ADDED READING ON ICONS
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Does an icon exist onto itself?
Nicaee II stated that "the icon carries the name of the prototype. It neither carries nor contains the prototype's nature."
There is therefore no question of some ontological presence being absorbed into the of the icon...it neither captures nor retains anything. The icon does not have any existence in itself. It is participation and a 'guiding image'. It leads to the prototype , to the person represented, announces his presence, and witnesses to his coming. The presence in no way incarnates itself in the icon, but the icon is nonetheless a center from which the divine energies radiate out.
Being a material point in the world, the icon opens a breach through which the Transcendent shines, and the successive waves of this presence transcend all limits and fill the whole universe." Paul Evdokimov
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'The Theology of Glory Light' - The art of Icons: a theology of beauty
"The theology of the icon is based on the distinction in God of his essence and his energies, and the icons speak to us about the divine energy of his light. 'God is called Light, not according to his essence but according to his energies.' "
"There is never a source of natural light shown in icons for light is their very subject, and we can never enlighten the sun. We can even say that the contemplation of the Transfiguration (icon) teaches every iconographer that he paints far more with light than with colors. Even in technical terms, the icon's golden background is called 'light' and the artistic method is called 'progressive enlightenment'.
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Theology of Presence - The art of the Icon: a theology of beauty
"In a nutshell, the icon is a sacrament for the Christian East; more precisely, it is the vehicle of a personal presence. This is why the intercession of a priest and the blessing ritual are necessary to inaugurate an icon into its liturgical function and thereby into its theophanic ministry."
"In itself, it is only a wooden board. The icon gets all its theophanic value from its participation in the Wholly Other; the icon is the mirror of the Wholly Other. It can therefore contain nothing in itself but becomes rather a grid, a structure through which the Other shines forth. The absence of three-dimensional volume in two-dimensional icons excludes all materialization. The icon thus expresses an energetic presence which is not localized nor enclosed but which shines out from a point of condensation.
In the liturgical theology of presence, affirmed in the rite of consecration, we have the element that clearly distinguishes, and draws the line of demarcation between, an icon and a painting with a religious subject."
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The parable of the lost sheep
"Having salvation as its main concern, the Bible is geocentric and anthropocentric, but patristic thought widens the horizons. The patristic vision sees in the parable of the lost sheep an allusion to the smallness of our earthly sphere which is seen as but one of the sheep. The other 99 sheep represent the universe in its totality along with the angelic eons." Paul Evdokimov
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Modern Art in the light of the Icon ('The art of the Icon: a theology of beauty')
From its beginnings, western Christian theology has manifested a certain dogmatic indifference toward the spiritual significance of sacred art, toward the iconography that the Christian East so deeply venerates. This western indifference is apparent despite the many martyrs and confessors who have suffered for the preservation of icons. Western religious art, however, has always lagged behind western theological thought. we can even go so far as to say that this was a blessing. Up to the 12th c, western art remained faithful to the common tradition of both East and West. This unified tradition is fully alive and visible in the magnificent works of Romanesque art, in the miracle of Chartres Cathedral and in the Italian paintings whose creators continued to cultivate the maniero bizantina.
But starting in the 13th c, Giotto, Duccio, and Cimabue introduced into their works optical illusion, perspective, depth, chiaroscuro [play of light and shadows], and trompe-l'oeil [still-still deception]. Such art, though more refined and more reflective of the natural world, lost the ability to directly grasp and portray the transcendent.(*1) In recent studies, researchers have been able to demonstrate the strong hold of
Dominican intellectualism in the vision of Fra Angelico. Having broken with the artistic canons of tradition, western Christian art could no longer be integrated into the liturgical mystery, and having left its heavenly 'biosphere' , it became more and more autonomous and subjective. The 'spiritual bodies' of the saints could no longer be seen underneath the folds of their clothing. Even the angels seemed to be beings made of flesh and blood. The holy persons painted in these pictures acted just like everyone else.They were dressed in the clothing of the artist's time and were set in scenes that were mere copies of the artist's own world... a miraculous event, to become nothing more than an occasion for the artist to exercise his talents on a portrait, anatomy, or landscape. The dialogue of spirit to spirit ended, the vision of 'the flame of things' was replaced by emotion, flights of the soul, and sentimentality... When art forgets the sacred language of symbols and the holy presence, and merely deals with 'religious subjects' in a plastic manner, the breath of the transcendent is no longer felt.
