Icon of the Exaltation of the Cross (Romanian) – F109

Description

This mid-20th century icon was painted by Archimandrite Timotei Tohaneaunu in the colorful reverse glass painting folk- style of iconography.  To make the title come out properly when viewed from the front, the letters have to be inscribed backwards.  This style of iconography often has bright colors as is seen here in bright reds, greens, yellows, browns, purples, and blues.  Although many of the local schools of iconography have grown in different cultures throughout the history of the Church, there have always been some simpler forms that also resemble folk-art and this is one of them.

This icon depicts the Exaltation, or lifting up, of the Cross, which was done by Patriarch Methodius of Jerusalem in the early 4th century just after the Empress Helen had found the True Cross  buried at the site of the Crucifixion.  Three crosses were found, and each in turn was touched to the bier of a young man who had just died and was being carried to burial nearby.  The third cross raised him from the dead, showing which of these crosses was the True Cross.  Christ can also raise us from our bier today if we ask Him.