Nativity icon

From OrthodoxWiki
Revision as of 16:22, December 23, 2005 by ASDamick (Talk | contribs) (*Never* read him as "Andrew" anywhere, possibly thanks to Tarkovsky.)

Jump to: navigation, search
Nativity of Christ Icon

The traditional icon style of the Nativity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is from the 15th century, and attributed to Rublev. It depicts the Creator of the Universe entering history as a newborn babe. The icon of the Nativity also shows us the effect of this event on the natural life of the world.


The background is an inhospitable world, the world since our expulsion from Paradise. In the center of the icon are Mary, as the central figure depicted disproportionately large, resting at a cave, and Jesus as a baby in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes. Around the icon is much that deals with the Incarnation of Christ, explained below.


The icon has much symbolism. The little helpless figure in swaddling clothes represents the complete submission of Christ in the physical conditions governing the human race.

The earth provides him with a cave. The animals watch him in silent wonder and we humans offer him one of us, the Virgin Mother. His manger is like a casket and his swaddling clothes are very much like the grave clothes: he was born to die!





Old Testament prophecy

Below the center are a tree, an ox, and an ass. The tree is the "Jesse Tree" from prophecy, which says that a shoot will sprout from the stump of Jesse (the father of King David) "A shoot shall sprout from the stump (tree) of Jesse and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him" (Isaiah 11:1-2). The ox and the ass are also from an Old Testament prophecy. Sometimes they are shown near the Christ child, providing warmth from their breath "The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib" (Isaiah 1:3).





