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[[Image:Luke first icon.jpg|right|frame|The [[Apostle Luke]] painting the first icon]]
'''''Iconography''''' (from {{Lang-el|εικονογραφίαεικoνογραφία}}) 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 riteRite]].
==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===
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 haven heaven and earth disintegrates.
=="Written" or "painted"?==
The most literal translation of the Greek word {{Lang-el|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 '{{Lang-el|γραφή}}' (''graphi''), and the art of painting itself is called ζωγραφική (''zographiki'') while any drawing or painting can be referred to as {{Lang-el|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" '{{lang-el|(ζωγραφιά}}' ) or "painting icons" '{{lang-el|(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.
==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.
==Reference==
<references/>
== 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/academic/liberal_arts/foreign~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 ===
[[ar:الأيقونة]]
[[fr:Iconographie]]
[[ro:Icoană]]