Icon of Saint Raphael of Lesbos — Abbot and Neo-Martyr

This hagiography depicts Saint Raphael, known in the world as George Laskaris, born in 1410 on the island of Ithaca. At age 35, he renounced worldly life and his military career to become a monk, before being ordained protosyngellos and later archimandrite.

In 1450, he withdrew to the region of Macedonia to live an ascetic life. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, he took refuge in Mytilene, on the island of Lesbos, where he settled in the old convent of the Nativity of the Theotokos, near the village of Thermi, of which he became abbot.

In 1463, the Turks invaded Lesbos and the monastery. Saint Raphael was arrested and suffered horrific torture, which led to his martyrdom. The Orthodox Church commemorates his memory two days after Easter, a moveable date that varies each year according to the liturgical calendar.

Hand-painted on aged wood, this icon pairs a 24-karat gold halo with a colored background, in a 25 x 40 cm format suited to both a personal prayer corner and a place of worship.

Made to order, each hagiography is one of a kind, bearing the iconographer's signature. It particularly appeals to those who venerate the neo-martyrs of the post-Byzantine period, or to anyone named Raphael.

Given for a name day, a baptism, or to enrich a collection of religious items, this icon of Saint Raphael recalls a significant chapter in the history of Orthodox Christianity in the Aegean.