Item Summary

Devotional woodcut showing an icon (8vo-sized woodcut) of Saint Stephen the Prōtomartyr cast in copper, for veneration at the Eastern Orthodox monastery of Kōnstamonitou on Mount Athos in Greece. Commissioned by Abbot Gabriel of Vatopedi, and financed by Athanasios Alexiou of Grabovo, the icon was displayed at Kōnstamonitou. Saint Stephen, the central image within woodcut border, is depicted frontal in the deacon's attire, holding the censer with his right hand and with his left hand extended the Holy Book. A halo around his head bears the inscription: "Ho Hagios Prōtomartys Stephanos." The Eye of God in an equilateral triangle with a single eye inside it and rays emanating from it towards the saint's head is positioned off center to the right corner; a replica of the monastery with the inscription "Monastēri Kōnstamonētou" is shown next to the saint's figure." At the bottom of the scene, a five-line legend in Greek runs as follows: "Hē Parousa sevasmia eikōn echalkocharachthē Dia syndromēs tou panosiōtatou / ky[riou] Gavriēl tou Vatopedinou di exodōn de tou timiōtatou, ky[riou] athanasiou alexiou / ek grampovo, kai aphierōthē par autou en tē Hiera Monē tou Kōnstamonētou, hina / dōrean charizētai tois orthodoxou christianois. epistasia de tou timiōtatou / ky[riou] Kōnstantinou oikonomou ek poleōs Melenikou. 1765. en viennē."