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In Byzantium, Mary's usual title was the Theotokos or Mother of God, rather than the Virgin Mary and it was believed that salvation was delivered to the faithful at the moment of God's incarnation. That theological concept takes pictorial form in the image of Mary holding her infant son.
Mary's status as the Mother of God was not made clear in the Gospels and Pauline Epistles but the theological implications of this were defined and confirmed by the Council of Ephesus (431). Different aspects of Mary's position as mother have been the subject of a large number of works of Catholic art.
Theotokos (Greek: Θεοτόκος) [a] is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity.The usual Latin translations are Dei Genitrix or Deipara (approximately "parent (fem.) of God").
Mary wears a gold-trimmed, dark blue mantle over a purple/red tunic. The letters in Greek at the top identify Mary as "Mother of God" (Μήτηρ Θεοῦ in lower case and ΜHΤHΡ ΘΕΟΥ in upper case), as is usual in Byzantine art (Christ may originally have had an inscription under later re-painting).
The depiction of the Virgin Mary with her hands upraised in prayer ("orans") is of very ancient origin in Christian art.In the mausoleum of St Agnes in Rome is a depiction dating to the 4th century which depicts the Theotokos with hands raised in prayer and the infant Jesus sitting upon her knees.
The Council decreed that Mary is the Mother of God because her son Jesus is one person who is both God and man, divine and human. [28] This doctrine is widely accepted by Christians in general, and the term "Mother of God" had already been used within the oldest known prayer to Mary, the Sub tuum praesidium , which dates to around 250 AD.