A question about icons

[the_Abbot]

I received the Orthodox Study Bible recently and I was reading the part about images. Anyways it states that St. Luke the Evangelist made at least three icons. My question is do these icons still exist somewhere?

 

[Greg the byzantine]

I received the Orthodox Study Bible recently and I was reading the part about images. Anyways it states that St. Luke the Evangelist made at least three icons. My question is do these icons still exist somewhere?

There are a few traditions that say these Icons still exist. Although there are more than three that are attributed to him (most are probably not the originals painted by Saint Luke the Apostle and Physician).

A few that I can think of off the bat:

Salus Populi Romani:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salus_Populi_Romani]Salus Populi Romani - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Salus Populi Romani is one of the so-called "Luke images" of which there are many throughout the world. These were believed to have been painted from the life by Saint Luke himself. According to the legend: "after the Crucifixion, when Our Lady moved to the home of St. John, she took with her a few personal belongings--among which was a table built by the Redeemer in the workshop of St. Joseph. When pious virgins of Jerusalem prevailed upon St. Luke to paint a portrait of the Mother of God, it was the top of this table that was used to memorialize her image. While applying his brush and paints, St. Luke listened carefully as the Mother of Jesus spoke of the life of her son, facts which the Evangelist later recorded in his Gospel. Legend also tells us that the painting remained in and around Jerusalem until it was discovered by St. Helena in the fourth century. Together with other sacred relics, the painting was transported to Constantinople where her son, Emperor Constantine the Great, erected a church for its enthronement." [6]

Theotokos of Kykkos:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kykkos_Monastery

According to tradition, a virtuous hermit called Esaias was living in a cave on the mountain of Kykkos. One day, the Byzantine governor of the island Doux Manuel Voutoumites, who was spending the summer at a village of Marathasa because of the heat of the season, went into the forest to hunt. Having lost his way in the forest he met Monk Esaias and asked him to show him the way. The hermit who was not interested in the things of this world would not answer his questions. Voutoumites got angry at the monk's indifference and called him names and even maltreated him. Not long after, when the Doux returned to Nicosia, he fell ill with an incurable illness by the name of lethargia. In his terrible condition he remembered how inhumanly he had treated the hermit Esaias and asked God to cure him so that he might go to ask the hermit personally for forgiveness. And this came to pass. But God had appeared in front of the hermit and revealed to him that the very thing that had happened had been planned by the divine will and advised him to ask Voutoumites to bring the icon of the Virgin, that had been painted by the Apostle Luke, to Cyprus.
The icon was kept in the imperial palace at Constantinople. When Boutoumites heard the hermit's wish he was taken aback because he considered such a thing impossible. Then Esaias explained to him that it was a matter of divine wish and they agreed to travel together to Constantinople for the realization of their aim.

Time was passing and Voutoumites could not find the right opportunity to present himself in front of the emperor and ask for the icon. For this reason he provided Esaias with other icons and other necessary things and sent him back to Cyprus, at the same time placating him that he would soon see the emperor. By divine dispensation the daughter of the emperor had fallen ill with the same illness that had struck Voutoumites. The latter grasped the opportunity and went to see the Emperor Alexios III Angelos. He recounted to him his personal experience with the monk Esaias and assured him that his daughter would be cured if he sent to Cyprus the holy icon of the Virgin. In his desperation the emperor, seeing that he had no other option, agreed. His daughter became well instantly. The emperor, however, not wanting to be parted from the icon of the Virgin, called a first-class painter and ordered him to paint an exact copy of the icon with the aim of sending this one to Cyprus.

In the evening the Mother of God herself appears in a dream of the emperor's and tells him that her wish is for her icon to be sent to Cyprus and for the copy to be kept by the emperor. On the following day the royal boat with the icon of the Virgin departed for Cyprus where Esaias was awaiting for it. During the procession of the icon from the coast to the Troodos Mountains, according to legend, the trees, participating in the welcoming ceremonies, were piously bending their trunks and branches. With patronage provided by the emperor Alexios Komnenos a church and monastery were built at Kykkos, where the icon of the Virgin was deposited.
According to another tradition, still preserved by the people, a bird with human voice was flying around the area singing:
Kykkou, Kykkou, Kykkos' hill
A monastery the site shall fill
A golden girl shall enter in
And never shall come out again
The "golden girl" is, without a doubt, the icon of the Virgin while the monastery is the Holy Royal and Stavropegiac Monastery of Kykkos which has been sheltering the icon for over nine hundred years.

Our Lady of Czestochowa:
Black Madonna of Częstochowa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa has been intimately associated with Poland for the past six hundred years. Its history prior to its arrival in Poland is shrouded in numerous legends which trace the icon's origin to St. Luke who painted it on a cypress table top from the house of the Holy Family.[1][2]
[edit]Arrival in Częstochowa
One of the oldest documents from Jasna Góra states that the picture travelled from Jerusalem, via Constantinople and Belz,[2] to finally reach Częstochowa in August 1382 by Władysław Opolczyk, Duke of Opole.[citation needed] However more recent Ukrainian sources state that it was taken by Władysław Opolski from the Castle of Belz, when the town was incorporated into the Polish kingdom and that earlier in its's history it was brough to Belz with much ceremony and honors by Knyaz Lev I of Galicia.[3]

