[theotokion]

donskoy monastery, moscow

[theotokion]

Icon Corner, Greece. Joakim Eskildsen.

[theotokion]

Shyrdak, a traditional felt rug made in Kyrgyzstan.

[princesshorsey]

beloved dream,take shelter in the growing flowers

[theotokion]

Christian gravesites next to communist graveyard, 1961. Halpern, Joel Martin.

[theotokion]

Albanian women in Titograd, 1953. Halpern, Joel Martin.

[dontgivemeyourdisease]

[fatchance]

El Tiradito wishing shrine in Tucson's Barrio Viejo.

In local folklore, the wishing shrine memorializes a young man who died violently but was unjustly denied consecrated burial for his mortal sins. One legend claims he was murdered after being caught in adultery with the wife of an enraged, jealous rancher. People come to the shrine seeking the intercession of El Tiradito – the outcast – especially in matters of love. Flowers and offerings are left here. Petitions and prayers written on scraps of paper are left on the ground or stuffed into gaps in the adobe wall. A votive candle that burns through the night without going out is said to guarantee a speedy answer to a supplicant's prayer.

While the Tucson shrine is the only wishing shrine found in the United States, scholars think that the idea that tiraditos grant wishes originated in Sonoran Catholicism. When the structure was threatened by interstate highway construction in the 1970s the community successfully sought its protection, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[theotokion]

[triptihosmrti]

An Ethiopian Orthodox woman prays at Deir El Sultan in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Jerusalem’s Old City

[cuties-in-codices]

christ taking his heart out of his side wound to hand it to st. catherine of siena

in a hagiography of st. catherine of siena, alsace, early 15th c.

source: Paris, BnF, ms. allem. 34, fol. 54r

[leroibobo]

kruszyniany mosque in kruszyniany, poland. this is the oldest lipka tatar mosque in poland.

the town of kruszyniany was assigned to tatars who participated on the side of the polish-lithuanian commonwealth in their war against the ottoman empire. after lipka tatars settled in the city, they built this mosque, most likely in the late eighteenth century; though there are documents which mention it going back to 1717. the village was settled by repatriates and belarusian muslims following world war ii.

[aqutiv]

“Kissing the ground”, 

An Ethiopian orthodox nun praying at the entrance to one of the many rock churches of Lalibela.

Lalibela, Ethiopia.

[theotokion]

cover of reliquary with the Crucifixion and inscription of Giorgi, king of Abkhazia, 10th c.

[mabellonghetti]

Sissy Spacek while filming Carrie, 1976

[theotokion]

[theotokion]

I need to ask forgiveness from 8 billion people