Inscriptions and 'writing' icons of Theotokos

[Joseph Willcoxson]

I know that the letters on an icon are usually an abbreviation for the name. For example, "IC XC" on an icon of the Lord stands for "Iesous Christos" or "Jesus Christ"

On icons of the Theotokos I have seen Mu-Rho Theta-Gamma (but the gamma appears lowercase). I understand the Mu-Rho to stand for Mary (Miriam). However, I don't understand the Theta-Gamma. If it was a Theta-Kappa I would understand it as the abbreviation for "Theotokos", but I am unaware of the significance of Theta-Gamma. Does anyone know the significance?

[Arsenios]

IWSEF writes:


"On icons of the Theotokos I have seen Mu-Rho Theta-Gamma (but the gamma appears lowercase). I understand the Mu-Rho to stand for Mary (Miriam). However, I don't understand the Theta-Gamma. If it was a Theta-Kappa I would understand it as the abbreviation for "Theotokos", but I am unaware of the significance of Theta-Gamma. Does anyone know the significance?"

These icons with their Greek letters written for those whose native language is Greek throw me for a loop a lot too... They will get 'fancy', and combine two letters into one letter, and use upper case with lower, and space them out so that they co not visually form a word... I am sure ther are reasons for this, but so far I can see little of them aside from cleverness, and I am sure that this is NOT why they are written this way...

M~r means Mater, or Mother... At least I think so... And it is usually followed by Theou, so I would look for an abbreviation of this - Possibly the theta IS the abbreviation, or the Theta=upsilon simply LOOKS LIKE a Theta-gamma... And maybe the Theta-gamma, or Theta-Gamma, is something else entirely...

I have icons whose writing I am still trying to figure out...

So that my tuppence is worth just that... And nary a farthing beyond...

One of the good things, I should think, that writing them in this way does, is to stop us in our tracks, of the hustle and bustle of worldly movement, and slow us down, and require our mental effort combined with our visual searching, to enter the window to heaven that an icon is, that in the icon's time, we might see more clearly...

geo

[John Wilson]

At last a question I can answer with confidence!!

As has been pointed out, MP (mu, rho) are the first and last letters of the greek word for "mother". The other two letters are theta, and a letter that does not actually exist in the greek alphabet yet is used all the time. it is actually two letters combined, OY or omicron and upsilon. Thus the icon depicts the first letter and the last letters of the greek word meaning "of God" (Theou). The appearance of the "omicron-upsilon" character can vary a bit too. It either consists of a small "o" with a "v" attached above (the top half of capital upsilon (Y) and it looks much like the lower case gamma. The other form is with a larger "O" that is open at the top. The top part of the "Y" is also open so it ends up looking like an upside down capital omega.

I have a beautiful icon of John the Forerunner (John the Baptist) where the letters of his title are almost all combined into one. Forerunner is Prodromos in greek and it is written with omicron followed by the following combination; capital "Pi" with capital "Rho" stuck on its right side, capital "Delta" stuck on top and capital "Mu" enclosed within. Below this follow the letters "omicron" and "sigma. I don't know why it is written this way but I find it rather beautiful.

As an aside, are you aware that when the priest blesses the people by making the sign of the cross over them, he holds his fingers and thumb such that they form the letters IC XC. His fore finger forms "I" (iota), his second is curved to form "C" (the byzantine sigma), his thumb and third finger cross to form "X" (chi) and his forth finger again curves to form "C".

My gratitude for being able to share what little knowledge I have.

John.

[Loretta]

Dear Gentlemen,

I've been studying iconography for a number of years and I've been told that the lettering on an icon is optional as to it being horizonal or vertical or grouping of letters. It's up to the discretion of the iconographer.

[Arsenios]

John Wilson writes:


"...and a letter that does not actually exist in the greek alphabet yet is used all the time. it is actually two letters combined, OY or omicron and upsilon. Thus the icon depicts the first letter and the last letters of the greek word meaning "of God" (Theou). The appearance of the "omicron-upsilon" character can vary a bit too. It either consists of a small "o" with a "v" attached above (the top half of capital upsilon (Y) and it looks much like the lower case gamma. The other form is with a larger "O" that is open at the top. The top part of the "Y" is also open so it ends up looking like an upside down capital omega."

Thank-you John Wilson!

That pesky little o with a tiny y on top of it has been plaguing me for years, and the other one, which seems rarer, I gave up on immediately...

Glory to God!

You have made my day! I can read some of the words with some confidence now... Are there any others that get all combined?

geo

[Fr Averky]

Dear Mr. Willcoxson.

