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    STUDIA THEOLOGIA%20ORTHODOXA - Issue no. 1 / 2009  
         
  Article:   THE RED THREAD OF THE ICON OF THE ANNUNCIATION.

Authors:  ANIELA ASTĂLUŞ. 		 
       
         
  Abstract:  Modern day Christians have long forgotten the meaning of many of the symbols and images used in both sacred art images and icons. One of the reasons may be the fact that large parts of the Christian tradition have fallen into oblivion. Furthermore, even when tradition is rediscovered, certain sections are regarded with fear or disdain, as they bare the uneasy name of “apocrypha”. The texts published in the past decades which have shone light on the forgotten texts of the first centuries of Christian life have stirred quite a reaction. The aim of the present article is to explore these two fields, namely the Christian imagery - and more precisely, the scene of the Annunciation - and the apocryphal New Testament, and to identify the connections that can provide us with a better understanding of the elements that give meaning and theological depth to this scene. This apparently well-known scene still holds unanswered questions and elements of visual morphology which can only be explained when the apocryphal texts, such as the Protoevangelium Jacobi, are re-examined. Reading both image and text together, allowing them to communicate and clarify each other enables us to re-assert the terms “canonical” and ”apocryphal”, and gain a more profound knowledge of the theology underlying a small detail such as the read thread form the icon of the Annunciation.

Keywords: Annunciation, icon, canonical Gospels, apocryphal tradition, Protoevangelium Jacobi 		 
         
     
         
         
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