Virgin Mary (icon) was flown over the Earth 176 Times (in space station)

Ministry Values ^ | November 2009

[NYer]

Reported by Interfax of Russia in Moscow On November 25, an unusual sacred procession took place when the Virgin Mary Icon known as the "Sign" (see below) flew around the Earth 176 times.

On September 30 the spaceship Soyuz TMA 16 which had a mission to bring the icon to the International Space Station was driven from the Baikonur cosmodrome, the representative of the Galaxy studying centre initiated the project told Interfax-Religion on Wednesday.

The sacred procession was finished on October 11. The icon, after circling the earth for over a week,  was delivered back on the "Soyz TMA 14 spaceship.

The icon of the Virgin Mary "The Sign" will be presented on December 8-14 at the Orthodox exhibition at the All-Russia Exhibition Centre. It will be possible for everybody to get acquainted with video and picture stories about the sacred procession.

The project was carried out on blessing of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and with the support of the Center of National Glory of Russia, the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation and the Energy space-rocket corporation.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

13th century Icon of Our Lady of the Sign from Yaroslavl (Kiev School, ca. 1114. Tretiakov Gallery,Moscow).

The Icon of Our Lady of the Sign (Greek: Panagia or Παναγία; Old Church Slavonic: Ikona Bozhey Materi "Znamenie"; Polish: Ikona Bogurodzicy "Znak" ') is the term for a particular type of icon of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary), facing the viewer directly, depicted either full length or half, with her hands raised in the orans position, and with the image of the Child Jesus depicted within a round aureole upon her breast.^[1]

Our Lady of the Sign (18th century, iconostasis of the Transfiguration church, Kizhimonastery, Karelia, Russia).

The icon depicts the Theotokos during the Annunciation at the moment of saying, "May it be done to me according to your word."(Luke 1:38). The image of the Christ child represents him at the moment of his conception in the womb of the Virgin. He is depicted not as a fetus, but rather vested in divine robes, and often holding a scroll, symbolic of his role as teacher. Sometimes his robes are gold or white, symbolizing divine glory; sometimes they are blue and red, symbolizing the two natures of Christ (see Christology). His face is depicted as that of an old man, indicating the Christian teaching that he was at one and the same time both a fully-human infant and fully the eternal God, one of the Trinity. His right hand is raised in blessing.

The term Virgin of the Sign or Our Lady of the Sign is a reference to the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14: "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel". Such an image is often placed in the apse of thesanctuary of an Orthodox church above the Holy Table (altar).^[2]

As with most Orthodox icons of Mary, the letters ΜΡ ΘΥ (short for ΜΗΤΗΡ ΘΕΟΥ, "Mother of God") are usually placed on the upper left and right of the head of the Virgin Mary.

This type of icon is also sometimes called Platytera (Greek: Πλατυτέρα, literally wider or more spacious); poetically, by containing the Creatorof the Universe in her womb, Mary has become Platytera ton ouranon (Πλατυτέρα των Ουρανών): "More spacious than the heavens".

[Mrs. Don-o]

You, too: Check this out at #18.

[the_conscience]

Bizarre indeed. Continue on...

[ArrogantBustard]

Neat.

[Iscool]

Nice, but what’s the point???

[the invisib1e hand]

Yeah, silly me. On the other hand, the Russian Orthodox were Catholic before they were Russian Orthodox, if I understood yesterday’s homily correctly (Feast of St. Andrew).

[LadyDoc]

heh.

Mary is pregnant with Jesus in the icon...don’t tell the pro aborts.