FOUR IN ONE

Here is a rather unusual Greek-inscribed icon:

(Private Collection)

It is unusual because it includes four images of post-Paschal Sundays all on the same panel, instead of depicting them on separate icons, as is more commonly done.

To refresh your memory, the post-Paschal Sundays are, in order:

The Sunday of Thomas, also known as Antipascha.
The Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women.
The Sunday of the Paralytic.
The Sunday of the Samaritan Woman.
The Sunday of the Blind Man

Now as you will recall, “Sunday” in Greek is He Kyriaki (Ἡ Κυριακή).

This icon omits the Sunday of Thomas, but includes four others.

Each of these icons has interesting ligatures (joined letters) in the inscription.

The image at upper left is the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearers (Ἡ Κυριακή των Μυροφόρων / He Kyriake ton Myrphoron). You will recall that modern Greek no longer has the “rough breathing” on the female definite article He, but just pronounces it as “ee.”

The inscription is spelled like this on the icon:
ΚΗΡΙΑΚΗ TѠΝ ΜΥΡΟΦΟΡѠΝ / KERIAKE TON MUROPHORON.

By now you should be accustomed to the notion that icons — particularly Greek icons — often use a phonetic pronunciation that confuses several letters pronounced the same that in classical Greek were pronounced differently. That is why we see here ΚΗΡΙΑΚΗ here instead of ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ. In post-classical Greek, the letters Y, H, and I all came to be pronounced “ee” — as they still are in modern Greek.

Notice the ligature joining the Greek H and P, and that joining A and K. Also that the Y in Myrophoron looks like an English V, but must not be confused with the similar looking letter at the very end that is N, though it looks rather like a lower case English “v.”

Next, at top right, comes the Sunday of the Paralytic (Ἡ Κυριακή του Παραλύτου / He Kyriake tou Paralutou).

In this title inscription we see again the ligature of Greek Η and P, as well as the very common ligature of O and Y in the word tou (of) and the joining of A and P.

At lower left is the Sunday of the Blind Man (Ἡ Κυριακή του Τυφλού / He Kyriake tou Typhlou). By now you should recognize the ligatures used in the title inscription.

Finally at lower right there is the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman (Ἡ Κυριακή της Σαμαρείτιδος / He Kyriake tes Samareitidos). There is again the ligature of H and P, A and K, and also of A and M, A and P, and in Samareitidos, the phonetic spelling of ει as ι (again, both pronounced as “ee” in modern Greek).

So that’s it. If you need a refresher on the Sundays after Pascha, you will find them discussed individually in the archives.

Thanks to the collector who kindly shared the photo of this icon.