Meaning of Icon
The
following is a description of the Icon in general using the Icon of Christ
Pentocrator as an example.
The word 'icon' means 'image', and the story of icons in the
Christian Church is a story of learning to gaze into the mystery of God.
“Christ is the icon of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Col
1:15) Because God took on human
flesh and became visible, we can depict Him; indeed, to portray Christ is to
strongly affirm that God did really become a man, and that Jesus Christ is not
mere allegory or myth. A
great deal of religious art can be merely decorative. It expresses the
religious imagination of the artist and it is often charged with human
emotions. Some of it is very precious to us. The icon, however, is a window
through which we glimpse another world - the world of God. In the icon we are
brought into the presence of the holy person or incident pictured; we 'see' the
gospel before our eyes and the icon speaks to us. The icon is the occassion of
a sort of revelation -in line and colour - of the kingdom of God. Hence the
very icon itself is a sacred reality.
To write an icon is a religious activity requiring detailed discipline; to pray before an icon means to be drawn into some aspect of the mystery of God-with-us; to let an icon speak to us requires a depth of silence and a purity of heart which can only come from the Spirit. When we pray with icons we begin to acquire the characteristics which the icons symbolize.
To write an icon is a religious activity requiring detailed discipline; to pray before an icon means to be drawn into some aspect of the mystery of God-with-us; to let an icon speak to us requires a depth of silence and a purity of heart which can only come from the Spirit. When we pray with icons we begin to acquire the characteristics which the icons symbolize.
Christ Pentocrator
The word Pantocrator is Greek, meaning "Ruler of All,"
or “Almighty”. The image expresses the central reality of the Christian faith;
the Divine Majesty of the creator and ruler of all the world, made flesh and
therefore visible to us in the person of Christ Jesus our redeemer. The oldest
known icon of Christ Pantocrator was written in the sixth century and preserved
in the remote monastery of St. Catherine in the Sinai desert. The location
enabled the image to survive the destruction of most icons during the
iconoclastic era in Byzantine history, (726 to 815 AD.)
On the inside of the
central dome in Orthodox churches is frequently found an immense mosaic or
painting of Christ Pantocrator. The Pantocrator image typically found in church
domes is very stern and formidable, expressing in full the concept of
"Ruler of All." Smaller, personal icons, while retaining the same
majesty, more often represent a gentle and compassionate Lord. Theology and Symbolism
In
this image of Christ Pantocrator, Jesus is presented in a half length pose,
looking directly at the viewer, with his left hand holding the Sacred Word and
his right hand raised in blessing. He is dressed in the traditional garb of
tunic and cloak. His cloak, called in Greek a "himation" is dark blue
(sometimes green) signifying the mystery of His humanity . His tunic is a
bright crimson red to signify His divinity and also His human blood shed for us
all. The garments of the Messiah in Isaiah 63:1-4 were red, as was the
soldier’s cloak put on Jesus’ shoulders during his passion (Matthew 27:28.) Thus Jesus Christ is by nature divine, yet is
fully clothed in humanity. The blue cloak is distinct from the red, as Christ’s
humanity and divinity are distinct and not “inter-mingled”. Yet the blue cloak
is also girded firmly around His waist, showing the Son of God to have taken on
human nature forevermore; Christ’s humanity has not be casually cast off after
33 short years on earth.
To
any Catholic or Orthodox Christian, Jesus’ right hand is unmistakably shown as
being raised to give a blessing. The arrangement of the hand, repeated by
clergy when blessing others, is also rich in meaning. The fingers spell out the
four-letter Christogram “IC XC”, as it is by the name of Jesus that we are
saved and receive blessings. “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;” (Phil 2:10).
Not only have that, but the three fingers of Christ – as well as spelling out
“I” and “X” confessed the Tri-unity of God: Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. The touching finger and thumb of Jesus not only spell out “C”, but
attest to the Incarnation: to the joining of divine and human natures found in
the body of Jesus Christ.
The Bible he holds in his left hand is open to
display a passage from the Gospel of St John.
In those instances, the icon may also be called “Christ the Teacher”,
for obvious reasons.
Because
the icon is itself the source of light, it does not reflect outward light such
as one sees in the eyes of portrat paintings.
