The Story Of The First Icon Of Mary
The first icon of Mary was painted by St Luke. He had not known Jesus in his
lifetime. He was a Greek doctor who became a Christian after the Resurrection,
and he spent some time travelling with St Paul on his missionary journey. He
wrote two of the books of the New Testament - St Luke's Gospel and the Acts of
the Apostles. He went with Paul to Jerusalem, and it was probably there that he
got to know Mary, and painted her portrait.
By that time Mary was old, but he did not paint her as she was then. The
important thing he wanted to show in his painting was that she was the Mother of
God become Man, so he painted her as a young mother, holding the baby Jesus.
Luke had never seen Mary as a young woman, or Jesus as a baby, so the pictures
he painted do not look as lifelike as King Abgar's icon of Jesus. In fact, Luke
painted the baby Jesus with the head of a grown-up because he wanted to show His
wisdom as God.
Luke painted more than one icon of Mary and Jesus, but always with the same idea
- to show not just what they looked like but what was important about them:
Jesus the wise and loving God become a human Child, and Mary his mother, the
person who made it possible for people to meet Him.