---
title: "Hodegetria (“She who shows the Way”) — iconographic type"
description: "The Mother points with her hand to the Child — the Way, the Truth and the Life; a solemn image of the Theotokos as the Church leading to Christ."
url: "https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/icons/type-hodegetria"
language: "en"
---

Iconographic type

# Hodegetria (“She who shows the Way”) — iconographic type

## Examples of this type

- [![An 18th-century copy of the Kazan icon: the Mother of God at shoulder length beside the standing Christ Child, who blesses with his right hand.](https://spas.life/_astro/our-lady-of-kazan-historical-copy.DWZQsI_P_Zfi6el.webp) Our Lady of Kazan — Historical Copy 18th century](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/icons/our-lady-of-kazan-historical-copy)

Dating

Byzantium, not later than the 6th century

Origin

Constantinople, the Hodegon monastery (by tradition an image painted by the Evangelist Luke)

Author / school

Unknown

## About the icon

The Mother points with her hand to the Child — the Way, the Truth and the Life; a solemn image of the Theotokos as the Church leading to Christ.

## Composition

Frontal pose; the Child on the left arm blesses and holds a scroll.

An icon is an image for prayer. The description explains theological meaning and prayer tradition; it does not promise an outcome.