Sunday, July 7, 2013
The Foolishness of the Cross - Love your Enemies
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting
The commandment has a sense of absoluteness. It demands
Does He mean this literally?, I continually asked myself.
Therefore bless, Ο Lord, both my friends and my enemies.
Friday, July 5, 2013
The Orthodox Painting Art by Michael Alevizakis
Source
The icon above and the article in this post is from the Greek
Iconographer Manuel Alevizakis. I think his work is magnificent!
It reminds me of Photis Kontoglou and Manuel Panselinos.
more of his work. It truly is amazing!
"The Orthodox Painting Art by Michael Alevizakis
The Christian Temple is an expression and visualization of the
presence of the Lord in the material world. The temple is "the
House of the Lord because there, the Lord is worshiped, his
Word is announced by sermon, and the main sacrament of his
Presence, the Holy Eucharist, takes place.
It is the place where the liturgical synaxis of the true believers
takes place, which is the visible expression of the body of the
Church, the head of which is Christ. The sacrament of Holy
Worship is reflected upon the churches’ liturgics, architecture
and iconography.
However, regarding the architecture, and especially the
iconography, soon the need to provide answers to the following
paradox came up: how is it possible to use drawings and colors
to depict not the nature, the individuality or the decay, but the
hypostasis of people and things [Saint Theodoros Stouditis: It
is not the nature, but the hypostasis of the person portrayed
that is shown forth in the icon ("Παντός εικονιζομένου ούχ ή
φύσις, άλλη υπόστασις εικονίζεται)]. How, in other words, will
they be transformed into a revelation of the salvation event?
Is it possible a way of existence, which phases out autonomy,
space and time as a sequence of the previous and posterior, to
be depicted with the material means of the artistic creation?
This extreme is achieved via the magnificent expressive force
of Byzantine icon, which elevates and transforms the natural
reality into a higher conception of form and leads from the way
of pretence to the way of truth.
The Christian art expresses the salvation event as it historically
happened. It expresses not the individual emotions but the
collective acceptance of the "impenetrable mystery which is
ministered during the Worship.
The icon invites for a direct communion/relation with the images,
for a transition to the primeval prototype; that is the hypostasis
of the iconographically represented person [Saint Basil the Great:
For any honor paid to the icon (or picture) redounds upon the
original, and whoever bows down in adoration before the icon, is
at the same time bowing down in adoration to the substance (or
hypostasis) of the one therein painted ( Η της εικόνος τιμή επί το
πρωτότυπον διαβαίνει και ο προσκυνών την εικόνα προσκυνεί
έν αύτη τού έγγραφομένου τήν υπόστασιν)]. To portray a person
according to his hypostasis means to use the artistic creation
language to present the divinized human nature.
Saint’s faces are historical but at the same time they manifest the
presence of Lord’s glory, according to Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 3:18).
The icon depicts the eschatological existence of the person
represented; it expresses the bliss of the renewed man in Christ.
The objective rules on how to make an icon subdue the individual
perception, the idea, to a view which is an event of communion. The
"work of art" is not taken as an individual creation but as a meeting
place of the Church with the Eternal God.
For the Byzantines, it is the Church that "paints the icons "by the
hand of the painter, who subdues the individual perception to a
given iconographical type. It is written in the decisions of the 7th
Ecumenical Council that: "The making of icons is not an invention
of painters but an approved institution and tradition of the Catholic
Church... (Ού ζωγράφων εφεύρεσις ή τών εικόνων ποίησις, αλλά
τις καθολικής εκκλησίας έγκριτος θεσμοθεσία και παράδοσις……).
As a consequence, there is a given iconographical type, which,
however, does not limit but rather frees the painter from his
individual impulses and, as a result, the Church recognizes her truth
inside this work of art. This does not mean that the artistic genius of
the great Byzantine masters (Manuel Panselinos, Michael Astrapas,
Theofanis the Cretan etc.) is abolished, but the icon is not just an
artistic suggestion, an individual achievement… it is mainly a
revelation, a common attitude in life.
