Description
Priscilla and Aquila in the apostolic Church
Priscilla, also called Prisca, and Aquila were a married Jewish-Christian couple and close coworkers of Saint Paul. Acts 18 records that Paul met them in Corinth and worked with them in the tentmaking trade. Later in Ephesus they helped Apollos understand the Christian faith more accurately. Paul greets them in Romans 16:3-5 as fellow workers who risked their lives for him and hosted a church in their home.
Reading the two figures
The icon places the spouses side by side with halos, emphasizing a shared vocation rather than separate achievements. Priscilla holds a small cross, a sign of Christian witness, while Aquila carries a scroll associated with teaching and the Word. Their calm gestures recall the couple's documented work of catechesis, hospitality, and service to the early Christian community.
For marriage, hospitality, and lay ministry
Pope Benedict XVI presented Priscilla and Aquila as models of married life responsibly committed to the service of the whole Church. Their icon is especially suited to wedding and anniversary gifts, marriage preparation, house churches, catechists, and lay ministers. It invites couples to make faith, work, hospitality, and mission part of one shared Christian life.
Crafted on linden wood in Poland
Art Christiana makes this icon in Poland on a carefully prepared linden wood board. The surface receives two primer coats, hand-applied metal leaf and a directly transferred image. A certificate and hanging fixture are fitted on the reverse, and the icon arrives in a protective presentation box.