"The Sign" is a derivation from the better known Oranta icon. In "The Sign" (Russian «Знамение») the emphasis is not on the intercessory prayer of Our Lady, but rather on the mystery of the Incarnation. In this one iconographic type several meanings are compressed: the Annunciation, the anticipation of the Divine Birth, and the entire life of the Church all the way to the Second Coming. Appropriately, the Russian iconographer (identified only as Fr. Cyprian) added insets with depiction of historical events in his local Church.
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