A very important aspect of every Orthodox icon is its "title" That is to say, who or what occasion is depicted on the holy image. As you have heard from others, the letters you see denote "Mother of God" so Mary is not just a particular virgfin, but the Virgin Mother of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

When you look at the halo on an icon of Jesus Christ, you wil see the Greek letters which form the words ) O'On (roughly, because I do not have Greek on my computer) This means "Iam the Existing," or "Iam that I am," which was the answer of Jesus Christ gave to Moses when he appeared in the form of the Burning Bush. t Only God could say "I am," thus when our Saviour said to the Jews that they looked to Abraham and Moses, He gives proff of who He is by saying " I say to you that before Abraham was, I am." When He was confronted by the soldiers in the garden, when asked if He is Jesus of Galilee, He answered, "I am He," and the soldiers fell back as if dead.

Also,. if you will look at the halo of an icon of Jesus Christ, you will see a cross made up of three sections of one, then two lines - a total of nine. The nine lines represent the nine ranks of angels who adore HIm.

When looking at the clothing of our Saviour, you will see that He is clothed in blue -or a blue-green outer robe, with a purple inner robe.Tthis signifies that Jesus Christ, the King of Glory, who was born to the "purple" of royalty has clothed Himself in humanity and wears the indigo blue of the most common of people. Indigo was the dye the poor people used for their clothing.

On the other hand, the icon of the Mother of God shows her wearing purple with blue underneath. This shows us that the Most Pure Mother of God was born a human, just like all of us, but when she accepted the words of the Archangel Gabriel, who announced that she would be the Mother of the Saviour, she was chosen because of her own nobility, purity, her humility and her love for God. Her soul and body were completely pure.. Now, as the Mother of the Church and being higher than the angels, she wears the royal purple of a queen.

You will notice that on icons of the Mother of God, you will see three stars- this points out that the Mother of God was a Virgin before, during, and after the birth of her Divine Son.

So too, on other icons of holy saints, you will see their names and often, a title, such as "ST. Nicholas the Wonderworker," or a place as well; "St. Herman of Alaska." also, some saints who were great missionaries and preachers, have a special title -"Holy -Equal-to-the-Apostles St. Nina, Enlightener of Georgia." Some saint's icons describe their feats; St. John the Much Suffering, or the Great Martyr and Healer St. Panteleimon."

Some icons will have a story on them describing the miracle depected on the icon, such as "Unexpected Joy," which is a story about a thief who would be so bold as to pray before an icon of the Mother of God holding her Son, asking her to help him in his stealing! One time, as he knelt praying, he noticed blood coming from Jesus Christ's hands and His side! He gasped in shock, and wondered aloud what had happened. Then, he heard the stern voice of the Mother of God saying; "Every time you dishonor me with your evil requests, you open the wounds of my Son, and now He has allowed you to see.." The man threw himself on the ground, and with tears of repentance, promised to repent, and to give back many more times what he had stolen. thus an "Unexpected Joy." The story is on the bottom of the icon.

So, you can see that icons are indeed "Theology in color," for they depict that eternal "today" which is the major moments in the life of the Church. By looking at the drapery in some icons, you can tell if it is happening inside or ourtside-each icon has something of the Divine in it, and thus it is not a "holy picture," or as often in Western art, art with a religious subject. The focus of the icon is only on the Divine, and we now share in Christ's divinity as He shares in our humanity.

I hope that you will find this information helpful. My monastery has long been well-known for its school of iconography, and I lived with an Archbishop who has been an iconographer for at least thirty five years. By the way, he says most firmly that icons are not "written," they are painted. It was my love for icons that brought me to Holy Orthodoxy, and I have a beautiful collection of hand-painted icons, several with gilt metal coverings set with stones.

Sincerely yours,

Fr. A.

[Archbishop Constantin]

This is for you Father Averky, about the halo of Christ and the letters omikron (o,O) omega and nee [or nu if you write in French). This means "He Who Exists"; a paraphrase from the Old Testament where, I think Moses, asked God His Name and he replied "I am who I am!". An Interesting tradition is that the Greek iconographers make the Cross inside the halo and they put the letters in a round clockwise order: Omikron-Omega-Nee, however, the Slavic iconographers they put the Omega on the left side, the Omikron on top and the Nee on the right side. An easy way to tell if an icon is "Russian" or "Greek".

