The Recovery of Symbolism

“Symbolism” is a term that has become quite diluted in the past 500 years. Since the middle ages, the notion of the symbol has undergone a deep mutation due to the immeasurable changes in our experience of knowledge and meaning.  Symbolism has been progressively reduced from underlying our very cosmological world view, to now being a…

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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…

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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…

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New Wall Painting

In August I completed a wall painting on the east wall of my medieval parish church, The Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Fathers, Shrewsbury, England. On some of the other walls there already exist simple medieval wall paintings, dating from around 1380 A.D., but the east wall was newly plastered during recent restoration work…

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Painting an Icon; the Hexaemeron Workshop

I am not an icon writer nor am I an icon painter, if it makes a difference. I am the founder and administrator of the non-profit organization Hexaemeron which sponsors courses in iconography. As such, I once attempted to make a St. Paul icon to familiarize myself with the process so that I could write…

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The Mystery of Ethiopian Iconography

Ethiopian Christianity presents many mysteries to us, their unique use of Old Testament typology, their concentric churches, their claim of having the Ark of the Covenent and its use in liturgy – these all create an obscure but fascinating question.  I went to Ethiopia in 2009 to discover more about their liturgical arts.  I would…

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The Icon: Sign of Unity or Division? (Pt. 5)

This is post 5 of 5 in the series “The Icon: Sign of Unity or Division?” Fr. Steven Bigham Explores the icon as a universal language of Christianity through scripture, councils and tradition. The Icon: Sign of Unity or Division? The Icon: Sign of Unity or Division? (pt. 2) The Icon: Sign of Unity or…

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