About this reader
The gospel text is the King James Version. The patristic commentary quoted throughout is drawn from the Church Fathers venerated in the Orthodox Church, led by Blessed Theophylact of Ohrid and St Bede, then St Augustine, St John Chrysostom, St Jerome, St Gregory the Dialogist, St Hilary, St Cyril of Alexandria, St Ambrose and St Leo, quoted verbatim, nothing paraphrased and nothing invented; each quotation names its own Father and the homily or work it comes from. Material later identified as spuriously attributed to St Chrysostom (much of it actually Victor of Antioch’s) or to St Jerome is excluded throughout. The icons and frescoes are public-domain or
freely-licensed photographs of Byzantine, Athonite, Serbian, Sicilian-Byzantine and Russian works.
Where the Church has painted a scene more than once, this reader shows several of its icons
side by side, the Theophany painted four times over, at Ohrid, at Langadas, at Adam and in the Russian North, and six Crucifixions together, from the Dionysiou wall to a Sinai panel, and each one carries its own
reading saying where it was made and what it does differently. Every icon shown for a passage
depicts that passage’s own scene, and no image appears under two passages. Orthodox
iconography is built on the feast cycle, the miracles and the saints, and it has no scene-icon
for most of the parables and teaching passages: those passages are given as plain text
rather than illustrated with a general image of Christ that would misrepresent them. A few
passages carry an icon the Church attaches to them without depicting their verses (the Forerunner dragged to prison at 1:14, the Synaxis of the Twelve at their choosing); each of those says
so on the card.
Images
- 005 Entry into Jerusalem Icon from Saint Paraskevi Church in Langadas · Before 20 Century · Unknown · Public domain · Commons
- 016 Ascension of Jesus Icon from Saint Paraskevi Church in Langadas · Before 20 Century · Unknown · Public domain · Commons
- 019 Baptism of Jesus Icon from Saint Paraskevi Church in Langadas · 1850 · Athanasios Margaritis · Public domain · Commons
- 024 Crucifixion of Jesus Icon from Saint Paraskevi Church in Langadas · 1855 · Unknown · Public domain · Commons
- 03 Baptism of Christ Icon from Saint Paraskevi Church in Adam · Before 20 Century · Unknown · Public domain · Commons
- 042 Transfiguration of Jesus Icon from Saint Paraskevi Church in Langadas · 1885 · Stavrakis Margaritis · Public domain · Commons
- 05 Last Supper Icon from Saint Paraskevi Church in Adam · 1898 · Asterios Ioannou Anagnostos · Public domain · Commons
- 0663Ha. Hermitage Museum (Hall 143). Icon of the Epiphany · 3-я четверть XVII · Unknown · Public domain · Commons
- 074 Cursing the fig tree Icon from Saint Paraskevi Church in Langadas · 1855 · Unknown · Public domain · Commons
- 090 Mathew the Apostle Icon from Saint Paraskevi Church in Langadas · Before 20 Century · Unknown · Public domain · Commons
- 103 Beheading of Saint John the Baptist Icon from Saint Paraskevi Church in Langadas · 1927 · Unknown · Public domain · Commons
- 18 Triumphal entry into Jerusalem Icon from Saint Paraskevi Church in Adam. · 1846 · Athanasios Vasilikos Adaminos · Public domain · Commons
- 19 Beheading of Saint John the Baptist Icon in Assumption of Mary Church in Agios Vasileios · Before 20 Century · Unknown · Public domain · Commons
- Alektor Petrou Dionysiou · 1547 · Theophanes the Cretan · Public domain · Commons
- Apokalthelosis Dionysiou · 1547 · Tzortzis Phouka · Public domain · Commons
- Apotome Agiou Ioannou Prodromou Dionysiou · 1547 · Tzortzis Phouka · Public domain · Commons
- Baiophoros Dionysiou · 1547 · Theophanes the Cretan · Public domain · Commons
- Baptism of Christ, Early XIV Century, St Mary Perivleptos Church, Ohrid Icon Gallery · Early XIV Century · Unknown · Public domain · Commons
- Cathedral (Monreale) - Left wing transept - Ascension · 12th centurydate QS:P,+1150-00-00T00:00:00Z/7 · Byzantine medieval · Public domain · Commons
