Description
Amazing Christian Orthodox Icon of Saints John the Forerunner (Baptist), Peter & Paul (Pavel) (rus. Икона Святые Петр и Павел с Иоанном Предтечей) Please, see real video about this item on YouTube - https://youtu.be/CKP-WJvctK8 (Copy this link to the address bar of your browser) St.John the Baptist is one of the most venerated Christian saints, the last Prophet of the Old Testament, the Forerunner of Christ. St.John's life was a common subject in Western & in Eastern art. The iconographic type depicting St.John as an angel originated in thirteenth-century Byzantium. One of the earliest examples can be seen in the frescoes from Arilje dating to 1296. The frontal type was common to the sixteenth-century icons of Greece & Crete. This type was spread throughout the Eastern Church in the post-Byzantine period but was considered heretical by Western ecclesiastics. Inspired by Christ's description of John in the Gospels as 'messenger' (angelos in Greek): 'Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee' (Mark 1:2-4), the image of the winged Forerunner corresponds not only to his function as messenger but also to the ascetic life of a terrestrial angel & celestial man. A 7th-century prayer by St.Germanus of Constantinople reads: 'How shall we call thee, O prophet? Angel, apostle or martyr? Angel, for thou hast led an incorporeal life. Apostle, for thou hast taught the nations. Martyr, for thou hast been beheaded for Christ' (Troparion, Tone I). The iconographic type of the Angel of the Desert, extremely popular in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, is surprisingly absent in Western art. Western ecclesiastical authorities tended to consider the depiction heretical, preferring to foreground John's roles as an apostle & a martyr. in Russia, however, the type became the most widespread in the 16th & 17th centuries. Sts. Peter & Paul - This two great saints who are proof that God can work through anybody. St. Peter, a brash, thick-headed fisherman, inclined to say whatever popped into his head without thinking, & St. Paul, that well educated Pharisee who persecuted the Church, later becoming its great champion. It was quite hard for St. Peter to accept (at least at first) this "upstart" who was not one of the Twelve & had never known Jesus. Peter was present at all the events in which Jesus had just a few special persons with him. Peter was the one Jesus appointed to lead His new Church. Yet Paul became one of the greatest of the Apostles & was very much given to mystic experiences. Paul claimed to have visited some "higher heavens," & he articulated many of the more mystical aspects of Christology. Once Paul "saw the light," he was one of the most ardent devotees of Jesus, traveling the so-called "known world" bringing the message of Jesus to the Gentiles. Anyone who has read Acts or Galatians, will recall that Saints Peter & Paul did not always think or act in perfect harmony. They
