A local author retells the tale of a beloved icon's journey to Kykkos, Cyprus, during the reign of Emperor Alexius Comnenus (1081-1118) in a picture book published in November 2008.

According to legend, the Apostle Luke himself painted the image that Chrissi Hart writes about in "The Hermit, the Icon & the Emperor."

In the children's book, the reader meets Voutoumites, the emperor's governor in Cyprus, whose act of mistreating a hermit in the mountains sparks a series of events that brings the icon to a monastery on the Mediterranean island.

"It's all part of a bigger plan," said Hart, 53, of Springettsbury Township.

In the Orthodox tradition, icons are picture Gospels depicting figures and scenes from the New

Testament. Hart decided to write about the icon of Kykkos, or the Kykkotissa, because of its place in Cypriot history as the first icon in Cyprus.

It depicts a pensive Mary wearing a red veil and holding her son Jesus in her right arm. He is making a kicking motion with his legs.

The icon is particularly revered in Orthodox circles because it's believed to be among the first ever written. Many believe Mary herself commissioned Luke to do the painting and that Luke wrote them on panels given to him by the archangel Gabriel, who took the wood from the tree of knowledge in Paradise.

"When St. Luke painted the icons, the Holy Virgin held them in her hand, and she blessed them. Because of that, it's believed they are grace-filled and they are considered the miracle-working icons," said Hart, who was born in Cyprus and raised in England.

"The Holy Virgin answers prayers for rain. Cyprus has had many times of drought, and, over the years, people have prayed to the icon and it has rained. She is also a protector of sailors."

Legend tells that when the icon arrived on Cyprus, the trees of the island bent their tips to the ground in its honor.

Annemarie Weyl Carr, an art historian at Southern Methodist University who studied the Kykkotissa, said the cult of affection for the icon is great perhaps because of the Cypriots' need for what the image represented.

"Cyprus has stood at the very brink of Christendom and Islam for 1,500 years, and its Christianity is real and visceral," Carr said by e-mail.

The Cypriots' "consistent dedication has wrapped it in the warmth and vitality of a living holy tradition, so it feels responsive and alive."

The book, published by Conciliar Press, a publishing arm of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, is illustrated by Niko Chocheli, a Georgian-born artist and iconographer from Doylestown who will join Hart in Springettsbury Township on Sunday for a book signing and reading at St. John

Iconographer Elias Katsaros of Huntsville, Ala., installs murals at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in York Township on a recent weekday.
(Daily Record/Sunday News - Bil Bowden)
Chrysostom Orthodox Church.

771-2024; mburke@ydr.com

MEET CHRISSI

Name: Chrissi Hart

Residence: Springettsbury Township

Age: 53

Education: Bachelor of arts degree in psychology, 1977; British Psychological Society diploma in clinical psychology, 1981; Ph.D. in psychology, 1992

Occupation: Author, licensed psychologist and children's radio host on Ancient Faith Radio

Books: "The Hermit, the Icon & the Emperor" (2008) and "Under the Grapevine: A Miracle by Saint Kendeas of Cyprus" (2006)

Web site: www.chrissihart.com

IF YOU GO

What: Chrissi Hart will read from her new book, "The Hermit, the Icon & the Emperor"

When: 12:45 p.m. Sunday

Where: St. John Chrysostom Orthodox Church, 2397 N. Sherman St. in Springettsbury Township