Icons — Mila Vasileva

It has long been known that an icon is not merely an image. It is a window into the mystery of the world, into the Unseen, into that which a person carries in the depths of the soul. When we travel, when sorrow or joy overtakes us, when we remember our roots, we instinctively reach for the small image we keep in a pocket, in a bag, close to the heart. It does not speak aloud, yet its presence strengthens like warmth held in the palm.

Here you will find miniature icons – small in size, yet deep in meaning.
Icons for the road, for the home, for the silence between two heartbeats.

A special place is held by the wooden eggs with hand-painted sacred images.
The egg is a sign of beginning, of resurrection, of the fragility and the strength of life at once. Upon this ancient form, painted with classical tempera and touched with gold leaf, the holy story lives again, just as it has lived in our churches, monastic cells, and icon-painting workshops for centuries.

There is no haste here.
No factory.
No repetition.

Each icon is a prayer, spoken slowly with hands and breath.
Every stroke is a thread between the human and the divine.
Gold is not decoration, but light.

If you feel that one of these small icons speaks to you — take it with you.
Carry it not as an object, but as a companion.
Place it beside the photograph of someone dear, or in a book, or in the pocket of your coat.

May it be a quiet guardian of your path.
As it has always been.

Lia