The pedagogic function of the icon in the modern world

There has been something of a 'visual turn' in both contemporary theology and philosophy and part of that turn has been the recovery or reassessment of the iconology that has been present in the Christian East for some time. This has meant a recovery of the ecclesial icon and new explorations of its relevance for theology and visual theory today. Yet the icon is more than the historical precursor to subsequent arts. For Christians, it is the image par excellence—an image set apart. In what follows I will briefly discuss how three thinkers, Cornelia Tsakiridou, Pavel Florensky, and Jean-Luc Marion show in similar and dissimilar ways how it is that the icon enjoys the status of being the "exemplary image."

Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception Vol. 12, 2016

Icoana Credinței, 2024

The freedom of expression of the Christian faith, acquired by the Church following the edict of Mediolanum, from the year 313, favored the flourishing of church life in all its aspects, including that of sacred art, therefore also of iconography. The one who gave the impetus to this process was, without a doubt, the Holy Emperor Constantine the Great himself. For their part, the Holy Fathers of the Church encouraged the representation in icons of the martyrdom of the holy martyrs and provided, at the same time, the arguments that contributed to the foundation of the presence and role of the icon in the life of Christians and in that of the Church. Therefore, it is not surprising that, starting from this period, a constant development of Christian sacred art followed in all the provinces of the empire, both through the multiplication of iconographic themes, inspired either by the universe of the imperial court, or by the martyrdom of the holy martyrs, or even by the tradition pagan, as well as by using increasingly elaborate techniques. The present study aims to follow the evolution of the older iconographic themes, to identify and shed light on the new iconographic themes, their sources and also their concordance with the teaching of faith synthesized and systematized by the Church during the ecumenical councils from Nicaea (325), Constantinople (381), Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451), whose teaching is transmitted through these iconographic themes.

Wanted Byzantium. The Desire for a Lost Empire, eds Ingela Nilsson & Paul Stephenson

Town Planning and Architecture, 2010

Poland, as cultural and religious borderlands which are now, as in the past, a part of Latin, west RomanCatholic, Greek Slavic and East orthodox culture, is a good place to apply comparative analyses of art of both Christian Churches: Eastern Church and western Church. This paper presents selected examples of interaction between architecture, iconography and theology in contemporary sacred art of the last decade in Poland. It also shows the process of evolution of traditional spatial and functional structures and application of new iconography conventions in the orthodox temples. It covers problems in art as well as new essential ideological aspects of symbolical and liturgical nature. The effects of design and creation work, presented in this paper, serve as a basis to classify these objects as traditional. This asses sment of the synthesis of art achieved here-being always the basis for creating the liturgical mystery play within the orthodox Church-is left to the reader himself 1 .

Religion and the Arts, 2018

Hans-Georg Gadamer has claimed firstly, that in religious painting the image does not merely copy its prototype but is in "ontological communion" with it; and secondly, that in this respect the religious painting is exemplary for painting in general. I examine these claims with specific reference to Eastern Orthodox icons, drawing on both classical and modern Orthodox theological accounts of the icon to support and amplify Gadamer's claim about "ontological communion". I then consider accounts by J-L Marion and by the theologian Paul Evdokimov of how the icon can be exemplary for painting in general. I argue that Marion's discussion leads to some unacceptably conclusions, and that Evdokimov provides a more convincing account. This commits him to a strong and controversial thesis that all art (consciously or otherwise and whatever its explicit subject-matter) is in a sense religious.

Through the discussion of two practical "case studies'; the authors deal with a classical theme of iconographicaI studies, thatis the complex relationship between text and image. The two examples explain in particular how the"intention"of the artist or patron, and so the deeper meaning of the pictures, are not revealed by the exact correspondences between text and image, but emerge mainly from the recognition of the differences. Often this gap between text and image can be originated from the liturgy or can be explained by the links with ritual practices, in which the pictures are involved. Catholic prelates from Kotor were able to commission such artists who could paint the fresco programmes of town churches mostly based on models found in Byzantine art because such solutions offered them possibilities of forming their own programme based on the liturgy of the Catholic Church. In the case of the Olivuccio di Ceccarello's Dormitio, from Sirolo, the semi-liturgical rituality of the assault on the properties of the Jews, accepted by the Church, justifies the scars on the image of Jews and clarifies the reason of the selection of episodes made by the painter on the basis of the Legenda aurea, with the intention to highlight the negative role of the Jews, as opposed to the positive one played by the incredulous Apostle Thomas.

EIKON IMAGO 7, 2015

Although a comparison between Orthodox icons and geographic maps sounds like an extravagant idea, if we set them in a broader context, we will see that they are actually akin. Both, the Orthodox εικών and the medieval mappamundi are symbolic images that represent cosmological concepts, showing the essence and character of the Universe in images. They enable people to overcome their natural limitations and see what is invisible to their eyes.

Revista română de Studii Eurasiatice, 2017

The icon has a complex language because it embraces, but also pivots around it, an iconic theophany or sacred imagery and an inexpressible wealth of symbolic valences; is the revelation, word, and epiphanic anamnesis of acts of redemption, producing a theological and perhaps artistic excitement in the person who worship it, even if it is not its purpose, giving it a profound liturgical purpose and creating that mysterium fascinans. The icon is God's encounter with man, uncreated energies with nature, convergence, or interpenetration between eternal and ephemeral. Here it is fully seen how between the word and the image there is a complementary relationship in the proclamation of the gospel of Christ. Rezumat. Icoana are un limbaj complex, deoarece înglobează, dar și pivotează în jurul ei, o teofanie iconică sau o imagistică sacră și o bogăție inexprimabilă de valențe simbolice; este revelație, cuvânt și anamneză epifanică a actelor redemtorii, producând o emoție teologică și, posibil, una artistică în persoana care o venerează, chiar dacă nu acesta este scopul ei, acordându-i un scop profund liturgic și creând acel mysterium fascinans. Icoana este întâlnirea lui Dumnezeu cu omul, a energiilor necreate cu natura, o convergență sau o întrepătrundere între etern și efemer. Aici se vede pe deplin cum între cuvânt şi imagine există o relaţie de complementaritate în vestirea Evangheliei lui Hristos.

Київ : АртЕк, 2019

The Orthodox Theology of Icon