Virgin Mary Axion Esti Silk Screen Icon – Engraved Silver & Gold on Wood Base

Description

The Virgin Mary Axion Esti icon, also known as the Theotokos of Axion Esti, is a miracle working icon from Mount Athos. The icon is further known as an Eleousa icon or the Virgin of Tenderness as it depicts the Virgin Mary tenderly holding the infant Jesus in her sweet embrace.

According to tradition, an Elder and a disciple of his shared a cell on Mount Athos when one night the Elder attended an all-night vigil service in Karyes. Before leaving, the Elder instructed his disciple to chant alone for the night, but while he was chanting a monk visited the cell and told the disciple his name was Gabriel. The monk and the disciple chanted the vigil together until the hymn of the Magnificat. The monk chanted an unheard hymn and while he was singing the Eleousa icon in the cell began to glow. The disciple asked the monk to share the new hymn with him, prompting the monk to take down a tile from the roof and write the hymn on it with only his finger. The disciple realized that this monk was not who he appeared to be, rather he was an apparition of the Archangel Gabriel. It was then that Archangel Gabriel disappeared, leaving the icon to glow in the cell for some time afterward.

This style of icon is referred to as the Virgin Mary Eleousa, as it depicts the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus in a tender, loving embrace. In fact, Eleousa means “tenderness” or “showing mercy.” Depictions of the Virgin Mary Eleousa are popular in the Eastern Orthodox Church, especially in Russian Orthodox  iconography.