This icon is a reproduction of an original piece of artwork by "K.Mucha". It represents the biblical scene of the Flight into Egypt which describes an event in the Gospel of Matthew, in which Joseph fled to Egypt with his wife Mary and Jesus, after the visit of the magi, having been warned by an angel that Herod had planned a massacre in order to kill Jesus, because a prophesy seemed to say that Jesus may grow up to be a threat to Herod's throne. Matthew is repeatedly careful to describe Joseph only as the husband of Jesus's mother, rather than as Jesus's father. Egypt was the logical place to seek refuge, as it was outside the dominions of King Herod, and throughout the Old Testament it was the standard place of exile for those unsafe in Palestine. At the time in which the story of the flight is set, both Egypt and Palestine were part of the Roman Empire, making travel between them easy and relatively safe.
