Agia Marina ( Saint Margaret )
Name Day: July 17

This is an exact copy of a Byzantine hagiography icon, handmade in Greece using traditional Byzantine iconography techniques. Comes with stamp of authenticity on back. Silver is 950 degrees proof and is tarnish-free (does not require polish). Face is hand-painted in fine detail, using high quality paint.

Agia Marina (St. Margaret) has been identified with Saint Pelagia – "Marina" being the Latin equivalent of the Greek name Pelagia – who, according to a legend, was also called Margarito. We possess no historical documents on St. Margaret as distinct from St. Pelagia. The Greek Marina came from Antioch, Pisidia, but this distinction was lost in the West. Saint Marina, known as a virgin and martyr, had a dubious historical existence; she was declared apocryphal by Pope Gelasius in 494, but devotion to her revived in the West with the Crusades. She was reputed to have promised very powerful indulgences to those who wrote or read her life, or invoked her intercession; these no doubt helped the spread of her cult. According to the Golden Legend, Marina was a native of Antioch, daughter of a pagan priest named Aedesius. She was scorned by her father for her Christian faith, and lived in the country with a foster mother keeping sheep. Olybrius, the praeses orientis, offered her marriage at the price of her renunciation of Christianity. Her refusal led to her being cruelly tortured, and after various miraculous incidents. One legend portrays her getting swallowed by Satan in the shape of a dragon, from which she escaped alive. When the cross she carried irritated the dragon's innards, she was put to death in A.D. 304. Margaret is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, and is one of the saints who spoke to Joan of Arc. The cult of Saint Margaret became very widespread in England, with more than 250 churches are dedicated to her. Believers consider her a patron saint of pregnancy. In art, she is usually pictured escaping from the dragon.

NOTE: Please allow 2 to 3 weeks for delivery. Call for express options.