Queen Virgin Mary & Child Jesus Christ of the Holy Family

1. In Study of Mariology, Christianity & Catholicism:
THE HOLY MOUNTAIN OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT ATHOS
“Mount Athos”, referred to in Greek as the “Agion Oros” (or “'Holy Mountain”), is a
religious place at a forested mountain and peninsula in Greece (Europe), that has been
an important center of the (Eastern) Orthodox (Catholic) Church.
“Mount Athos” is the home to 20 Orthodox (Catholic) monasteries as the religious-
political autonomous entity of the "Athonite State" (or “Athonikí Politía”) and is under the
direct jurisdiction of the “Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople” (headquartered at
Saint George’s Cathedral in Istanbul, Turkey).
The “Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople” (headed by the “Archbishop of
Constantinople–New Rome”) has the Orthodox (Catholic) bishops from the lineage of
Saint Andrew (the Apostle of Jesus), as the founder and first “Bishop of Byzantium”.
Byzantium took on the name of the "City of Constantine" (or Constantinople), after it
became a religious-political base under the (Western) Roman Emperor Constantine I,
and transferred the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium in 330AD, and
designated his new capital officially as “Nova Roma” (or “New Rome”).
Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (272–337; or Constantine I) was the Roman
Emperor who stopped the persecution of the Early Christians, and he took the (Greek)
Christian scripture to establish the “(Western) Christian” religion of the “Roman
(Catholic) Church of Rome” (and the Greek texts were then translated to Latin).
Roman Emperor Constantine became one of the 4 emperors of the “Tetrarchy”, wherein
a government of the empire was divided between the 2 senior emperors, the “augusti”
(meaning “majestic” in honor of the first Roman Emperor Augustus of 27BC); and their
juniors and designated successors as the “caesares” (as a title of “imperial character” in
honor of Julius Caesar, the Roman General & Statesman of the Roman Republic); thus,
from such titles the “(Imperial) Roman (Catholic) Popes” derive such powers.
After the (Western) Roman Empire fell in 476AD, the “Byzantine Empire” (or the
“Eastern Roman Empire”) became the continuation of the “Roman Empire (of Rome)”;
and since 800AD, “Mount Athos” has been inhabited since the Byzantine era, also as a
home for the “Desert Fathers” (or independent Christians that guide those in the World).
In Greek mythology, “Athos” is a giant (allegedly a “mother”) who threw a huge
mountain at an Olympian father god (such as “Zeus”), however, the mountain used as a
weapon then became a “Holy Mountain”.
There are three Marian shrines (of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Lord Jesus Christ) that
form the “Our Lady of Mount Athos”, namely: 1) “The Gate-Keeper Virgin”, 2) “The
Three-Handed Virgin”, and 3) “The Consoling Virgin”; with the following descriptions…

2. A. OUR LADY OF IVERON (“The Gate Keeper Virgin”):
“Our Lady of Iveron” (also known as “Panagia Portaitissa” or the “Iviron Theotokos”) is
an Eastern Orthodox (Catholic) icon of the Virgin Mary that was allegedly painted by
Saint Luke the Evangelist (together with his other “Black Madonna & Child” artworks).
The Virgin Mary icon is referred to as "wonderworking", since numerous miracles have
been attributed to the intercession of the “Theotokos” (or the “Mother of God”, the
mother of Jesus Christ), that were attested by various persons praying before it.
Since 999AD, the original “Our Lady of Iveron” image (from Constantinople) has been
inside the Georgian Iviron monastery on Mount Athos in Greece (Europe); and it is part
of a “Theotokos Family” of images known as “Hodegetria” (or “she who leads the way").
The original “Our Lady of Iveron” image is a “Black Madonna & Child” image together
with the other reported works of Saint Luke, such as the “Our Lady of Czestochowa”
(Poland), “Blessed Mother of Nazare” (Portugal), & “Our Lady of Guadalupe (in
Extramadura, Spain)”, etc. with the “Black Christ Child” sitting on the mother's arm.
A unique characteristic of the “Our Lady of Iveron” icon is a scar on the right cheek, and
tradition says that during the “Iconoclastic Wars” (of battles on what images should be
venerated), a soldier scarred the painting and that blood mysteriously flowed out.
Another story says that “Black Mother & Child” icon was at one time owned by a widow
in Nicaea, and to protect the icon from those of ranks who opposed such monarch
images, she spent all night in prayer and then she has cast the icon into the sea.
The widow's son later went to Mount Athos and became a monk, and he always
recounted the miracle of the bleeding wound; and in 1004, the icon was recovered from
the sea by a Georgian monk named Saint Gabriel (canonized by the Orthodox Church).
Tradition says that monks venerated the Holy Icon, but for several times the icon would
not be found inside the church building, but found on top of the gate of the monastery.
Then Saint Gabriel had seen a vision of the “Theotokos” (Mother Mary), wherein she
revealed that she did not want her icon to be guarded by the monks, but rather she
intended to be their Protectress (as permanently installed above the monastery gates).
The “Our Lady of Iveron” image was then called Portaitissa (or "Gate-Keeper"), as the
title came from a verse of a Marian song for the Mother of God that says: "Rejoice, O
Blessed Gate-Keeper who opens the gates of Paradise to the righteous!"
Orthodox (Catholic) monks and nuns throughout the world often place an icon of the
“Theotokos Iverskaya” on the monastery gates, inside church buildings at the
“iconostasis” (as a wall of icons), above the “Holy Doors”, and looking towards the “Holy
Altar Table”.