For Mr. John Wilson: Greek is like French (or vice versa) inasmuch as they don't have the letter to make the sound "oo" as in the word moose. They simply use Omikron/Ypsilon, a dipthong. Ypsilon=high "i" (ee), exists in just about all the European languages: but it is a troublesome letter to pronounce and it is not the Greeks' fault. In Greek it is always a vowel "ypsilon", in English sometimes a vowel and sometimes a consonant "wye", in Spanish always a consonant "i-griega" and in Portuguese always a vowel "ypsilon". The combined omikron with an ypsilon embeded on top did not appear until after the invasion of the Arabs, who being muslims were not allowed to have icons (second commandment), so they played around with letters and the iconographers were not about to give in without doing their own thing, hence the open omikron, to show omikron/ypsilon=mOOse. One must remember that the changing of the official language from Latin to Greek, was a gradual affair and many scribes and iconographers interchanged Latin and Greek letters like alphabet soup. So, I hope that you have your computer encoded properly and I will show you some similarities: [iota+sigma and sigma+chi]=[IC XC] also MP=MR. My computer will make the omikron with the ypsilon on top. In windows 98 it is in the Special Character Map, but I would not attempt to even find it... One must also bear to mind that it was about this time that the Cirilic Alphabet was invented. We have a three barred Cross, which we are trying to make be an Orthodox Cross (especially in the Western Hemisphere), but its origin was that the Russians wanted to have their own distinctive Cross and the iconographers gave them one, WITHOUT VIOLATING ANY OF THE RIGID ICONOGRAPHIC RULES... Please note that Orthodox Cross normally do not have a corpus on them, to show that we believe in a resurrected Lord... This is Orthodoxy; she adapts herself to all people and then it becomes "theirs" (like St. Basil's prayer "Lord, be all things to all people"). Do you think that some of you younger men and women, will see administrative unity in countries like the USA and the UK? I say Amen! to that... but a qualified one...

By the way, have you noticed that the iconographers are always up with times and languages and the last ones to join in and most temperamental ones are the chanters?

In Christ's Holy Name

Arzbispo Constantino

[Fr Averky]

Dear Archbishop Constantine,

You may be right-the words have been translated in many ways, because it is hard to translate clearly words uttered by God Himself. However, we do know that He said "I am."

As to the "Russian" cross, its origins are actually Byzantine, for there are early Greek depictions of a three bar cross, except the lowest bar is straight, rather than tilted. This cross has in fact befome most popular in Russian usage and has become idenified with things "Russian," but in Russia, various crosses, Greek, Latin, and so on are used in architecture, vestment fabrics, on mosaics and so on. The one cross which might be termed distinctly Russian are those three bar crosses which surmount a cresent, added during the reign of Tsar Nicholas I in commemoration of Russia's defeat of the Turks.

One thing to be noted on an Orthodox icon of the crucifixion; Jesus Christ does not have the crown of thorns on His head. Of course, we know that the Church triumphantly celebrates the Univeersal Exultation of the Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. Most likely large three-dimensonal crucifixes were probably introduced into Russia during the reign of Peter !, and they can be seen in many monasteries and cathedrals.

I admit to not knowing how long crosses have been behind the holy table-that would be interesting to know

Sincerely,

Fr. A.

[Fr Averky]

Addendum:

If one looks at any large number of early Christian artifacts, he will see that there were in fact depictions of Christ crucified- on small crosses, and on small medallions and plaques. Within the first fifty years or so after the death and resurrection of Christ, primitive icons and Christian symbols could be found.

Many such objects ere found in the catdcommbs, and when I was in Rome, I purchased oil lamps and spoon with crosses on them.

On the crucifixion we see words in Greek or Slavonic which mean, The place of shame became Paradise." So the cross, the instrument of death for common criminals was raised up as the instrument of our salvation, and was of iconographic importance to Cristians.

A.

[M A Jackson-Roberts]

Just to make a short comment on Archbishop Constantin's last post. On Saturday just gone I sang for a wedding in a combined Methodist/United Reformed church in Sidcup, Kent. Behind the altar (or Lord's Table, as I think they call it) there was an enormous cross with just three symbolised nails but no figure, and it struck me very forcibly how much more uplifting and redemptive it was than the dismal Crucified Man usually encountered in Protestant, Anglican and RC churches, for it really encouraged meditation upon the central Christian tenet of the Resurrection, rather than the Crucifixion. I have always found the RC passion for plaster figures of the Saviour, either showing a gaping wound and copious drops of blood or - worse - the truly morbid iconography of the Sacred Heart devotion to be a distinct turn-off. But then, I am English, and we are notoriously not given to devotional excess in any form.

the seeker

[Richard McBride]

Blessed of the Lord Father Averky

Do you know why the Russian Church has chosen to disregard the Byzantine preference for the 'writing' of icons?

richard mcb

[Fr Averky]

Dear Seeker,

The cross is in no way illustrative of the Resurrection, but is is that upon which Jesus Christ died for the sins of mankind.

Part of not liking to see Christ suffering on the cross-which Orthodox crucifixes do not, by the way- with blood and gore is repulsivee to those who fear death. The empty croos is acceptable, because it does not serve as a reminder that we too will face death in any vafiety of ways.

Modern man still has the hope of all men of all time; that he can find the secret tro have "eternalyouth." Death is too final, too terrible, and must be avoided. I would think that this would be particularly so of those who have no sure Faith to comfort them. I am not speaking about you-I do not know you-but I find this generally to be true.

