In the icon of the Massacre of the Innocents, the bottom right hand corner shows a babe with it’s back to the viewer. The hair is being pulled back so that the infant’s face is forced into view. The child holds his mother’s maphorion (the veil which covers her head and shoulders). The executioner holds a knife, ready to cut the child’s throat.
To the left of this icon hangs another, The Escape to Egypt. Mary and Jesus ride on a donkey away from the scene of horror. Jesus sits with his back to the viewer. His head is thrown back. His mother deeply inclines her head toward him so that her check rest against his neck. He too holds onto his mother’s maphorion. Their faces are consumed by deepest sorrow. They have escaped the massacre by fleeing into the night, but their hearts are torn by the sorrow of Rachael crying for her children.
In the Virgin of the Passion, the child again is seen with his back to the viewer. His head is thrown back and his mother’s head is deeply inclined toward him. Her check rests against his neck. The Child no longer holds onto His mother's maphorion. His arms are thrown out as though in a last supplication. Instead of being held in Mary's arms, He seems to float. Both Mother and Child seem to understand the nature of the Passion which is prefigured here. She presents Him even as He offers Himself, a willing sacrifice. His neck is exposed to the executioner and His heal to the serpent.
The crossing of the Christ Child's legs is a prefiguring of death. Strange as this may be, it is also the sign of hope in the icon. In iconography, this is the sign of Jonah and therefore the symbol for the Resurrection.