Icons of the great feasts

Dodekaorton is Greek for «the twelve feasts». They are the great solemnities of the Byzantine liturgical year: eight dedicated to the Lord and four to the Mother of God. In Orthodox and Byzantine-rite Catholic churches their icons form a tier of the iconostasis, above the main icons, and on the day of the feast the icon is placed on a stand in the middle of the church for the faithful to venerate.

Easter is not counted among the twelve: it is the feast of feasts, which illumines all the others. Its traditional icon is the Descent into Hades, the Anastasis.

Nine feasts have a fixed date, three depend on the date of Easter. Churches that follow the Julian calendar celebrate the fixed feasts thirteen days later: this is why Orthodox Christmas in Russia, Serbia or the Holy Land falls on 7 January.

• ◆Nativity of the Mother of God, 8 September.
• ◆Exaltation of the Holy Cross, 14 September.
• ◆Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple, 21 November.
• ◆Nativity of Christ, 25 December.
• ◆Baptism of Christ (Theophany), 6 January.
• ◆Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Hypapante), 2 February.
• ◆Annunciation, 25 March.
• ◆Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, Palm Sunday.
• ◆Ascension, forty days after Easter.
• ◆Pentecost, fifty days after Easter.
• ◆Transfiguration, 6 August.
• ◆Dormition of the Mother of God, 15 August.

In a church, feast icons complete the iconostasis or accompany the liturgical year. At home, the icon of the feast linked to a moment in one's life becomes a living memory: the Nativity for a birth, the Baptism of Christ for a baptism, Pentecost for a confirmation, the Transfiguration for an important passage. Feast icons have several figures and are among the richest compositions of the tradition: this is why they are preferably painted in medium and large sizes. Like every icon by Concetta Basile, it is fully gilded with 23¾ karat gold, with inscriptions in Greek or Latin, and is commissioned with an offering proportionate to the time and materials of the work.