Posts Tagged ‘dragon’
The Dragons that Almost Exist
Explaining the icon of St-George slaying the dragon to a 4 year old is amazing. Explaining the icon of St-George to a 10 year old is excruciating — “Yeah, but dragons don’t exist, do they?”. Do they? When someone tells you that dragons don’t exist or that monsters don’t exist, what is it they are…
Continue reading »Jonah – Resurrecting The Body and Saving The City
The icon of the Holy Prophet Jonah is one of the the most ancient images of Christianity. Like the story of this prophet, his image is a powerful symbol of death and resurrection. I want to look closely at the story of Jonah and its iconography because it brings together almost all the elements I…
Continue reading »The Dog-Headed Icon of St-Christopher (pt.2): Encountering Saint-Christopher
This is post 2 of 2 in the series “The Dog Headed Icon of St-Christopher” Jonathan Pageau traces the pattern of meaning in Dog-headed representations of St-Christopher and how they relate to our experience of the world. Understanding The Dog-Headed Icon of St-Christopher The Dog-Headed Icon of St-Christopher (pt.2): Encountering Saint-Christopher In my last article…
Continue reading »The Serpents of Orthodoxy
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…
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