Agiosoritissa
The Panagia Agiosoritissa or Hagiosoritissa is the name for a type of Marian icon, showing Mary without child, slightly from the side with both hands raised in prayer.
The names used for the icon, Hagiosoritissa and, in Russian, Khalkopratiskaya, derive from the church of the Holy Urn in Constantinople's Chalkoprateia district. The appellation Ἁγιοσορίτισσα is first recorded in Byzantine seals of the 11th century, and it appears minted on coins made under Manuel I Komnenos. In English, the type is also known as Madonna Advocate.
Such an icon is known to have been in the Hagios Demetrios basilica in Thessalonica in the 6th century, but was lost in the Byzantine Iconoclasm. An early Byzantine icon is preserved in the church of Santa Maria del Rosario on the Monte Mario, Rome. The Madonna di sant'Alessio in the Basilica of the Saints Bonifacio and Alexis on the Aventine Hill in Rome is also of the type.
The type was widespread in the Byzantine empire and in the Balkans, but less so in Russia. An early Russian example is the Theotokos of Bogolyubovo. The church of Santa Maria in Via Lata in Rome has a 13th-century icon of this type.
