Aged-Wooden Byzantine Icon of Panagia "Axion Esti" or "It Is Truly Meet".
The miraculous Icon of Panagia, "Axion Esti", is the most famous icon of Mount Athos located in Protato in Karyes. She bears the seals of all twenty monasteries and is considered their common patron saint.
According to tradition, on June 11, 980 AD, in the cell where the icon was located, a unknown monk who asked for hospitality, sang for the first time to a disciple who was praying, the "Axion Esti..." hymn . As the disciple could not find paper and ink to write down this wonderful hymn, he gave the monk a stone tablet. Then, he wrote the hymn with his fingertips, that was miraculously engraved on the stone and, then, he disappeared.
After this miraculous event, the monks of Mount Athos sent the stone tablet to Patriarch Chrysovergis, who decided to include a hymn in the liturgical life of the Church.
Since then, on June 11 of each year, the feast of the Icon "Axion Esti" is celebrated, in honor of the Archangel Gabriel who was undoubtedly the foreign visitor.
Megalynarion
It is truly right to bless thee, O Theotokos, the ever blessed, and most pure,
and the Mother of our God.
More honorable than the cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the seraphim, who without corruption gavest birth to God the Word, the true Theotokos, we magnify thee.
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 a distinctive appearance.
During the final processing, the Icon of Panagia "Axion Esti" is polished with a special varnish to withstand time.
Note: The final Icon may slightly differ from the catalog photo.
Feast: June 11
Iconographer: Father Michael
Availability: Made to order, usually ships within 5 to 10 days.
