« … it happened that I fell into a sin very dangerous to my soul. But as it was not in my habit to hide a serpent in the depths of my heart, I seized it by the tail and found it immediately to be a doctor.” St-John Climacus citing a monk. Ladder of Divine Ascent, degree 4, paragraph 697a One of the most surprising images one is faced with considering Orthodox liturgical symbolism is...
Rashid and Inessa Azbuhanov are a Russian couple who are leading the rediscovery of icon carving in the Russian Church. Their works grace the collections of Russian politicians from Gorbachev to Putin, European royal families and church authorities from the Russian Patriarch to the Pope of Rome. Their works are often large and highly detailed, like wooden lace as they include much chip carving into the patterns of clothing, backgrounds and frames. There is a certain folk aspect...
Here are some of the most astounding miniature icons I have seen. They are made by a Russian artisan named Evgeny Baranov who is also a very good goldsmith as you will see below. These pictures were taken from his facebook page. I have been trying to get a short interview with some more details, and my lack of Russian seems to stand in the way… but really, the work stands on its own. ...
Editor’s Note: A competition in Russia was launched to design a church, the first dedicated to the New Martyrs of Russia. The result and the winning design, seen below, is quite glorious and truly stands out among the others. Here is a part of the article from the Pravoslavie.ru website. ИП Смирнов Дмитрий Михайлович. Победитель конкурса On March 25, Pravoslavie.ru posted an open letter from Archimandrite Tikon to the parishioners of Sretensky Stavropegic Monastery detailing...
A few months ago I posted a piece introducing our readers to Branislav Derkovic, a Serbian carver of exceptional quality. Branislav had asked me to send him some of the stone I use to carve icons, commonly called steatite. This stone was traditionally used in Constantinople for carving small miniatures but also portable icons. In exchange for the stone, Branislav suggested sending me some boxwood, the wood used in carving all those wonderful miniatures from Athos we see as...
A few weeks ago, Benedict Sheehan posted about his trip to Moscow and the planned collaborations with Vladimir Gorbik, which included a Master Class of liturgical music culminating into a concert which took place on March 3rd. Here is the article from the Saint-Tikhon website describing the event. source: http://stots.edu/news_130305_1.html Hundreds of faithful from PA, NY, NJ, MD, OH, and VA poured into St. Stephen’s Episcopal Cathedral in Wilkes-Barre, PA this past Sunday, March...
This article is the third part in a series on the Right and Left hand symbolism. Part 1. Part 2. One of the aspects of Right/Left symbolism that is so usual in iconography it can almost go unnoticed is how Christ and the saints will be seen holding a book or scroll in their left hand, while blessing, pointing, showing, addressing with their right hand. The most obvious image of this type is...
Daniel Neculae is a Romanian iconographer living in Luxembourg. He has a BA in Byzantine iconography from Bucharest University. He is going to show some of his icons in London, at the Sacred Space Gallery from March 11 to April 04 and so it seemed like a good opportunity to feature his icons here. Upon looking at many of his pieces, we can almost deduce how he found a large part of his inspiration upon visiting Athos...
There is a facebook page called “Contemporary Christian Art” but most people would not notice because it is all in Georgian script. Although boasting hundreds of pictures of early art from all of Christendom, the most remarkable aspect to those of us who are not in Georgia is how it prominently features contemporary Georgian liturgical artists. Across its many picture albums is the resounding testimony to the thriving art in the Georgian Church. ...
