What does Theotokos mean?
Theotokos is a Greek word. It means God-bearer: the one who gave birth to God. It is the oldest and most important title the Church gives to the Virgin Mary.
The title says as much about her Son as it does about her. In the fifth century some taught that Mary should be called only the mother of Christ's human nature. The Council of Ephesus, in AD 431, answered by confirming the title Theotokos: the child she carried and bore is one person, truly God and truly man.
That is why the title is shared across the Christian East and West. Orthodox Christians call her Theotokos in their daily hymns and prayers; Catholics speak of Mary, Mother of God; both mean the same thing.
In icons she is almost never shown alone. She holds her Son, and very often she is pointing to him. Her honour comes from him, and her gesture sends you back to him.
For Orthodox Christians, the Theotokos is honoured in almost every service. Hymns call her "more honourable than the cherubim" because she held in her arms the One the angels worship. For Catholics, the feast of Mary, Mother of God is kept on January 1. In both traditions she is loved as a mother, someone you can go to with anything, who will always bring you to her Son. Wearing her icon close to the heart is one of the oldest Christian habits there is.
About the icon
She is painted in a deep veil, usually dark red or blue, with three stars on it: one at her brow and one on each shoulder. The Christ child is painted as a small adult, the Word made flesh. One of the best-known patterns shows two angels above them carrying the instruments of the Passion, and the child's sandal slipping from his foot. In the Catholic West that image is loved as Our Mother of Perpetual Help.
