The Icon of Saint Stephen from Konstamonitou Monastery

The miraculous icon of Saint Stephen, the first martyr, is located at the southeast column of the main church of Konstamonitou Monastery. According to tradition, this icon dates back to the era of iconoclasm.

Written sources from the monastery's handwritten codices (recorded by a Konstamonitou monk in 1844 based on 17th-century manuscripts) also attribute the image to this period, recounting the icon's miraculous rescue from a fire. Its scars from the flames remain visible on its lower part. The icon was mysteriously transported from Jerusalem during the reign of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (1081-1118) and was placed in the main church of the monastery when the Protos of Mount Athos was Hilarion, who also served in Konstamonitou.

Iconography of Saint Stephen

Saint Stephen is depicted facing the viewer. He is clothed in the vestments of a deacon, holding a censer in his right hand and a reliquary shaped like a temple in his left.

The icon's silver-gilded riza is adorned with enameling and bears two inscriptions: at the top, "Saint Stephen the First Martyr" and at the bottom, "Gift of Archimandrite Philaret, 1864, Moscow".