The Byzantine art conveys to the true believer the spiritual
truths via the senses: the light and the colour are used in
awareness of their impact. The Byzantines believed that both
of them are directly associated to God: God is the Source of
light. The light being dispersed through the wall paintings
symbolizes the primeval, supernatural light, whose source is
God, the only source of every light. The Byzantines considered
vision to be the highest of the five senses, while at the same
time they considered colour and not shape to be the main
distinctive characteristic of an object.
The colour perception of the world has a deep importance: the
composition of colours and forms ends up in a completely
different rhythm, in a rhythm which, as basic it may be in art
and perhaps in life, cannot be easily rationalized.
As a result, the painters’ main task was and still is to find those
colours that correspond better to the primeval beauty.
According to them, the artistic procedure and its work could
be considered as imitation. Imitation is called the attempt to
transfer the primeval prototype into an authentic repetition,
preserving and rendering its meaning from the past till the
present. It is clear that we do not talk about servile
reproduction, restoration or formalism. Significant variations
of the form, composition or colour were and are acceptable
within certain limits.
"The Orthodox Painting Art by Michael Alevizakis
The Christian Temple is an expression and visualization of the
presence of the Lord in the material world. The temple is "the
House of the Lord because there, the Lord is worshiped, his
Word is announced by sermon, and the main sacrament of his
Presence, the Holy Eucharist, takes place.
It is the place where the liturgical synaxis of the true believers
takes place, which is the visible expression of the body of the
Church, the head of which is Christ. The sacrament of Holy
Worship is reflected upon the churches’ liturgics, architecture
and iconography.
However, regarding the architecture, and especially the
iconography, soon the need to provide answers to the following
paradox came up: how is it possible to use drawings and colors
to depict not the nature, the individuality or the decay, but the
hypostasis of people and things [Saint Theodoros Stouditis: It
is not the nature, but the hypostasis of the person portrayed
that is shown forth in the icon ("Παντός εικονιζομένου ούχ ή
φύσις, άλλη υπόστασις εικονίζεται)]. How, in other words, will
they be transformed into a revelation of the salvation event?
Is it possible a way of existence, which phases out autonomy,
space and time as a sequence of the previous and posterior, to
be depicted with the material means of the artistic creation?
This extreme is achieved via the magnificent expressive force
of Byzantine icon, which elevates and transforms the natural
reality into a higher conception of form and leads from the way
of pretence to the way of truth.
The Christian art expresses the salvation event as it historically
happened. It expresses not the individual emotions but the
collective acceptance of the "impenetrable mystery which is
ministered during the Worship.
The icon invites for a direct communion/relation with the images,
for a transition to the primeval prototype; that is the hypostasis
of the iconographically represented person [Saint Basil the Great:
For any honor paid to the icon (or picture) redounds upon the
original, and whoever bows down in adoration before the icon, is
at the same time bowing down in adoration to the substance (or
hypostasis) of the one therein painted ( Η της εικόνος τιμή επί το
πρωτότυπον διαβαίνει και ο προσκυνών την εικόνα προσκυνεί
έν αύτη τού έγγραφομένου τήν υπόστασιν)]. To portray a person
according to his hypostasis means to use the artistic creation
language to present the divinized human nature.
Saint’s faces are historical but at the same time they manifest the
presence of Lord’s glory, according to Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 3:18).
The icon depicts the eschatological existence of the person
represented; it expresses the bliss of the renewed man in Christ.
The objective rules on how to make an icon subdue the individual
perception, the idea, to a view which is an event of communion. The
"work of art" is not taken as an individual creation but as a meeting
place of the Church with the Eternal God.
For the Byzantines, it is the Church that "paints the icons "by the
hand of the painter, who subdues the individual perception to a
given iconographical type. It is written in the decisions of the 7th
Ecumenical Council that: "The making of icons is not an invention
of painters but an approved institution and tradition of the Catholic
Church... (Ού ζωγράφων εφεύρεσις ή τών εικόνων ποίησις, αλλά
τις καθολικής εκκλησίας έγκριτος θεσμοθεσία και παράδοσις……).