Because the Icon is the source of light, the figure does not cast
shadows on any other object in the icon. The gold halo around the Head of
Christ is not coming from above but eminating from the figure itself and moving
out even to the outer border of time and space.
Christ’s halo is not the same as the halos
shown around other saints. Inside of Christ’s halo is the Cross – the Cross of
Salvation – although only three arms are visible: the three arms make up a Holy
Trinity. Upon the three arms are the Greek letters ώ Ό Ν (omega, omicron, nu)
which literally means “I AM”. This is a reference to Christ’s divinity, as “I
AM” was the name God revealed to Moses (Ex. 3:14). Jesus attributed this title
to Himself when He said: “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58), attesting to
His divinity and His eternal existence (two ways of saying the same thing).
These revelations of Jesus Christ’s nature and the Holy Trinity are preserved
in Christ’s Halo.
About
Christ’s Head are the letters “IC” and “XC”, a widely used four letter abbreviation
of the Greek for Jesus (IHCOYC) Christ (XPICTOC).
The
face of Jesus follows ancient traditions. The eyes are disproportionally large
to symbolize that they are windows to the soul
They look directly into the soul
of the viewer. The forehead, identified as the seat of wisdom, is high and
convex. The nose is long and slender, contributing a look of nobility. The
mouth is small and closed admonishing viewers to contemplate God quietly.
The hair is curled and flowing, recalling the endless flow of time. The
neck and body are powerful reminders of His strength and majesty. The right side of the face is not identical
to the left. This depicts Christ’s duel nature. In many Icons of Christ
Pentocrator two strands of hair lies on his forhead contributing again to this
theme of his two natures.
Saint Mark the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist (1st century) is traditionally believed to be the author of the Gospel of Mark and a companion of Peter. He also accompanied Paul and Barnabas in Paul's first journey. After a sharp dispute, Barnabas separated from Paul, taking Mark to Cyprus (Acts 15:36-40). Later Paul calls upon the services of Mark, the kinsman of Barnabas, and Mark is named as Paul's fellow worker.
He is also believed to be the first patriarch of Alexandria by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church, and thus the founder of Christianity in Africa. His evangelistic symbol is the lion for his Gospel begins with the mission of John the Baptist in the desert and the voice of the lion resounds in desert places.
In Egypt, Mark the Evangelist is said to have performed many miracles, and established a church there, appointing a bishop (Anianus of Alexandria), three priests, and seven deacons.
When Mark returned to Alexandria, the people there are said to have resented his efforts to turn them away from the worship of their traditional Egyptian gods. In AD 67 they killed him, and tried to burn his body. Afterwards, the Christians in Alexandria removed his unburned body from the ashes, wrapped it and then buried it in the north easterly part of the church they had built.
Saint Mark's Western feast day is
April 25 and the Eastern feast day is September 23
About this icon of St. Mark
Saint Mark is described firstly as writing the gospel. He is clad in a red tunic which is a symbol of his martyrdom. He holds oven the 6th chapter of his Gospel which tells the story of how Jesus came to His disciples on a stormy sea walked on the water in the dark of night. They were terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost. He reassured them as He does, each of us in the storms of our life that He is with us and we need not be afraid if we have faith and trust in Him.
Technique
The
wooden panel has a particular ascetic significance - it is an extension of the
wood of the cross, and the painter shares as s/he works the suffering of the
Lord, who struggled to incarnat a new vision and path in human life. The
iconographer
is bound to the board, as to the cross, till
the sign of the coming kingdom is made.
The
indentation of the board is symbolic of the Arc of the Covenant. The inner
surface represents Paradise which is separated by the border from this outside
world or cosmos. The wood is covered with linen cloth, which both reminds us of
the bound Christ in the tomb and serves a practical purpose of counteracting
the movement of the wood - as a natural material it responds to atmosperic
pressures. This technique has its roots in the plastered linen of Egyptian
burial shrouds. Linen was also used to wrap the new born infant.The board is
then gessoed - glue and whiting is seived together and built up in an average
of 8-12 layers. This gesso is the sign of a paradox - it both seals in the
underlayers - as Christ was sealed in the tomb, and it forms the surface on
which the icon - the sign of the new
creation is to be made.
