Consecration, $49
Consecrated before it reaches you
Your icon or cross is consecrated by our priest with holy water and the prayers of the Church, then sent to you with a signed certificate.
Why the Church consecrates an icon and a cross
An icon is not a picture of a saint. It is a window and a meeting place. The Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicaea, 787) taught, with St Basil the Great, that “the honor given to the image passes to its prototype”: when you kiss the icon of St Nicholas, the honor goes to St Nicholas himself, and through him to God. For that reason the Church does not leave a new icon or cross as an ordinary object. A priest reads over it the prayers appointed in the Book of Needs and sprinkles it with holy water three times, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
From that moment it belongs to the Church’s life of prayer. Orthodox Christians have always understood a consecrated icon as a channel of grace and a holy thing to be kept with reverence: it is kissed, censed, given a lamp, and never thrown away. A consecrated cross is the one you wear for life, the sign of your baptism, guarding you as you sleep and as you travel. This is why Orthodox grandmothers would not let a new cross be worn, or a new icon placed in the corner, until a priest had consecrated it.
Step by step
How it works
Choose it, and ask for Consecration
Tick Consecration ($49) where an item's page offers it, or say yes when we ask as you add it to your cart.
Our priest consecrates it
With holy water and the prayers of the Church. A cross, an icon or a medallion before it ships, commemorating the person you name. A folding diptych before it left the workshop, one by one, filmed with its number on a card.
A signed certificate and holy water
It comes with a certificate signed by our priest (a diptych's carries its number) and a small vial of holy water for the home.
Ready for the icon corner
A consecrated diptych ships in the normal time; other orders with Consecration ship in 3–8 business days. To all 50 states. Consecrated items are final sale.
You can add a personal video of your item’s Consecration as you add it to your cart, or in one click right after your order, to keep or to forward with a gift. A diptych’s is the film of your own numbered diptych.
How your item is consecrated
Folding diptychs: numbered, consecrated before they leave the workshop
Before our pine-framed folding diptychs leave the workshop, our priest consecrates part of each design’s stock, one diptych at a time, with holy water and the prayers of the Church, and films each with its number on a card. That number goes on its box and on its certificate.
- A diptych ordered with Consecration is one of these, and it ships in the normal time.
- Add the film of its Consecration, and you see your own diptych, its number on camera.
- The name you give us is prayed for separately; it isn’t in the film.
- In a gift set, the Consecration is of the set’s diptychs.
- A diptych’s page offers Consecration while consecrated ones of its design are in stock.
Crosses, icons, medallions and prayer ropes: consecrated before they ship
Our priest consecrates your item with holy water and the prayers of the Church before it ships, commemorating the person you name.
- Orders with Consecration ship in 3–8 business days.
- Add a personal video, and you see your own item being consecrated.
- Its certificate names the person commemorated.
Certificate of Consecration
- The item
- St Nicholas the Wonderworker and Guardian Angel, folding diptych
- Number
- No. 0007
- The rite
- Consecrated with holy water and the prayers of the Church
Lampada
The certificate
Printed on heavy card and signed by the priest’s hand, it names the item and the rite. A diptych’s carries its number, the same as on its box and in its film, and no name; on every other item it names the person commemorated. A share of every Consecration goes to the priest's parish.
Names
Tell us the baptismal name of the person who will receive it; for a gift, use the recipient’s name. On a cross, an icon or a medallion, our priest commemorates them at its Consecration. For a diptych, consecrated before it left the workshop, he prays for them by name separately. We never print a price in the box.
Questions
Is this real?
Yes. A priest of the Orthodox Church performs the Church’s own rite on your item and signs the certificate. With the video you can see it; a diptych’s film shows its number on the card.
When does it ship?
A consecrated diptych ships in the normal time, like any order: it was consecrated before it left the workshop. Orders with Consecration of a cross, an icon, a medallion or a prayer rope ship in 3–8 business days.
Why isn’t Consecration offered on every diptych?
Our priest consecrates the diptychs before they leave the workshop, so a diptych’s page offers Consecration only while consecrated ones of its design are in stock.
Does it change the icon?
Physically, no. In the Church’s understanding it sets the object apart for prayer, as holy, which is why the faithful have always sought it.
Can a Catholic receive a consecrated Orthodox icon?
Yes. Catholics and Orthodox share the veneration of icons and of St Michael, St Nicholas and St George.
Is the fee for the sacrament?
No sacrament is sold. The fee covers the priest’s time, the parish’s share, the holy water, the certificate and handling; the Consecration is the Church’s.
Can I return a consecrated item?
Consecrated items are final sale. Everything else follows our returns policy.
Tick Consecration where an item’s page offers it, or say yes when we ask as you add it to your cart.