Posts by Seraphim Hanisch
Coming Full Circle: A Masterclass at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra
On Wednesday, October 2, 2019, a very special choral masterclass was given in the lower room of the Great Bell Tower at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra. This monastery is considered the spiritual center of all of Russia and of its Orthodox Church. Several different factors contributed to the particular significance of this masterclass. The…
Continue reading »A Beautiful Church for Holy Cross Monastery in West Virginia
With great pleasure, I have developed a design for a new church for the Hermitage of the Holy Cross in West Virginia. In many ways, this design is the culmination of 15 years of thought, research, and experimentation on my part, and encapsulates the best of my ideas for Orthodox church design. I would like…
Continue reading »The Living Icon
Editor’s Note: This essay was originally written in Russian by master iconographer Anton Daineko of Minsk, Belarus. It beautifully explores the paradox of creativity within iconography from the very personal perspective of a lifelong practitioner. Anton and Ekaterina Daineko regularly teach icon-painting workshops in the USA, which are highly recommended. They have upcoming workshops in…
Continue reading »An Interview with Iconographer Vladimir Grygorenko – His Recent Work and Developing Style
A. Gould: How did you first set out to be an iconographer? What led to this decision, and what was your initial artistic training? V. Grygorenko: I began painting icons long before my conversion to Christianity, which happened back in 1991. For nine years I studied traditional oil painting in the art studio at Dnipropetrovsk…
Continue reading »“And the Glory of The Lord Filled the Tabernacle” – Some Reflections on the World Premiere of Benedict Sheehan’s Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom
In the past thirty years, I have attended almost 7000 liturgies in the United States, Canada, Russia, and Greece. Some of these have been in small candlelit chapels in the desert of Mount Athos; others have been in magnificent imperial monasteries with a thousand years of history. I have beheld liturgies celebrated by patriarchs and…
Continue reading »A Monastic Chapel for Spruce Island, Alaska
In a part of America that is rich with historic Orthodox churches, a new one, faithful to the local architectural tradition, is now under construction. In the spring of 2018 I travelled to Spruce Island, where St. Herman of Alaska lived from 1808 until his death in 1837. I had come to design a new…
Continue reading »The Paradise Pavilion
As a designer of Orthodox churches, it is unusual that my work would be featured in an art gallery. But just such an opportunity arose recently. I was asked to design the central pavilion for The City Luminous: Architectures of Hope in an Age of Fear, an exhibition on display this month in Charleston, SC.…
Continue reading »A Constellation of Chandeliers – Some Recent Lighting Projects
I have written some articles in the past about large choros chandeliers that I have designed and installed. But today, I’d like to introduce a number of other lighting projects: individual or unusual fixtures, chandeliers in interesting places, and other pieces I’ve had the pleasure of making. I will start with a recent chandelier I…
Continue reading »The Dynamis Byzantine Ensemble – A New Recording Showcasing the Best of Byzantine Chant in English
Byzantine chant is an ever-evolving art form, responding to the advances put forth in both music and hymnography by the great personalities who have shaped it, such as Saint Romanos the Melodist, Saint John of Damascus, Saint John Koukouzelis, and Peter the Peloponnesian. However, all the men mentioned above were active within a wider movement…
Continue reading »An Interview with Constantine Stade of New Creation Bellringing
Constantine Stade is an expert in bellringing in the Russian Tradition. In 2018, he founded New Creation Bellringing, a consultation service that assists American churches in setting up bells and properly ringing them. A. Gould: How did you become interested in the art of Russian bell ringing? C. Stade: The sound of Orthodox church bells…
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