Highly venerated icons in medieval Serbia

Abstract

The custom of venerating images that are believed to have healing and protective powers also made its way to Serbia from Byzantium. These images were usually icons of the Virgin, some of which continue to be objects of cult even today. Others are known to us from visual and written testimonies. The toponymic epithets inscribed on their copies are the most reliable proof of the veneration they once enjoyed. These images can be classified into three groups: the most famous sacred images of Constantinople and Thessalonike; icons highly venerated in places that became part of the medieval Serbian state during its expansion; and finally, those whose cult originated in Serbia itself.