As a consequence, there is a given iconographical type, which,
however, does not limit but rather frees the painter from his
individual impulses and, as a result, the Church recognizes her truth
inside this work of art. This does not mean that the artistic genius of
the great Byzantine masters (Manuel Panselinos, Michael Astrapas,
Theofanis the Cretan etc.) is abolished, but the icon is not just an
artistic suggestion, an individual achievement… it is mainly a
revelation, a common attitude in life.
The Byzantine art conveys to the true believer the spiritual
truths via the senses: the light and the colour are used in
awareness of their impact. The Byzantines believed that both
of them are directly associated to God: God is the Source of
light. The light being dispersed through the wall paintings
symbolizes the primeval, supernatural light, whose source is
God, the only source of every light. The Byzantines considered
vision to be the highest of the five senses, while at the same
time they considered colour and not shape to be the main
distinctive characteristic of an object.
The colour perception of the world has a deep importance: the
composition of colours and forms ends up in a completely
different rhythm, in a rhythm which, as basic it may be in art
and perhaps in life, cannot be easily rationalized.
As a result, the painters’ main task was and still is to find those
colours that correspond better to the primeval beauty.
According to them, the artistic procedure and its work could
be considered as imitation. Imitation is called the attempt to
transfer the primeval prototype into an authentic repetition,
preserving and rendering its meaning from the past till the
present. It is clear that we do not talk about servile
reproduction, restoration or formalism. Significant variations
of the form, composition or colour were and are acceptable
within certain limits.
But the theological quest for truth applies equally to the
Church’s writings and its painting, which is the reason why we
have above mentioned the freedom from individual impulse. As a
consequence, the obligation to follow a certain archetype comes.
The morphological characteristics of the archetypes form a visual
rule of the Church within which it is difficult to alter anything.
By referring to archetypes, the Byzantine art is inevitably
dominated by the principle of repetition. In this view, repetition
is a structural need. The imitation of older prototypes, once a
certainty, gradually became an aesthetic problem, as it started
to be influenced by the principles of Western art tradition, which
compel the artist to originality as well as to constant variation,
ending up to present only individual natures. This stance results
in a deviation from older works of art.
Today, thanks to the great master Fotis Kontoglou, a renaissance
of church art has taken place; a conscious approach of the old
prototypes is attempted both in terms of iconographic types and
of artistic style. It is essential that the Byzantine icon is safeguarded
not as an object of museum value but rather as an anchor that
brings man to involvement in the bosom of the Lord, as an
expression of Church’s certainty for the constant presence of the
have above mentioned the freedom from individual impulse. As a
consequence, the obligation to follow a certain archetype comes.
The morphological characteristics of the archetypes form a visual
rule of the Church within which it is difficult to alter anything.
By referring to archetypes, the Byzantine art is inevitably
dominated by the principle of repetition. In this view, repetition
is a structural need. The imitation of older prototypes, once a
certainty, gradually became an aesthetic problem, as it started
to be influenced by the principles of Western art tradition, which
compel the artist to originality as well as to constant variation,
ending up to present only individual natures. This stance results
in a deviation from older works of art.
Today, thanks to the great master Fotis Kontoglou, a renaissance
of church art has taken place; a conscious approach of the old
prototypes is attempted both in terms of iconographic types and
of artistic style. It is essential that the Byzantine icon is safeguarded
not as an object of museum value but rather as an anchor that
brings man to involvement in the bosom of the Lord, as an
expression of Church’s certainty for the constant presence of the
"already accomplished. The testimony and the experience of a
communion of the living and the dead is the preservation of a
memory supporting a tradition, the established practice of a
timeless collective experience.