- Cathedral (Monreale) - Left wing transept - North wall - Entombment · 12th centurydate QS:P,+1150-00-00T00:00:00Z/7 · byzantine medieval · Public domain · Commons
- Cathedral (Monreale) - Left wing transept - West wall - Crucifixion · 12th centurydate QS:P,+1150-00-00T00:00:00Z/7 · Byzantine medieval · Public domain · Commons
- Cathedral (Monreale) - Right wing transept - Agony in the Garden · 12th centtury · Byzantine medieval · Public domain · Commons
- Cathedral (Monreale) - Right wing transept - Before Pilate · 2025 · Berthold Werner · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
- Christ banish tradesmen from Temple (Monreale) · 2010-02-25 11:03:43 · Sibeaster · Public domain · Commons
- Christ before Caiaphas, GRACANICA 1 090A7764 · 2021-09-06 16:00:38 · BLAGO Fund, Inc. · CC BY 4.0 · Commons
- Christ cleans leper man · Mosaic: Byzantine; Photograph: July 2008 · Unknown · Public domain · Commons
- Christ's temptation (Monreale) · 2010-02-25 11:00:13 · Sibeaster · Public domain · Commons
- Christos Apostolois Dionysiou · 1547 · Theophanes the Cretan · Public domain · Commons
- Christos Iomenos Thygatera Xananaias Dionysiou · 1547 · Tzortzis Phouka · Public domain · Commons
- Crucifixion Icon Sinai 12th century · 2008-04 · Unknown · Public domain · Commons
- Daughter of the head of synagogue is resurrected by Christ · 2010-02-17 12:47:06 · Sibeaster · Public domain · Commons
- Deipnos Mystikos Dionysiou · 1547 · Tzortzi Phouka · Public domain · Commons
- Double-sided icon - Crucifixion and Hodegetria (9-13th c., Byzantine museum) · medieval · Anonymous icon painter · Public domain · Commons
- Elkomenos Prodromos Phylaken Dionysiou · 1547 · Tzortzis Phouka · Public domain · Commons
- Empaigmos Dionysiou · 1547 · Tzortzis Phouka · Public domain · Commons
- Emphania Soteros Dionysiou · 1547 · Tzortzi Phouka · Public domain · Commons
- Entry into Jerusalem (Afon icon) · 16th centurydate QS:P,+1550-00-00T00:00:00Z/7 · AnonymousUnknown author · Public domain · Commons
- Epitaphios Threnos Dionysiou · 1547 · Tzortzis Phouka · Public domain · Commons
- Etesatou Ioseph Somatou Christou · 1547 · Theophanes the Cretan · Public domain · Commons
- Evlogesis Pente Arton Dionysiou · 1547 · Tzortzis Phouka · Public domain · Commons
- Feeding the multitude, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna · 2014-02-28 12:33:24 · Unknown · Public domain · Commons
- Fig tree cursed 04-16 · 1502 · Dionisius · Public domain · Commons
- Flagellation of Christ (icon) · 15th centurydate QS:P,+1450-00-00T00:00:00Z/7 · AnonymousUnknown author · Public domain · Commons
- Gethsemane Dionysiou · 1547 · Theophanes the Cretan · Public domain · Commons
- Great Lavra Monastery Katholikon Church Crucifixion, Theophanes the Cretan 1535 · 1535 · Theophanes of Crete (XVI C) and unknown · Public domain · Commons
- Healing of the Paralytic 04-17 · 2020-11-29 05:54:34 · Dionisius · Public domain · Commons
- Hrist utišava buru na moru, manastir Gračanica · 2017-10-26 14:22:11 · Mickey Mystique · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
- Icon of the Transfiguration from Saint Catherine's, Sinai · 12th Century · Unknown · Public domain · Commons
- Icon of transfiguration (Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, Yaroslavl) · circa 1516date QS:P,+1516-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902 · Unknown · Public domain · Commons
- Ide Topos pou Ekato Dionysiou · 1547 · Tzortzi Phouka · Public domain · Commons
- Iomenos xeran echon cheira Dionysiou · 1547 · Tzortzi Phouka · Public domain · Commons
- Judas receiving money, icon of Yaroslavl (19 c, priv.coll) · 19th centurydate QS:P,+1850-00-00T00:00:00Z/7 · Anonymous Russian icon painter (before 1917)Public domain image (according to PD-Russia-expired) · Public domain · Commons
- Judas's kiss (Monreale) · 2010-02-25 11:01:43 · Sibeaster · Public domain · Commons