Those Christians who reject seeing Christ crucified forget that the cross is not a sumbol of shame and defeat, but is the standard of our victory. The King of Glory offered up His life for us, and then descended into Hades, freeing the souls of the righteous and opened the gates of Heqaven. Had He not died for us,we would still be slaves of Darkness.

All of my life I have had great enhration for the Cross;

I love the beautiful words sung on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross:

Hail! Life0giving Cross, unconquerable trophy of godliness, door ro Paradise, succour of the faith, rampart set about the Church. Through thee corruption is utteerly destroyed, the power of death is swallowed up, and we are raised from earth to heaven: invincible weapon, adversary of devils, glory of martyrs, true ornament of saints, haven of salvation, bestowing on the world great mercyOther verses:

O most venerable Cross, attended by ranks of rejoicing angels, thou art exalted today, and by divine command thou dost lift up again all those who, through the stealing of the fruit, had been made outcasts and were subk in death. Therefore, embracing thee in faith with heart and lips, from thee we draw sancitication and we cry aloud: Exalt ye Christ the God most good, and venerate His dicine footstool.

Finally:
We venerate the wood of Thy Cross. O Thou who lovest mankind, for upon it Thou, the Life of all, was nailed O Saviour. Thous hast opened Paradise to the thief who turned to Thee in faith, and Thou hastg counted him worthy of blessedness when he confessed to Thee crying, 'O Lord remember me." Accept us like him, as we cry.: We have all sinned, in Thy merciful kindness reject us not."

Many people think that our views are like those of Roman Catholics, but in time, dear Seeker, you will see that this is not the case at all.

God bless you, I pray for you.

Fr. A.

[Fr Averky]

Iaccidently posted this before I corrected it! I hope you can make out what it says!

[Donald Wescott]

In his George writes:


One of the good things, I should think, that writing them in this way does, is to stop us in our tracks, of the hustle and bustle of worldly movement, and slow us down, and require our mental effort combined with our visual searching, to enter the window to heaven that an icon is, that in the icon's time, we might see more clearly

All I can say is thank you, this is quite a thought provoking, and I think somehow a most valid explanation.

Under His Mercy,
Donald Eusebios

[Fr Averky]

Dear George,

If you ever have trouble making out the words on an icon, I would be very happy to help you. On many icons titles are sometimes abbreviated, and it can be a little difficult to make out the meaning. When looking at Slavonic words, one sees little markings and curves above words-this denotes abbreviations, but is also done to recall Hebrew sound marks. Also,since Slavonic words are so very long, if they were not abbreviated, even a simple service book would weigh over a pound.

Here is an example of a single Russian bishop's title. In reporting the meeting of the Synod of Bishops, it states that the Presiding bishop is:

Veesokoprayosvyashchaynneyshii Mitropoleet Lavr.
Or, His Eminence, Metropolitan Laurus.

There are many many tongue twisters in Slavonic and Russian!

Dear Geroge, thank you for your words concerning the names on icons-it shows a good understnding. God bles you.

Fr. A.

[Fr Averky]

Concedo!

A word to the good Archbishop. I did a little research, and I confess I was mistaken; it seems that crosses with the figure of Jesus Christ did not become popular until the end of the 4th century. Mea culpa!

Fr. A.

[Archbishop Constantin]

Dear Mr. McBride;

You have directed the question to Father Averky, yet I would like to give you the Greek version of the story.

There have been "europeanization" periods in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, all of them imposed to the Church by force. Peter the Great, if I am not mistaken, married to a German woman whom he wanted to please, put forth a big effort to make the Russians Westerners, rather than Easterners. He imposed that the music in the Russian Churches be changed to a European style, rather than the true Orthodox tradition of using the Byzantine Chant. In addition the change from within, there has been the infamous Unia, which was an outright forceful attempt to latinize all Slavs and the Greeks who inhabited the islands of the Aegean Sea. They did not meddle with the music, because it was already western, but they forced and bribed many bishops to become Uniats and then they made them change the icons and at times push the icon screen all the way behind the Holy Table. It was during the years of the Unia that the iconographers began to dis-respect the rigid rules of iconography and produced these "idols" of icons. Please bear to mind that if one goes to Toledo, he will find more Byzantine elements in the paitings of Dominikos Theotokopoulos, otherwise known as "el Greco". This latinization gained ground even on the Greek Islands of the Aegean Sea, a stronghold of Orthodoxy. One of the reasons was that the Latins provided free paper icons to the Churches on the small islands, where their resources were very limited.

On the island of Samos, where I was born and raised, I remember at our Parish of Saint Theodore, the Military Man, in the Capital City of Port Vathy, the icons were all paper, protected by a glass barrier, acquired from the French Jesuit Mission of Saint Joseph. The Mission of St. Joseph was founded in the early 1800 hundreds, to provide the famous Samos muscatel wine, mainly to the Vatican and other places in Western Europe. The Mission closed in the late fifties, when the grape producers formed a Cooperative, with very modern processing equipment and an up to date international marketing department, plus a protectionist law, passed by the Parliament, compelling everyone to buy from the Cooperatives and forbidding production of wine privately (to maintain quality control). Vatican is still a good customer of the EOSS (Union of Wine Producing Cooperatives of Samos), one of the main buyers of the Samos muscatel wine, but there are also some German concerns that buy large quantities.

