Who's who on the icon of the Nativity of the Virgin Marytranslated

On the icon of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary we see a real “report” about an event that happened more than 2000 years ago. The Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Anna, reclines on the bed, gifts are presented to her, and the Newborn is washed nearby. This event is depicted very vitally, very warmly. Where did the icon painters get their inspiration and plot from, since the Bible does not speak about the circumstances of the birth of the Virgin Mary?

Maria KHORKOVA

editor, journalist

The story of the birth of the Mother of God is not contained in the books of the New Testament, but in the Proto-Gospel of James, an apocryphal text of the 2nd century. It is there that it tells about the righteous Joachim and Anna, who remained childless for a long time, and then, already in old age, by the grace of God they became the parents of a daughter, the future Mother of God. Later, this story was developed in other apocryphal monuments, in particular in the so-called “Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew.” The understanding of the holiday and its iconography was influenced by the church hymnographic and patristic tradition. In it, the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is revealed not just as the birth of a long-awaited child, but as the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s plan for the salvation of man.

What do we usually see on the icon of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary? Center…