Holy Tables with Reliquaries, a Short History
In this overview and the one that will follow I have combined the history of altars (also called holy tables), ciboria and tabernacles because their respective developments are somewhat related. In this first section I will deal with Holy Tables and will focus on ciboria and tabernacles in the second installment. My interest in…
Continue reading »Sinai Icon Conference at Princeton
Most iconographers are familiar with Kurt Weitzmann, the art historian who “rediscovered” Mount Sinai Monastery. Realizing the historical value of the treasure trove of icons at the monastery, he began a documenting project by photographing all the icons in the monastery. Weitzmann was a professor at Princeton University and the University has continued to support the digitizing of the icon…
Continue reading »Living Tradition: Painting Sacred Icons in the 21st Century
I would like to announce an upcoming event sponsored by the Orthodox Arts Journal. Living Tradition: Painting Sacred Icons in the 21st Century, will take place in Charleston, SC on May 23rd, 2015. We have invited two prominent iconographers, both contributors to the OAJ, to come and share their perspectives as liturgical artists in our…
Continue reading »Notes from the psalterion, updated and annotated — part VI, in which technical points are considered and a wrap-up is offered
This is post 6 of 6 in the series “Notes from The Psalterion” Richard Barrett gives us practical advice for the discipline of liturgical music in a local parish context. Notes from the psalterion, updated and annotated – Part I, First Principles Notes from the psalterion, updated and annotated – Part II, Getting Started Notes…
Continue reading »The Lives of the Saints: Hagiography Through Tolkien’s Eyes
This is post 3 of 3 in the series “Lives of the Saints” Nicholas Kotar thinks through how the often fantastical stories in the life of the saints can still be relevant and teach us about how the world exists even today in our materialist culture. The Lives of the Saints Lives of the Saints:…
Continue reading »The New Romanian Masters: Innovative Iconography in the Matrix of Tradition
(Editor’s note. For some time now we’ve wanted to find a way to present the burgeoning iconography which is currently happening in Romania. And so after a bit of searching, this article introducing the new school of iconography was written especially for OAJ by Mother Atanasia (Văetişi) of the Stavropoleos Monastery in Bucharest in collaboration with my own parish priest Fr.…
Continue reading »A New Landmark: Steinberg’s “Passion Week”
Every so often a record comes along that changes the landscape of choral music. Robert Shaw’s 1989 recording of the Rachmaninoff All-Night Vigil comes to mind. It remains one of Shaw’s finest recordings, and, in my opinion, still the best overall recording of the piece to the date, minor flaws in interpretation and Slavonic diction…
Continue reading »Sacred Symbol, Sacred Art
In February of this year I was invited by King’s University College to give a talk in their Veritas Series on faith and culture. The theme of this year’s series was “Speaking about God” exploring the different ways we express and address the Divine. I developed my talk in the context of the many discussions…
Continue reading »The Printmaking Tradition on Mount Athos
Editor’s note: We would like to introduce our new contributor, Markos Kampanis. Markos is a prominent artist and iconographer in Greece. He has a particular expertise in Athonite murals and prints and will be sharing his knowledge in a series of articles. Artistic tradition on Mt Athos is usually associated with painted icons and murals.…
Continue reading »A Cloisonné Enamel Reliquary Icon of Saint Vincent of Zaragoza
Editor’s note: This article continues Aidan Hart’s recent article about a reliquary for Saint Vincent of Zaragoza and details Christabel Anderson’s process for making the cloisonnée icon. This article contains a background to the history and technique of cloisonné enamel and a description of the processes used in making the cloisonné enamel icon plaque of Saint Vincent…
Continue reading »