The icon is based on the miracle witnessed by Moses in the Old Testament. In the book of Exodus, God calls Moses on Mt. Horeb from the midst of a bush which "was burning, yet it was not consumed." The Church sees the Unburnt Bush on Horeb as a type of the Most Holy Theotokos, who gave birth to Christ while still while remaining a virgin. One of the earliest depictions of the Mother of God as the Unburnt Bush shows her holding her divine Son in the midst of a burning bush. Moses is shown to one side, removing his sandals, for that place was holy (Exodus. 3:5).