Seeking Perfection in the World of Art: The Artistic Path of Father Sophrony

Editorial note: Due to its little-known subject matter and the book’s current limited availability in some regions, the following is a summary, rather than a standard review, of Seeking Perfection in the World of Art: The Artistic Path of Father Sophrony1 – Sister Gabriela’s monograph on the artistic journey and iconographic legacy of Elder Sophrony.…

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Decorative Borders—Adding Beauty in an Orthodox Church

(Written by Nikos Pantanizopoulos and Lynne Attaway) Beauty in an Orthodox temple is something easily taken for granted, but it has deep spiritual and theological significance. It can also be realized even by those who do not have the skills of iconography.  Beauty is an integral feature of Orthodox temple. We honor God when we show…

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Benedict Sheehan: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (2018)

Liturgical Music in America Liturgical music is closely bound up with the people that sing it. Language, history, culture, experience, education, social class, all of these things shape the sound-world of worship. The people that founded Orthodox parishes in America more than a century ago—for the most part, immigrants from Russia, Greece, Eastern Europe, and…

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The Nativity Icon as an Image of Reality

The Nativity icon, like most festal icons, does not merely depict an event that happened two thousand years ago, but rather by its form and the hierarchy of its elements, shows us the inner workings of how the Divine Logos is Him by whom all things were made. The icon also shows us how His…

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In Defense of Metrical Translations

A liturgical craft that ideally draws very little attention to itself is that of translation — particularly, the translation of hymnography. The English texts that we hear in church were translated by somebody, and that translator also had to make them natural-sounding and singable in English. In addition, there is also the question of whether…

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