Orans or orant
(from Latin, literally "praying")

The term orans or orant refers to the early Christian posture of prayer. The figure usually stands upright and frontal with both hands open and raised to shoulder height. Orants are found on many third-century pagan and Christian sarcophagi as signs of piety; the posture was also adopted in catacombs. In Byzantine art, the orant is rare after the eight century when the posture of proskynesis, or prostration, became the favored indicator of piety. Despite this general trend, the Virgin Mary is often depicted in the orant posture as the Virgin Blachernitissa or Virgin Platyera. BLR

COMPANRANDA
Ampulla with St. Menas (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Via Latina Catacomb (Rome)
Gold-glass medallion with St. Agnes (Rome)
Emperor kneeling before Christ (Istanbul, north gallery, Hagia Sophia)
Virgin of the Chora (Istanbul, parekklesion, Chora Monastery)
Icon of the Virgin Blachernitissa (Moscow)
Book Cover with Christ Pantokrator and the Virgin Orans (Venice, Biblioteca Naxionale Marciana)
Four Gospels, Ms. Garrett 6 (Princeton University Libraries)

BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Orans." Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Ed. Alexander Kazhdan. 3 vols. New York: Oxford University Press. 1531.