Icon with a representation of the Allegory of the Confession

The narrative unfolds from right to left in the image. An elderly man is kneeling before a priest who is advising him from his carved wooden throne. The snakes emerging from the man’s mouth are an allegorical representation of the sins he is confessing. In the next stage, the priest, now standing, places his epitrachelion (stole) on the man’s head and reads the blessing of forgiveness from the open book he is holding. Next, an angel leads the man towards the walled Paradise upper left, where Abraham is portrayed among the Righteous. In the bottom part of this stage, the dragon’s head symbolizes Hades and Hell. On the vertical axis, Christ in clouds holding an open Gospel is surrounded by angels. The lower part of the holy bema iconostasis and the column supporting the arch show that the confession is taking place in a church.

The work is a virtual representation of the Sacrament of Confession and closely follows the instruction provided in the manuals on the practice that began to circulate in the 18th century. This new iconographic theme relates directly to the adoption by the Roman Catholic Church of confessional practices formulated during its conflict with the Lutherans.