Orthodox Christian Iconography
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- StefanC
- Basil
- StefanC
- not_him_again
- StefanC
- StefanC
- Paul_A
- Dan_Ellsworth
- Paul_A
- MTRC
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» Basil - There is an organization called Christians in the Visual Arts.
There is an organization called Christians in the Visual Arts. Usually, they publish a lot of "stuff" about run of the mill artists who just happen to go to church. This month they did the entire newsletter on iconography - and it was incredible.I've written a few icons myself, and worked as assistant to an Orthodox iconographer in the local Byzantine Rite parish. The experience of the Icon is beyond words, but you have done a wonderful job articulating the essential aspects of the Sacred Image.
Would that we had more writers of the Holy Icons!
Raymond St. George
-- posted by Basil
» not_him_again - Brian Carpenter I see you are still doing a great job, Stefan,
Brian Carpenter I see you are still doing a great job, Stefan, and I am glad to visit here.-- posted by not_him_again
» StefanC - Because of the fact that at Suite101 Religion section is a gener
Because of the fact that at Suite101 Religion section is a general "Spirituality" topic that covers areas of my topic I find redundant and unnecessary to write anything about Orthodox Christianity at Suite101.I cancel my commitement as Contributing Editor for Orthodox Christianity topic as a protest to the lack of understanding and consideration from the managers of this section and company.
-- posted by StefanC
» Paul_A - New Member
Greeting to all!My name is Paul Azkoul. I am a byzantine iconographer. I have painted icons for about thirteen years. I hope to learn from the members on this group.
I hope there is much conversation concerning iconography on this group. It is nice to have a discussion group about the holy icons. I am looking forward to hearing from you all. thank you, and by the way, if you are interested, please visit my website at http://www.traditionalicons.com
Thank you again.
paul azkoul
-- posted by Paul_A
» Dan_Ellsworth - Greetings, Paul Azkoul
Hello, Paul. Thanks for posting a message. Although we have no active Contributing Editor in this topic now, maybe this can still be a place where information, ideas, and encouragement are exchanged. I am a Protestant, of the United Methodist (U.S.A.) variety, and we mostly aren't well schooled in icons. But I think it's worthwhile to try to understand.In fact, there's a question I would like to ask you. Sometimes we hear testimony of the place of an icon (ikon?) in the life of a person who has one, or meditates on one. But what of the person who produces icons? Is that at all a separate spiritual experience? Or are you just conscious of technique at the time? I don't think there's a wrong answer here, just a curiosity. Nor is it a question of psychology ofthe Orthodox; it may after all be a question of the various ways God can work in human lives.
And if I haven't said or implied it before: Welcome to Suite 101. :-)
-- posted by Dan_Ellsworth
» Paul_A - Question about the place of the icongrapher
Dear Mr. Ellsworth,Thank you for your response. I noticed on the group that, other than you and myself, no one has sent a message since January of 1998. Is there a reason why?
Pertaining to your question about the iconographer himself; I do not know what you understand about icons, but if you understand correctly you will know the connection between the icon and the iconographer.
If you read my "Theology of the Icon" page on my website http://www.traditionalicons.com, you will see the parallel between the two. One can not exist without the other. Not simply anyone may paint icons. One must be baptized into the Orthodox Church firstly, and then one is chosen by God. Artistic ability, and intillect is not a criteria for one to be an iconographer.
If you read my artical, you will see that the iconographer is not merely an artist, he is not merely a "talented" individual. He is not simply "gifted" in the arbitrary sence in which we use this word when we look upon secular art, or write a good secular book.
It is God the Holy Spirit which works with the iconographer in a literal way. The iconographer can not see him while he is painting the icon, but He is there non the less.
Prayer must be a constant while painting the icon, and when the iconographer is not painting, he must still have a prayerful mind and pray often. This along with fasting, and a sober Orthodox Christian lifestyle, along with frequent Holy Communion, will benefit him greatly in the aquisition of becoming more and more Grace filled, and therefore, becoming a blessed vesel and dwelling place of God, to the point, at which, his icons will improve in their appearence more and more, and the iconographers level of pioty will show forth within the icon.
