What does this icon represent?

[Andrewn]

This video by Fr John Behr, dean of St. Vladimir Seminary, best explains the Holy Trinity. But my question is about something other than the Trinity. It is about the icon. Who does it represent?

 

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

This video by Fr John Behr, dean of St. Vladimir Seminary, best explains the Holy Trinity. But my question is about something other than the Trinity. It is about the icon. Who does it represent?

It represents the 3 "angels" in Genesis 18 that visited Abraham and Sarah. It also represents the Trinity.

 

[FenderTL5]

This video by Fr John Behr, dean of St. Vladimir Seminary, best explains the Holy Trinity. But my question is about something other than the Trinity. It is about the icon. Who does it represent?

The Icon is called the Hospitality of Abraham. The persons depicted are the 3 vistors of Genesis 18.
It's symbolicly used to represent the Trinity.

 

[ArmyMatt]

it’s the Angel of the Lord (Christ) and two other angels who came to Abraham at Mamre and spoke with one voice. so, as stated before by others, it’s used to represent the Trinity.

 

[Justin-H.S.]

It also demonstrates the monarchia of the Father, as the other two persons look to the one person on the left.

 

[ArmyMatt]

It also demonstrates the monarchia of the Father, as the other two persons look to the one person on the left.

and the three equal staffs show equality of authority and power

 

[prodromos]

And the silhouettes of the angels on the left and right form a chalice, in which the 2nd angel, representing Christ, sits.

 

[ArmyMatt]

And the silhouettes of the angels on the left and right form a chalice, in which the 2nd angel, representing Christ, sits.

He’s also sitting in front of the oak of Mamre (the tree of the Cross)

 

[honey badger]

one of many pictures pertaining to the pattern of three ... and represents mans perception of God ...

 

[The Liturgist]

Fascinating. Thank you @Andrewn for posting this thread!

I used this icon as my profile picture before switching to the Coptic icon I am presently using of our most glorious lady Theotokos holding our young Savior, the incarnate Logos, Christ our True God, in response to an outbreak of Nestorianism and Antidicomarianism on the forum.

However, Andrei Rublev’s icon of the Trinity remains one of my favorites. However I never knew all the symbolism involved in it. I think I need to read up on the specific meaning of some of our icons where people are commonly confused. I have heard two different versions of what the two sides of God’s face in the 6th century icon of Christ Pantocrator mean, for instance, and I suspect there are details in other icons I am missing. I also suspect there are aspects of the Image Not Made By Hands I have failed to appreciate, or do not understand, for example, the appearance of our Lord’s hair in that icon.

Also, forgive me, but to my great embarrassment I forgot the name of the icon this thread is about.

Two of my other favorite icons aside from the standard icons such ss the Mercy Seat and the Last Supper that appear on the iconostasis of nearly every Eastern Orthodox church and also most Coptic Orthodox churches, which I all love, are the icons The Ladder of Divine Ascent, and Extreme Humility.

 

[ArmyMatt]

However I never knew all the symbolism involved in it.

and there’s even more than what was discussed on here.

 

[Wildflower3]

This is an interpretation of the icon I have never heard before. It's really edifying.

 

[prodromos]

This is an interpretation of the icon I have never heard before. It's really edifying.

Indeed

 

[ArmyMatt]

This is an interpretation of the icon I have never heard before. It's really edifying.

thanks!