Iconography

2012-03-19T13:29:12Z

Imkarakallou: /* General information */

[[Image:Luke first icon.jpg|right|frame|The [[Apostle Luke]] painting the first icon]]
'''''Iconography''''' (from {{Lang-el|εικoνογραφία}}) refers to the making and [[liturgics|liturgical]] use of '''icons''', pictorial representations of [[Holy Scripture|Biblical]] scenes from the life of [[Jesus Christ]], historical events in the life of the Church, and portraits of the [[saint]]s. Icons are usually two-dimensional images and may be made of paint, mosaic, embroidery, weaving, carving, engraving, or other methods. A person who practices the art of iconography is called an [[iconographer]].

Images have always been a vital part of the [[Orthodox Church|Church]], but their place was the subject of the [[Iconoclasm|Iconoclast Controversy]] in the 8th and 9th centuries, especially in the East. The [[Sunday of Orthodoxy]], the first Sunday of the [[Great Lent|Great Fast]] (Lent) every year celebrates the reestablishment of the Orthodox [[veneration]] of icons. The use of iconography is considered one of the most distinctive elements of the [[Byzantine Rite]].

==Theology==

==History==
[[Image:Icons restoration.jpg|right|frame|Restoration of the Icons]]
From the first centuries of Christianity, icons have been used for prayer. Orthodox Tradition tells us, for example, of the existence of an icon of the Christ during his lifetime, the [[Image Not-made-by-hands|Icon-Not-Made-With-Hands]], and of the [[icons of the Theotokos]] immediately after him written by the All-laudable [[Apostle Luke|Apostle and Evangelist Luke]].

=== Egyptian death masks===
Historically, the icon is thought to be a descendant of the Egyptian death masks that were painted on mummies wrapped in strips of glue and powered gypsum soaked linen. This led to the traditional icon painting technique of gluing linen on a board, gessoing it, and painting on it. The Christian icon also inherited the cultic task of the ritual mask and exalted this task. The task that revealed the deified spirit of the deceased resting in eternity. The spiritual essence of the old Cult was transfigured into a new cultural image manifesting itself more perfectly than the old.

Unlike the mask, the Christian icon is not part of a mummy or sarcophagus, it does not need to connect to a saint's body. No matter where on earth the saint's remains are, and no matter the physical condition, his resurrected and deified body lives in eternity, and the icon that shows him forth does not merely depict the holy witness but is the very witness. It is not the icon, as art, that tells us anything, it is the saint, through the icon that is teaching. This window, to the resurrected, breaks when the icon itself is separated by the observer, from the saint it depicts. At that moment the icon just becomes another thing of this world. The vital connection between heaven and earth disintegrates.

{{stub}}

=="Written" or "painted"?==
The most literal translation of the Greek word εικονογραφία (''eikonographia'') is "image writing," leading many English-speaking Orthodox Christians to insist that icons are not "painted" but rather "written." From there, further explanations are given that icons are to be understood in a manner similar to [[Holy Scripture]]—that is, they are not simply artistic compositions but rather are witnesses to the truth the way Scripture is. Far from being imaginative creations of the iconographer, they are more like scribal copies of the Bible.

While the explanation of the purpose and nature of icons is certainly true and consistent with the Church's [[Holy Tradition]], there is a linguistic problem with the insistence on the word ''written'' rather than ''painted''. In Greek, a painted portrait of anyone is also a γραφή (''graphi''), and the art of painting itself is called ζωγραφική (''zographiki'') while any drawing or painting can be referred to as ζωγραφιά (''zographia''). Ancient Greek literally uses the same root word to refer to the making of portraits and the making of icons, but distinguishes whether it is "painting from life" (ζωγραφιά) or "painting icons" (εικονογραφία). Thus, from a linguistic point of view, either all paintings—whether icons or simple portraits—are "written" or (more likely) "painted" is a perfectly usable English translation, simply making a distinction between the painting appropriate for icons and that appropriate for other kinds of painting, just as Greek does.

