Theotokos "the Burning Bush" (Slivnichki) Icon - T176

This fresco from the Slivnichki Monastery in Macedonia is part of a series based on the Akathist Hymn. The scene depicts the Theotokos as the Burning Bush of Moses. In the words of the Akathist Canon, " The great mystery of your childbirth did Moses perceive within the burning bush." As the bush burned with the fire of God's presence without being consumed, so too did the Theotokos carry the fire of the Godhead, in the person of Christ, in her womb without being consumed.