The Holy Family icon is one of the most controversial shrines of Christianity

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

The Holy Family icon does not belong to the canonical icons of Orthodoxy, that is, it is a false icon. The biggest rejection among the clergy is that Joseph the Betrothed embraces the Mother of God, while he existed with her more as a guardian, and not as a husband. They were only engaged, as evidenced by the very name Betrothed. Yes, and he was a hundred years old at the time of the birth of Christ. There are also complaints about the white color of clothes.

Picture or icon

The icon of the "Holy Family" rather resembles a picture painted according to a biblical story. The world knows hundreds of such works, the most famous of them belong to the brushes of Rembrandt, Raphael and Rubens. About 100 great artists painted on biblical themes, but none of them (except for the only one - “Three Joys”) does not claim to be an icon (“icon” in Greek means “image”, sometimes an icon that depicts one or one saint, called a face).

An icon in Orthodoxy is a prayer, a conversation with God. Before the revolution, it would never have occurred to anyone to keep at homean uncanonized icon, and even pray to it. This was apostasy, sectarianism, pure heresy.

In our time, there is a lack of church education, on this basis the concepts are blurred, there are a lot of false saints around. It became possible to travel to different countries, including Israel, where there is a real cult of the Holy Family icon. It is located in temples, and in all shops and shops located along the route of tourists, made for every taste and budget.

Traditions and rules of the "Holy Family" in Christianity

Position it as the guardian of the hearth, the integrity of the family, and everything that is only connected with the word "family". The icon "Holy Family" can help in search of a soul mate and ward off a lovebird. Thus, an icon bought in the Holy Land and serving noble purposes is becoming more and more popular in Russia. And not many of its owners would think to check it for false churchness.

Already around this image, some traditions, rules and rituals have developed, holidays are indicated for which only this icon should be presented: to newlyweds, so that the marriage is happy, on the wedding anniversary, on the birth of a child. So, the icon of the Holy Family, popular in the Holy Land (the prayer of which will save the family from all conceivable and unimaginable troubles), has also taken root in Russia. And this is despite the fact that Orthodoxy has its own icon of the Three Joys, which has a second name - the icon of the Holy Family, praying, with its interestinghistory. It depicts Joseph the carpenter (on some of them John the Baptist is present), but they are located in the background, as befits the guardians, and the “holy family” means the Mother of God with her son. In this image, all church canons and subtleties of Russian Orthodoxy are observed.

The meaning of the icon for world culture

"Three Joys" or "Holy Family" - an icon whose significance is difficult to overestimate. Firstly, this is the only miraculous icon that was painted in Italy in the manner of Raphael, and brought to Russia has become a national shrine.

She is addressed not only with a plea for the preservation of the family, she helps a lot to return a hopeless debt, honor to an unjustly slandered person, she is prayed for sinners and prisoners. Its fate, unfortunately, repeated the fate of many Orthodox shrines, when in the 30s of the last century churches were sacked, plundered and destroyed. She's missing.

Now her list is in the Church of the Holy Trinity on Gryazeh in Moscow. Every Wednesday, hundreds of admirers come to take out this icon; it is known to believers throughout the country. The church holiday in honor of this image falls on January 8 (December 19, old style). Many people tend to visit the temple on this day and pray to the Holy Family, ask for intercession.