Our Lady of Elige: a living Syriac heritage.

In the depth of this remarkable icon, known as Our Lady of Elige, lays a long history of devotion to the holy Virgin, in Mount Lebanon. 

The original icon that dates back to the 10th century, originated from an undetermined place in the Syriac world and found settled in the Patriarchal Church of Elige, Mayfouq area, in the district of Byblos. It depicts the virgin Mother holding the divine Child on her lap, a theme that is said to be a favorite to St. Ephrem… 

In a while, this icon, that will come to be known as Our Lady of the Maronites, will be accompanying the Maronite Patriarchs from the year 1121 to the year of 1545. And after their departure to the Valley of Qannoubine, the icon remained there reserved in a box, but not preserved from many destructive factors, such as fire and distortion as bitter fruit of persecution. 

Years later, after the monastery housing the ancient piece has become the property of the Lebanese Maronite Order, this latter took a decision of restoration. The cloistered nuns of the Carmel of the Mother of God and Unity – at Harissa, were asked to accomplish this delicate mission which lasted for five years.  And the advanced work on it uncovered the fact that this icon is built up over five or six layers embedded throughout centuries. Thus the whole task marked an event in the history of Syrio-Maronite iconography.

Remarkable was the very first foundation design where the icon illustrated the Virgin Hodegetria, which literally means = "She who shows the Way": here the depiction of the Virgin Mary was planned in a manner showing her holding the Child Jesus at her side while pointing to Him as the source of salvation for mankind. The design is influenced by the tradition that initiated from the miniatures of the 6th century Rabbula illuminated Syriac Gospel manuscripts.

Now, icons were always part of the Church's preaching and the Church's teaching… And the icon of Our Lady of Elige is no exception in this field:

It is founded on the letter X, which is the first letter of the Greek name for Christ: Christos (Christos-Χριστός), this character will meet in the middle, combining Mary and her son Jesus.

The virgin is shown with eyes wide open as a sign of entering into God's world, a world of glory. Her robe is deep blue faithful to the Syriac tradition…. Blue has been a color associated with royalty, peace, and nature like the sea and sky. So it makes sense that artistic renditions of Mary portray the Queen of Heaven and Earth in blue. And as is distinctive in Syriac icons, the Virgin Mother's hair is completely concealed and covered by the headband worn in the Semitic culture.

2 stars seem to shine on Mary's head and shoulder: These represent her permanent virginity before and after Christ's birth; As St. Ephrem declares it: "the First Eve by her 'hearing' of the serpent gave the world death; the Second Eve, by her 'hearing' of the angel gave the world LIFE."

Then we move to remark her right hand: with it, our Lady declares the duality of Christ's natures: divine and human. 

As for the Divine Child: He sits in kingly purple signifying royalty. His white veil, symbolizes the light, purity, and sovereignty. He gives His blessing with His right hand, with His 3 fingers joined to signify the three Persons in one God; while the index and other finger point that He is both God and man. The halos of both figures are a simple widen gold band typical of Syriac iconography.

In front of this icon perfumed with the incense of ancestors ‘prayers, we can contemplate the faces that strengthened the faithful hearts in the toughest periods of our Syrio-Maronite history…. In its hidden layers one can follow the trail of the Easter people: those under the mantle of the Holy Virgin and the leadership of our savior “did not abandon themselves to despair and Hallelujah was their song”!!!