Byzantine Sacred Art: Orthodox Icons and Iconography

»Mixing few icons into one

The Church has, so far, had only one Andrei Rublev, only one Theophanes the Great, one Photios Kontoglou... Greatest icon masters in the history of Church have been either monks who renounced the world and everything in it and lived for Christ, or pious and humble Orthodox Christians who lived within and through Church, and approached the icon-writing with unwavering contrition, humility and reverence. Through the Holy Spirit, they have created the everlasting masterpieces of the Sacred Art that have been venerated by the generations of faithful.

One should never become so arrogant and deluded to assume he is so gifted, so filled with the Holy Spirit to cut through all restraints and launch into experimental iconography. One's genius, or the lack of it, will be quite evident on a very simple composition and a single image will be sufficient to reveal it to the world. There is no need and no justification for cramming two, three or four icons into one. Until one learns which elements are appropriate and can be combined, and the correct proportions for complex compositions, mixing different elements should also be avoided.

»Mixing styles

Unlike Renaissance, Gothic, Baroque and other Western art styles, Byzantine iconographic art is distinguished by simplicity. The entire focus of a traditional Orthodox icon is on the Holy Figures and the only "decoration" traditional portable icons allow is gold leaf and, in some instances, oklad (metal encasing that leaves only the faces of Holy Personages visible). Icons where elements of other art styles are present (usually written from 17^th century and up), are considered non-Byzantine, "westernized" icons, icons influenced by Western art.

Byzantine iconography is incompatible with other heavy, dramatic, busy and highly decorative styles of art and none of these elements should be found on traditional Byzantine icon. Swirls, branches, heavily decorated frames and other embellishments might flatter one's own ego, but they do nothing to enhance the icon. On the contrary, they overwhelm the image and send it to the background of onlooker's mind.