Category Archives: icons

The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came…

December 20, 2023art, icons, musicangels, Annibale Carracci, Annunciation, Archangel Gabriel, carolsGretchenJoanna

…His wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame…

The first lines of the carol “Gabriel’s Message” take my imagination straight up to Heaven, and down again to the encounter the Virgin Mary had with the Angel Gabriel. This song of the Annunciation I heard for the first time a couple of years ago. Nowadays, if I so much as think about it once in the morning, or often even without consciously bringing it to mind, it plays in my head all day, beautifully, joyously.

In looking for a YouTube video of it to share here, I found that I don’t like the ones in which boys’ choirs are singing sweetly bird-like. It seems a strong man’s voice should speak the message of the first two stanzas, which come from Gabriel.

This version is my all around favorite, in which a choir sings in lower registers.

This man singing solo is my favorite manly rendition. I like the way he sings it straight, and the only way I’d improve on it is to not have to look at him as the performer.

I was interested to see that there aren’t many icons or paintings of Gabriel in which his wings look anything like drifted snow. In fact, the image of drifted snow doesn’t evoke the idea of the strength that would be necessary for the swift messenger of God we know an angel to be. In many paintings Gabriel’s wings look very powerful, and poised to be in flight in an instant, at the next word from God. But the phrase does make me think of purity, and certainly the scene of fresh snow is somewhat other-worldly.

Angels do not have any inherent form; they are spiritual beings who only take on human-like form in order to be seen by those who are given the spiritual eyes to see. We don’t have a record of how the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the eyes of the Virgin, but we do know his message:

GABRIEL’S MESSAGE

1 The angel Gabriel from heaven came,
his wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame;
“All hail,” said he to meek and lowly Mary,
“most highly favored maiden.” Gloria!

2 “I come from heav’n to tell the Lord’s decree:
a blessed virgin mother you shall be.
Your Son shall be Immanuel, by seers foretold,
most highly favored maiden.” Gloria!

3 Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head;
“To me be as it pleases God,” she said.
“My soul shall laud and magnify his holy name.”
Most highly favored maiden, Gloria!

4 Of her, Immanuel, the Christ, was born
In Bethlehem, all on a Christmas morn,
and Christian folk throughout the world will ever say,
“Most highly favored maiden.” Gloria!

The Icon of the Sign

November 27, 2023church, iconsIcon of the Sign, The Incarnation, TheotokosGretchenJoanna

Today is the commemoration of this particular icon of Mary and Christ, signifying the Incarnation: the Icon of the Sign.

OCA: “The Icon of the Mother of God ‘Of the Sign’
depicts the Most Holy Theotokos with prayerfully uplifted hands,
and the Divine Infant is at Her bosom in a mandorla (or sphere).”

Icon Reader also has an article about this icon, “The Theotokos ‘of the Sign’ Icon.” There are many, many renditions of this form, and I especially love the one at my parish:

“Her prayerful stance also gives the impression of presenting us with Christ,
and our attention is drawn – as always with icons of the Theotokos –
to her Son, our Saviour.”

Behold, the eyes of the Lord.

November 25, 2023icons, Psalmshope, Pantocrator, prayerGretchenJoanna

The Lord looked down from heaven.
He beheld all the sons of men.

From His habitation which He prepared,
He looked upon all the inhabitants of the earth,

He that alone fashioned the heart of them,
Who understandeth all their works.

A king is not saved by great might,
nor shall a giant be saved
by the magnitude of his own strength.

Futile is the horse for salvation,
nor by the magnitude of his might shall he be saved.

Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon them that fear Him,
upon them that hope in His mercy.

To deliver their souls from death,
and to nourish them in famine.

Our soul shall wait for the Lord,
for He is our helper and our defender.

For our heart shall be glad in Him,
and in His holy Name have we hoped.

Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us,
according as we have hoped in Thee.

-From Psalm 32b

Text encircling the icon of Christ Pantocrator:

He hath looked out from His holy height.
The Lord from heaven hath looked upon the earth,
to hear the groaning of them that be in fetters.

An icon’s silence is not empty.

October 7, 2023icons, quotescontemplation, Jim Forest, silence, stillnessGretchenJoanna

“The icon is silent. No mouths are open nor are there any other physical details which imply sound. But an icon’s silence is not empty. The stillness and silence of the icon, in the home no less than church, create an area that constantly invites prayer. The deep and living silence which marks a good icon is nothing less than the silence of Christ. It is the very opposite of the icy stillness of the tomb. It is the silence of Mary’s contemplative heart, the silence of the transfiguration, the silence of the resurrection, the silence of the Incarnate Word. A disciple of Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, made the comment: ‘He who possesses in truth the word of Jesus can hear even its silence.’”