Question about this icon

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The link doesn’t work for me, might for somebody else but just warning you.
 
I would like to point out that in the most common rules of iconography (these rules are traditional and common for Greece, the Balkans and Russia, but it doesn’t seem to be strictly followed by many painters) red represents divinity, Jesus Christ is often represented as having a red garment (next to the skin, and a blue or other dark colored cloak. This would indicate (in a symbolic way) that God has put on manhood.

The Holy Theotokos would be different, since she is not by nature divine. The inner garment would be blue or some other dark color and the cloak would be red. This signifies that she has ‘put on Christ’ so to say. It is a way of expressing Theosis. She is by nature a creature, not divine, and she imitates Christ. Sometimes the red cloak is entirely omitted, but not often.

It could be (without actually seeing the icon, I would guess …) that the ‘blue thing’ is a head covering under the outer wrap and nothing more.

http://www.ukrainianchurchesofcanad...21_mb_ucc_wpg_st.andrew_05_theotokos_crop.jpg http://www.lukedingman.com/imagesicon/christ1.jpg

Our one hope is that we could all put on ‘red cloaks’ one day …
 
Same here,

But by hovering over the link it says that the search is on Our Lady of the Sign icon
 
I would like to point out that in the most common rules of iconography (these rules are traditional and common, but it doesn’t seem to be strictly followed by many painters) red represents divinity, Jesus Christ is often represented as having a red garment (next to the skin, and a blue or other dark colored cloak. This would indicate (in a symbolic way) that God has put on manhood.

The Holy Theotokos would be different, since she is not by nature divine. The inner garment would be blue or some other dark color and the cloak would be red. This signifies that she has ‘put on Christ’ so to say. It is a way of expressing Theosis. She is by nature a creature, not divine, and she imitates Christ.

Our one hope is that we could all put on ‘red cloaks’ one day …
That would describe what I see in the Our Lady of the Sign
 
Same here,

But by hovering over the link it says that the search is on Our Lady of the Sign icon
Googling Our Lady of the Sign, there seem to be many icons in the same vein with Our Lady in a blue garment and a red cloak. Though the red cloak also covers her hair with a hood, I would say the blue around her head would be the veil for the blue inner garment.
 
I think what the OP is trying to ask is what that blue cap is under the Blessed Mother’s gown. To me, it looks like a blue cap that is covering all of her hair.

Here is another photo:
Yes… thats the exact icon I was talking about.
 
I think what the OP is trying to ask is what that blue cap is under the Blessed Mother’s gown. To me, it looks like a blue cap that is covering all of her hair.

Here is another photo:
Yes… thats the exact icon I was talking about.
 
Our Lady in Byzantine iconography is depicted as wearing a maphorion, a shaped mantle with a hood and sometimes a hole at the neck. This probably is close to actual typical Byzantine dress for widows, and for married women when in public - though icons are not too relevant as references for actual dress worn in the period, since Biblical characters tend to wear stylized and formulaic representations of more ancient dress (though minor people in the background may be portrayed in more ‘contemporary’ clothing). That “blue thing” for the record is a sort of turban: in Byzantium, women covered their hair with a variety of head-cloths and veils, presumably often removed inside the home. Sometimes caps were worn under the veil, and sometimes the cloth is tied in turban fashion.
 
Mary was a woman of her time. If you read Emmerich’s volumes,she not only was perfect in the eyes of God, but was a perfect wife, mother and citizen. With this is mind, think about women who go about their usual chores, with a scarf or babushka on their heads for whatever duty she was performing (whether it was cleaning, cooking, etc). Then when you went out, you put your veil over it. That is all it is. She was perfect in every way, even when it came to her usual chores and in her lifestyle in her community.
 
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