"Odegitria" Panagia Brefokratoussa 1 27x3x33.5cm

Virgin Mary holding the Child left or Odegitria. The Odegitria is an iconographic type of the Virgin Mary in which the Virgin Mary is depicted standing, holding a baby and slightly turned to the left. The name is due to a related image of the Monastery of the Guides located in Constantinople, which was sent from Jerusalem around 400 by Empress Aelia Eudokia to her husband's sister Pulcheria. This icon became the Sacred Palladium and was used both in ceremonies and in military conflicts, while it was attributed to Luke.

The figures in the icons of Christ and the Virgin Mary stand out on the surface of the wood, by the Hagiographer Gardikiotis Dimitris with egg tempera colors, the embossed images seem to move towards the viewer, a fact that gives the feeling of closeness, something that perfectly matches the spirit of the Orthodox Church , in which the love and society of people occupies a central place. The strictness of the lines and the austerity in the wording of his works are oriented towards the rules of Byzantine Hagiography.