Nativity of the Virgin Mary the Theotokos
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The mother of the Theotokos, St. Anna is being attended by handmaidens. Her father, St. Joachim is attending to the Theotokos at the lower right. Notice that Mary appears as a small adult, which is typical in iconography. Notice her crib....it looks like a building with windows. Doesn't it look like the Temple? The Theotokos is likened to the Temple in our hymnography, as well as our iconography. You might think that this is because she was presented to the Temple at a very early age - however, more importantly, since she herself contained the uncontainable God in her womb, the incarnate Logos of God...just as the Temple was where the Lord dwelled, she becomes the Temple of God, literally. |
In the Nativity of Christ his crib looks like a casket - He was "born in order to die." The crib of the Theotokos looks like the Temple - and in one sense she was born in order to become "the Temple."
