Mother of the Lamb
The Story of a Global Icon
By Matthew J. Milliner
Fortress, 298 pages, $28
Images of the Mother of God are affecting and draw something out of the viewer about the nature of Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. Among the most affecting of these images is the icon of The Virgin of the Passion, also known as Our Lady of Perpetual Help, which depicts the Virgin Mary holding the hand of the infant Christ, who embraces her as he looks over his shoulder to behold an angel carrying the cross on which he will die in his eventual Passion.
This image is one of the most popular works of iconography to emerge out of Eastern Christianity, and has spread globally within the Roman Catholic and Protestant worlds as a powerful rendition of the Madonna and Child. It is also the subject of Wheaton College professor Matthew J. Milliner’s newest book, which examines the history of this icon and its growth in popularity as a political and spiritual tool among oppressed groups.
Mother of the Lamb is a fascinating work of artistic history, which has a difficult course to chart, given the density of the material. Eastern iconography is one of the most richly symbolic and loaded subjects in Christianity, and it is clear from the closing 120 pages of bibliography and additional notes that these subjects open themselves to endless rabbit holes and historical digressions. But Milliner charts a path brilliantly and paints a vibrant picture of the world this image emerged from and why it continues to be relevant.
Milliner argues that something about The Virgin of the Passion resolves a core tension at the heart of human life. The image has been used simultaneously as a work of political triumphalism and in sustenance amid violent oppression. It has been marched in front of invading armies of crusaders and painted into portable icons for those living under hostile military occupation.
It seems to emerge historically in times of deep strife, from the destruction of Constantinople by Latin Crusaders to the destruction of the Papal States and Napoleon’s occupation of Rome. It has even been embraced among displaced Native Americans and Black Catholics as a symbol of grace amid strife.
Having traveled the world and seen many of the earliest surviving examples of the icon, Milliner paints the history of the world that created these icons in striking detail. It ends up being more of a story of these cultures than of the artists, as their historical biographies are largely nonexistent, but these portraits show just how these artists were able to bear the pain of suffering by resolving the pain through the faith and depicting it in works that have survived centuries.
