained garments of victory”
with their coffin lids in the shape of
the cross. To His right is St. John the
Forerunner proclaiming Him even in
Hades to David and Solomon, while on
His left is Abel and other OT saints.
Under Him often is portrayed an old
man (death) or Satan the enemy of
humanity.

17. Icon Details: Holy
Trinity
This icon is already an interpretation
from the icon “the Hospitality of
Abraham.” Abraham and Sarah are
removed with the three visitors, the
one in the middle is the pre-incarnate
Christ with two other angels flanking
Him representing the Father and Holy
Spirit. Notice Christ’s garments…red
for divinity because His hypostasis is
divine, and the blue for the waters of
creation as He took on flesh. The
other two angels are forming a cup
from the way they are facing, with
Christ in the midst. This icon is
inherently Eucharistic, emphasizing
the flesh and blood of Christ as the
ultimate expression of God’s love for
us, but also for our way to have the life
of the Holy Trinity.

18. Parables – Christ is the Point

19. More Parables!!!

20. “I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; No One
Comes to the Father but Through Me”