Orthodox Arts Journal

Iconostases in Balkan Churches – Part 2: Dečani Monastery

By Andrew Gould

The iconostases of Dečani Monastery are of such overwhelming interest that they warrant their own post in my photojournalism series. Dečani was built in 1327-1331. Among the hundreds of monasteries built by the medieval kingdom of Serbia, it was the tallest and grandest. Today, it is also, miraculously, the best preserved, with an extraordinary collection…

Iconostases in Balkan Churches – Part 1: Serbia

Interview with Andrew Gould on the New Church at Holy Cross Monastery

Portraits of Light and Shadow in Balkan Churches – Part 2: Peć, Gračanica, and Dečani

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The Chichester Workshop for Liturgical Art: A New Venture for Training Liturgical Artists and Inspiring Wise Commissioning

By Aidan Hart

An exciting centre for training liturgical artists and inspiring commissioners was officially launched on the September 14th, 2023. It is called the Chichester Cathedral Workshop for Liturgical Art. It is based at the ancient cathedral in the south of England,which stems from a monastery founded by St Wilfrid in 681. You can learn more about…

Iconostases in Balkan Churches – Part 1: Serbia

Apsidal Wall Painting for St. Christopher’s Church, Codsell, UK

Lecture: The Neptic Icon and Orthodox Tradition

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An Interview with Benedict Sheehan – Vespers, and its Concert Premiere

By Andrew Gould

Editor’s Note: Benedict Sheehan’s Astonishing Masterwork Vespers will be performed in a premiere concert series this weekend, November 11th, 12th, and 13th, at locations in New York and Pennsylvania. Full concert and ticket information follows this exclusive interview. Brad Given: How do you prepare for creating a work like this? Vespers is obviously a large,…

With Faith and Love; Thoughts on a Russian-American Choral Masterclass

An All-Night Vigil for St. Richard of Wessex: An Old Saint is Venerated Anew

Review: Great and Holy Pascha and The Mystic Pascha

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The Epitaphios of Jesus Christ: The Role of an Artist’s Creativity in Christian Art

By Olga Shalamova

Foreword In 2021 I attended a conference on “The Art of Embroidery in the Orthodox Church,” at which a speaker presented a thesis that church art is unchangeable, because it is based on church doctrine and therefore the only choice an iconographer or embroiderer is given is to choose between styles. This idea hit a…

Iconostases in Balkan Churches – Part 1: Serbia

The Epitaphios of Jesus Christ: The Role of an Artist’s Creativity in Christian Art

The Design of the Anointing Screen for the Coronation of King Charles III

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Announcing an Exciting Book Project Featuring the Liturgical Arts of North America

By Andrew Gould

I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve partnered with the Sacred Arts Institute at Saint Vladimir’s Seminary to produce a major book featuring the best of North America’s Orthodox Liturgical Arts. This will be a high-quality art book focused on presenting excellent color images. We will feature historic and contemporary churches, icons, furnishings, metalwork, textiles,…

Announcing an Exciting Book Project Featuring the Liturgical Arts of North America

Icon, Religion—Abstraction: Joseph Masheck with Joachim Pissarro & Fr. Silouan Justiniano

The Epitaphios of Jesus Christ: The Role of an Artist’s Creativity in Christian Art

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The Chichester Workshop for Liturgical Art: A New Venture for Training Liturgical Artists and Inspiring Wise Commissioning

Announcing an Exciting Book Project Featuring the Liturgical Arts of North America

I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve partnered with the Sacred Arts Institute at Saint Vladimir’s Seminary to produce a major book featuring the best of North America’s…

Iconostases in Balkan Churches – Part 2: Dečani Monastery

The iconostases of Dečani Monastery are of such overwhelming interest that they warrant their own post in my photojournalism series. Dečani was built in 1327-1331. Among the hundreds…

Icon, Religion—Abstraction: Joseph Masheck with Joachim Pissarro & Fr. Silouan Justiniano

…I looked at Russian icon painting with new eyes, that is to say, I “acquired eyes” for the abstract element in this kind of painting. –Wassily Kandinsky[i]…

