Byzantine Sacred Art: Orthodox Icons and Iconography

Unlike any other form of visual art, icon is an integral part of Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church. Together with the hymnography of the Church ("a theology that is chanted") and ecclesiastical music, iconography, being a theology in color, represents a unique art form based on the Scriptures and Holy Tradition exclusively. This sets it clearly apart from secular art concerned with worldly subjects, but also from the non-iconographic paintings on religious themes, like Italian Renaissance, which are naturalistic, sensuous and representational.

The ultimate purpose of Orthodox icons: unveiling "the dazzling brilliance of His beauty inside every thing"

Iconography's main concern is spiritual, the mystical realm where men and nature are sanctified: the Kingdom of God. Iconographer paints the image of the Risen Christ, of Holy Theotokos, Mother of God that has passed through the narrow doors into the eternal life, the saints not as they were when they lived, but as they are now, transfigured and glorified. The holy personages, buildings, mountains, rivers and plants on icons are never a mere representation of people and the material realm that surrounds us, but transformed, incorruptible and shown in their transcendent essence. They are anagogic, meant to draw us upward and are a vision seen through an opened window that looks into heaven. Iconography reveals the spirit within, the "flame of things", according to the expression of St. Isaac the Syrian.

St. Maximus says that "the unspeakable and prodigious fire hidden in the essence of things, as in the bush, is the fire of divine love and the dazzling brilliance of His beauty inside every thing." This is the subject of Orthodox Iconography and its ultimate purpose.

The holy personages depicted on icons are proto-images, archetypes preserved by the Orthodox Church through countless generations of faithful and are a part of Holy Tradition. Because of this, contrary to every other form of art, the principle of imitation is highly desired and commendable in icon writing. We are not to innovate and reinvent the image of St. Nicholas, for example: regardless of how many iconographers write an icon of the Wonderworker, regardless of the differences in the individual level of skill and details, the image of St. Nicholas should be recognized as such easily by anyone who has seen the icon of the saint only once before. The same principle applies to icons of Christ, Theotokos, icons of liturgical and festal cycles and of every prophet, martyr and saint the Church honors.

Byzantine icon is distinguished by simplicity

Traditional icon is focused entirely on the images and events depicted and is devoid of any unnecessary embellishments, folklore motifs, flowers, elaborate borders, swirls, branches and similar elements popularized by Renaissance and secular Western art in general. Saint Macarios the Great says: "A soul which has been illuminated by the divine glory becomes all light and all face" and everything that surrounds such an image should only serve to draw attention to it, not to take it away and redirect the eye to insignificant displays of artistic vanity. In this sense, Byzantine icon is distinguished by simplicity, purity of forms, austerity and structure.

Icon Tradition, Part 2 »