Agiosoritissa
Iconographic type of the representation of the Holy Mary in Byzantine art (5th to 7th century).
The Panagia Agiosoritissa or Hagiosoritissa (Greek: Ἁγιοσορίτισσα) is the name for a type of Marian icon, showing Mary without the Christ Child, slightly from the side with both hands raised in prayer. The type is known in Latin as Maria Advocata.
Names
The names used for the icon, Hagiosoritissa and, in Russian, Khalkopratiskaya (Халкопратийская), derive from the church of the Holy Urn (Greek: Ἁγία Σορός, in reference to the urn containing the Cincture of the Theotokos) in Constantinople's Chalkoprateia (Χαλκοπρατεῖα, "copper market") district.
In English, the type is also known as Madonna Advocate (the prayer gesture interpreted as an act of intercession on behalf of the faithful).
History
The appellation Ἁγιοσορίτισσα is first recorded in Byzantine seals of the 11th century, and it appears minted on coins made under Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180).
The type was widespread in the Byzantine empire and in the Balkans, but less so in Russia.
Examples
Such an icon is known to have been in the Hagios Demetrios basilica in Thessalonica in the 6th century, but was lost in the Byzantine Iconoclasm.
An early Byzantine icon (7th century?) is preserved in the church of Santa Maria del Rosario on the Monte Mario, Rome.
The Madonna di sant'Alessio in the Basilica of the Saints Bonifacio and Alexis on the Aventine Hill in Rome is also of the type.
An early Russian example is the Theotokos of Bogolyubovo (12th century).
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Agiosoritissa” as iconographic type of the representation of the Holy Mary in Byzantine art (5th to 7th century). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as iconographic type of the representation of the Holy Mary in Byzantine art (5th to 7th century). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 12, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q4056937. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1143 and 1180.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Agiosoritissa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.