St Palladius: The Meaning of the Icon

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~Video transcript:
Within the icon of the virtually unknown St, saint Paladius, lie many deep meanings and symbolisms. Within this video, I will attempt to explain some of the more obvious ones while the shared meanings of all coptic style icons will be passed over quickly. To begin, I would like to point out that not all of the symbolism within this icon was planned out. A few were premeditated, a few were thought of while the writing process was going on, and a few were realized afterwards. I stated that this is a WRITING process and not a painting process for a quite simple reason; this is because an icon is meant to show the life story of the saint it is depicting. It is a story that is written rather than artwork that is painted.
To understand some of the parts of this icon, we must know the story of St Paladius. Born to a suspected wealthy family, he decided to live the life of virtue, so he sought out many elders who would bring him up in the fear of God. He traveled throughout the egyptian dessert and learned from many of the great saints. He kept record of who he met and their various virtues. This record is now known throughout the world as the “Paradise of the Desert Fathers”. He was used as God’s tool to collect the stories of His saints. It was through him that the famous stories of the Monks and nuns came to the large cities. Many saints such as St Moses the Strong, St Anna-simone , the patron of the anchorites, The three saints Abba Macari, St Paul the Simple (the disciple of St Antony), St Pachomius and the Kanonia, St Didymus, and many other saints were recorded by him as he went through the oppressive Egyptian dessert.
While he was there, Abba John of Lycus prophesied that he would later become a bishop, and in fact he did! As a close friend of St John Chrysostom, Paladius suffered concurrently with him. Later taken from his exile, he was placed as a bishop of Helenopolis in Bithynia, Asia Minor. He later departed from this life and left with us his many travels as he truly embodied “the bee who goes from one flower to the next, learning from each one” as roughly said by saint Antony the great.
His great travels throughout the desert are symbolized through the trail of footsteps in the sandy hills, his bent knee, and his brown cloak. The stars on his cloak symbolize the fathers in the desert whom he visited. The stars are of different colors and sizes symbolizing their various degrees of closeness with God. As God has spoken through St Paul, “There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.” (1st Corinthians 15:41). He, St Palladius, received many words of wisdom from all of these “stars” and is cloaked in the beauty of Wisdom. His other garments represent the Bishop’s liturgical garments of the eastern orthodox church, of which he would have been grouped into due to location. The book of gold in his hand is the records that he took of the fathers. It states “Paradise Amen” or Paradise Truly. This is due to the fact that true paradise is living with Christ, which is what these early fathers have done. It is depicted as gold since “Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding; For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, And her gain than fine gold.” (Proverbs 3:13,14). His hand is therefore raised as he teaches us this truth. Around him is a sort of iconostasis with vines on its side and Matthew 11:15 at it’s top. The vines symbolize Christ Himself as He has said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:1,2).
Truly St Palladius bore the holy fruits of obedience and always wanting to learn as he traveled. The verse at the top which states, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Mathew 11:15), refers back to the book in his hand, again directing our attention to Christ, our Joy. Let us also seek after our Joy, climbing the many hills, valleys, deserts, and mountains to meet Him and grow closer to Him day by day.
Link to St Palladius' book:
bishoysblog.com/wp-content/up...
Huge Thanks to Coptic Hymns in English for the recording of “For Truly” from the Apostle's fast

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[@sandy9047]

Wow! What an amazing and educational explanation!