This is post 10 of 12 in the series “An Icon of the Kingdom of God” This is the tenth part of an ongoing serial (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9) This essay describes the particular and unique contribution of ceremonial implements to the […]
As we watch Oriental Christians in Iraq and Syria being branded, massacred, chased out of the cities they have occupied for nearly 2000 years, we shudder and pray and grind our teeth. As we watch the burning of Churches, the defacing of icons, the destruction of shrines, even that of the Holy Prophet Jonah we […]
One of the most surprising images one is faced with considering Orthodox liturgical symbolism is the bishop’s staff sporting two snakes flanking a small cross atop it. Especially in a Protestant North American context, this image seems to hark back to ancient chthonian cults, more a wizard’s magic staff than anything Christian. As I have […]
I was recently asked by a young student of St-Vladimir’s Seminary to make a Panagia which he wanted to give to his bishop. This student is of Indian background and a Syrian Orthodox. I have always been fascinated by Orthodoxy in India, the stories of St-Thomas, the link with Nestorian Christianity and also their long […]
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 […]