3. B. THE TROJERUCICA (“The Three-Handed Virgin”):
“The Trojerucica”, or the "Three-handed Virgin", is a famous wonderworking “Black
Madonna & Child” icon in the Serbian Orthodox monastery of Hilandar on Mount Athos
in Greece (Europe); and it depicts the “Theotokos” (The Virgin Mary) with the young
Child Jesus in the “hodegetria” position.
The “Virgin Hodegetria” is an iconographic depiction of the Virgin Mary holding the Child
Jesus at her side while pointing to him as the source of salvation for humankind; while
the Virgin Mary's head usually inclines towards the Child Jesus who raises his hand in a
blessing gesture, while the Holy Icon is also called “Our Lady of the Way”.
According to tradition, the “Three-handed Virgin” icon was in the possession of Saint
John of Damascus around the year 717, and it is associated with his miraculous
healings in the early 8th century.
Saint John of Damascus (675-749; also known as John Damascene and "the golden
speaker") was a Christian monk and priest, and one of the “Fathers of the Eastern
Orthodox (Catholic) Church”, and the (Roman) Catholic Church regards him as a
“Doctor of the Church”, as often referred to as the “Doctor of the Assumption” due to his
numerous writings on the “Assumption of Mary”.
According to tradition, while the saint was serving a high-ranking political advisor to a
(caliph) minister in the Muslim world, he was oppressed by an (Eastern) Roman
Emperor because he disagreed with the veneration of the “Mother & Child” images.
Allegedly, he was falsely accused of treachery and his hand was cut off, but when he
prayed in front of an icon of the “Theotokos” (The Mother of God), his hand was
miraculously restored.
In thanksgiving, he had a silver image of a hand and placed on the “Theotokos” icon to
commemorate the miracle of healing given to him by “Mother Mary & the Child Jesus”.
Thus, the Holy Icon became known as "three-handed", because the Mother Mary image
was given “another hand” (two from the “Theotokos” plus one more, a mysterious hand
from one side) that also meant “extra help from someone in secret”.
Saint John Damascene became a monk at a monastery outside the “City of Jerusalem”
(where Jesus was crucified by the Jews & the Romans in the “Old Jerusalem”); and
then the saint gave the icon to the monastic community there, who later gave the icon
as a present to Saint Sava the Enlightener (1174–1236).
As a Serbian Prince and Orthodox (Catholic) monk, Saint Sava lived at Mount Athos
and he established the Hilandar monastery as an important religious Serbian center,

4. where he wrote the first constitution of the country in inspiration of the “Three-handed
Virgin”.
C. PANAGIA PARAMYTHEA (“The Consoling Virgin”):
The “Panagia Paramythia”, also called the “Mother of Consolation” and “The Consoling
Virgin”, is an 8th century miraculous icon of the (Black) Holy Virgin Mary & the Child
Jesus from the Great Monastery of Vatopedi at Mount Athos in Greece (Europe).
According to tradition, the son of the Great Roman Emperor fell off a ship and into the
sea; and through the miraculous intercession of the “Theotokos” (The Virgin Mary), he
was carried safely to shore unharmed, and he was found sleeping in a bush near the
monastery.
Thus, the name of the monastery “Vatopedi” was derived from the Greek words
combined that meant “the bush of the child”.
One tradition says that the original expression on the faces of the figures and the
position of the bodies of Christ and the Blessed Virgin on the Holy Icon have changed
when they miraculously warned the clergy.
On the month of January, there were pirates who had secretly landed on the shores of
the monastery and they were hiding, waiting for the gates to open in the morning in
order to launch an attack on the church buildings to loot whatever treasures they could
get and sell for money.
After the morning prayer service, the Abbot (chief monk) remained behind in order to
continue his prayers; but then, he heard the Blessed Virgin Mary speak from her
“Theotokos” icon, and she said the following words:
"Do not open the gates of the monastery today, but go up on the walls and drive away
the pirates."
As he turned to look, he saw the “Theotokos” image of the Virgin Mary turn towards her
right shoulder and she looked at him; but the Holy Child Jesus stretched out his hand to
cover the mouth of his mother, and he said:
"No, Mother, do not watch over that sinful flock, let them fall under the anger of the
pirates and be punished as they deserve."
But the Blessed Virgin Mary took her Son's hand and she placed his hand with her
hand, and turning her head a little to free her mouth, she then repeated the same
words:
“Do not open the gates of the monastery today, but go up on the walls and drive away
the pirates."

5. Then the final arrangement of the figures has remained permanently on the Holy Icon,
and thus, the image of “Mother Mary & the Child Jesus” was titled as “Achaeropito”,
meaning: “made without hands” (or something that’s naturally good).
The chosen monks, miraculously saved from the pirates, then gave thanks to the
“Theotokos” (The Virgin Mary), and they named the icon as "Paramythia", meaning
"calming down", “comforting”, or "with self-control” to describe the miracle.
IN CONCLUSION:
Therefore, even if the three images of the Blessed Virgin Mary carrying the mother of
Lord Jesus Christ were that of the unique “Black (or Brown) Madonna & Child”,
however, Eastern Orthodox (Catholic) spirituality focuses on venerating the love of the
Virgin Mary as the holy mother of the Child Jesus.
Thus, the entire life of Jesus Christ has been venerated through the Holy Icons that
depicts the “Mother & Son” relationship, particularly that of a Hold Child, to form the
minds and hearts of the young children that Jesus became a savior from the womb to
the Cross to the Resurrection, primarily because of the love of his Blessed Mother Mary,
whom is also our heavenly mother.
(researched)