03/02/2026
We already know something about the erasure of women from history. Thank you University of Portland for commissioning the work of diligent researcher-artist Heather MacKean for reclaiming all these female saints of the New Testament!
When iconographer Heather MacKean was commissioned by the University of Portland to compose an icon of women in the New Testament, they emailed her a list of 18 names. Several months later, 18 had grown to 20, then 24, and finally to 58!
“I had no idea when I started that there would be so many names,” Heather commented when we spoke to her this week about her newly delivered icon. “If I had more time I might have come up with ten more women.”
While conducting research for the commission, Heather says she learned about many new-to-her female saints in the days of Christ and the early Church. Women who were not named in the New Testament retain a name in the Orthodox tradition - such as St. Bernice (the woman with the flow of blood), St. Claudia (the wife of Pilate), St. Photini (the Samaritan woman) St. Candace (the Queen of Ethiopia), and St. Junia (who is said to be one of the seventy apostles sent out by Christ). And then there were the dozens of women involved in the early Church - supporting the work of the apostles, hosting home churches, caring for the poor, becoming unmercenary healers, suffering martyrdom, and preaching the good news.
“When you start researching it, you realize there were hundreds of women involved,” Heather said.
Eventually, she set herself a cutoff criteria: women must have chosen to follow Christ in the first century, either as a result of an encounter with Christ, or through one of the Apostles. Even then, the list kept growing. “A month before I was supposed to deliver the icon, I learned that St. Photini was martyred with her five sisters, so I added them in,” said Heather. “Then I found out that St. Photini converted Nero’s daughter, Domnina, who brought one hundred of her slaves to the faith. I couldn’t add in that many faces, unfortunately!”
To accommodate the growing list, Heather had to change the design of the icon three or four times as well as the size of the icon panel. Eventually she ended up with a piece four feet tall and over three feet seven inches wide - and she was still running out of space. For the composition of the icon, she chose to follow the model of one of her favorite icons, “In Thee Rejoices.” The Theotokos is in the center in a mandorla with Christ enthroned on her lap, the Church and Creation around her, as a picture of paradise.
“I was really amazed to hear the story of St. Photini,” Heather remarked in connection with this image. “She was known as Equal to the Apostles, one of the greats in terms of preaching, and imprisoned for three years with her family. They turned the whole prison into a paradise. It smelled like myrrh and incense; they healed those who had been blinded by the guards, and it was filled with lots of rejoicing and praise.”
To honor women’s role in sharing the Good News, Heather chose to put the Myrrhbearing Women front and center of the icon, below the Theotokos.
“I was also surprised at how many women preachers there were, I was not expecting that,” she commented. “Women like Thekla, Syntyche, and Euodia, they were sent out by Paul to preach - and not only to women.”
The icon is now being held at the University of Portland chapel, where it will be blessed before residing in the chapel of one of the female dorms.
We will be sharing the full list of 58 women tomorrow.
Thank you, Heather!
