Editorial note: This is the third part of a series on the artistic path and iconographic legacy of Saint Sophrony the Athonite (1896-1993) as seen through a collection of monographs written by Sister Gabriela, a member of his monastic community in Essex, England. The previous articles, Seeking Perfection in the World of Art can be […]
Editorial note: Due to its little-known subject matter and the book’s current limited availability in some regions, the following is a summary, rather than a standard review, of Seeking Perfection in the World of Art: The Artistic Path of Father Sophrony1 – Sister Gabriela’s monograph on the artistic journey and iconographic legacy of Elder Sophrony. […]
Conserve: To protect from loss or harm; to keep quantity and quality constant through physical or chemical reactions or evolutionary changes. Restore: To bring back into existence or use; to return to an original condition. Close in definition, the differences when applied to art treasures can be catastrophic. Consider the botched effort to “restore” Elías […]
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 […]
This is post 2 of 3 in the series “Lives of the Saints” In a previous post regarding the Lives of the Saints, I mentioned that among zealots for historical accuracy in the Lives, there is a decided prejudice against “poets and artists” in favor of the “proper historian,” at least in the business of […]
OAJ contributor and world-renowned iconographer and liturgical artist Aidan Hart will deliver a lecture entitled Holy Icons in Today’s World:A Living Tradition’s Insights into Contemporary Issues in Modern Art, Ecology, and Community in Cedar Park, TX – near Austin – this December. Anyone interested in Orthodox iconography, or art and religion in general would do well to seize […]
This is post 3 of 6 in the series “Notes from The Psalterion” In part one of this series, I outlined the argument that Orthodox liturgical singing, given that it is above all else an offering to God, is a privilege, a craft, and a discipline. In part two, I tried to suggest, at least in […]
The mission of The Saint John of Damascus Society is “revealing Orthodox Christianity through its sacred music”, and one part of how we seek to do this to be a collaborative partner for existing arts organizations and entities on projects promoting Orthodox liturgical music. Our first collaboration to reach the public eye is a segment […]
This is post 2 of 6 in the series “Notes from The Psalterion” In the first installment, I discussed a set of ideals that essentially argue that Orthodox liturgical singing is, first and foremost, an offering to God and to be treated as such — in short, that it is a privilege, a craft, and […]
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 […]