Such a goal requires respect; but respect requires, in its turn,
acquaintance, acceptance and knowledge. Nothing is preserved
without certified knowledge; nothing is kept without love; love
is the one that keeps everything together; the pursuit is a need
steaming from an already expressed demand: the demand that
wants Byzantine tradition to be everyone’s legacy. It is not yours
what you do not know while you cannot share what is not yours.
The value of the tradition lies not as much in the antiquity that
elevates it, but in the trial it undergoes, which in the end
determines what is bequeathed from generation to generation.
The work of the great Byzantine Christian artists has created a
timeless relation with each one of us, because it serves something
they knew that surpassed them, it serves community over
individuality, the Church over autonomy. This created relation lies
at the antipodes of usage, appropriation and self-interest.
This relation presupposes the resignation from ourselves, the
self-transcendence, and this is why it succeeds to defeat even time.
Michael Alevyzakis
Athens, January 2012"
Such a goal requires respect; but respect requires, in its turn,
acquaintance, acceptance and knowledge. Nothing is preserved
without certified knowledge; nothing is kept without love; love
is the one that keeps everything together; the pursuit is a need
steaming from an already expressed demand: the demand that
wants Byzantine tradition to be everyone’s legacy. It is not yours
what you do not know while you cannot share what is not yours.
The value of the tradition lies not as much in the antiquity that
elevates it, but in the trial it undergoes, which in the end
determines what is bequeathed from generation to generation.
The work of the great Byzantine Christian artists has created a
timeless relation with each one of us, because it serves something
they knew that surpassed them, it serves community over
individuality, the Church over autonomy. This created relation lies
at the antipodes of usage, appropriation and self-interest.
This relation presupposes the resignation from ourselves, the
self-transcendence, and this is why it succeeds to defeat even time.
Michael Alevyzakis
Athens, January 2012"
Friday, June 28, 2013
Role of the Father in the Orthodox Christian Family by St John Chrysostom
"When we return home, let us prepare two tables, one for bodily food,
the other for that spiritual food which is the Holy Scripture.
Let the husband repeat what has been said in the holy assembly; let
the wife learn it and the children listen to it
Let each of you make your home a church.
Are you not responsible for the salvation of your own children? Are
you not likely to have to give an account of their upbringing?
Just as we, the shepherds of the flock, will give an account of what we
have done for your souls, so fathers of families will have to answer
before God for all the people in their home." St John Chrysostom
from "On Genesis", 6, 2 (PG53)
from 'Drinking from the Hidden Fountain' p.205, Edited by Thomas
Spidlik and Translated by Paul Drake, Cistertian Publications 1994
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
Have Peace in your Heart by St Isaac of Syria
I found a most amazing passage from the writings of St Isaac of Syria,
in a little booklet entitled, "Daily Readings with St Isaac of Syria",
Introduced and edited by A. M. Allchin, Translated by Sebastian
Brock, Templegate Publishers, Springfield Illinois 1990
It reads, " Someone who has actually tasted truth is not
contentious for truth.
Someone who is considered among men to be zealous for truth has
not yet learned what truth is really like: once he has truly learnt it,
he will cease from zealousness on its behalf.
The gift from God and of knowledge of him is not a cause for turmoil
and clamour; rather this gift is entirely filled with a peace in
which the Spirit, love and humility reside.
The following is a sign of the coming of the Spirit; the person whom
the Spirit has overshadowed is made perfect in these very virtues.
God is reality. The person whose mind has become aware of God
does not even possess a tongue with which to speak, but God resides
in his heart in great serenity. He experiences no stirring of zeal
or argumentativeness, nor is he stirred by anger. He cannot even be
aroused concerning the faith." p.61 translated by Dr. Sebastian Brock.
Of course, reading something like this has to make one wonder, How
often do we state the truth with such passion even anger, as if Truth
which is Reality Itself, was so fragile it needed our protection? Or
even worse, what if all we are doing by affirming Truth (or our
misunderstanding of it as mere facts) is affirming our egos, our self-
image and asserting ourselves in dominance over those around us?
We do well if, before we speak or act, we pause for a moment and
make an honest assessment of our emotional and spiritual state.
