Abraham's Hospitality icon, Handmade Greek Orthodox Icon of the Holy Trinity, Byzantine art wall hanging wood plaque, religious decor

A wonderful lithography with a double varnish layer and high quality paint depicting the Hospitality of Abraham. An icon aesthetically upgraded with collective value due to the handmade artificial ageing it has undergone. This is an exact copy of a Byzantine hagiography.

Apart from the express witness of the Holy Bible on the dogma of the Holy Trinity, we also have innuendos in the Old Testament. One such innuendo is the appearance of God to Abraham, in the form of three messengers.

As we are told by the Book of Genesis (18,1), while Abraham was seated near the oak trees of Mambre where he had pitched his tent, he was visited by three men, totally unknown to him. The Patriarch welcomed them openheartedly and lovingly, albeit they were total strangers. He then prepared a sumptuous meal for them. During their conversation, the strange visitors announced to Abraham that his wife Sarah would give birth to a child within that year, which was indeed fulfilled.

In this biblical event, the Fathers of the Church saw a pre-defining of the mystery of the Holy Trinity, which was fully revealed in the New Testament. This is why the event of Abraham's Hospitality was portrayed from a very early stage. As the biblical event unfolds, the two of the three men later appear as angels: " Two angels came to Sodom at dusk " (Genesis 19,1), which is the reason the three figures seated at Abraham's table are depicted in their angelic form. Besides, this is another ideal way to denote that the three men are heavenly visitors.

The superiority of the central angel was predominant in many icons of the Hospitality. This is attributed to the interpretation given by several Fathers of the Church (John the Chrysostom, John the Damascene), as well as other ecclesiastic authors ( Justin, Tertullian, Theodoretus Kyrou) on this other Epiphany.