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[[Image:St Nick DC Altar.jpg|thumb|right|This Panagia Platytera icon rises above the [[iconostasis]] in [[St. Nicholas Cathedral (Washington, D.C.)|St. Nicholas Cathedral, Washington, DC]]]]'''Panagia Platytera''' (GrGreek: Πλατυτέρα; "wider" or "more spacious") is an [[icon]] of the [[Theotokos]], facing the viewer directly, usually depicted full length with her hands in the "[[orans]]" position, and with the image of [[Christ]] as a child in front of her chest, also facing the viewer directly. Sometimes the 'Wide wings image of Heaven')Christ is contained within a medallion.
Poetically, by containing the Creator of the Universe in her womb, Mary has become ''Platytera ton ouranon'', which means: "More spacious than the heavens." This type is sometimes called the "Virgin of the Sign" or "Our Lady of the Sign," a reference to [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]] 7:14: "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel."
Such an image is often placed in the [[apse]] above the [[altar]].
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==History of the icon==
==List of churches==
==List of monasteries==
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==See also==*[[Kursk Root icon]]==External Linklinks==*[http://www.insidemani.gr/fresco.html/ Panagia Platytera fresco] in Mani (, Greece)*[[w:Our Lady of the Sign|''Our Lady of the Sign'' at Wikipedia]]*[http://www.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Russian/panagia.html The Virgin Orans Great Panagia]
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