The Meeting of the Lord in Icons and Frescoes

Photo gallery

The iconography for the Meeting of the Lord is based upon the Gospel passage of St. Luke (Lk. 2:22-39). On the icons, frescoes, and miniatures the key activity is the Theotokos giving the Child into the hands of Symeon; behind her is Joseph the Betrothed carrying doves either in his hands or in a cage, and behind Symeon is the prophetess Anna with a scroll in her hands.
Fresco, late 7th c., Church of Santa Maria Castelserpio, Italy

Fresco, late 7th c., Church of Santa Maria Castelserpio, Italy

Miniature from the Menalogion of Basil II, first quarter of 11th c., Vatican Library (Vat. Gr. 1613)

Miniature from the Menalogion of Basil II, first quarter of 11th c., Vatican Library (Vat. Gr. 1613)

The Meeting of the Lord. Mosaic in the triumphal archway, Santa Maria Maggiore basilica, Rome. 432-440. Photo: Pavel Otdelnov

The Meeting of the Lord. Mosaic in the triumphal archway, Santa Maria Maggiore basilica, Rome. 432-440. Photo: Pavel Otdelnov

Meeting of the Lord. Enamel. Late 11th c.-early 13th c., Georgia. State Museum of Georgian Art, Tbilisi.

Meeting of the Lord. Enamel. Late 11th c.-early 13th c., Georgia. State Museum of Georgian Art, Tbilisi.

Fresco, Holy Trinity Church, Sopocani Monastery. Cir. 1265, Serbia.

Fresco, Holy Trinity Church, Sopocani Monastery. Cir. 1265, Serbia.

Meeting of the Lord, 7th c. Detail of the timpana of the Western façade, 	La Charité-sur-Loire, Burgundy, France

Meeting of the Lord, 7th c. Detail of the timpana of the Western façade, La Charité-sur-Loire, Burgundy, France

Fresco, Church of the Dormition, Gracanica Monastery, Serbia, 1321.

Fresco, Church of the Dormition, Gracanica Monastery, Serbia, 1321.

Detail, St. Basil doors, Novgorod, 1336. Gold on copper.

Detail, St. Basil doors, Novgorod, 1336. Gold on copper.

Fresco, Church of the Mother of God Hodigitria in Pec, Serbia. Cir. 1337.

Fresco, Church of the Mother of God Hodigitria in Pec, Serbia. Cir. 1337.

Fresco, Church of the Dormition on Volotov Field, Novgorod, late 14th c. (lost)

Fresco, Church of the Dormition on Volotov Field, Novgorod, late 14th c. (lost)

Byzantine icon, 15th c., tempera on wood 44.45 x 42.2 cm. Metropolitan Museum, New York.

Byzantine icon, 15th c., tempera on wood 44.45 x 42.2 cm. Metropolitan Museum, New York.

Fresco, Church of Agios Nikolaos Tis Stegis (ceiling). Kakopetria, Cyprus, 17th c.

Fresco, Church of Agios Nikolaos Tis Stegis (ceiling). Kakopetria, Cyprus, 17th c.

Mosaic, Church of the Mother of God Kyriotissa (Kalendarkhane Mosque), Istanbul. Archeological Museum, Istanbul.

Mosaic, Church of the Mother of God Kyriotissa (Kalendarkhane Mosque), Istanbul. Archeological Museum, Istanbul.

Icon, early 16th c., from the festal row in the Church of the Archangels in the old city, Pskov, Pskov museum-reserve.

Icon, early 16th c., from the festal row in the Church of the Archangels in the old city, Pskov, Pskov museum-reserve.

Duccio di Buoninsegna, Sienna school, Meeting of the Lord.

Duccio di Buoninsegna, Sienna school, Meeting of the Lord.

Icon of the Meeting of the Lord, mid-18th c., Uglich Historical-Architectural Museum-reserve.

Icon of the Meeting of the Lord, mid-18th c., Uglich Historical-Architectural Museum-reserve.