- Kirillo-Belozersky iconostasis 12 - Last Supper · 1497 · Anonymous Russian icon painter (before 1917)Public domain image (according to PD-Russia-expired) · Public domain · Commons
- Kiss of Judas (Church of Saint Nicolas the Orphan) · XIV век · AnonymousUnknown author · Public domain · Commons
- Krinomenos Christou Dionysiou · 1547 · Theophanes the Cretan · Public domain · Commons
- Mastigosis Dionysiou · 1547 · Tzortzis Phouka · Public domain · Commons
- Matthew the Evangelist - icon · Middle of 19th century. Submitted to wikimedia on 2008-05-01 · Unknown Russian icon painter, middle of 19 th cen. · Public domain · Commons
- Monreale - Anointing at Bethany · 12th centurydate QS:P,+1150-00-00T00:00:00Z/7 · byzantine · Public domain · Commons
- Monreale - healing of paralytic · 12th centurydate QS:P,+1150-00-00T00:00:00Z/7 · byzantine · Public domain · Commons
- Monreale - Healing of the Woman with an Issue of Blood · 12th centurydate QS:P,+1150-00-00T00:00:00Z/7 · shakko · Public domain · Commons
- Monreale - Jesus heals Simon's mother in law · 12th centurydate QS:P,+1150-00-00T00:00:00Z/7 · byzantine · Public domain · Commons
- Monreale - Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes · 12th centurydate QS:P,+1150-00-00T00:00:00Z/7 · byzantine medieval · Public domain · Commons
- Mosaic of the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac from the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo · 2020-04-26 07:03:14 · unknown sixth-century AD mosaicist of the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna · Public domain · Commons
- Noli me tangere (16th c., Cretan) · 16th centurydate QS:P,+1550-00-00T00:00:00Z/7 · Cretan · Public domain · Commons
- Pilate judgement (icon) · 15th centurydate QS:P,+1450-00-00T00:00:00Z/7 · AnonymousUnknown author · Public domain · Commons
- Prodosia Dionysiou · 1547 · Tzortzis Phouka · Public domain · Commons
- Raising of Jairus' daughter 03-19 · 1502 · Dionisius · Public domain · Commons
- Ravenna, sant'apollinare nuovo, int., storie cristologiche, epoca di teodorico 07.1 rinnegamento di pietro · 28 July 2013, 13:44:21 · Sailko · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
- Representation of the Sower's parable · 3 December 2009 · Sulfababy of en.wiki · CC BY 2.5 · Commons
- Rossano Gospels - Cleansing of the Temple · 6th centurydate QS:P,+550-00-00T00:00:00Z/7 · 6th century anonymous · Public domain · Commons
- Second Coming by G.Klontzas (16th c.) · late 16th century · Georgios Klontzas · Public domain · Commons
- St John the Baptist Late XVII - Early XVIII Cenury St Mary Blonichka Church, Ohris Icon Gallery · Late XVII - Early XVIII Cenury · Unknown · Public domain · Commons
- Stavrosis Dionysiou · 1547 · Tzortzi Phouka · Public domain · Commons
- Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles by Constantinople master (early 14th c., Pushkin museum) · 14th centurydate QS:P,+1350-00-00T00:00:00Z/7 · AnonymousUnknown author · Public domain · Commons
- Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles Dimitar Molerov Rila Monastery 1835 · 1835 · Dimitar Molerov · Public domain · Commons
- The Lord's prayer in Gethsemane - Stavronikita monastery, Mt Athos - Theophanes of Crete, 16th c. · 14 April 2015 · Theophanes the Cretan · Public domain · Commons
- The Twelve Apostles, with later gilding, Greek, Late Byzantine, early 1300s, tempera and gold leaf on wood panel - Princeton University Art Museum - DSC06701 · 2016-12-01 15:49:25 · Daderot · Public domain · Commons
- Tokalı Kilise Raising of daughter of Jairus - 2004 6964 · 2004-03-15 15:07:27 · Dosseman · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
- Touch Me Not (Noli me tangere), Lambardos Emmanuel, Municipal Gallery of Corfu, 04 · 2024-10-10 10:53:08 · GualdimG · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
- Transfiguration of Christ Icon Sinai 12th century · 2008-04 · Unknown · Public domain · Commons