The opposite is true as well. If the iconographer is indifferent about himself, and obeying the ordinances of God, and the less he fasts and prays, and the less he has little contrition in his heart, and lives a careless lifestyle, this too will show in his work.
The iconographer has a wonderful blessing bestowed upon him from God. He has the power to bring the Saints and God Himself to earth in a visible and very literal way; since the Spirit of God and His Saints dwell and take their abode in the icons, but at the same time, the iconographer has a bitter responsibility, because he is not simply painting for himself, but for the whole Church. Teaching them through the icon. The icon is theology. Teaching its people the truth about Christ, His people, what He taught us to believe concerning Himself---God and His Church. The icon must also be historically accurate, no imagination is allowed to enter into the icon. The iconographer is under strict guidlines to make sure nothing personal is put into the icon, and nothing historically or theologically is wrong about it.
The sins of the iconographer will show in his work as well. Not a particular sin, as such, but sin regardless, and if he, as I said, lives an unrepentent life of sin, without contrition, without the acknowledging his sinful nature,and living a life of humility, and if he does not fast and pray, and participates in the body and blood of Jesus Christ to infrequently, it will show in his icons.
Iconography is a great mystery in the Orthodox Church. It was given to us by God, and is not a man made creation, showing no more than a religious peraonage or event in history.
As far as the style the iconographer uses; one can not simply decide for himself how he wishes to stylize his work. There is Byantine style and Russian style. There are several style to Russian iconography; such as Novgorod, or Kiev or Moscow,or Stroginov. Romanians have a particular style. All these styles were developed within the Church, and given to us by the Hand of the Holy Spirit. Everything in the Church is divinely inspired: Iconography, Hymnography, Monatasicm, Psalmody, the Liturgics of every kind, etc, etc.
I hope I have answered your question to some degree. Please read my article as well, and if you have anymore questions, please feel free to contact me again. And by the way, the spelling of icon can be spelled with a "c" or a "k". "Icon" is the latin way, and "Ikon",is the Greek way.
May God bestow his love and have mercy on us all,
paul
-- posted by Paul_A
» MTRC - Healthy Articles
LOVE WITHOUT JUDGMENTThis is the motto of our church in relation to the scriptural teaching: "Love one another as I have loved you" and "Judge not lest
you be judged".
Deepak Chopra in his book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success has a daily affirmation: "I will practice non-judgment. I will
begin my day with the statement, Today I shall judge nothing that occurs , and thoughout the day I will remind myself not to
judge".
The same author answers the question how one can live without judgment as follows:
"Once we look inside ourselves we discover that the experience of being human is one of ambiguity. We are a
conglomerate of conflicting energies, paradox and contradictions. Inside there are sinners and saints. There is the
divine, but there is also the diabolical. There is the sacred, but also the profane, forbidden lust, unconditional love,
the beatitude of paradise and the dark night of the soul. In other words, so-called good and evil coexist side by side
in all of us.
Even though each one of us is unique in many ways, we are also all the same. When we begin to fully understand
this, we begin to understand that each one of us has a shadow self. There is a social self which is the mask we put
on when we are with other people. And then there is a shadow self which lives in the dark alleys and the secret
passages, the ghost filled attics and the hidden dungeons of our mind.
In truth, we are neither the social self nor the shadow self. These are both different masks of our eternal, infinite
being. When we begin to acknowledge our shadow self, become intimate with it and are not defensive about it, when
we fully embrace it, then we begin to also know from our own experience that we are like everyone else. No matter
how exalted the perceptions of others might be, the perception is really based on our social self.
By embracing the shadow, which is a process, we spontaneously lose the need to have moral, self-righteous
judgments of others. This is the first step in forgiveness. By embracing and forgiving ourselves, we forgive others.
And once we forgive we begin to experience love.
In summary the sequence is as follows:
(1) Embracing your shadow
(2) Spontaneously losing the desire to classify people and situations in terms of moral, self-righteousness (i.e.
judgment)
(3) Forgiving yourself
(4) Forgiving others
(5) Beginning to experience love."
