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1. Chosen Icon: Dormition of the Theotokos, or “Успение”, one of the 12 feast days, or
“dodekaorton”, which depicts the passing of the Theotokos and her ascension to heaven.
2. The location of this icon is on the south side of the church, on the wall, which is in
contrast with the traditional location, on the western wall, which is the exit of the church.
The traditional placement of this icon is meant to remind the faithful that in exiting the
sanctuary, we should be thinking of our exit from this world and entrance into the
Kingdom of God.
3. In this rendition of the Dormition, Mary stands out as the focus of the icon, with a dark
himation and chiton, indicating that she has passed on from this world. Above her, Jesus
Christ is seen holding His mother’s soul in the form of a child, and she is clothed in all
white, symbolizing the purity of her soul, offering a sharp contrast to her body below. He
is clothed all in gold, his himation, chiton, and clavus, depicted in all His divine glory. He
is flanked by two angels and surrounded by a large mandorla. The two angels have their
hands on the shoulders of two of the mourning apostles, as if to reassure them that this is
a joyous occasion. Jesus has the usual tetragrammaton within a cruciform nimbus. There
is a third angel holding a cloth as if to take up Mary’s soul to Heaven. St. Peter can be
seen to the left of Mary holding a censer, as if to cense the body of the Theotokos. St.
Paul is on the right, bowing down in reverence to Mary. St. John is seen bowing low over
Mary, expressing his grief. The rest of the apostles are seen mourning on either side of
Peter and Paul. On the left side of the icon, two bishops are seen each holding gospels,
with stoles draped over their shoulders. The bishops traditionally represented are James,
the brother of the Lord, Timothy, Heirotheus, and Dionysius the Areopagite, who first
recorded the story of the Dormition in the 2nd century AD. There is a building in the
background on the left side of the icon behind the Bishops, symbolizing Jerusalem. This
feast day is not mentioned in scripture but is based on Tradition. The scripture holds that
Mary was with the apostles on the day of the Pentecost (Acts 1:14), and Tradition states
that afterwards she remained in John the Beloved’s home until her repose. The Icon is
4. In the foreground, Mary is seen lying down, her hands together. Peter and Paul are on
opposite sides, Peter making a gesture of grief with his hand on his face, and Paul
stooping in reverence at the foot of Mary’s bed. In the midground, the other apostles are
seen grieving, with one making a gesture of reverence towards the body. Another apostle,
the one dearest to Mary, St. John, is seen bent over Her in grief. In the background, the
two Bishops are seen observing the event, with two angels flanking the Lord Jesus Christ
and consoling the apostles, and a third angel coming down as if from Heaven as if to
receive the soul of the Theotokos, which is in the form of a baby in Christ’s arms. Peter
and Paul especially have a strange anatomy, with very small heads and large, rounded
feet. The rest of the apostles, Jesus, and Mary, all have mostly proportional bodies,
although Mary’s body seems to stretch on past Paul. All of the faces in the icon are
shown to either have expressions of grief or joy; while they know Mary is not with them
5. Byzantine Iconography has survived this long, for 2,000 years, because of Tradition. This
Tradition is what has ultimately kept the Orthodox Church alive for so long, whereas
other faiths have died out. Thus iconography, albeit with slight deviations, has remained
the same. The incessant focus on Tradition has kept icons in Orthodox Churches much
the same as they were hundreds of years ago, preserving the faith and original teachings
relation to the Scripture, thus justifying the power of Tradition in the Orthodox Church.
“…having separated Scripture and Tradition instead of distinguishing them, the latter is
projected on to the written or oral testimonies which are added to the Holy Scripture,
the Holy Scriptures. The icons of St. Nicholas are no exception, and although the tone of
colors in the icons isn’t as somber as is traditionally Byzantine, the icons create the sense
of mystical hypostasis that they are meant to. This interpretation of the Dormition is very
good at portraying the deeper, hypostatic meaning behind the event. Jesus is seen holding
the baby soul of Mary, or eidolon, which is a very interesting contrast to what we usually
see; Mary holding the baby Jesus. This is to say that when we die, Jesus will receive us
into his arms as if we were his own children, and carry us to His Heavenly kingdom
Himself.