The Icon: Prayer Without Words

Icons also contain letters, which name the person or event depicted. In the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, the large Greek letters MP OV on either side of Mary’s head identify her as the Mother of God. On the right side of Jesus’ face as you view the icon are the Greek letters IC XC. These letters are called a Christogram. They are a four-letter abbreviation of the Greek words for “Jesus Christ.” Two angels are pictured on either side of Mary and the Christ Child. Above the angels are the smaller Greek inscriptions naming them. The angel on the left as you view the icon is identified as the Archangel Michael; the other is the Archangel Gabriel. Both angels carry the instruments of Jesus’ passion.

Those who create icons are called iconographers. The word literally means “writer of icons.” We never speak of icons as being painted; they are always referred to as being written. Just as the sacred words of Scripture were written, so the sacred colors of the palette “write” the icon’s divine message.

The writing of an icon is a very spiritual process involving long periods of prayer, fasting, and contemplation for the iconographer. Everything about the writing of a liturgical icon has a meaning tied to Scripture and reveals different levels of God’s presence within the iconographer. Potential iconographers usually train under a master iconographer, which sometimes entails years of apprenticeship and learning. Artists usually do not sign their name to an icon because they are not looking for self-glorification or fame. If they do sign their name, it is in the form of a prayer, such as “Remember, O Lord, your servant [name].”

Only pure and natural materials are chosen for the writing of icons. The materials include solid-wood board, linen fabric, natural gesso and glues, clay, 24-karat gold leaf, natural ground and raw pigments, eggs, and water.