I can also remember, when I returned back to visit Samos in 1979 (after 24 years in the USA), I found St. Theodore's Parish totally remodelled, without a sitting place for men and another for the women, as the Turks had imposed. A large, imposing, sculptured icon screen, with pure Byzantine Icons, were edifying all people who came to pray and worship.

In conclusion, I don't think that Moscow ever rejected Byzantine Icons, but the Unia did.

It is also noteworthy that the majority of the early Slavic immigrants to the USA were Uniats and Father Alexis Toth, at the turn of the century, began a mass desertion of clergy and Parishes from Rome and their return home to Orthodoxy. There were, probably 1500 Churches that were founded Uniat, in various States, with a great concentration in Pennsylavnia. Further it is also interesting that the late Archbishop Kyprian of Eastern Pennsylvania, cerca 1970, had to take measures and issue edicts, causing Baptism of infants by pouring (aspersion?), to be discontinued.

The Unia did a great deal of damage to the Orthodox Church, in its doctrine and tradition, and us Orthodox, who consider our faith to be a way of living, rather than a religious or philosophical opinion and preference, cannot ever trust our estranged brothers of the west. When high positioned "leaders" have too much of mingling with the Franks, we look at them with great suspicion (such as Bartholomeos of Instanbul).

Glory be to our Lord Jesus Christ, our True God!

+ Arzobispo Constantino

P.S.- Father Averky, please excuse this intrusion. It had to be done, because ecumenism is what will attempt to destroy the Church of Christ. We have the Holy Spirit that protects and guides us. With all the wrong that we have done, if it were not for the Holy Spirit, we would have disappeared from the face of the earth. We have to take a stand with the heterodox and a firm position and explain that they are heretics and wolves in disguise. I have seen their double faced politics in my Ministry in Latin America and I have felt their direct as well as indirect blows. We have to take a stand of truthfulness and preserve our traditions that were delivered to us by the Saints and the Apostles.

[Fr Averky]

Dear Archbishop Constantine,

I appreciate your very kind words in defense of the Church of Russia. Forgive me, I must have misunderstood Professor McBride, for I thought he thought the term "writing" an icon more accurate than "painting" an icon. I suppose it is not really worth arguing about.

Many of the Orthodox churches were sadly effected by the Latin style. When some of our young monks went to Mt. Athos several years ago to study ancient iconography in the various monasteries, they met an old monk who only painted "new style." When queried as to how this came to be, the old Father told them that before he died, his spiritual father had given him strict obedience never to paint in Byzantine style.

In her fascinating autobiography, "Education of a Princess," the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia mentions how she visited an old priest in a village near Pskov. As it was Winter, he took an ancient icon, split it, and threw it into the stove. Horrrified, the Grand Duchess purchased enough wood for several Winters and took all the icons and in time restored them. As you mentioned, such sacriligious doings started only with Peter !. Interestingly, the icon which touched my heart so deeply and which brought me to Orthodoxy, was a beautiful 19th century new style icon fo the Saviour with a silver cover called a riza or oklad. His sorrowful but loving expression moved me, and I still have one like it but smaller, over my desk. Recent saints, like St. Nektarios prayed before new style icons. It struck me when I was in his small house in Aegina. Icons are holy, and are channels of grace for us, and as such, should be treated with respect.

Juist before the revolution of 1917, the Russian Orthodox Church was experiencing a rebirth of her ancient ecclesiastical roots, and pure Byzantine style was restored, operatic church music was greatly discouraged, and so on. Happily, after the dark years of the Communist yoke, that resurgence is taking up where it left off. Church articles such as vestments, priest's crosses, altar appointments-all are being designed and manufactured with the highest quality work. Let us pray that this new life in Russia will strengthen the whole Orthodox world. In ten years, the Church has opened 503 monasteries, thousands of parishes, has 6,000 theological students, hundreds of icon-painting schools, and is starting new parishes and restoring old churches at a very impressive rate. Things are far fom perfect, but great effort is being made.

In Christ,

Fr. A.

[John Wilson]

George Blaisdell writes:


"You have made my day! I can read some of the words with some confidence now"

Glory be to our Lord Jesus Christ!

Dear George,
I just wanted to inform you that making your day, absolutely made mine!

John.

