The Virgin is always known in an icon context as the Mother of God. By tradition, a large icon of the Mother of God and the Christ Child is placed on the first register of the iconostatis, to the left of the Royal Gates. The Mother of God is depicted in the traditional pose of the Hodigitria, Greek for "pointer of the way." Here, the Virgin gestures with her right hand to the Christ Child as being "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." The letters on either side of the Virgin's head mean "Mary, Mother of God." and the letters above Christ's halo, IC SC, stand for Jesus Christ.