(from The Global Network of Spiritual Success )
We must ask ourselves, was Jesus always forgiving and non-judgmental? We know he forgave the adulteress when he
challenged her accusers, He who is without sin, cast the first stone.
And yet we read that Jesus condemned the money changes in the temple and the sribes and pharisees for their legalism, rigidity,
arrogance, and self- righteousness. What would Jesus say today about the Church? Or what would He say about the "religious
right" and its condemnation of everyone and everything that isn't in accordance with their narrow and rigid agenda?
What is Christ's message to us on love and non-judgmentalism?
WHY I BELIEVE IN GOD
(Written by Danny Dutton, age 8, from Chula Vista, California, for his third grade homework assignment to "Explain
God")
One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die so there will be enough people to take
care of things on earth.
He doesn't make grown-ups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way, He doesn't have to
take up His valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers.
God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and
things, pray at times besides bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this.
Because He hears everything there must be a terrible lot of noise in His ears, unless He has thought of a way to turn it off.
God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting His
time by going over your mom and dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have.
Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista. At least there aren't any who come to
our church.
Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the
people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of Him preaching to them and they crucified Him.
But He was good and kind like His Father and He told His Father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive
them and God said OK.
His Dad (God) appreciated everything that He had done and all His hard work on earth so He told Him He didn't have to go
out on the road anymore, He could stay in heaven. So He did.
And now He helps His Dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which
ones He can take care of Himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary only more important.
You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to hear you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the
times.
You should always go to Church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's
God.
Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong! And, besides, the sun
doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway.
If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with
you, like to camp, but God can.
It is good to know He's around you when you're scared in the dark or when you can't swim very good and you get thrown into
real deep water by big kids.
But you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and He can take me back anytime
He pleases.
And that's why I believe in God."
ON "INDEPENDENT"
From an Orthodox point of view, a bishop or a branch of the church can never be "independent", that is, exist apart from the
church and her teachings. In the Orthodox faith, this is underscored by having the bishop stand in the midst of his flock rightly
teaching the truth while protecting his people from error and exploitation. To "exist" as a bishop outside the church is a
contradiction in terms. The Church is the body of Christ Himself, and the bishop occupies the place of Christ here on earth. To
want to be a bishop for personal gain or prestige is contrary to the Gospel which calls the bishop "servant" and "one who
oversees" a flock. A man does not become a bishop to establish a church, rather the church exists to call bishops - men able to
propagate Christ's work among the faithful. Christ chose men, taught them, then established a church for them to teach and
guide. He founded a church on the "rock" (petros), i.e. on the belief in him as the son of God, while placing apostles (later
called bishops) in charge of teaching people in all places, at all times, this basic tenet of faith.
In the United States and Canada alone there are about 1000 "vagante bishops", most of which are sole paper organizations
without any faithful to guide, others with several scattered parishes, some few men with establsished congregations and
important apostolates among the faithful. We cannot and will not judge all "independent bishops". Yet, one can only wonder
why a man would want to be a bishop if he had no church? - A truly sincere and honest man would establish a legitamite parish
and seek unity and recognition with other fellow Christians of the same faith. Any other way betrays a self-serving attitude, or a
venal mind which desires the office of bishop for personal gain or recognition.
Vagante bishops have been known to place innocent and naive people in a precarious situation. Sometimes these groups fall
into a cult-like mentality, a one man rule, a heaven for immoral or lustful clergy. These "churches" degenerate into independent
and personal "churchianity" dangerous to the faith and spiritual progress of sincere men and women seeking the truth! - Some
"bishops" have even been known to develop a "cafeteria-style" Christianity where one can pick and choose what to believe,
often mixing pagan and new-age beliefs with the Lord's own words.
One guideline I have often found useful is to ask questions. Seek information about a church's history or affiliation with other
churches, either of the same faith, or locally on the ecumenical level. If a man is honest, he is never theatened or angered by
your concerns. Write to authorities in the area. They will guide you, or lead you to someone who will. Never hand over large
sums of money or a deed of property to these newly "established" churches, often using names like "National Catholic",
"Orthodox Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Apostolic Orthodox", "Independent Catholic (Episcopal/Orthodox)", and so on.