==Modern Styles==
=== Icons on Glass ===
{{cleanup}}
Painting on glass – a very ancient art introduced to Transylvania after its annexation to the Habsburg empire (1699) – had an extraordinary diffusion as a mass phenomenon as the result of a miraculous event that happened at Nicula, a village in the north of Transylvania, where on the 15th February, 1694 (some scholars say 1699) tears were seen running down the face of the Blessed Virgin on a wooden icon of the Madonna with Child in the local church. This miraculous event transformed the village into a centre of pilgrimage, the many pilgrims being anxious to obtain an image of the miraculous Madonna to take home. In this way began the great spread of the painting of icons on glass in Transylvania.

'''The Zosim Oancea Museum of icons on glass at Sibiel'''

The Fr Zosim Oancea Museum at Sibiel holds the largest existing exposition of icons on glass in Transylvania, a miracle of artistic creativity and religious inspiration born of the riches of the Orthodox Christian tradition and the imagination of Romanian peasant painters. A unique fusion of Eastern tradition and Western technique, icons on glass emerged and spread throughout this extensive region of Romania in the first decades of the eighteenth century, reaching their apogee between 1750 and the end of the nineteenth century and almost vanishing in the period between the two world wars. Begun in 1969 under the aegis of Fr Zosim Oancea, the people of Sibiel and with the help of institutions and private donors, the collection in this museum with its almost 600 masterpieces, represents all the main types of icons on glass along with works by some of the most famous icon-painters – when their names are known. A visit to the museum at Sibiel also presents the opportunity to discover the person who gave the museum its name: Fr Zosim Oancea, a truly exceptional man and priest to whose intelligent vision and indefatigable tenacity we owe this extraordinary museum in the heart of Romania.<ref> '''http://www.sibiel.net''' - Published by the permission of the author: Giovanni Ruggeri</ref>

==See also==
*[[:Category:About Icons]]
*[[:Category:Icons]]
*[[:Category:Iconographers]]
*[[List of modern iconographers]]

==Published works==
* [[Jim Forest|Forest, Jim]]. ''Praying With Icons''. (ISBN 1570751129)
* Iconostasis, ISBN 0881411175 By [[Pavel Florensky|Pavel Alexandrovich Florensky]] Published 2000, St Vladimir's Seminary Press
* Margaret E. Kenna. ''Icons in Theory and Practice: An Orthodox Christian Example.'' '''History of Religions.''' Vol. 24, No. 4 (May, 1985), pp.345-368.

== External links ==
[[Image:Icon studio.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Two icons, one complete and another in process]]
=== General information ===
*[http://iconography-guide.com Iconography Guide- free e-learning site]
*[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/icon_faq.aspx The Icon FAQ]
*[http://www.iconsexplained.com/ Icons Explained]
*[http://archangelsbooks.com/articles/iconography/DiscourseIcon.asp A Discourse in Iconography by St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco]
*[http://en.iconskarakallou.gr/icon-worship/ Icon & worship - Icons of Karakallou Monastery, Mt. Athos]
*[http://www.traditionaliconography.com/theology.asp The Icon: A Manifestation of Theology] - [http://www.traditionaliconography.com Traditional Byzantine Iconography website]
*[http://www.traditionaliconography.com/webgalleryart.html On the Differences of Western Religious Art and Orthodox Iconography] - Traditional Byzantine Iconography website
*[http://www.foulidis.co.uk Eleftherios Foulidis - Greek Orthodox Iconographer]

=== Online icon galleries ===
*[http://www.auburn.edu/~mitrege/russian/icons/index.html Russian Icons Index]
*[http://www.ikonograph.com/painting_murals.html Iconographer Valentin Streltsov]
*[http://www.ikonograph.com/murals.html Iconographer Fr. Theodore Koufos]
*[http://www.window-into-heaven.blogspot.com Icons on wood and glass, Iconoography by the hand of Anna Edelman]
*[http://icons.damascenegallery.com Damascene Gallery's Public Domain collaborative Icon Gallery project]

=== Audio ===
*From [http://www.ourlifeinchrist.com/archives.htm Our Life in Christ]:
**[http://ourlifeinchrist.com/audio/mp3/icons1_092604.mp3 Icons in the Orthodox Faith - Part 1]
**[http://www.ourlifeinchrist.com/audio/mp3/icons2_100304.mp3 Icons in the Orthodox Faith - Part 2]
**[http://www.ourlifeinchrist.com/audio/mp3/iconhistory_101004.mp3 History of Icons]
**[http://www.ourlifeinchrist.com/audio/mp3/light1_102404.mp3 Icons and the Theology of Light, the Orthodox View of Salvation- Part 1]
**[http://www.ourlifeinchrist.com/audio/mp3/light2_103104.mp3 Icons and the Theology of Light, the Orthodox View of Salvation- Part 2]
**[http://www.ourlifeinchrist.com/audio/mp3/veneration_110704.mp3 Icons and Veneration]

