THE ART OF ICONOGRAPHY

        For more than fourteen hundred years, the icon has been closely associated with, and has retained an integral role in the liturgical rites of the Eastern Orthodox religions.

    The icon has always been venerated at home, symbolically conceived as the holy presence, the sole protector and provider of the household. The word "icon" is derived from the Greek word meaning "image", "persona", "portrait". In the early Christian years (5th cent.), portraits of the Madonna Enthroned with the Christ Child on her lap, and half-portraits of the Madonna or Christ were very popular. After the 9th century, icons became more complex, much more descriptive. Episodes from the Old and New Testaments, the Feast, Life of the Virgin, and Deeds and Sufferings of Saints were depicted.