Byzantine style, late 19th-early 20th c. Metropolitan Museum, New York

Byzantine style, late 19th-early 20th c. Metropolitan Museum, New York

Cir. 1497, from the iconostasis of the Dormition Cathedral, St. Cyril of White Lake Monastery, Kirillo-Belozersk Museum-reserve.

Cir. 1497, from the iconostasis of the Dormition Cathedral, St. Cyril of White Lake Monastery, Kirillo-Belozersk Museum-reserve.

Guria Nikitina art group, 1680’s, Kostroma. Yaroslav art museum.

Guria Nikitina art group, 1680’s, Kostroma. Yaroslav art museum.

Icon from the early 15th c., from the festal row of the Annunciation Cathedral, Moscow Kremlin.

Icon from the early 15th c., from the festal row of the Annunciation Cathedral, Moscow Kremlin.

Icons from the iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral, Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, cir. 1425. Ascribed to St. Andrei Rublev.

Icons from the iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral, Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, cir. 1425. Ascribed to St. Andrei Rublev.

1408, Andrei Rublev group. From the iconostasis of the Dormition Cathedral, Vladimir. Russian State Museum.

1408, Andrei Rublev group. From the iconostasis of the Dormition Cathedral, Vladimir. Russian State Museum.

Two-sided icon-tablet, late 15th-early 16th cc., Novgorod Museum-reserve.

Two-sided icon-tablet, late 15th-early 16th cc., Novgorod Museum-reserve.

Two-sided icon-tablet, mid-15th c. Sergiev Posad Museum-reserve (vestry)

Two-sided icon-tablet, mid-15th c. Sergiev Posad Museum-reserve (vestry)

Festal row of the Sophia Cathedral, Novgorod. Early 14th c

Festal row of the Sophia Cathedral, Novgorod. Early 14th c

The most ancient image of the Meeting of the Lord preserved to the present day is depicted in one of the mosaics of the triumphal archway that frames the altar area of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome (432-440). The scene with multiple figures of the Meeting of the Lord is interpreted here as the Mother of God’s walk with the Infant in her hands, accompanied by angels, to meet St. Symeon. The measured rhythm of this walk is set by the rhythm of the colonnades with arches, which is the background behind this action. Symeon, stooping with age, stands in the opening and stretches his arms to Christ, his hands draped with a mantle. Behind his back are men (possibly scribes and priests of the Jerusalem temple). On the frescoes in the church of Santa Maria in Castelserpio in Italy, painted by a Byzantine master (late 7th c.), Symeon is depicted with emphasis on his ancientness, with long hair—according to tradition, in anticipation for over 300 years of his meeting with the Lord as promised to him by the angel. Yet another ancient monument of iconography of the Meeting of the Lord, created before the era of iconoclasm, is the Constantinople mosaic in the Church of the Theotokos Kyriotissa (which during the Ottoman era was turned into the Kalendarkhane Mosque). Here the Infant Christ is also held in the arms of the Mother of God, while in monuments created after the iconoclastic period the Infant Christ is shown held by Symeon. The Mother of God is often depicted as sorrowful, feeling beforehand her Son’s suffering on the Cross according to the prophecy of Symeon: Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also (Lk. 2:35). Alongside with the Annuciation, the Nativity, and the Baptism, the Meeting was one of the leading scenes in mosaic adornment of churches during the mid-Byzantine period—the churches of Agios Lukas in Phokida, Neo Moni on Chios, and of the Dormition in Daphne. In Rus’, the most ancient images of the Meeting of the Lord are the frescoes of the mid-11th century in the Pskov Mirozh Monastery cathedral, as well as 11th century frescoes in the St. Cyril Church (Kiev) and the Church of the Savior on the Nereditsa (Novgorod). On the fresco in the Church of the Dormition on Volotov Field (Novgorod, mid-14th c.), Symeon with the Infant in his arms is placed by the low, closed doors leading into the Holy of Holies. Many icons of the Meeting of the Lord preserved to our times are a part of the festal row of icons on church iconostases.
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