Icon

The origins of the icon and the date of its composition are still hotly contested among scholars. The difficulty in dating the icon stems from the fact that the original image was painted over after being badly damaged by Hussite raiders in 1430. Medieval restorers unfamiliar with the encaustic method found that the paints they applied to the damaged areas "simply sloughed off the image" according to the medieval chronicler Risinius, and their solution was to erase the original image and to repaint it on the original panel, which was believed to be holy because of its legendary origin as a table top from the home of the Holy Family. The painting displays a traditional composition well-known in the icons of Eastern Orthodoxy. The Virgin Mary is shown as the "Hodegetria" ("One Who Shows the Way"). In it the Virgin directs attention away from herself, gesturing with her right hand toward Jesus as the source of salvation. In turn, the child extends his right hand toward the viewer in blessing while holding a book of gospels in his left hand. The icon shows the Madonna in fleur de lys robes.
[edit]

 

[Dorothea]

My sister was in Greece in 2000 (and I believe 2006). This was taken when she visited a monastery from the 300s (one of the oldest monasteries, apparently) in 2000. This icon was done by St. Luke called the Incarnation. It went through much trial and tribulation, from the turks/ottomans having it (but not ruining it), to the nazis occupation in Greece, where they burned it. Still survived though, which is a miracle in itself.

That is monk Dorotheos in the pic that let my sister, dad, and my nieces go down to this area to venerate the icon!

Here's a close up she took:

 

[buzuxi02]

If i remember correctly, one attributed to St Luke is in Antioch, painted on a tabletop. The tabletop of course is actually tree stump.

 

[Andrew21091]

If i remember correctly, one attributed to St Luke is in Antioch, painted on a tabletop. The tabletop of course is actually tree stump.

Tradition holds that this icon was the Theotokos of Vladimir. The tabletop which St. Luke wrote it on is from the table that Our Lord, the Theotokos, and St. Joseph ate together. But it seems the same is said about the Salus Populi Romani.

 

[Andrew21091]

Salus Populi Romani:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salus_...uli Romani - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have never seen this icon. It is beautiful. I'm wondering about the ring on her finger since I have never seen the ring in any other icon of her.

 

[Andrew21091]

It is also said that St. Luke also wrote the Theotokos of Tikhvin.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4d/Tikhvinskaya.jpg

 

[Dorothea]

St. Luke's writings of the Theotokos' face must be pretty accurate...didn't he see her in person? Wouldn't he be the only person who wrote an icon who had actually seen her in real life?

 

[Andrew21091]

St. Luke's writings of the Theotokos' face must be pretty accurate...didn't he see her in person? Wouldn't he be the only person who wrote an icon who had actually seen her in real life?

Look at Greg's post from the article on the Salus Populi Romani icon.

While applying his brush and paints, St. Luke listened carefully as the Mother of Jesus spoke of the life of her son, facts which the Evangelist later recorded in his Gospel.

 

[-Kyriaki-]

I love the Kykko icon of the Theotokos, and the story. The person who does the Under the Grapevine story hour podcast on AFR wrote a picture book version of it that's rather lovely, even if when she reads she does weird things with emphasis. Andrew's family has a really nice handpainted copy icon of that icon in one of their zillion 'icon corners' (there are collections of icons everywhere in that house)

 

[Greg the byzantine]

I love the Kykko icon of the Theotokos, and the story. The person who does the Under the Grapevine story hour podcast on AFR wrote a picture book version of it that's rather lovely, even if when she reads she does weird things with emphasis. Andrew's family has a really nice handpainted copy icon of that icon in one of their zillion 'icon corners' (there are collections of icons everywhere in that house)

The Icon of our Lady Kykkotissa is definitely my favorite. BTW, I bought the book "The Hermit, The Icon, and The Emperor" by Chrissi Hart. The illustrations and the story are out of this world, I was blown away.

 

[-Kyriaki-]

I love the story (she read it on under the grapevine), I want an excuse to buy the book because it sounds wonderful, but I can't find anywhere selling it here and I know buying Orthodox books from the states means evil evil shipping. Sigh.

 

[Greg the byzantine]

I love the story (she read it on under the grapevine), I want an excuse to buy the book because it sounds wonderful, but I can't find anywhere selling it here and I know buying Orthodox books from the states means evil evil shipping. Sigh.

The illustrations are worth it.

 

[the_Abbot]

There are a few traditions that say these Icons still exist. Although there are more than three that are attributed to him (most are probably not the originals painted by Saint Luke the Apostle and Physician).

A few that I can think of off the bat:

Salus Populi Romani:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salus_Populi_Romani]Salus Populi Romani - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theotokos of Kykkos:
Kykkos Monastery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Our Lady of Czestochowa:
Black Madonna of Częstochowa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thank you! This is great reading these.

 

[Dorothea]

Look at Greg's post from the article on the Salus Populi Romani icon.

WOW!

 

[ikonographics]

That is monk Dorotheos in the pic that let my sister, dad, and my nieces go down to this area to venerate the icon!

Here's a close up she took:

[/QUOTE]

When I went there with my parents in 2000 monk Dorotheos showed us around!!! He was so sweet. He kept saying, "Look at this, very nice. Take a photo of it!" Finally he asked me to take a photo of the altar to sent to him!

 

[Dorothea]

When I went there with my parents in 2000 monk Dorotheos showed us around!!! He was so sweet. He kept saying, "Look at this, very nice. Take a photo of it!" Finally he asked me to take a photo of the altar to sent to him!

Hee hee. How sweet! Yes, he is a sweet man, and it's nice to see he helped you and probably other visitors as well to see the precious icon! My sister said the same thing, that he wanted a picture as well since they don't take pictures.