Inscription in Old Slavonic: Image of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God

Feast Day: 14th October 

The top portion of the icon depicts the New Testament Trinity and the frame contains an Old Slavonic inscription which states ‘And he ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right [hand] of the Father,’. This comes from the Simvol Verui, the Russian name for the Nicene Creed. God the Father sits to the right of the globe, he is shown with an eight-pointed halo (slava). The eight points are symbolic of the seven days of Creation with an added eighth day — the Day of Eternity. To the left sits Jesus and above the globe we see the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. They are flanked by the archangels Gabriel and Michael and four beasts symbolising the four Evangelists.

Above is an icon of the Pokrov. The icon combines two different events – one dating from the 6th and the other from the 10th century – that took place in the (no longer existing) Church of Blachernae in Constantinople and celebrated on the same day in the church calendar. According to the vision granted only to St Anthony the Holy Fool (died 956) who is seen in the icon seen gesturing upwards, the Mother of God, accompanied by archangels, the twelve apostles, bishops, holy women, monks and martyrs, spreads her veil in protection over the congregation. Below we see the other figures from the history of the church: St Romanos the Melodist attended by the Emperor Leo the Wise (866 -912) together with the Empress Zoe and the Patriarch of Constantinople. Both of the scenes depicted in this icon are particular to the Russian Orthodox Church and are not found in Greek icons.