Once past the middle of the 26th c, the great painters like Bernini, Le Brun, Mignard, and Tieplo painted images with Christian themes but with a total lack of religious meaning. The so-called religious art that we find in churches today is completely bereft of the sacred.
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*1 - The Byzantine Christ, elkomenos, humiliated and suffering, alone, climbs the final ascent as the Lord of all things. St. John Chrysostom said that "I look at Christ crucified and I see the King." But in western art after the 13th c, Jesus, the man of sorrows, seems to be the very image of suffering, to be abandoned by the Holy Spirit like the Christ of Andernach, Cologne, and the Devot Christ of Perpignan. The search for realism in the 15th c became even more absorbed by the image of suffering and death. It centered on the cult of the 5 wounds, the Holy Blood, the instruments of the passion."
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Culture and the Kingdom of God (from 'The Art of the Icon: a theology of Beauty'
"Everything that the human spirit expresses in art, discovers in science, and lives in the light of eternity, that is, all the heights of its genius and holiness will be integrated into the Kingdom and will coincide with their truth in the same way that an inspired image is identical with its original.
Even the majestic beauty of snow-capped mountain tops, the caresses of the sea and the golden fields of grain will become the perfect language that the Bible speaks of so often. Van Gogh's suns or the nostalgia of Botticelli's Venuses as well as the sadness of his Madonnas will find their serene fullness when those who hunger for the two worlds will be filled. Even music, the purest and the most mysterious element of culture, at its highest perfection faints and fades away leaving us face to face with the Absolute. In Mozart's Mass or requiem, we hear Christ's voice, and our elevation acquires the liturgical value of his presence.
When it is really true, culture finds its liturgical origins, even outside of the liturgy. In its essence, culture is the search for the 'one thing that is necessary', and this 'one necessary thing' pushes it beyond its own immanent limits. Through the instrument of this world, culture erects the Sign of the Kingdom, that fiery arrow pointed toward what is to come.
If every person is created in the image of God and is a living icon, earthly culture is the icon of the Kingdom of Heaven. At the moment of the great passage, the Holy Spirit, the 'finger of God', will touch this icon and something of it will remain forever."
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Does an icon exist onto itself?
Nicaee II stated that "the icon carries the name of the prototype. It neither carries nor contains the prototype's nature."
There is therefore no question of some ontological presence being absorbed into the of the icon...it neither captures nor retains anything. The icon does not have any existence in itself. It is participation and a 'guiding image'. It leads to the prototype , to the person represented, announces his presence, and witnesses to his coming. The presence in no way incarnates itself in the icon, but the icon is nonetheless a center from which the divine energies radiate out.
Being a material point in the world, the icon opens a breach through which the Transcendent shines, and the successive waves of this presence transcend all limits and fill the whole universe." Paul Evdokimov
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
'The Theology of Glory Light' - The art of Icons: a theology of beauty
"The theology of the icon is based on the distinction in God of his essence and his energies, and the icons speak to us about the divine energy of his light. 'God is called Light, not according to his essence but according to his energies.' "
"There is never a source of natural light shown in icons for light is their very subject, and we can never enlighten the sun. We can even say that the contemplation of the Transfiguration (icon) teaches every iconographer that he paints far more with light than with colors. Even in technical terms, the icon's golden background is called 'light' and the artistic method is called 'progressive enlightenment'.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Theology of Presence - The art of the Icon: a theology of beauty
"In a nutshell, the icon is a sacrament for the Christian East; more precisely, it is the vehicle of a personal presence. This is why the intercession of a priest and the blessing ritual are necessary to inaugurate an icon into its liturgical function and thereby into its theophanic ministry."
"In itself, it is only a wooden board. The icon gets all its theophanic value from its participation in the Wholly Other; the icon is the mirror of the Wholly Other. It can therefore contain nothing in itself but becomes rather a grid, a structure through which the Other shines forth. The absence of three-dimensional volume in two-dimensional icons excludes all materialization. The icon thus expresses an energetic presence which is not localized nor enclosed but which shines out from a point of condensation.
In the liturgical theology of presence, affirmed in the rite of consecration, we have the element that clearly distinguishes, and draws the line of demarcation between, an icon and a painting with a religious subject."
