Made use of a new icon this morning. Not just new to me, but new as in only a few years old.
"Mary, Star of Evangelization" was written by a Benedictine in Oregon and is used by that bankrupt archdiocese.
The explanation of the icon says that the turquoise green outer garment represents the Holy Spirit and the rose inner garment represents God the Father. Both colors are inspired by Rublev's icon of the Trinity.
The scroll in her hand says "she rose and went to the hill country" (Luke 1:39), indicating an evangelizing spirit. Her dress is high-waisted in imitation of Guadalupe where she appeared as with child. So, the Trinity is represented in the icon.
I was taken with the traditional four Greek letters, MP θY, and John Boucher's explanation didn't seem to account for all of the letters. True, I have never had much success deciphering the lettering on icons, even when it spells the saint's name in full down the side! So, I shouldn't think that I know anything.
But the four letters, MP θY, I thought, stood for a word apiece so I came up with this mistaken interpretation:
M -- μητηρ ("mother")
P -- Παναγία ("all-holy") <--- wrong!
θ -- θεος ("God")
Y -- υιος ("son")
but, obviously, this is wrong. I mistook the rho for a pi. Silly.
Instead, the letters ΜΡ ΘΥ are short for ΜΗΤΗΡ ΘΕΟΥ ( μητηρ θεου ), Mother of God, just as John said. Each pair of letters stands for a single word, initial letter and final letter together. (Wiki article: panagia)
So, at least I know it now even if I had to figure it out the hard way!
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