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…
Continue reading »Teaching Iconography in the Twenty-First Century
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…
Continue reading »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…
Continue reading »Questions for Iconographers
Writing this text, I can’t help but feel that it opens up (or continues) a very extensive subject, which will require a lot of effort just to be introduced, and even more effort to be explained, but I will try… On February 12th, 2024 I was invited to the Andrey Rublev Museum in Moscow as…
Continue reading »Churches of North Macedonia – Saint George in Staro Nagoričane
Resuming my photojournalism series highlighting Balkan churches, this post features an especially interesting and beautiful church in North Macedonia – The Church of Saint George in the village of Staro Nagoričane. The church bears a unique form and history. It was originally built in the 10th century, almost certainly as a three-aisle basilica. It was…
Continue reading »Iconography as Alternative Social-Religious Vision: Fr Zinon (Teodor)
(Editor’s Note. This essay builds upon our earlier article about Fr. Zinon by Aidan Hart. This article explores Fr. Zinon’s often original and controversial beliefs about the Church, and how his independent thinking inspired his art. By posting this article, the OAJ does not mean to imply endorsement of Fr. Zinon’s ideas, but rather to…
Continue reading »OAJ Tour of Georgia Led by Andrew Gould
After a fantastic tour of the Balkans last June, the Orthodox Arts Journal is sponsoring a second art and architecture package tour. This tour will last 2 weeks, and will visit all the key sites for medieval architecture, frescoes, and liturgical art in the Republic of Georgia. It will begin in Tbilisi on June 3rd,…
Continue reading »Iconography: Towards Future Seminary Curriculum Development
Editorial Note: The following paper was presented at the academic theological conference, The Orthodox Christian Seminary in the 21st Century, held Saturday, September 16, during the 75th Anniversary of Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary, which took place at Jordanville, NY, September 15-17, 2023.[i] **** Trinity!! Higher than any being, any divinity, any goodness! Guide of…
Continue reading »Znamenny Chant for the 21st Century
The subject of this article — the “Znamenny Chantlet Database Project” — is a continuation of a proposal[1] initially unveiled by the author at the 2014 Pan-Orthodox Symposium on Orthodox Composition, held at Northern Kentucky University, and in a paper[2] given in 2015 at the Conference of the International Society of Orthodox Church Musicians…
Continue reading »Teaching Traditional Ecclesial Pictorial Embroidery
I would like to introduce you to my new project, Katrusya Studio, which was established to teach people Medieval ecclesial pictorial embroidery. What is pictorial embroidery? The term “pictorial embroidery” refers to any embroidery depicting faces and figures of people. Ecclesial pictorial embroidery encompasses figures of saints, scenes from their lives, and famous historical events.…
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