This icon depicts the Archangel Gabriel and the Theotokos as the Angel of God appeared to the Virgin Mary to announce the birth of Christ. When God elected to become man, He desired to do so with the willing agreement of her whom He chose as His mother. The Virgin was a willing participant in God's grace for mankind. She played an active and positive role in God's plan of salvation. The red thread that she is holding represents that it was she who wove the veil in the Temple that later was miraculously rent from top to bottom at the death of her Son. This piece symbolizes motherhood and can be found on the Greek island of Tinos. Constantine VI commissioned this piece along with mother Irene in 784 AD, a difficult time for the Byzantine Empire. The piece was then gifted back to the people of the Empire to appease public sentiment in wake of the repression of the Macedonian Slavs.