Aged-Wooden Byzantine Icon of Panagia Gerontissa . Panagia is depicted full-body in a stand of supplication.
The miraculous Icon of Panagia Gerontissa is a copy of the Icon of Panagia Gorgoepikou and is located in Holy Monastery of Pantokrator on Mount Athos. The Icon is associated with many miracles, the first of which is recorded at the time of Alexios I Comnenus, when the icon of Panagia indicated the place she chose for the monastery to be built.
The name "Gerontissa" comes from the miracle that happened when a dying abbot of the Monastery begged the monk priest to shorten the Divine Liturgy in order to partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Panagia intervened in the monk's delayed work and ordered him to finish it soon so that the abbot, who was near the end of his life, could receive communion. Because of the sympathy she showed to the Elder, the icon took the name "Gerontissa", meaning "elder woman".
The jar depicted in the Icon of Panagia Gerontissa is inspired by a miracle of Panagia when, after a lack of oil in the Monastery and the constant prayers of the Abbot, an empty jar began to overflow with oil.
The aging technique is meticulously applied to the Icon by hand and gives it the look of time while the depiction retains its artistic details.
Around the perimeter, the aging becomes more apparent with frayed edges that give the Icon of Panagia Gerontissa a distinctive appearance.
During the final processing, the Icon is polished with a special varnish to withstand time.
Note: The final Icon may slightly differ from the catalog photo.
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