Our Faith : Icons
We Must Steel Ourselves
When later we were talking about Church he made a strange observation. Though he admired the icons of the Eastern Church, he noted that he could not understand why Jesus, even as an infant, looks so decidedly mannish. It was a thought that had never occurred to me, and he was right. Most of our depictions of the child Jesus show him as a little adult.
Jan 17, 2011, 10:00

Our Faith : Icons
Nativity of the Most Holy Lady, the Birthgiver of God
The icon for the feast of the Birth, or Nativity of our Most-Holy Lady, the Birthgiver-of-God and Ever-Virgin Mary is replete with symbolism which is most profound, and possibly not readily apparent when first viewing it. The central figure in the icon is the figure of the Holy Forebear-of-God, St. Anna, the Mother of the Birthgiverof-God.
Sep 21, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Icons
Time in Icon
To be able to understand icons it is necessary to know how people of the Middle Ages perceived and understood the concept of time. The difference between the concept of time in Western Europe and that in Byzantium was formed in the Renaissance period, when Europe, unlike Byzantium, acquired the new attitudes and outlook towards the world.
Jul 21, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Icons
What’s the Difference Between an Icon and a Portrait?
The first question that an icon painter is often asked is how one can draw a saint one has never seen. When I graduated from the Surikov Institute of Art (Moscow), I was also tortured by this question. In hagiography, we find descriptions of many saints, for instance, a straight nose, a moustache, a black or a long beard… But there can be so many variants of a ‘long beard,’ how shall I understand what he really looked like?
May 14, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Icons
The Mother of God of the Sign
This image reminds me of the comment often made in pro-life circles that "If wombs had windows, there would be no more abortion." The Mother of God of the Sign is an ancient representation of a womb with a window; we look into that small private space and find it exploding with the stars and glory of heaven, filled with the Lord of the Universe himself. Surely, if unborn children could be seen, their right to survive would be evident; it is only the veil of flesh that makes them appear the inert, tumor-like property of their mothers.


Sep 2, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Icons
What is blessable as an icon?
One of the great difficulties that I believe the Orthodox Church has always had is control over her iconographers. More than ever, especially today, icons are being painted without understanding, and people who are not steeped in the Orthodox iconographic tradition are taking over our sacred art, teaching and painting, and their icons are ending up on our altars to be blessed, or worse, in our churches to be venerated and prayed before.
Jun 19, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Icons
Icons - God with us in our Homes
As Christian Education coordinator, I have had the opportunity to visit the parishes around our diocese and I have been welcomed into many homes. At almost every home, the focal point has been their icons. Almost without fail, a story comes with the special icons, whether it is the circumstances under which the icon was obtained or a special healing or grace that came with the icon.


May 20, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Icons
Images of the Good Shepherd : Icons or not?
In recent years in the Orthodox Church, what has been termed by some as a “new” icon has emerged, and become very popular with many people. It is an icon of Christ the Good Shepherd. All one has to do to find proof of this is do a Google image search on the internet for “Good Shepherd icon,” and so many variations and copies of these icons will appear on the screen.
May 5, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Icons
An Icon As an Image: Direct and Reverse Perspective
As has already been mentioned, an icon is a window facing the holy, sacred world which opens to a person looking at the icon. Space in that world has properties different from those of the space on Earth; properties unseen by physical eyes and inexplicable through the logic of this world.


Dec 15, 2008, 10:00

Our Faith : Icons
The Skull on the "Russian" Orthodox Cross
The skull that viewers can see in iconography of the orthodox crucifixion symbolically represents the skull of Adam. Some believe (although this is not a dogma of the Orthodox Church, but rather a pious tradition) that Jesus was crucified on the same place where Adam was buried. Theologically, it does make sense because in the writings of St. Paul the Apostle Jesus is called second Adam.
Nov 22, 2008, 10:00

Our Faith : Icons
Embracing Love
The “More Spacious than the Heavens” icon is very prominent in an Orthodox church., perhaps because it expresses some of our Faith’s core beliefs, principally the willingness of our Mother, the Church, to receive us with her outstretched and waiting arms.


Aug 20, 2008, 10:00

Our Faith : Icons
Icons: Symbolism In Color
An introductory discussion on the symbolism of colors in icons Byzantines considered that the meaning of art is beauty. They painted icons that shined with metallic gold and bright colors. In their art each color had its place and value. Colors - whether bright or dark - were never mixed but always used pure. In Byzantium, color was considered to have the same substance as words, indeed each color had its own value and meaning.
Mar 5, 2007, 17:55

Our Faith : Icons
Symbolism of Colors in Icon
Colour plays a special role in icons because it is a symbolic language which manifests the light that is inside objects and human faces rather than their colouring. The source of this light is outside the physical world. Golden strokes in icons represent this unearthly light, and the golden background symbolizes the space 'not of this world'. There are no shadows in icons. In God's Kingdom everything is permeated with this light.
May 25, 2006, 14:11

Our Faith : Icons
Why do we need icons?
The Second Commandment expressly forbids images of anything, not only of God but of anything at all. We need to ask ourselves the question why this is the case.
Nov 21, 2005, 23:58

Our Faith : Icons
Icons Differ from All Other Art in Its Mysticism
We do not have to be experts in art to tell at a glance that the art of the icon is radically different from any other art form. An icon seeks to make visible the borderline between heaven and earth. Its subject matter may be “in” this world but not “of” this world. Thus the picture becomes a sort of window into heaven.
Jan 13, 2005, 23:40