Greek names of Orthodox icons of the Mother of God: Iverskaya (Hodegetria type), Vladimirskaya (Eleusa type) (for the 100th anniversary of A. A. Tacho-Godi)
This article analyzes the history of the names of two types of Orthodox icons - Iverskaya (Hodegetria) and Vladimirskaya (Eleusa). Their etymology, phonetic, word-formation and semantic features are presented. The type of icons Hodegetria (‘Showing the way’) is an image of the Mother of God, showing the Infant as the way to Christ. The icon received its name Iverskaya from the place of its stay in the Iversky Monastery on Mount Athos, where it was initially placed above the main gate of the monastery (hence ‘The Gatekeeper’). Another iconographic type of the image of the Mother of God with the Вaby, who sits on Her arm and presses His cheek to Her cheek, is called Tenderness (‘Eleusa’, i.e. ‘Merciful’), as an expression of merciful Maternal love. Such an icon was sent as a gift to the Prince of Kiev, and after its transfer to Vladimir it became known as the Vladimir Icon. This image of the Mother of God in the Greek Church was originally called Glycophilus (‘Sweet Kiss’). The study was undertaken in connection with the 100th anniversary of the prominent Russian classical philologist, Honored Professor of Moscow State University A. A. Tacho-Godi, for whose life these icons are symbolic.