[John Wilson]

Dear Archbishop Constantin,

thank you for your insight on the arabic influence of writing on icons. You reminded me of some examples of arabic "word pictures" I had seen a couple of years ago such as these:
http://www.monachos.net/mb/messages/4225/13324.gif
http://www.monachos.net/mb/messages/4225/13325.gif

I was also please to learn that you grew up on Samos, as my wife traces her ancestry back to the island. Her pro-pro-papou, originally named Logothetis, had to flee from the Turks and settled in Syria inthe city of Allepo. He subsequently changed his name to that of the city and became Halepis.

John.

[Arsenios]

From Father A.


Dear George, thank you for your words concerning the names on icons-it shows a good understnding. God bless you.

Father, the warmth of your blessing is a joy enveloping my soul - Thank-you...


If you ever have trouble making out the words on an icon, I would be very happy to help you.

Thank-you, Father...

The most troublesome has been that little o with the little y on top [thanks to John] - I thought I knew some Greek until I tried reading Greek icons... Whereupon I promptly got lost in the letters... I do have a couple of Russian Icons, but I just take them to another parishoner who translates for me. I do not think I have seen a Slavonic icon - Or would that include Russian??


On many icons titles are sometimes abbreviated, and it can be a little difficult to make out the meaning. When looking at Slavonic words, one sees little markings and curves above words-this denotes abbreviations, but is also done to recall Hebrew sound marks. Also,since Slavonic words are so very long, if they were not abbreviated, even a simple service book would weigh over a pound.

Over a pound...

You are talking about the weight of the ink, yes?

I'm a chuckle! [heeheehee]

[+8-)>>> [this is a computer icon of a smiling,if nearsighted, bearded hieromonk - I like using it in place of a plain old smiley on Orthodox boards]


Here is an example of a single Russian bishop's title. In reporting the meeting of the Synod of Bishops, it states that the Presiding bishop is:

Veesokoprayosvyashchaynneyshii Mitropoleet Lavr.
Or, His Eminence, Metropolitan Laurus.

Good grief! You were not exagerating all that much! Maybe a half pound of ink in a service book...


There are many many tongue twisters in Slavonic and Russian!

Well,if saliva is the ink of the tongue, I can certainly see a pound of "ink" in a service book!

I am wondering if the structure of the letters on an icon might be akin to the structure of the opening invocation of our Lord's prayer, where the hO is in the center [pater hmwn O en tois uranois], such that a predominant part of the word is obviously apparent, and the rest kind of 'nestled in' around it - Like a hen with her chicks... ?? [That was a question...]

Now I get to take a whole additional look at my icons! Thank-you again, Father...

geo [Arsenios]

[Archbishop Constantin]

Father Averky, Mr. McBride and Mr. Wilson;

Glory be to our Lord Jesus Christ!

Inasmuch as I have to travel for a few weeks, I take the liberty of bothering you once more. I will be reading the posts when I have access to Internet on my laptop.

The word that is used in the hymnology of the Paraclisis to the Theotokos, about her precious Icon, &#34;that was <u>historized</u> by Luke the holy Apostle and Evangelist...&#34;. I could not find the proper word, but Icons are not merely painted. The Iconographer precedes his painting by fasting and prayer and then begins his work. &#34;Writing&#34;, however is not a proper translation since the Greek verb &#34;Historize&#34; means &#34;to cause something to enter into the history [of mankind]&#34;, as if though each particular icon is something that has existed forever and entered into human history by the hand of the iconographer, but not created by him. I have a friend who is an iconographer, but I will not mention his name, not to misconstrue it as advertizing. He said to me that at one time he felt his hand directed and what came out was a &#34;line art&#34; icon of the Virgin Mary with her beloved Son, not in her arms, but on her side, aparently after His Resurrection.

Fr. Averky, we are not talking about a new iconoclastic period against the &#34;new style&#34; icons. Since they have been sanctified by the prayer and veneration of millions of people, they have become holy enough for us. Thank you for teaching me how to refer to them, as &#34;new style&#34;. The change-over started after World War II and at that time I was still a teenager, attending the Gymnasium in the early 1950&#39;s. I will never forget when we were given, each of us, a small packet of 3X5 Orthodox Byzantine Icons. Even though I was surrounded by &#34;new style&#34; icons at our parish, I experienced such a joy, especially at a time that colored photographs were unheard of. I still have those icons, which later I learnt that were &#34;historized&#34; by the famous Greek-American iconographer Constantine Yousis. I referred to them in my innocence as &#34;Neo-Byzantine&#34;. Father Averky, I should have called them &#34;old style&#34;!

Mr. Wilson, the two &#34;Aravourgimata&#34; will be reverently copied in my computer and onto a CD, even if they were made by Muslims. They are so beautiful. Having been ordained in the Antiochian Church, I have part of my heart left there. I am not sure if the Muslim Turks imposed restrictions to the Christians &#40;all were Orthodox in the beginning, before the cursed crusades&#41;, as to painting people, but this was the way for the Muslims to paint; using words and twisting them into figures. In fact the signature of the Ecumenical Patriarch is done that way.

