An American Kouvouklion: A New Design for the Tomb of Christ

Over the years, I have designed numerous furnishings for American Orthodox churches. Because America has a rich tradition of fine furniture making, I have always felt that liturgical woodwork is one of the areas in which America can offer something distinctive to Orthodox culture. When I was asked to design a kouvouklion (the liturgical “tomb”…

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Building for the Divine: The Art of Orthodox Architecture with Andrew Gould

In this long-format interview, Andrew Gould discusses numerous aspects of liturgical arts and architecture with Anglican organist Matthew Wilkinson. Our conversation touches upon church architecture, Eastern and Western rites, American cultural heritage from hymn-singing to fine woodworking, robotic production of ornamentation, historic styles from baroque to brutalist, liturgical music, acoustics, and much more.

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Humility

Icon by Juliania Sokolova VS an icon painted by a student of a school she founded at Moscow Spiritual Academy

If only we could speak to ourselves from the future! How many valuable insights and skills could we have shared with our past selves! On the other hand, how would we have learned these things if not through the mistakes we make today? Is there a way to learn without mistakes? We have books, videos,…

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The Memory Keepers

Svaneti churchkey keeper Yaroslav with his grand son.

This text is not just an article – it’s also a call for a combined effort. We invite you to support our documentary film the on Svaneti frescoes and the dedicated people who maintain them. Help us to preserve Svaneti’s invaluable treasures of Orthodox Christianity for centuries to come. Georgian church art reflects exceptional artistry…

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Churches of North Macedonia – Monastery of Saint Naum

  Continuing my photojournalism series highlighting Balkan churches, this post features an especially beloved monastery in North Macedonia – The Monastery of Saint Naum. Saint Naum was a disciple of Saints Cyril and Methodius, and participated in their mission to spread Christianity and literacy in Europe. After completing the Moravian mission, he settled in Bulgaria…

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Teaching Iconography in the Twenty-First Century

Study Group final image, - result of 6.5 months of work and studies.

Sharing our teaching method, I invite fellow iconographers to share their views on teaching, as only by approaching this subject from several sides can we foster a new generation of iconographers who will be better than us. The teaching method my wife Olga Shalamova and I now use took its shape gradually. In Italy in…

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What is an Icon – A Response for Philip Davydov

Editor’s Note: This open letter was written in response to Philip Davydov’s call for master iconographers to address some fundamental questions about their art and its relationship to the Church.  Dear Philip, thank you for the interesting article. It seems to me that the questions you have presented to us are not that difficult to…

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