Fortunately, virtually all vagante groups or individuals are fly by night enterprises, unable to maintain relationships with those in
authority. They must exist apart from others, a dangerous sign of misguided souls. One cannot exist in a vacuum, or claim to be
part of a church while remaining unrecognized by that church, or blend certain pegan beliefs with authentic Christianity. We
cannot develop a "new faith" because of personal whim or vanity. One cannot be "independent" and at the same time claim to
be part of the Orthodox (or Catholic, Episcopal, ....) church.
There always will be false shepherds among us. The real test of one's desire to be united with the truth is (a) to avoid joining an
eclectic, home-made "Christianity" apart from the true Church of Christ; and (b) to join a sincere, stable and recognized church
or Synod.
CHRISTIANITY VS. "CHURCHIANITY"
When we say Christianity not "Churchianity" it means: (1) The freedom from the weight of spiritually dead things;
(2) The freedom from any ecclesiastical system that does not reflect the reality and practice of Christian principle, morality,
loving practices and truth;
(3) The freedom from clericalism and form alike that do not possess the enlivening energies of God's presence working in
synergy.
We must overcome the term "canonical" or to say "canonical Orthodoxy" because first of all, there is no such thing as
"uncanonical Orthodox". Orthodox is Orthodox. Christian is Christian. We do not need to add the term "canonical" to it. It is
neither a scriptural nor a patristic label, but this word is being used by modern day parisees to exalt themselves over others.
Their exclusiveness stands in clear contrast to Christ's teaching to include even those who were not with the Apostles (Luke
9:49-50).
WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY?
Spirituality and an awareness that there is a God puts my life into perspective. God demonstates in my life what I cannot
answer. His spirit gives fulfillment to my ongoing struggle to be human. (Fr. Francis Fagan)
Spirituality is basic to humans. It consists in asking fundamental questions about the meaning of life and death, of suffering and
evil, of hope and relationships and community... (Dr. Eugene Bianchi)
Spirituality is not to be learned by flight from the world, by running away from things, or by turning solitary and growing apart
from the world. Rather, we must learn an inner solitude wherever or with whomever we may be. We must learn to understand
the meaning of things and find God there. (Meister Eckhart, 13th century A.D.)
TRANQUILITY
He has great tranquillity of heart who cares neither for the praises nor the fault-finding of men. He will easily be content and
pacified, whose conscience is pure. You are not holier if you are praised, nor the more worthless if you are found fault with.
What you are, that you are; neither by word can you be made greater than what you are in the sight of God. (Thomas a
Kempis, Imitation of Christ)
WHAT IS PRAYER?
"Prayer should be the activity in which we are most ourselves, because we are aware of our identity as children of God, and we
live in this relationship to HIM", said the late Trappist monk and author Thomas Merton.
Larry Dossey in his new book "Prayer is good medicine" writes: "Since Christians believe that 'God is love' any prayer which is
said in love will have God present in it. Christians can then retain the belief that God is always present in prayer, even in the
prayers of agnostics, or non-theists such as Buddhists."
He continues, "science shows, then, that prayer does not belong exclusively to any particular religion, but to a unity of all
religions, classes and creeds. Science universalizes and democatizes prayer. It is a statement for religious tolerance." (Dossey
goes into much more details of scientific evidence of the power of prayer in his book,'Healing Words: The power of
prayer and the practice of medicine').
Thomas Merton once said, "I pray by breathing". Prayer is not always words. St. Francis saw whatever he was doing as a
prayer.
Dossey says, "Both prayer and meditation come from the heart, and there are more similarities than differences between them."
Meister Eckhart, a 13th century mystic, wrote: "One 'Hail Mary' uttered sincerely is more potent and better than a thousand
uttered mechanically, for the heart is not made pure by prayer, but rather prayer is made pure by the pure heart."
FREEDOM AND HERESY
One of the things I found most appealing about the St. Thomas tradition was its embrace of the freedom of expression to
worship without the necessity of concretized dogma or numerous layers of doctrine. For me, worship is the most personal
experience one can ever know and as such it should be guarded zealously.
