Favorite Icon

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What is your favorite icon? The Theotokos of the Passion has to be my favorite. It is a beautiful icon and I can literally stare at it for hours.

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In my house I have this version
catholictradition.org/Mary/olph7-2.jpg
 
Theotokos of the Passion I know this as Our Lady of Perpetual Help and it is my favorite too. My mother had in her kitchen. I was given it but the years have taken its toll. It is so faded. Mother told me that Jesus had seen His Crucifixion and was so frightened He ran to His mother so fast that He lost His shoe.
 
TheDoors said:
I’ll be getting “The Resurrection” tattooed on my back sometime soon.
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Why on earth would you want to do that???

In answer to the op, I have so many “favorite” icons, I couldn’t choose just one. And it varies with what’s going on in my life.
 
Bingo…you got my favorite.

I have it framed in my room that I like for prayer…staring into the eyes and face of Blessed Mother Mary is literally an incredible experience. And looking at boy Jesus realizing the passion that is to come…in all his human nature…being jolted…in fear. Icons are quite mystical…even though I know very little about their prayerful construction.

Pax Christi

Reminds me of the words of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux to describe Blessed Mary’s face…after seeing Blessed Mary come alive in front of her…while she praying desperately laying on her expected death bed:


Often in the course of her illness, she turned towards the statue of Our Lady and asked to be cured. Her father wrote to Paris to have some Masses celebrated in the Sanctuary of Notre Dame des Victoires, asking for the cure of his “poor little queen.” At the same time a novena was begun to the Blessed Virgin, but no sign of improvement. In fact, Thérèse became steadily worse until she could not even recognize those who stood beside her. Finally, on the Sunday before the novena ended, during a spasm of delirious pain while her sisters were** praying before the statue of the Immaculate Heart, “I also turned to our Heavenly Mother,” she relates, **“begging her with all my heart to have pity on me. All of a sudden the statue became alive! The Virgin became beautiful, so beautiful that I could never find words to express it…But what penetrated to the roots of my being was her ravishing smile. At that moment all my pains vanished.” (Ibid., 51)
therealpresence.org/archives/Saints/Saints_027.htm
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Here’s a couple I like (I like the one’s already shown too)

Jesus the Good Shepherd



Christ of Maryknoll

 
Cavaradossi said:
The Three Pillars of Orthodoxy, interesting choice. I sometimes wonder if Eastern Catholics feel comfortable venerating this icon, considering its inclusion of Mark of Ephesus, and what the icon generally means to Orthodox Christians.
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I don’t see why not 😉
 
For me it’s the Miraculous Hawaiian Iveron Icon…

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A close second might be this one with Melchizedek, St. John Vianney, and Christ the High Priest…

 
MrPip said:
Why on earth would you want to do that???

In answer to the op, I have so many “favorite” icons, I couldn’t choose just one. And it varies with what’s going on in my life.
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Why would I not?

We have been given the ability to carry beautiful marks on our body, and the ability to hold reminders that can not be taken away like a rosary or a medallion. I will always be reminded of my walk, and of the reason I walk this path. The artist will have the amazing experience of creating that work, and when I die and am being prepared for that last dressing, my funeral director will be reminded that there is the hope and trust of our Lord risen.
 
TheDoors said:
Why would I not?

We have been given the ability to carry beautiful marks on our body, and the ability to hold reminders that can not be taken away like a rosary or a medallion. I will always be reminded of my walk, and of the reason I walk this path. The artist will have the amazing experience of creating that work, and when I die and am being prepared for that last dressing, my funeral director will be reminded that there is the hope and trust of our Lord risen.
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Beautifully said! 👍 I, personally, don’t have any tattoos and will *probably *never get any, but if I were to get one it would be of something related to my faith. It would something along the lines of an icon, the rosary, etc.
 
TheDoors said:
Why would I not?

We have been given the ability to carry beautiful marks on our body, and the ability to hold reminders that can not be taken away like a rosary or a medallion. I will always be reminded of my walk, and of the reason I walk this path. The artist will have the amazing experience of creating that work, and when I die and am being prepared for that last dressing, my funeral director will be reminded that there is the hope and trust of our Lord risen.
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Yes, beautifully said. However…better you than me 👍:D! I’m not sure a tattoo on our bodies is the most appropriate place for an icon, just as I don’t think they’re totally appropriate on a mug or a t-shirt. But…that’s just me :).

Given the extremely high esteem with which we hold icons in the Eastern Church in particular, if I were considering tattooing an icon on my body, I’d first seek the counsel of my priest. Not necessarily his permission, but at the very least his counsel. But, again…that’s just me ;).

My understanding, perhaps faulty, is that at least in Orthodoxy (and most probably Eastern Catholicism, too, in particular the Ruthenian rescension), tattoos in general are frowned upon. Maybe someone else can confirm this or correct me if I’m wrong.

Whatever you choose to do, may you do it for the Glory of God and in prayer!

In Christ,
Jeff

p.s.–I’ll admit that, coming from a Jewish background, I have a “built-in” bias against tattoos, even when and if I can admire the sometimes beautiful artwork.
 
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