Athos Holy Mount

Athonite Paper Icons	4.11 The Saints of Athos mid 19th c. Collection of Simonopetra Monastery Engraving Dimensions: 55.5 x 42 cm Engraved on Mount Athos Engraver: Unknown
	A group of ten full-length saints are represented in the foreground, with St Sabas in the middle as high priest. Behind them, in the second row, the central position is occupied by St Peter the Athonite, and a host of unnamed and scarcely visible saints brings up the rear. The saints are represented either frontal of facing towards the centre. Above them the Virgin, holding the Child, stands in a radiant glory on the summit of Mount Athos, interceding for the fathers of the Holy Mountain, which as the scroll in her right hand says, is her clergy: 'Son of God the Father, Hear Your Mother's Prayer for her Clergy'. On each side of the Virgin are two angels on clouds, holding open scrolls. The work is titled 'The Ascetic Saints of Mount Athos', in Greek at the top and Slavonic at the bottom. This is a meticulous chasing of a new iconographic type, which draws its elements on the Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles for the depiction of the Athonite fathers, and on the Transfiguration for the representation of the Virgin. At the urging of the General Assembly of Mount Athos, around 1800, St Nikodemos the Athonite (1749-1809) composed the first common service for the saints of Athos, along with a fine encomium. At the same time a church in Karyes was dedicated to these saints and an icon was placed on the iconostasis of the Protaton in their honour. Nikodemos' service and encomium were published in Ermoupolis on the island of Syros in 1847, together with a folded lithograph of the saints that was used as the model for this engraving.
	Bibliography: Davidov 1990, no. 68.
	H.I.S.
	Index of exhibits of Monastery of Simonopetra 19th century

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