Father Averky, do you know why in almost all old Churches and Monasteries, in Greece, there is always a large icon of the Theotokos in the &#34;narthex&#34; vestibule/entrance? The Turks have a great admiration and devotion to the Virgin Mary, which is mentioned in the Koran. Whenever soldiers were sent over to check if the &#34;giaour&#34;/infidels were planning a revolution, when the Turkish soldiers entered the narthex, they were impressed by the icon of the Virgin, they venerated the icon by coming down on their knees, as the Muslims do, and then left, never entering into the nave of the Church or the Sanctuary. This was the way that the Theotokos protected our Churches against desecration.

In regards to the Logothetis and the Halepis families in Samos, they come from the village of Paleocastron &#40;old castle&#41;, where my paternal grandfather also came and I think that we are distantly related. Logothetis means &#34;he who sets up the rules/laws&#34; and was the nickname of the leader of the revolution of the Samians against the Turks. Later that became a surname. The first name of the original Logothetis was Lycourgos, but we don&#39;t know if this was his baptismal name or a nickname taken after Lycourgos, the lawmaker of Sparta. The Church of Samos was founded by Saint Paul as it appears in the Book of Acts of the Holy Apostles. They stopped in Samos to avoid a storm. Today there stands a beautiful Byzantine Church at the point where St. Paul set his foot coming ashore.

In Christ&#39;s Holy Name

Arzobispo Constantino

[Fr Averky]

Dear Archbishop[ Constantine,

I thank you for your interesting recent post, and your kind and very good answer to Prof McBride. pray that God will bless you on your travels, and may angels guide you, and bring you safely home!

Love in Christ,

Fr. A.

[Joseph Willcoxson]

Father A. and Archbishop Constantine and others,

Thank you very much for your responses.

[Fr Averky]

Dear in Christ
Professor McBride,

Even though Archbishop Constantine gave you a wonderful answer, I would like to add to it, since you had asked me.

When St. Vladimir, influenced by his holy grandmother, St. Olga, decided to convert to Christianity, he wanted to do it in such a way that he would not have to &#34;grovel&#34; before the Byzantine Emperor, being a powerful warrior-prince in his own right.

To accomplish this, he captured a small but beautiful city called by the Greeks, Hersones, present day Korsun. It was a favorite of the emperor, so he sent emissaries to get it back. St. Vladimir stated that he would give it back if he could marry one of the emperor&#39;s daughters. The emperor said he would, except that St. Vladimir was a pagan. St. Vladimir said that he would be baptized a Christian, and when his new bride arrived she brought a bishop and priest, Gospels, books and altar appointments .

St. Vladimir had a proclamation read out to all of his subjects, that on a certain day, he and all those with him would be baptized, and anyone who refuse would not be &#34;his friend.&#34;

The Greeks marvelled at how just in decades, the Russians took Orthodoxy to their hearts and exalted it; even now we think of Russian bells, Russian domes, Russian vestments, and so on.The most photographed structure in the world is St. Basil&#39;s in Red Square.

Princes lavished huge sums for the building and beautification of churches and monasteries. When showing ratitude to an icon, pious faithful would adortn them with coverings of silver and gold and set them with precious stones. In the Moscow Kremlin churches alone, it has been stated that until the sacking of the city by the French, over 100,000 diamonds, emeralds, rubies and rare precious stones glittered on the icons.

Russian iconographers painted in strict Byzantine style, and the icons of Novgorod, Pskov, and particularly the work of St. Andrei Rublyov are considered to be iconographic masterpieces.

The reign of Peter I seriously effected every aspect of Russian life, especially that of the Church. Having had terrible experiences as a child with his older sister and sinister churchmen, he had little use for the Church in general.

It was at this time that the &#34;New Style&#34; of iconography was introduced into Russia. This was true of architecture asnd music as well.
By the time of Empress Catherine I we see ornate Baroque churches, looking vaguely like a Russian church. As with all Western ways which Peter introuduced, it was by decree. However, there were still schools of iconography in Byzantine style, notably the region around Palekh, known for exquisite miniatures.

Starting at the turn of the last century, there was a rebirth of the Chiurch in Russia, and she looked back to her ancient roots and the treasure she had gained from Byzantium New icon painting schools were opened, loud operatic Church music was being discarded, the &#34;Pan-Slavic&#34; school of architecture and dectorave arts was founded. And, after centuries, the Patriarchate was restored. Then came the revolution...

In the early 60&#39;s Brezhnev and Kosygin, joint leaders of the USSR decided that ancient icons and churches should be preserved as part of Russia&#39;s &#34;cultural heritage.&#34; Soon, hundreds of churches and thousands of icons were being restored, with the result that tmany of those working on them became so moved by their spiritual beauty that they secretly were Baptized Orthodox Christians. It has been estimated that in the first few years after the revolution, 23,000,000 icons were burned or destroyed! And, millions more made it out with those fleeing for safety.

