Virgin Mary Vimatarissa - Metallic icon on wood locally gold plated - Mount Athos

Seriograph icon crafted in canvas on wood framed with oval fadeless metallic frame.

With this icon you will receive a free stand.

Virgin Mary Vimatarissa

This icon of the Virgin Mary Vimatarissa, the Virgin Mary holding Jesus in her arms, is placed in the co-throne, by the Presbyters’ seats, behind the Altar of the Monastery of Vatopedi and, being at its base, it is considered a protective icon of the Monastery.

According to the Christian tradition, the icon is associated with two miracles. The first one has to do with the sea rescue of Arcadios, the son (pedi) of emperor Theodosios, who was conveyed to the ground on a bush (vatos) with the meddling of the Virgin Mary. Arcadios found this icon of the Virgin Mary in the same area where the Monastery of Vatopedi would later be established. The second miracle refers to an event that took place at the Monastery in the 10th century.

When the Arabs attacked the Monastery, Savvas, a monk and Vimataris - responsible for the section of the holy nave where the relics, the sacristy, the vestments etc are being kept - threw the icon of the Virgin Mary and the Cross of Constantine the Great in a well with a lit candle. The monk was then captured and sent to Crete; upon his return at the Monastery in Mount Athos, seventy years later, he found the icon and the cross floating on the water of the well and the candle still burning. The icon is commemorated on Easter Tuesday (week starting with Easter Sunday and ending with Saint Thomas Sunday).