Parekklesion of the Pammakaristos Church, Istanbul
The Church of the Pammakaristos (“All Blest Mother of God”) is a complex of medieval Byzantine structures at the north-west tip of the walled city. It was the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate from 1456 to 1587. Today, the 11th-century main church serves as a mosque, but the 14th-century parrakklesion (side chapel) has been restored to its…
Continue reading »Branislav Đerković : Surgical Miniature
A few weeks ago, I introduced you to a Serbian miniaturist named George Bilak. Here is yet another Serbian miniaturist who has recently grabbed my attention. His name is Branislav Derkovic and he lives in Northern Kosovo, in a town called Leposavić. What struck me most of his carvings is the astounding perfection in detail, the…
Continue reading »An Icon of the Kingdom of God: The Integrated Expression of all the Liturgical Arts – Part 5: The Minor Arts
This is post 5 of 12 in the series “An Icon of the Kingdom of God” Andrew Gould gives a unifying vision of how all the liturgical arts complement each other to create a living icon of the Kingdom of God. An Icon of the Kingdom of God: The Integrated Expression of all the Liturgical…
Continue reading »Christabel Anderson: Authenticity in Sacred Art
Christabel Anderson is one of our collaborators on the Orthodox Art Journal. She is a British Iconographer and Manuscript Illuminator to whom was recently attributed the prestigious QEST (Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust) Craft award. That someone who considers herself first and foremost an Iconographer could be recognized in this manner is already a tribute…
Continue reading »Rescuing the Art of Ecclesial Embroidery
Editor’s Note: Our readers may remember the piece we published previewing the Hexaemeron Inc. workshop on ecclesial embroidery. This piece is a follow-up, now that the course has been completed. “And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of…
Continue reading »Teaching Art in a Catholic School
Some of you might be interested in reading a short article I wrote for the New Liturgical Movement. I teach art once a week in a small Traditionalist Catholic school. It has been a great joy to teach in a context so friendly to liturgical art. On my first day, as I was explaining what…
Continue reading »Notes from the psalterion, updated and annotated – Part II, Getting Started
This is post 2 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 Carved Miniatures of George Bilak
George Bilak is a Serbian carver who now lives in the United States. He carves miniature icons, pectoral crosses, blessing crosses and eggs that will take your breath away. I can say without hesitating that he has been one of the biggest influences in how I carve miniatures. My very first miniature commission, of which…
Continue reading »Orthodox Homiletics: A New Website
When we think of the traditional Orthodox liturgical arts, we most often think about the tactile and the sensory; gilded icons glowing with candlelight cast from iron chandeliers, the smell of incense wafting as the priest walks censing the believers as the choir sings praises to the Theotokos. One thing that doesn’t necessarily come to…
Continue reading »St-John Chrysostom on Liturgical Art
As a liturgical artist, as someone who makes expensive objects to furnish the Church or to be worn by its clergy, there is a homily of St-John Chrysostom I like to keep in the back of my mind. It is a homily on the Gospel of St-Mathew in which he warns us: “Do you want…
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