The Mother of God of Panagia

The Burning Bush Mother of God Panagia icon represents the Incarnation of Christ through the Mother of God, foretold in the Old Testament. The burning but not consumed by flames bush seen by Moses on Mount Horeb (Exodus 3:1-5) or Sinai was considered a symbol of the Mother of God and the mystery of Incarnation when the Virgin conceived the Son of God through the Holy Spirit, becoming the Gate of Heaven and the Throne for the Saviour. In icon painting, to depict the Incarnation of Jesus, the Oranta variant of the Mother of God was used. Theotokos Oranta has a depiction of the young Christ Emmanuel in a medallion placed on her bosom, see S.12825MŁ. The image became a transparent, clear and universal-symbolic presentation of the mystery of Incarnation. In Rus, the intercession of such an icon was credited for protecting the besieged Novgorod in 1170, when, during a procession around the city walls, an arrow hit the painting, causing tears to flow from the eyes of the Mother of God. This fact frightened the enemies and the resulting confusion forced the besiegers to flee. The icon was called Sign or 'Znamienie' in reference to the words of Prophet Isiah: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Emmanuel." (Isiah 7:14) Over time, the image also began to be called Panagia. In the images of the Burning Bush, there is sometimes a figure of the revering Moses. On the presented icon from the 19th c., two figures are kneeling. One of them is Moses and the other one is his older brother Aaron. Endowed with the gift of eloquence, Aaron became an assistant of his brother, the Prophet, during the Exodus from Egypt (Exodus 4:14-16). The composition of this icon belongs to the older iconographic variant, less common since the 16th c. when the complex allegorical-symbolic interpretation of the Burning Bush developed in painting, which is described under S.12769MŁ, S.12815MŁ, S.12862MŁ. Teresa Bagińska-Żurawska https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9243-3967