Our Lady the Gate of Dawn | Woman of the Apocalypse Rev 12:1 | Theotokos Gold Floral Texture Design | Orthodox Christian Canvas Art

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.

- Revelation 12:1

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The focus of this great sign is a woman, who is the Most Holy Theotokos, the mother of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The sign is an image of the First Coming of Christ, but, simultaneously, within the same image there is another aspect, one with an eschatological dimension, which is that of the Church. Therefore, this image has two aspects, one is that the image is of the Most Holy Theotokos, and the other is that the image is of the Church. ...

In this most spectacular image, the Most Holy Theotokos is clothed with the sun; it is well known that she is clothed in the uncreated light. As there is no other way to express this, so we will simply call this sunlight. This particular sunlight surrounds only God. It is the same thing we read about in the Psalms, ' the one who is dressed with light as with a garment' Psalm 103:2 (104:2 Masoretic Text), which refers to an outer garment. ... Furthermore, Christ is the Sun of Righteousness, and since the Most Holy Theotokos housed the Sun of Righteousness, Jesus Christ, the Son and Word of God, Who wears light as a garment (within her womb), then she is justifiably presented as being clothed with the sun.

Significantly, the moon is positioned beneath her feet. The moon in respect to us, as spectators from the earth, is not always fully illumined; its appearance changes. Unlike the sun, it does not always maintain its round visual form. Therefore, it is the symbol of alterable secular life. It is a great and didactic feature of the image that this moon is under the feet of the Most Holy Theotokos, for it shows that she is victorious over the unstable secular spirit. She stood above the secular spirit of her times, which is precisely why God chose her to become the Mother of the Messiah. 

The appearance of the Most Holy Theotokos in the sky with such great splendor is justified; she has a pure soul and body like that of an angel, a citizen of heaven. In other words, this is the person before whom the higher spiritual powers of heaven are completely mystified.

- Archimandrite Athanasios Mitilinaios