ICONS GREEK & RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ART BOOK

With their exciting combinations of color, graceful lines, and surrealistic forms, the Greek and Russian icons in this exhibit can readily be appreciated simply as outstanding works of art, which they clearly are. For Orthodox Christian believers, including the iconographers (icon painters) who created the icons here, the icon is much more than that.

Just as some knowledge of Native American values and beliefs enhances one's enjoyment of Indian art, so a basic knowledge of the place of icons in the daily life of Orthodox Christians will deepen one's appreciation of them.

Orthodoxy is a very mystical form of Christianity. This mysticism is expressed not only in silent meditation and ascetical practices, but also in rich liturgical and sacramental worship.

The colorful services are always sung, incense is always used in worship, and the "beauty of holiness" is a value of the highest order. Icons are a key element in this mystical-sacramental framework.

Not intended to be a mere picture, the icon is a stylized sacramental sign, an integral aspect of the Orthodox spiritual path. While the icon emphatically is not thought to be the reality it signifies, believers customarily reverently kiss icons, and pray before them. The icon is viewed as a "window into heaven", serving as an earthly point of contact with the sacred person represented.

While images were generally forbidden in the Old Testament (a number of exceptions to this rule are recorded in the Bible), we have evidence that from the earliest times Christians made use of icons. In places such as the ancient catacombs of Rome there are examples of such early Christian iconography. The Christian rationale for this departure from Jewish tradition is based on the belief that the invisible God has now appeared in human form in Jesus Christ. For the early Christians this made possible and permissible the depiction of the humanity of Christ and his saints. The seventh Ecumenical Council in 787 AD (also recognized by Roman Catholics) identified and underlined this traditional idea as a central doctrine of the Church, giving new life and impetus to the output of iconographic art.