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[[Image:Unburnt Bush.JPG|frame|right|Theotokos the Unburnt Bush icon]]
The Most Holy '''Theotokos the Unburnt Bush icon''' is commemorated by the Church on [[September 4]]. Sometimes it is called the '''[[Burning Bush]]''' icon.
==About the icon==
One of the earliest depictions of the Mother of God as the Unburnt Bush shows her holding her divine Son in the midst of a burning bush. Moses is shown to one side, removing his sandals, for that place was holy (Exodus. 3:5).
An icon from the [[Solovetsky Monastery|Solovki Monastery]], painted in the 16th to 17th centuries, shows the Heavenly Jerusalem depicted on the chest of the Theotokos. In the four corners of the icon are prophecies, the hierarchies of [[angel]]s and nature surround her. The presence of the [[Ancient of Days]] is in the eight-pointed star.
==Symbolism==
The symbols of the four [[Evangelist]]s: a man for St. [[Apostle Matthew|Matthew]], a lion for St. [[Apostle Mark|Mark]], an ox for St. [[Apostle Luke|Luke]], and an eagle for St. [[Apostle John|John]], are in the four corners of the green diamond. These symbols are derived from [[Book of Ezekiel|Ezekiel]] 1:10 and [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] 4:7. The red diamond has [[archangel]]s depicted in its four corners.
The design of the icon has become more complex over time. Now we can see archangels, Moses and the burning bush (Ex. 3:2), [[Isaiah]] and the [[seraphim]] with the burning coal (Is. 6:7), [[Ezekiel]] and the gate through which only the Lord may enter (Ez. 44:2), and Jacob with the ladder (Gen. 28:12). The Theotokos is shown holding Jacob's ladder, which leads from earth to heaven. Sometimes the [[Root of Jesse ]] (Isaiah 11:1) is shown in the center of the icon's lower border.
==Theology==
The Church keeps the tradition of the [[Holy Fathers]] and its [[Ecumenical Councils]] that the flame Moses saw was in fact [[God]]'s Uncreated Energies or Glory, as Light (compare with the [[Transfiguration]] of Jesus), which is why the bush was not consumed. He allowed Moses to see his glory (his energies), which, like his essence, are eternal. When God spoke to Moses, Moses heard the pre-Incarnate Word (Logos), of God. The vision of God's glory as light in this life and the next is the Orthodox definition of [[soteriology|salvation]], even moving after death "from glory to glory" eternally.
To the Orthodox, the [[miracle]] of the Unburnt Bush is understood in the theology and [[hymn]]ography of the Church as a prefiguring of the virgin birth of Christ. The Theotokos gave birth to the Incarnate God without suffering harm, just as the bush was burnt without being consumed. Other commentators identify the Unburnt Bush with the early Christians who suffered persecution at the hands of the pagan authorities but were never defeated.
==Tradition==
[[Category:About Icons]]
[[Category:Icons of the Theotokos]]
[[Category:Theotokonymia]]