ASPECTE ALE DRAGOSTEI MATERNE ÎN ICONOGRAFIA ORTODOXĂ
Aspects of maternal love in orthodox iconography

Summary/Abstract: Although, at first sight, this topic concerns only the icons expressing the love of the Holy Virgin Mary for her Son, which is manifest in certain consecrated iconographic types (such as the Eleousa), Byzantine iconography actually displays a great number of representations of maternal love, in its various stances. Following the example of the Mother of God, who accepted her Son’s sacrifice (an aspect revealed by the scenes of the Nativity, the Lord’s presentation to the Temple, the Crucifixion, the Deposition of Christ, etc) many women martyrs accepted their children’s sacrifice through martyrdom, as they preferred losing the temporal life in order to gain the eternal one (like St. Sophia and her three daughters, the mother of the young man among the 40 martyrs of Sebasta). This proves that motherhood requires maturity, a spirit of sacrifice, discernment, choosing the real good over the apparent, transient one.

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