This would not be the first time I have been called a heretic. I was brought up in the Southern Baptist tradition and, believe me,
they think that incense and bells and alcoholic wine at the Lord's Supper are heresy on a grand scale! I have also fielded
questions of heresy from former Zen students who felt that I could not believe in Christ if I practiced Zen meditation.
I have even discovered cries of heresy between opposing Orthodox traditions because of disagreements on simple matters of
protocol. Don't you sometimes wonder if Christ doesn't just hang His head in sadness at the petty nature His Church sometime
displays?
One thing that I greatly appreciate about His Holiness is his staunch refusal to dictate how people should communion with
Christ. Within the realm of his Patriarchate, Mar Joseph wants each church to follow the dictates of their collective conscience
and strive to be the very best Christians they can be, based on their understanding of scripture and tradition. This is certainly an
enlightened approach to the Patriarchy and one that I feel sets Mar Joseph apart as one of the most important men to ever hold
the title.
(Fr. Billy Starnes)
Attacks on sincere Christians
Thinking about the attacks on us Christians, I thought about the efforts an attacker makes on those who simply preach Christ:
The first stage is the attack on one's true and valid apostolic succession, i.e. the denial of being a priest or bishop.
After that has failed, the attacker moves on to character assassinations. This often backfires as the attacker him/herself has
plenty of flaws that can be exposed.
That also having failed the attacker makes up stories and farytales about his/her victim. He/She often sends anonymous notes or
letters to people in that regard, so he/she cannot be caught and brought to justice.
Eventually even that will pass. Hence the German saying: "Luegen haben kurze Beine" (lies have short legs), i.e. they won't last
long!
We must realize that all lies about some else come out of envy. If one has a real ministry or inner peace with real people in a
real church, one has no time to demean others.
Following "Canons"
I always figured, if someone would claim to follow all Orthodox Canons, he or she would need to be awfully antisemitic,
chauvenistic and out of touch with reality, since so many canons have been set at a time and society long gone. Foremost
however, such "canonists" would need to join one of the SCOBA jurisdictions since they claim to be the only canonical ones in
America. You see, one can go on and on with this "canonical stuff" and never reach any credible solution.
I am sure you will agree with me that the Church (of whatever shape or kind) has from time to time strayed from the Gospel in
her actions and rules. Many of the socalled "Holy Canons" are actually unholy and in direct contradiction to Holy Scriptures!
If we all concentrated on what Christ and his Church actually teaches, in terms of dogmatic truth, we would have no reason to
split apart into different groupings, each claiming to be better than the others. We would have no use to argue over "canonical"
righteousness, but would ALL pull together in promoting His Kingdom, as He has commanded us to do. We would have no
use for putting together or upholding a thick book of pharisaical canons, but rather be nourished by His Divine word of the
Gospels.
Hence, we hold in living memory what the HOLY APOSTLES set forth as "Canons".
Marriage
As a covenantal bond, Christian marriage is a sacrament of the union between Christ and Church (Ephesians 5:22-32). The
sacrament of Matrimony is also a decisive moment when the Church reveals itself as the Bride of Christ, as the sign that God is
irrevocably committed to the human community in and through Christ. The marriage bond, therefore, is one of infinite
compassion and infinite love. Once established, it cannot be broken.
When a man and woman enter a spousal relationship and discover through their human experience that they are - for whatever
reason - unable to maintain that relationship and seek dissolution of that relationship, that very human experience itself is prima
facie and exculpatory evidence that the couple had never established, without blame, the marriage bond in faith, being generous
and gracious.
Faith implies conviction, trust, and commitment. Conviction connotes an inner disposition to the truth of love. Trust connotes an
acknowledgment and acceptance-capability of God and of oneself to love and be loved. Commitment connotes a total
self-surrender in active engagement in the service of the Kingdom of God.
If the couple had established the marriage bond, then out of infinite compassion and love for one another, they would have
realized the grace (being gracious) to discover in their human experience a resolution to their spousal relationship problem.
Without judgment (Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Matthew 7:1) and given the Principle of Divine Economy, the
Church solemnizes remarriages with joy and the peace of Christ.
-- posted by MTRC
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