The Virgin Hagiosoritissa, of the holy reliquary

The Virgin Hagiosoritissa, meaning “Virgin of the Holy Soros,” is an iconographic type in which the Virgin is depicted nearly in profile, without the Child, her hands extended from her chest in prayer or entreaty. Another common name for this Marian image is Maria Advocata, evoking Mary’s intercession on behalf of humankind. Like the other great Marian types of Byzantine icons, the Hagiosoritissa was not limited to painted panels: it appears in frescoes, reliefs, and above all on Byzantine seals and coins, where it became one of the most common images of the Virgin.

The Virgin Hagiosoritissa is associated with either the Church of the Theotokos of the Chalkoprateia in Constantinople that housed the relic of the Virgin’s belt in a reliquary casket, or with the church of the Blachernai, also in the Byzantine capital, that kept the relic of the maphorion, the mantle of the Virgin. Both relics were held in a reliquary casket, called “soros” in greek, hence the name of the image. The Blachernai sanctuary was also the home of another celebrated Marian image, the Virgin Orans known as the Blachernitissa, showing Mary with raised hands and the medallion of Christ on her breast.

The Virgin may be depicted in full length or, more commonly, as a bust in icons. In some representations, a bust of Christ or the hand of God appears in the upper part of the composition.

Alternatively, Christ may occupy a separate panel, such as when the two figures adorn the piers flanking the templon. The Virgin is often shown looking at the viewer and wearing a mantle adorned with stars, a symbol of virginity influenced by Syriac tradition.

In Deesis compositions, where Christ enthroned is flanked by his mother on one side and John the Baptist on the other, the Virgin holds the same pose as the Hagiosoritissa.

The image first appears with the name Hagiosoritissa on seals from the 1040s and on coins minted during the reign of Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180). Thereafter, its representation on seals became quite common, with at least 37 examples documented in major published collections of Byzantine seals.

The Hagiosoritissa type was widespread in the Byzantine empire and in the Balkans, but less in Russia where it was called Khalkopratiskaya, refering to the Chalkoprateia Church and district in Constantinople.

It is closely related to the Virgin Paraklesis, except that the Virgin here does not carry a scroll. Images of this type also may be labeled as Virgin Paraklesis, Kecharitomene, or Episkepsis.

Sources and further reading

• Bissera V. Pentcheva, Icons and Power: The Mother of God in Byzantium, Penn State University Press, 2006 — on the Chalkoprateia and Blachernai relics and their images.
• Maria Vassilaki (ed.), Images of the Mother of God: Perceptions of the Theotokos in Byzantium, Ashgate, 2005.
• Hans Belting, Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image before the Era of Art, University of Chicago Press, 1994 — on the Roman Advocata icons, including the San Sisto Madonna.
• John Cotsonis, The Religious Figural Imagery of Byzantine Lead Seals, 2 vols., Routledge, 2020 — on the Virgin types in sigillography.
• Alexander Kazhdan (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, 1991 — entry “Hagiosoritissa.”