Introduction

Among the thousands of icons preserved at St. Catherine's Monastery, this work, an encaustic, captures the aesthetic interests during a time of iconoclasm. The work depicts Christ as a child sitting upon the lap of His mother Mary, who sits on a throne (a visual trope known as the Seat of Wisdom). Flanking her on either side are the Saints Theodore and George. Behind them are two angels that draw our attention to the hand of God reaching downward.