June 17, 2007 God the Father

This week adds God the Father to the Holy Trinity. As with Christ, God the Father's right hand is blessing all and holds a scroll in his left hand. Behind the Father's head is a triangle, signifying the Trinity. Each of these classic icons are very similar as far as the shape of the figure goes. The heads of both figures are quite small while the shoulders are broad. This form begins the Byzantine period and does not change in hopes of keeping a familiarity among the figures seen in icons. No matter when the icon was put together, the people could always tell who was Christ, who was God the Father, who was the Spirit, and even onto the Virgin Mary and the saints. Often the people could not read, but they knew the symbols that belonged to each figure.