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The parable of the lost sheep
"Having salvation as its main concern, the Bible is geocentric and anthropocentric, but patristic thought widens the horizons. The patristic vision sees in the parable of the lost sheep an allusion to the smallness of our earthly sphere which is seen as but one of the sheep. The other 99 sheep represent the universe in its totality along with the angelic eons." Paul Evdokimov
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Modern Art in the light of the Icon ('The art of the Icon: a theology of beauty')
From its beginnings, western Christian theology has manifested a certain dogmatic indifference toward the spiritual significance of sacred art, toward the iconography that the Christian East so deeply venerates. This western indifference is apparent despite the many martyrs and confessors who have suffered for the preservation of icons. Western religious art, however, has always lagged behind western theological thought. we can even go so far as to say that this was a blessing. Up to the 12th c, western art remained faithful to the common tradition of both East and West. This unified tradition is fully alive and visible in the magnificent works of Romanesque art, in the miracle of Chartres Cathedral and in the Italian paintings whose creators continued to cultivate the maniero bizantina.
But starting in the 13th c, Giotto, Duccio, and Cimabue introduced into their works optical illusion, perspective, depth, chiaroscuro [play of light and shadows], and trompe-l'oeil [still-still deception]. Such art, though more refined and more reflective of the natural world, lost the ability to directly grasp and portray the transcendent.(*1) In recent studies, researchers have been able to demonstrate the strong hold of
Dominican intellectualism in the vision of Fra Angelico. Having broken with the artistic canons of tradition, western Christian art could no longer be integrated into the liturgical mystery, and having left its heavenly 'biosphere' , it became more and more autonomous and subjective. The 'spiritual bodies' of the saints could no longer be seen underneath the folds of their clothing. Even the angels seemed to be beings made of flesh and blood. The holy persons painted in these pictures acted just like everyone else.They were dressed in the clothing of the artist's time and were set in scenes that were mere copies of the artist's own world... a miraculous event, to become nothing more than an occasion for the artist to exercise his talents on a portrait, anatomy, or landscape. The dialogue of spirit to spirit ended, the vision of 'the flame of things' was replaced by emotion, flights of the soul, and sentimentality... When art forgets the sacred language of symbols and the holy presence, and merely deals with 'religious subjects' in a plastic manner, the breath of the transcendent is no longer felt.
Once past the middle of the 26th c, the great painters like Bernini, Le Brun, Mignard, and Tieplo painted images with Christian themes but with a total lack of religious meaning. The so-called religious art that we find in churches today is completely bereft of the sacred.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
*1 - The Byzantine Christ, elkomenos, humiliated and suffering, alone, climbs the final ascent as the Lord of all things. St. John Chrysostom said that "I look at Christ crucified and I see the King." But in western art after the 13th c, Jesus, the man of sorrows, seems to be the very image of suffering, to be abandoned by the Holy Spirit like the Christ of Andernach, Cologne, and the Devot Christ of Perpignan. The search for realism in the 15th c became even more absorbed by the image of suffering and death. It centered on the cult of the 5 wounds, the Holy Blood, the instruments of the passion."
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Culture and the Kingdom of God (from 'The Art of the Icon: a theology of Beauty'
"Everything that the human spirit expresses in art, discovers in science, and lives in the light of eternity, that is, all the heights of its genius and holiness will be integrated into the Kingdom and will coincide with their truth in the same way that an inspired image is identical with its original.
Even the majestic beauty of snow-capped mountain tops, the caresses of the sea and the golden fields of grain will become the perfect language that the Bible speaks of so often. Van Gogh's suns or the nostalgia of Botticelli's Venuses as well as the sadness of his Madonnas will find their serene fullness when those who hunger for the two worlds will be filled. Even music, the purest and the most mysterious element of culture, at its highest perfection faints and fades away leaving us face to face with the Absolute. In Mozart's Mass or requiem, we hear Christ's voice, and our elevation acquires the liturgical value of his presence.
When it is really true, culture finds its liturgical origins, even outside of the liturgy. In its essence, culture is the search for the 'one thing that is necessary', and this 'one necessary thing' pushes it beyond its own immanent limits. Through the instrument of this world, culture erects the Sign of the Kingdom, that fiery arrow pointed toward what is to come.
If every person is created in the image of God and is a living icon, earthly culture is the icon of the Kingdom of Heaven. At the moment of the great passage, the Holy Spirit, the 'finger of God', will touch this icon and something of it will remain forever."