He would have known about the Theotokos and a large number of other Saintly women venerated in the Orthodox liturgical calendar, of which there are icons depicting all over Mt. Athos, so while he may have never met another women in the flesh the title is a little misleading
He would have known about the Theotokos and a large number of other Saintly women venerated in the Orthodox liturgical calendar, of which there are icons depicting all over Mt. Athos, so while he may have never met another women in the flesh the title is a little misleading
Would depictions have been that great, though? The baggy, flowing robes are a given, so was his idea “like men but with more hair?”
If we’re talking the medieval kind of art and before, hoo boy, he does not know what a woman looks like any more than they did