Today, the Virgin bears Him who is transcendent, and the earth presents the cave to Him who is beyond reach. Angels, and shepherds glorify Him, the Magi make their way to Him by a star. For a new Child has been born for us, the God before all ages.

In this icon Immanuel, (God with us), is born of the Virgin, who presents Him to us. The Virgin and Child rest in a cave, and the Child is swaddled in linen, foreshadowing His burial. The Child, born to die, lays on what appears to be an altar, with the gifts of the magi- myrrh, gold, and frankincense. The viewer, too, is invited to offer their gifts at the altar, to adore the Child, to receive the Offering. Mary, the new Eve, in bearing God, has become heaven, and God who “rests in His saints” lies in a field of deep blue adorned with stars, Heaven has been brought to us, in the heart of the earth. With her red-earth veil she clothes the Divine with humanity. All of creation responds to the glorious birth, the earth offers a cave, the soil blooms and Paradise springs, the sun, moon, stars, and skies, the birds and animals—all flock around— creation is made anew. The ox and donkey lean forward towards the Saviour, “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib” (Isaiah 1:3). The shepherds and magi are guided by the angels over the mountainous terrain. The mountain meets heaven at the head of the Virgin, Heaven and earth are bound in the incarnation of God.

Behold, the Man.

Isaiah prophesied that “the government will be on His shoulders”, and “truly the cross is His government” (Theophilus of Antioch). God enthroned, God victorious, God in Glory. The cross is His mandorla, and from it Paradise streams and blossoms. The old woman took the fruit of the tree and died, but the new one drinks from the fruit of the vine and lives forever. Where Eve bloomed from Adam’s pierced side, we now bloom from His. “We are made worthy to eat of the tree of Life, which is the Body of God, and His true blood.” (Gospel Response of Holy Thursday)

Greater Love has no One than this, Love Himself. Oh Christ, wound us with Your Divine Love!

“For [He] who suspended the earth upon the waters, was himself suspended; who fastened the heavens with a word, was fastened with nails; who bore up the earth, was born up on a tree; who fixed all things, was fixed to the tree; who is fastened, was fastened in the flesh.”

St. Basil “Hexaemeron” (Homily 9)

“O Hades, you have been angered by encountering Him in the nether world." Hades is angered because it is frustrated, it is angered because it has been mocked, it is angered because it has been destroyed, it is angered because it has been reduced to naught, it is angered because it is now captive. it seized a body, and, lo! it encountered heaven; it seized the visible, and was overcome by the invisible

O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Christ is risen and life is freed! Christ is risen and the tomb is emptied of the dead!  For Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the Leader and Reviver of those who had fallen asleep.”

St John Chrysostom, Homily for the Resurrection

In this icon, St George marches forward on his horse and spears the serpent, crushing chaos with order, rushing towards the cries of the distressed bride. He wears a blood-red cape, and is ‘prince of the martyrs’, chief of the ‘witnesses’ (as ‘martyria’ is Greek for witness). With the great popularity of St George in the Christian world, a myriad of traditions and stories surrounding him exist. In folkloric Coptic tradition, he is associated with spearing ‘leviathan’, the ‘serpent-sheikh’ who lurks in the primordial waters of the Nile. The bride he is intercessor for is the Church, ‘decorated as a bride’ for the Bridegroom. Faced by the serpent of the garden, she turns to the martyrs—the icons of the Crucified God— for intercession.

The feast of St George coincides with spring and the feast of the resurrection. During Holy Week the Copts cry “trample Satan under our feet”. In the icon they are called to join the martyrs as exorcists, witnesses, children of Love. They are called to both intercede to the martyrs and to join their ranks, to enter into the joy of the resurrection, to grasp victory with the cross as their spear, to rein their passions as the martyr does with his horse, to expel the serpent from their gardens, their homes, their minds, and to destroy their idols and abandon their ‘paganism’ for “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)

In this icon Pope Kyrillos leads a procession into the sanctuary, calling for the faithful to enter into the mystical liturgy being held in Paradise itself. He presents the Church, not as a physical building, but as the Body of Christ, to Christ, who blesses the offering placed on the altar next to the Body and Blood. The veils of the sanctuary flutter open and the glory of the Kingdom glimmers from within. With this icon both being placed by the sanctuary and used in procession, it reveals our communion with the saints and the victory of the Divine Liturgy over time, space, and the world itself. It is the life of death, in the broken body of God who—being determined to give Himself up to death for the life of the world—is expressed in His living icon, Pope Kyrillos the Sixth.

Look at the Mother, who is earth, clothed in earth, and who clothes her Son in earth, that He may transfigure, glorify, and perfect it for us. Look at the Child, who takes the form and attire of a servant, Who steps out of the frame towards us.

“I no longer fear God, but love Him, for perfect love casts out fear”

Here St Demiana is depicted as an abbess of convent. Her attire resembles that of a bride, as she is often—as all nuns are—described as the “bride of Christ.” In her vocation she encounters the mystery of the union between God and His Church, and interestingly she shares a feast date with the celebration of the wedding of Cana. St Demiana is expressed to us as a force of accountability in her veneration- to her father, to her friends, to her community. She becomes an icon of the Church, loyal to her Groom, a conqueror in suffering, and a celebrated victor with the palm branch she holds up to us. To the right is her father, who at some point in the narrative apostatizes but is brought back to the faith through a bold letter that his daughter sends to him: “I would have rather heard of your death as a Christian, living with Christ eternally, than your life as an idolator, dead in Hades. My father, return to Christ!” She holds this letter up for both him us, calling us to repent, abandon our idols, and to die in Christ. Behind her are forty sunflowers, her friends who all face the Son to bask in His light.

“He who adorned the skies with a multitude of stars bared Himself of His robe and was baptized with water.”

(Antiphonary for the Feast of Theophany)