Icons of the Theotokos Enthroned & Christ Enthroned – T14 & J09

Description

Sizes shown are for each icon of set.

Here are two masterful icons painted by Emmanuel Tzanes in the mid-17th century for the iconostasis or icons screen of Saint Andrew’s Church in the Monastery of Saint Philothea in Athens.  They are in the Cretan School of iconography and quite majestic, especially in their expressive faces, and in the matching regal postures of the Lord and His Mother seated on matching thrones.  Christ is truly the Ruler of Heaven and Earth, and His Mother, the Virgin Mary Theotokos, sits at His right hand, even on the icon screens between the Holy Place and the place for the Faithful to stand in each Orthodox church.

Tzanes was a priest and icon painter who labored during the difficult times of the Moslem rulership and oppression of the Orthodox Christians after they were conquered before and during the time of the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire when Constantinople finally fell in 1453. Father Tzanes painted his icons in Crete and in Venice and his icons typically had radiant faces glowing with the depiction of the Uncreated Light spilling out from the holy ones glorified bodies.  May we look up to God in thankfulness through these icons which convey such beautiful and approachable grace and love from Heaven!  Amen.