The Eleousa (compassionate or tender) type of the Virgin and Christ-child dates from the tenth century and the Vladimir Icon dates c. 1131. Tempera and gold on a wooden panel, the icon is 104 cm x 69 cm, and was produced in Constantinople. It was given to Kiev and then moved to Vladimir in the thirteenth century where fire damaged the panel and finally Moscow, hence the sixteenth century additions to the paint.
The Virgin of Vladimir is believed to be a miracle-working icon. The original was said to be painted by St Luke and when the Virgin saw the portrait she is to have pronounced: "in this image is my grace and power . . . all generations shall call me blessed". It is hard to imagine this tender-faced young woman who has been painted with such emotional warmth and sensitivity speaking these strong words of dominant authority. They are the words of the power of the age and perhaps result from the appropriation of vulnerability and holiness that history reveals occurs again and again.
The compassion and humanity of the Virgin, expressed through her peaceful and maybe slightly melancholy gaze, draws the viewer quietly into the depth of the emotional and spiritual drama that is being revealed. The Virgin's face moves us and is explored through dark ochres of layered color that are given light and texture by lighter ochres and white highlights. An Uncreated Light falls fully on the now restored face of the Christ-child from the upper right of the panel and reminds us of a similar light source on the Sinai Christ, recalling afternoon light and the need to make decisions and choose. Likewise the two eight-pointed stars of the Book of Revelation and the birth at Bethlehem are on the Virgin's veil and cloak. The Christ-child is the person we are being invited to follow this Christmas, as seen by his body and tunic fully lit with a light that brushes the Virgin's solemn face and also rests on Christ's hand upon his mother's neck.
In the intimacy of the scene, the Virgin mother and Christ-child are held in a profound silence. The painstaking process of rendering subtle harmonies of colored pigment and gold reveal a beauty that heals and the simple geometry of the composition creates a radical stability within the picture plane. We know that Mother and Child will undergo the total fullness of all the joys and sufferings of our lives but for this captured moment there is complete stillness. Their eyes meet and yet fail to meet, and this deliberate paradox is central to our understanding of the mystery of the Incarnation, as we both see and fail to see the everyday presence of Christ amongst us.
Mary who pondered all in the silence of her heart can be filled by the mystery of God because she is so empty and surrendered. She is a pure sun-bleached desert. John the Baptist's experience in the desert of Judea was Mary's in her ordinary domestic life in Nazareth where she gave protection and loving care to her growing son. A protection that Ruth sought from Naomi and a gift that John's mother, Elizabeth, saw in her cousin Mary when her child leapt for joy within her at the sound of Mary's voice. Perhaps this is an opportunity for us to ask ourselves what it means to be awake enough to recognize the signs of God's presence in our lives.
We, the whole universe, are not the result of chance or chaos but a loving God who longs for us and cares for all and has created us with his Divine presence within us and this is the mystery of the Incarnation. We see this care in the Virgin and Christ-child's faces touching and caressing and their sensitively-fingered hands holding each other. Incarnation means the presence of God's love and divine intelligence offered to every person whether we choose to listen or not. And circumstances make it very hard for some of us to listen - this is what evil works towards - but this doesn't mean that the gift has not already been given. This icon is a visual expression of the wonderful words of Ecclesiastes 3:11: "he has made everything beautiful and put eternity into the human heart".
"Christ consciousness" is what this icon calls me to seek out in the everyday signs that tell me God is present, and to keep my heart open and ready for his coming. The archetype of human freedom is in Mary and she dares to ask the difficult questions: "what is going on?" and "how can this be?". Mary shows us the way, she is the Virgin Hodegetria (she who points the way) who leads us to ask the questions that will enable us to constantly refine our choices and become truly free. To live lives that are vulnerable, transparent and unguarded because Christ lives in us. And this I believe is the wonder of Christmas where we discover our true identities and the life that we are called to lead.
Christ will hold us, just as he holds his Mother, and so we can ask him to help us carry the unresolvable tensions of our lives in the balance. The harmony and inner balance of the Vladimir Icon reflects this promise which is a deep and positive "yes" to life and to God. It is the leap of faith that we are encouraged to make at Christmas and the fruits of this will be the deepest God-given meaning of my life: Christ in me. My true "name", my "call" from the Divine mystery of God, comes through Christ and I can only respond to God through the person of Christ Jesus. "There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:5). I know I will find my own unique "face" in this Christ-child and the merciful presence that is always with us and part of our lives. Hence, deeper than all fears and anxieties, we are being invited to trust that we are held by this bedrock of Love.
Perhaps it is too easy to imagine that we all speak the same language? That words about the Divine mystery are solid and mean what they say rather than porous and metaphors for talking about what cannot be talked about? Perhaps we often fail to feel the 'holy ground' we are standing on when we talk about God and wonder how to talk about transcendence and mystery in a way that is meaningful for our ordinary lives? My hope is that a transformation of our inner consciousness, given a face within the Vladimir Icon that has suffered fire, abandonment and the repair of many hands in order to be able to speak to us, will be our gift this Christmas and will lead us into transformations of our lives that never seemed possible before today.
