Icon of the Virgin Glykophilousa — Large Format, 24K Gold Halo

This hagiography depicts the Virgin Glykophilousa — "the sweetly-kissing one" — in a large-format version, associated with an icon kept at the Monastery of Philotheou on Mount Athos. According to tradition, the original icon belonged to a devout woman who, refusing to hand it over to iconoclasts, entrusted it to the sea rather than see it destroyed; carried by the waves, it's said to have reached the monastery's shore, at the very spot where a spring of holy water is said to have emerged.

Hand-painted on a wide plank of aged wood, this icon deliberately leaves a raw, unpainted wood border visible, which sets off the central scene while preserving the natural, textured character of the surface. The 24-karat gold leaf halo underscores the sanctity of the Marian figure, in contrast with the understated wood surrounding it.

At 80 x 40 cm, this notably larger format than the more common versions makes it an imposing piece, particularly suited to a church wall, a large personal iconostasis, or any spacious prayer room where its presence can be fully appreciated.

Like every hand-painted hagiography, this icon is one of a kind. It carries forward one of the oldest and most venerated iconographic types in Orthodox tradition, that of maternal tenderness between the Mother of God and the Child.

Given to a parish, installed in a place of worship, or acquired to mark a particular occasion, this large-format icon of the Virgin Glykophilousa combines visual scale with faithfulness to a founding story from Mount Athos.