We do even better if, more than anything else, we pursue a first-
hand personal experience of this Ultimate Reality, our Triune
God in a spirit of peace, humility and love.
This longing for the Truth must be first and foremost a longing for
the transformation of our own hearts, that the prayer of our Lord
Jesus Christ be fulfilled in us, when He prayed,
"Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into
the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I
sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in
truth." John 17:17-19 NASB
Which means;
Sanctify them (Make them holy, preserve them in holiness, restore
them to spiritual health)
in the truth (in Me- "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no
one comes to the Father but through Me" John 14:6; John 15:15,
"apart from Me you can do nothing".)
Your Word is truth ( "In the beginning was the Word and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God John 1:1. Again the
Lord is saying, "I am the Word of God and I am the Truth")
As you sent Me (the Word of the Father and the Truth) into
the world, I also have sent them into the world (we must
become, by Grace, the very Word of God to our generation, the
Truth of God to our generation, not merely as ideology but in our
very beings, we must become a healing presence to those who are
broken and ill with the sickness of sin!)
For their sakes I sanctify Myself (I offer Myself on the cross
for their healing and restoration )
that they themselves also be sanctified in truth (that they
themselves be made holy- be healed- in Me)
Which means;
Sanctify them (Make them holy, preserve them in holiness, restore
them to spiritual health)
in the truth (in Me- "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no
one comes to the Father but through Me" John 14:6; John 15:15,
"apart from Me you can do nothing".)
Your Word is truth ( "In the beginning was the Word and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God John 1:1. Again the
Lord is saying, "I am the Word of God and I am the Truth")
As you sent Me (the Word of the Father and the Truth) into
the world, I also have sent them into the world (we must
become, by Grace, the very Word of God to our generation, the
Truth of God to our generation, not merely as ideology but in our
very beings, we must become a healing presence to those who are
broken and ill with the sickness of sin!)
For their sakes I sanctify Myself (I offer Myself on the cross
for their healing and restoration )
that they themselves also be sanctified in truth (that they
themselves be made holy- be healed- in Me)
This book is available from Amazon
Monday, June 10, 2013
Byzantium the Lost Empire
John Romer narrates this magnificent documentary about
the Eastern Roman Empire of Byzantium.
For more than 1,000 years, the Byzantine Empire was the
eye of the entire world – the origin of great literature, fine
art and modern government. Heir to Greece and Rome, the
Byzantine Empire was also the first Christian empire. Now,
after a year of filming on three continents, TLC unlocks this
ancient civilization, spanning 11 centuries and three
continents.
Pass through the gates of Constantinople, explore the
magnificent mosque of Hagia Sophia and see the looted
treasures of the empire now located in St. Marks, Venice.
Part 1 Building the Dream
Click on the link above for part 1 and then follow the rest in
YouTube or even better buy the DVD
Saturday, June 8, 2013
No Ordinary People by C.S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis' insights never cease to amaze me. I recently purchased
the Kindle edition of this devotional and needless to say, the
collection of vignettes from various of the celebrated Oxford don's
works is deeply satisfying and thought provoking.
The one selected for the 8th of June particularly caught my
attention;
"No Ordinary People
There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere
mortal. Nations, cultures,arts, civilizations- these are mortal, and
their life is to ours as the life of a gnat.
But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub,
and exploit- immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This
does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn: We must
play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact,
the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from
the outset, taken each other seriously- no flippancy, no
superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and
costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which, we
love the sinner- no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies
love as flippancy parodies merriment.
Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest
object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour,
he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat
(Latin for "really is hiding") - the glorifier and the glorified, Glory
Himself, is truly hidden.
from "The Weight of Glory". In 1941 Lewis preaches "The Weight of
Glory" in Oxford University Church of St Mary the Virgin."
from "A Year with C.S. Lewis" Reading for June 8th, by C.S. Lewis ,
published by Harper Collins, 2009.
Available from Amazon
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
