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Icons by Br. Robert Lentz, ofm.
Influenced by his Russian Orthodox background and a period of study with a master iconographer, Lentz's unique style blends classical Eastern iconography with contemporary elements and "witnesses."
Dimensions: 7.25" x 2.5"
Captive Daughter of Zion
For centuries Christians have called Mary the Ark of the Covenant. As they used other Jewish titles for her, seldom have they accepted the fact that she was a Jew.
We shudder at what the Nazis did, but 1,000 years of forced conversions and violent persecutions by Christians paved the way for the Nazi Holocaust. When the exterminations began, most Christian leaders followed the example of Pius XII and kept silent, fearing that Hitler might attack Christian institutions if they spoke out. While their leaders kept silent, a handful of Christians did risk their lives to help Jews. One of these was a Russian nun in Paris, named Maria Skobtsova. "If we were Christians we would all wear the star," she said. "If the Germans come looking for the Jews, I'll show them an icon of the mother of God."
In this icon Mary wears a large yellow Star of David with the word "Jew" on her left shoulder. The Nuremberg laws forced all Jews in Nazi territories to wear this badge. Jesus is wearing a paper shawl over his Byzantine garments and is holding the Torah. The Hebrew inscription at the bottom of the icon reads: "Captive Daughter of Zion," and is taken from Isaiah 52:2, a text in which God promises to deliver Israel from bondage. In the background is the barbed wire fence of a concentration camp.
© Robert Lentz, 1988
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