{{Orthodoxchristianity/wide}}

[[Category:Arts]]
[[Category:About Icons]]
[[Category:Liturgical objects]]
[[Category:Theology]]

[[ar:الأيقونة]]
[[fr:Iconographie]]
[[ro:Icoană]]

Karakalou Monastery (Athos)

2011-12-17T08:54:34Z

Imkarakallou:

{{Athonitemonastery|
name=Holy Monastery of Karakalou|
rank=Eleventh|
type=[[Cenobitic]] Monastery|
founded=Eleventh Century by Fr Karakalas|
superior=Philotheos|
size=50|
location=Southeast|
language=Greek|
music=[[Byzantine chant]]|
feasts=[[June 29|Sts. Peter and Paul]]|
}}
The '''Karakalou Monastery''' (Greek: Καρακάλλου) is situated on the southwest side of the Athos Peninsula in northern Greece, between the monasteries of [[Great Lavra (Athos)|Great Lavra]] and [[Iviron Monastery (Athos)|Iviron]]. Karakalou is dedicated to the [[Apostle]]s Paul and Peter. It is ranked eleventh in the hierarchical order of the twenty monasteries located on the [[Mount Athos]] peninsula.

==History==
Founded in the eleventh century, the [[monastery]] received its name after either the Roman emperor Karakala or the [[monk]], Karakalas, who was said to be its founder. Karakalou was first mentioned in documents from 1018 and 1087. Built on the side of a mountain Karakalou appears now like a fortress overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, the consequence of having been destroyed twice. In the thirteenth century it was devastated by Latin and pirate raids during the period of occupation by Frankish forces after they had conquered Constantinople in 1204. Then, prior to its rebuilding in the sixteenth century, the monastery was destroyed again by pirates. The emperors Andronic II and John V Paleologos rebuilt Karakalou after the first destruction and after the second raid it was rebuilt by Peter, the ruler of Moldavia and his descendants. According to the local athonite tradition, later on, Peter took [[monastic]] vows at Karakalou. In the seventeenth century, Karakalou was given ownership of the dependency of [[Nicholas of Myra|St. Nicholas]] in Ismaelia. Under Ottoman rule the monastery lost its estates to expropriation by the Turks. The monastery also played a role in the struggle by the Greeks for liberation of their homeland from Ottoman rule.

The main [[church]], the [[katholikon]], was built between 1548 and 1563 in the Athonite style. The murals were added in 1716, and in 1763 the outer narthex was painted with scenes from the Book of Revelations. The church houses a portable [[icon]] of the Apostles that was painted by Dionysius in the early eighteenth century. There are seven [[chapel]]s within the walls of the monastery. In addition the monastery has eighteen Kellia, four in Karyes and fourteen in the forest southwest of the monastery. The monks of Karakalou have followed the coenobium discipline since 1813.

==Treasury==
In its treasury, Karakalou, among many vestments, ecclesiastical vessels, and relics of [[saint]]s, possesses portable icons of Ss. Peter and Paul and the Circumcision of Christ, and a piece of the Holy [[Cross]]. The library contains 279 manuscripts, including 42 on parchment, some 2,500 printed books, and many official documents.

==External links==
*[http://inathos.gr/athos/en/ Mount Athos]
*[http://hellas.teipir.gr/prefectures/english/AgioOros/Karakalou.htm Karakallou]
*[http://en.iconskarakallou.gr/ Icons of the Holy Monastery of Karakallou – Official website]

[[Category:Monasteries]]
[[Category:Greek Monasteries]]
[[Category:Athonite Monasteries]]

[[el:Ιερά Μονή Καρακάλου]]
[[fr:Monastère Karakallou (Mont Athos)]]
[[ro:Mănăstirea Caracalu (Muntele Athos)]]

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Iconography

Karakalou Monastery (Athos)