Throughout this new liturgical year, at MSSP Oratory in Birkirkara, we will be reflecting on different forms of prayer we encounter in the Gospels. To accompany us on this journey, the Oratory has commissioned a new Icon (see image below), which I’m referring to as The Prayer, to help us ponder and reflect on the mystery of prayer throughout our spiritual path. Through the central figure of the Orante and the surrounding biblical characters, the blind man, the lepers, the sisters Mary and Martha, and Zacchaeus, the icon reveals five fundamental modes of prayer: contemplation, petition, thanksgiving, intercession, and forgiveness. The juxtaposition of the temple and the mountain further symbolizes the dual nature of prayer as both communal and solitary. In this blog post, I aim to present the icon not merely as a representation but as participation: an image that embodies the very act of prayer it depicts.

The Icon

Christian iconography has long served as a visual theology – a language of form, color, and symbol through which divine mysteries are made visible. The Prayer continues this sacred tradition by offering an integrated vision of prayer as dialogue between humanity and God. See Understanding Byzantine Iconography: Colors, Images, and Symbolism for an introduction about this subject.

At its compositional center stands the Orante, a figure of open-handed surrender, both an image of the individual soul and of the Church herself. Surrounding her are figures drawn from the Gospels: the blind man, the lepers, Zacchaeus, and the sisters of Bethany. Each embodies a different dimension of prayer, transforming the icon into a theology of prayer rendered in color and form.

As with classical Byzantine icons, its purpose is not mimetic but anagogical. That is, it lifts the viewer’s gaze toward the divine. In the words of St. John of Damascus, Icons open the eyes of the mind to divine contemplation (See First Apology against those who attack the Divine Images, paragraph 17). Through The Prayer, we do not merely see a scene; we enter into an encounter.

The Orante: Contemplation (Contemplatio)

At the heart of the icon stands the Orante, robed in deep blue, the color of divine mystery and wisdom. Her uplifted hands signify surrender and openness, the ancient gesture of the anaphora (in the liturgical sense of offering of self – see Anaphora_(liturgy) and Orante). Yet this gesture also reveals something deeper: prayer as contemplation. The Orante does not merely speak or petition; she becomes still before the Mystery, her entire being turned toward God in loving attention.

Within her arms rests the Christ Child, transforming her from a generic image of the soul into the Theotokos, the God-bearer. She is at once Mary and the Church, she who receives the Word and offers Him to the world. Jesus is in white robe, invites us to contemplate the mystery of God’s light entering the world through Mary, the paradox of eternal glory clothed in human fragility.

Above her descends the dove of the Holy Spirit, completing a Trinitarian composition: the Father as light, the Son within her embrace, and the Spirit descending in blessing. The gold background radiates the uncreated light (phos) of divine energy, a theological motif rooted in the Hesychast tradition and the writings of St. Gregory Palamas (see Uncreated God in The Triads). The composition thus visualizes the very movement of prayer, human ascent and divine descent, meeting in the open hands of the Orante.

The Blind: Petition (Supplicatio)

The blind man, turning his sightless eyes toward the light, embodies prayer as petition, a posture of faith before sight. During our catechesis we will meet Bartimaeus (Mk 10:46-51), whose blindness symbolizes the human condition, our dependence on divine illumination. Prayer, as St. Augustine writes in his Confessions, begins in this awareness of our limitation and our need for God’s healing light. The blind man’s gesture thus visualizes the soul’s cry: “Lord, that I may see” (reference made to Mk 10:51).

The Lepers: Thanksgiving (Eucharistia)

The lepers, depicted in various stages of healing, embody the prayer of thanksgiving. Their story (Lk 17:11–19) culminates in the one who returns to glorify God. In the icon, a single leper is shown at the feet of the Orante, symbolizing the one who came back to thank Jesus for his healing, while the others are shown walking away. Yet another interpretation can be drawn from this detail: the lepers’ outward movement suggests that true gratitude naturally flows into mission, the healed become heralds of mercy. Their pale garments recall baptismal renewal and the reintegration of the sinner into the communion of the Church.

Mary and Martha: Intercession

At the Orante’s feet stand Mary and Martha, united in one act of love, intercession. They come before Christ not for themselves, but for their brother. In their plea, “Lord, if you had been here…” (Jn 11:21, 32), grief becomes prayer, and faith gives voice to hope.

This is the heart of intercession: love that dares to speak to God for another, faith that draws mercy into human sorrow. Their encounter with Christ teaches the Church to pray not apart from suffering, but through it.

In the Orante above them, their prayer finds its echo. Hands lifted, heart open, she gathers every cry of faith into the mystery of grace. Through Mary and Martha, we glimpse the Church at prayer, one which is steadfast, pleading, radiant with hope.

Zacchaeus: Conversion and Forgiveness (Metanoia)

Zacchaeus’s ascent of the tree expresses prayer as conversion, the restless yearning of the heart to see Christ. His upward climb signifies the soul’s ascent toward divine vision, a movement born from the desire to be seen and forgiven. The tree becomes both a symbol of repentance and a foreshadowing of the Cross, where forgiveness and redemption meet.

When Jesus looks up and calls Zacchaeus by name, divine mercy descends to meet human longing. The moment of encounter reveals that true conversion is not merely the rejection of sin but the acceptance of forgiving love, a love that restores communion and renews the heart.

In this light, the icon invites us to contemplate prayer as forgiveness: the humble opening of the heart to receive mercy and to extend it to others. Zacchaeus’s joy in welcoming Christ becomes the image of a soul reconciled, where repentance blossoms into gratitude and forgiveness becomes the fruit of divine friendship.

The Temple and the Mountain: The Loci of Prayer

The icon’s background presents two sacred spaces: the temple and the mountain. The temple, with its open doorway and circular window, represents the Church gathered in liturgical prayer, a community offering praise and supplication. The mountain, rising beside it, recalls the solitude of Sinai and Tabor, where God reveals Himself in silence and glory.

Together, they express the full geography of prayer: communal and personal, liturgical and contemplative. As Pseudo-Dionysius taught, prayer is the union that brings the soul into conformity with divine order. The believer is thus invited to ascend the mountain of the heart while remaining rooted in the temple of the Church.

Aesthetic Theology: Color, Form, and Symbol

In its formal language, The Prayer follows Byzantine iconography, where style itself becomes theology. The flattened perspective and elongated forms lead the viewer away from earthly realism into sacred time, kairos, the eternal now.

Color, too, speaks theology:

• Gold reveals divine light and eternity.
• Blue expresses mystery and wisdom.
• Red signifies divine love and the Incarnation.
• White announces resurrection and purity.

The composition’s vertical rhythm, from the supplicants below to the Spirit above, illustrates the reciprocity of prayer: the human ascent to God and the Spirit’s descent upon humanity. In this rhythm, the icon itself becomes a visual liturgy, a prayer in pigment.

Conclusion

The Prayer is more than a devotional image; it is a theology in color, a visual catechesis that mirrors the soul’s journey toward God. Through the Orante, the Church is seen lifting humanity heavenward; through the surrounding figures, the many voices of prayer – intercession, petition, thanksgiving, repentance, and contemplation – find their expression.

In contemplating this icon, the viewer is not a spectator but a participant, one who is drawn into the mystery of prayer itself. The icon does not depict; it reveals. It opens a window through which heaven touches earth. In this way, The Prayer fulfills its name and vocation within the MSSP Oratory: it becomes a silent companion in the school of prayer, teaching through stillness that prayer is communion, the meeting of divine grace descending and human faith ascending in love.

May all who encounter this icon be drawn deeper into the mystery of prayer and find their hearts enlarged in communion with God.