www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Our Lady Of Guadalupe

Dear Friends,

Does the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe fit into Eastern iconography?

Or is the her image unique as far as type and style?

Thanks for your input.

Good health and best wishes to you,

Paul

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is in a catagory all of it's own.

As our buddy Alex has said many times it is an "image not made by human hands".

This is similar to the "Veil of Veronica" or the imprint on the Holy Shroud.

My personal opinion is that it does not follow Byzantine iconographic "rules", but I am not expert and this is a personal opinion.

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is loved and venerated my many Eastern Catholics. Some modern reproductions which are popular with Eastern Catholics make it look slightly more "iconographic".

Hope this helps.

Stefan-Ivan

Can there be a better icon then one written by Our Lady herself? Like most of the great iconographic images, it shows not only an image but tells a story. The fact that she is depicted pregnant I believe speaks volumes like any good icon.

Dmitri

There's something about Mary (no pun intended) that is just so great!!

ChristTeen287:

Your latest observation just makes me smile...and misty-eyed.

AmdG

ChristTeen
Welcome to the world of those of us who have a great devorion to Our Mother. You just would not believe the blessings She has given me

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your replies.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is special to me because my wife and I were picked
to be "padrinos" of Our Lady of Guadalupe to represent our parish at
a diocesan celebration of her feast day (Dec.12). I am also familiar with her role as patroness of unborn children in my activities with pro-life groups.

I would also like to hear from Orthodox Christians about her image as being
an icon or any other thoughts you have about her image.

God bless you.

Paul

Yes. If I hold any connection to Christianity it is to the Blessed Mother and her Son. My progress in Christianity I credit to her. To understand Our Lady in Christianity is totally a different Christianity then one without her acknowledgement. This is not to bash Protestants, certainly many well breed and devote people in that group. But the Blessed Mother is... well the Brit's have their Queen and I have mine. The Americans have their Lord (the President) and I have mine.

Hmm... I didn't know I was a monarchist? Alex?

Justin

I think the way so many Protestants throw Mary out the window is horrifying. It saddens me in a completely different (and often deeper) way than their theoligical errors. Not only is she not given the credit she deserves, she is ridiculed by some (very few) partly, I think, in a backlack to Catholic devotion to her. This is not to say that many Protestants have a very respectable approach of venerating Our Lady, but I just wish this was much more widespread than it is. When someone ridicules the Theotokos, most of the time I become much more angered than if someone had ridiculed my biological mother.

ChristTeen287

...that many Protestants *do not* have...

ChristTeen - let me make life a little easier for you. If you want to correct a post because of typos [ and we all make them] just click on the thingie with the piece of paper and a pencil - that's the edit icon and you will be able to make any alterations you want.

Mya Our Blessed Lady , Mary ever Virgin, Mother of us, all keep you in Her most tender care and lead you to Her Wonderful Son.

Thanks Love Slave!

I recently led the Akathist to the Theotokos when the Guadalupe image was travelling in our area. The organizer specifically wanted to have an Eastern devotion and asked - and I thought why not have the oldest known public devotion to the Theotokos, the Akathist Hymn by St. Roman the Melodist?

Anyway it was very well received and the Hispanic folks loved it. They were singing Pochaiv chant right along with the Ukies by the end of the service. They even asked us to return to their parish and have the Akathist again.

It gave me a whole new perspective on uniting Christians of East and West that evening - through the Theotokos giving birth to her Son, our Lord, the human and divine were united, and thus through her any division can be healed.

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.
Presvyataya Bohoroditse, spasi nas.

http://www.zeitun-eg.org

Click on the Icon on the top left cornor to get the history.

Yes indeed, possibly this is the one place in the world where the orthodox, catholic, and protestants come to pray together and where the muslims come in and light canldes and ask for prayers. It is the Theotokos who is uniting them.