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Icon: Trinity

This icon depicts the scene as recorded in Chapter 18 in the book of Genesis in which three travelers appeared to Abraham at the Oak of Mamre.

Three angels are seated at a table, in the background a building, tree and hill.

Abraham and his wife Sarah serve the three visitors, while a servant slays a calf. Their generosity towards the visitors is the origin for the commonly used title for this scene, ‘The Hospitality of Abraham’.

While Russian theologians did not specifically distinguish the three persons of the Trinity in this type by inscription, some understood them thus: Christ is in the center with the tree above him, signifying the wood of the Cross; God the Father is at the left, in front of a building, symbolizing the Church; the Holy Spirit is on the right, in front of a hill, signifying spiritual ascent.

The upper border of the icon is inscribed with ‘The Holy Trinity’.

This subject is often used to represent Pentecost (Trinity Sunday) in icons depicting the twelve major feasts of the year.

The saints Paisy the Great, Antonius, Onuphrius the Great and Mary from Egypt are depicted on the borders. These are probably the family saints of the commissioner.