Iconostases in Balkan Churches – Part 1: Serbia

Continuing my photojournalism series highlighting Balkan churches, this post features interesting iconostases I photographed in Serbia and in the Kosovo and Metohija region. These iconostases range from medieval…

Apsidal Wall Painting for St. Christopher’s Church, Codsell, UK

Definition of Apse: A large semi-circular or polygonal recess in a church, arched or with a domed roof and typically at the church’s eastern end. Via Latin from…

Interview with Andrew Gould on the New Church at Holy Cross Monastery

I invite you to watch this new interview, in which Abbott Seraphim and I discuss the new church under construction at Holy Cross Monastery. We touch on the…

Portraits of Light and Shadow in Balkan Churches – Part 2: Peć, Gračanica, and Dečani

Continuing my photojournalism series highlighting Balkan churches, this post will feature wide-angle interior portraits of the three great monastery churches of the Kosovo and Metohija region. Peć, Gračanica,…

Portraits of Light and Shadow in Balkan Churches – Part 1: Serbia

Having completed the first tour sponsored by the Orthodox Arts Journal, which took place in June of 2023, I’ve been considering how to share some of the four-thousand…

The Epitaphios of Jesus Christ: The Role of an Artist’s Creativity in Christian Art

Foreword In 2021 I attended a conference on “The Art of Embroidery in the Orthodox Church,” at which a speaker presented a thesis that church art is unchangeable,…

Sacred Arts East and West: A Conversation with Aidan Hart, Jonathan Pageau, and Andrew Gould

The Institute of Sacred Arts (ISA) at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) will host a panel discussion with artists and scholars Aidan Hart, Jonathan Pageau, and Andrew Gould, on Monday, April 24, 2023, at 7:30 p.m. The event will be moderated by ISA founding director and SVOTS Professor of Systematic Theology Dr Peter Bouteneff and Associate Professor of…

Orthodox Arts Festival 2022 Opening on September 17

This year’s ORTHODOX ARTS FESTIVAL 2022 will take place online from September 17th to October 17th of 2022. The Festival is considered to be the World’s biggest Online International Festival of Orthodox Christian Artists. The Festival will be the first to integrate High-Quality 3D technology on its numerous Virtual Reality Galleries (they are the…

Interview with Iconographer Baker Galloway

Editor’s Note: Following upon Aidan Hart’s recent post about applications currently being accepted for the 3-year Icon Painting Programme taught by him, we present an interview with a 2019 graduate of that program, Baker Galloway, conducted by Seraphim O’Keefe on behalf of the OAJ. Introduction Baker Galloway is an American graduate of the 3-year Icon Painting Course offered by the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts (London, UK). The course is taught in Shrewsbury, UK by Aidan Hart, who has contributed prolifically to the field of iconography (writing, teaching, painting, carving, mosaics, liturgical furnishings) over the past 30+ years in the UK and internationally. Baker participated in the 2016-2019 course with ten fellow students, graduating in October 2019. Baker is a dear friend, and I am excited about the work he is doing. For years, he and I have shared our experiences and ideas about art and life. In March of 2019, he invited me along on one of his trips to England, to meet Aidan and to see the iconography class in action. My encounter left a profound impression on me, and now it is a privilege for me to introduce Baker to you, and…

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Richard Barrett
Fr. Steven Bigham
Andrew Gould
John A. Graham

Aidan Hart
Lynette Hull
Fr. Silouan Justiniano

Markos Kampanis
Nicholas Kotar
Mary Lowell

Fr. Ivan Moody
Vladimir Morosan
Fr. Patrick O’Rourke

Jonathan Pageau
Katherine Sanders
Benedict Sheehan
Federico José Xamist

The purpose of this project is to make available online a collection of graphic illustrations of the highest quality. The collection will focus on iconographic drawings and related graphic ornaments stylistically suited to the illumination of printed Orthodox publications. The project will address the needs of Orthodox book designers, graphic artists, and many others, who desire excellent imagery for their publications.

Learn more and gain access to the images »