c) Themes
By being captured on picture the saints and the presented episodes from the Old and New Testaments’ history of salvation are brought to mind no matter the historical and temporal distance. So the icon of “Christus Pantokrator” (Christ as ruler for all time) represents Christ himself for the faithful Christian – the icon becomes Christ without any transformation of its wooden board. Through that, a window to heaven, to eternity, is opened. The same can be said about the icons of saints with Mary, who gave birth to God, John the Baptist, and Nicholas, bishop of Myra being the most popular ones. Icons also present moments of Salvation such as the birth of Mary, the birth of Christ, his baptism, his entering of Jerusalem, his death on the cross, his resurrection, and his ascension.
This summary shall provide the basic signification of icons, and serve as an extract for the wide range of themes in iconography. Consider that there are more than 300 different presentation of Mother Mary.