When
the gesso has been washed and sanded smooth, the image is etched into the
gesso. Red clay is first applied to take the gold. The Hebrew word for red clay
is oudem. It is the root word for
Adam, Esau, and Edom: all speak of flesh. Then comes the first sign of
resurrection begins! The gold goes on! Gold is applied by breathing on the
clay. “..And God breathed into the nostrals the breath of life..Gen.2:7. Gold
is symbolic of our spiritual nature and the breath symbolizes the Spirit
breathing into Adam the breath of life. This is, so to speak, the firing of the
clay vessal. Gold does not decay, so has come to represent the immutable
mystery of the pre-eternal God. The gold, or at least a gold colured ground is
used in most icons of Christ or the Virgin - light from light, God from God.
However it is by no means used in every icon - when used it is in accordance
with it’s spiritual value, and in the icon of a hermit, for example one may
prefer to emphasise another value by the colour - such as ascesis.
After
the gold is applied the red line is drawing around the halo. This bright red
line symbolizes the transfigured physical nature of the clay after being
‘fired’ by the gold. The clay emerges in a purer state and is fit to receive
the Spirit as a clay pot is fit to hold water after it has been fired in a
kiln. Every part of the icon has gone
through a death process. The wood has been cut, the flax has been pounded, the
animal or plant which provided the skin has died, the metals have decayed and even
the earth colours have been washed again and again - like a baptism! The icon
shows the movement to resurrection.
The
Journey begins. The first colours which go on are, as a general principle the
darkest reflect the unfathomable mystery of God who is inaccessible in his
essence and dark to our intellect. It also symbolizes the dark chaos of
creation without consciousness of God. Dark lines are drawn to differentiate
the shapes of colours establishing boundaries between them. This symbolizes the
Law of nature.
In
Russian technique the layers are often floated on - but very differently to
water colour. The dry pigments are mixed with the yellow of egg and a little
alcohol and vinegar, which gives them a brilliance and resonance not found in
any other medium. The art of the iconographer is to increase that resonance to
the maximum - sometimes bringing opposing colours into sharp conjunction -
somewhat like the techniques of ecclesiastical embroidery, sometimes carefully
building up innumerable layers of slightly changing grades of colour, so that
the richness of the number of layers intensifies the resonance. It is an
attempt to show the Spirit of God resonating through the physical container.
Finally,
very concise lines are applied, which by their linear expression and
repetition, similar to calligraphy, multiply the resonance. You have to know
exactly what you are doing - precisely how you are going to ‘write’ each line.
These lines have all the deliberateness of a credal statement. They are written
as a confession of faith - a powerful witness and sign.
Anointing
Sealing of the Icon or anointing with linseed oil, “Olifa”, and
the blessing given to the icon by the priest during the Liturgy: This blessing
establishes a connection between the image of the person depicted and its
prototype; thus transforming the icon into a perfect instrument for prayer and
contemplation. This is the time when one can say that the icon has become a
window to Heaven.
A PRAYER ON THE NEW ICON.
Glory be to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. O Lord,
God of the whole incorporeal and perceptible creation, the Maker of the
heavenly hosts, the earthly beings and all that is under the earth, You have
filled Your Church with the likeness of the first-born who are written in Your
Heavenly Church and who minister to You with Your Holy Spirit. Grant, O Lord
God, that Your powerful and omnipotent right hand may protect, bless and
sanctify this icon for the adoration of Your Most Honored Name. May all those
who call upon You in true faith and ask of Your compassion with a pure heart,
receive their good requests and present to You first-fruits and oblations for
obtaining health and healing and for attaining salvation of their souls. We
beseech You and make supplication to You to accomplish Your command and fulfill
the promise of Your Most Holy Spirit so that the Gospel precept may dwell,
operate, perfect and be diligent regarding every deed or word that is done or
said in the name of this icon. We ask this favor by Your loving-kindness, the
mercies of Your Only-begotten Son, our
Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, with Whom befit You praise, honor and dominion
with Your Holy Spirit, now, always and forever.
Deacons: Amen.
Priest: O Lord our God, by the prayers of Your Mother and of all Your
saints, martyrs, apostles and St. (N).
Here he anoints the icon with oil, not chrism, saying:
In the Name of the Father +.
In the Name of the Father +.
Deacons: Amen.
And of the Son +.
Deacons: Amen.
And of the Holy Spirit + for life eternal.
Deacons: Amen.
Sr. Irene
Gibson,
.
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