Hand painted icon with the Presentation of the Embrace of the Virgin Mary and Saint Elisabeth, made in Mount Athos, on natural wood. The icon is delivered in a wooden box.
In this rare depiction, the meeting between the Virgin Mary and Saint Elizabeth is portrayed. Both women are depicted in a state of pregnancy with their holy offsprings, Jesus Christ and Saint John the Baptist. Saint Elizabeth, the cousin of the Ever-Virgin Mary, had conceived six months earlier, thus she was already in advanced pregnancy. In their encounter, it appears that the infant Saint John the Baptist is worshiping Jesus Christ from within his mother's womb. In the Orthros of the Annunciation of Theotokos, it is mentioned: "And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit." (Luke 1:41).
