Mother of God Portaitissa ~ "She Who Resides by the Door" ~ Mount Athos
The Iveron icon of the Mother of God is kept in the Iveron Monastery on Mount Athos in the Greek Archipelago. The tradition says St. Luke painted the icon and by the 9th century it was in the possession of widow in Nicaea in Asia Minor. The stories surrounding wonder-working icons seem fanciful to moderns. "Really? That can't be true!" I don't concern myself with the newspaper truth of any of it — I look instead for the meaning — especially meaning for today. Anything else seems spiritually unhelpful.
During the iconoclastic period (8th-9th centuries) an icon destroying soldier slashed the icon's face with a sword. Immediately repentant he advised the widow to hide the icon. She prayed for guidance and rather strangely placed the wooden image in the sea where it didn't sink, but stood upright before drifting westward. Years later the icon appeared on the shore of Mount Athos close to the Iveron Monastery. A holy monk, Gabriel, retrieved the icon and placed it in the monastic church. But it refused to stay in place — each morning the icon was found standing by the monastery gate. Gabriel understood that the Mother of God wanted to protect the monks who built a chapel on the spot to house the icon. With this, she was given a kind of nickname: Portaitissa, which means gate-keeper.
A thousand years later the monks, the chapel and the icon remain in place. Copies of the icon have been sent around the world, some of them observably wonder-working. Why would I doubt the story? We believe politicians who tell grievous lies. We believe the astonishing disinformation of anti-science folks. There are TV commercials making ridiculous promises and we still buy the products. I have a friend who believed an investment deal and lost a lot of money. An icon riding the waves, landing safely, kept and honored by reverent monks for a thousand years? Call me naïve, I don't have a problem with it.
But to quote Shakespeare, "Here's the rub" (a problem or difficulty) — I believe more than this. I believe the story about the icon standing on the waves and keeping watch at the gate for centuries has meaning for today. Such exploration might prove discomforting. The icon and its story haven't survived this long so we could be simply edified, incense-bearing admirers. But I'd suggest the gatekeeping icon needs to be re-interpreted as welcome-r, greeter in an inhospitable world. Might the Portaitissa be a corrective to those countries that have swung hard right in their nationalist "keep out, go away, go home, go back to where you came from" policies.
So here's my new rosary decade before the Iveron Mother of God — who floated away looking for a home during terrible times.
Icon of the Portaitissa Icon on the Waves
Our Father...
There are eighty million people in the world who are refugees, migrants and victims of human trafficking. Eighty million! They suffer greatly.
Hail Mary...
"We have to respect the human dignity of the person. The human person is the image of God." Pope Francis
Hail Mary...
The Iveron Icon floated on the sea. I pray for the Christian people to feel the need to move from indifference to solidarity to better understand the plight of migrant people and refugees around the world.
Hail Mary...
The Portaitissa is called the gatekeeper. "Countries have the moral obligation to open the doors for those who might be rich in dreams and expectations." Pope Francis
Hail Mary...
Some people float on an actual sea or ocean hoping for help, but millions more float on a "sea of troubles." May my sense of human family continually grow. In Africa, only one percent of the population has received even one dose of Covid vaccine. Here, many people are putting up their noses.
Hail Mary...
Honoring the new comers — the stranger — is a primary message of God. Jesus says, "Love your neighbor." He further teaches that neighbor extends well beyond my next door. The double arched colonnade outside St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is symbolic of arms reaching around the world.
Hail Mary...
The Church is a "we" — not an "I" — to walk together, to make alliances with others to help, to lift up, to work together. No more walls of separation. No longer "others," but a "we" that encompasses all of humanity. This is classic Catholic social thinking.
Hail Mary...
"We are called to love others as much as one's family. Let us love the stranger. Let us love the immigrant, the undocumented, the one who is unfortunate, faceless, voiceless because they are the dwelling place of Jesus Christ." Pope Francis
Hail Mary...
Before the Portaitissa Icon I pray: "O Lady, may every child be welcomed and loved."
Hail Mary...
The Iveron Icon was recovered. I pray for every human person who needs to be recovered, to be brought back into the human family. May my thinking, my personal policies, my votes, my contributions reflect this. "Christ, you have come to disturb us." Leonid Dostoyevsky
Hail Mary...
Glory be to the Father...