Now, after eighty years, the Communist yoke has come to an end, and now there are hundreds of excellent icon studios, painting in Byzantine style. One of our monks went to Russia last September, and was enthralled by the beautiful*new icons in the many new churches being built everywhere. There was quite a controversy when the immense Church of Christ the Saviour was being rebuilt, for purists felt that the interior murals should be in ancient Russian style, but the Patriarch said that in this case, since it was a duplicate of the one dynamited by the Bolsheviks, it needed to look just as it did when it was new. An interseting note-the original church was built by donations from people of every social class, with Tsar Nicholas II giving the first 5,000 Rubes. The five cupolas were covered with 900 pounds of gold.

As Archbishop Constantine stated, grace is present in icons whether Byzantine syle or New. Such great saints as St. Nektarios of Pentapolis and St. Seraphim of Sarov prayed before new style icons. The icon of the Theotokos, &#34;Surety of Sinners&#34; in Moscow is new style &#40; forgive me, not veery pretty&#41;, yet in a four year span there were 320 recorded miracles. One young man, influenced by the Old Believers, considered new style icons to be an insult, and he fell down as if dead from what was thought to be a heat stroke. When his family took his comatose body to the priest, the priest said that this had happened because he doubted the holiness of new style icons. The young man was taken to Moscow and was brought up to the icon Surety of Sinners, and when he was touched against it, he &#34;came alive,&#34; and loudly begged forgiveness from the Mother of God.

Dear friend, please forgive my going on, but I will end soon.

Dear Prof. McBride, if you would have gone into almost any Orthodox church in this country and Europe fifty or so years ago, you would have seen almost exclusively all New Style icons in them. Also, if you were to visit the homes of the ya-yas of some of your older parishioners, you would see that they had new style icons also. The same with our old Russians, for it was they knew and had grown up with -they did not &#34;chose,&#34; for in a sense, there was no choice.


The first time I was in Greece, we would stop at was assuredly a very old church, but when we went inside, all the icons new style. Over 20 years ago, two of our monks went to Mt. Athos to study the ancient icons to be found in so many of the holy monasteries. In the cells of the older monks were to be seen new style. They met one old monk who painted only in the new style. When asked why, he replied that bedfore his spiritual father died, he gave him a strict obedience to never paint in Byzantine style.

It was not until the Blessed Kontaglou and our Archimandrite Kyprian began to paint in Byzantine style and prints of their work was printed and distributed, that more people became aware of the spiritual beauty of the Byzantine style. When the wonderful book &#34;The Meaning of Icons&#34; by Ouspensky came out, more and more people became aware of that ancient beauity.

So you see, I felt I had to give a long answer, because forgive me, but your words were rather &#34;accusatory,&#34; and I felt I should inform you about how this New Style all came about, not only in Russia, but through out the Orthodox world. I will send you some pictures of new churches in Russia.

Respectfully yours,

Fr. A.

[Fr Averky]

Dear in Christ
George Blaisdell,

In regards to abbreviated Slavonic words, the book would be thicker and heavier both ink and paper wise. Old Russian orthography-that used before the Revolution has more letters and sound marks than modern. One is the hard sign used after words to denote that they do not have a soft sound that we do not have in English. Most often, verbs in the infinitive end with a soft sign, whereas nouns end in a hard sign. For example, when the first edition of &#34;War and Peace&#34; came out in the new orthography, the book was 100 pages shorter by dropping the hard sign alone!

The names and inscriptions on Russian icons are written in Slavonic, and in very early ones, in Greek. Still you might see an icon will have Hagios instead of the Cyrillic. Of course, for all icons of the Saviour and the Mother of God, the Greek letters are a given.

As to the lettering on icons, Slavonic flows very beautifully, and letters can be put very close together, and yet harmoniously. For the untrained eye, it can be very confusing to make out the letters. Russians are fond of putting on entire titles, like

Holy Nicholas Archbishop of Myra in Licea the Wonderworker, or just St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

I hope this will help you. You have a powerful intercessor in St. George, may he always be at your side. God bless!


Fr. A.

[Matthew Panchisin]

Dear Richard,

I recently had a discussion with the Archbishop regarding icon terminology. In short, first an iconographer writes the lines then he applies paint.

The Russian word pisat, means both painting and writing therefore the Russian Church has not chosen to disregard the Byzantine preference for the 'writing' of icons I can assure you.

If you hear iconographers talk they often say I'm painting a particular icon, painting the robe etc. The word "writing" pertaining to icons is greatly emphasized nowadays.

Actually, the Russian Orthodox Church Archbishop master iconographer that Father Averky was referring to has done an enormous amount to restore Byzantine iconography. If you ever saw a 72 year old Russian Archbishop of small stature climbing up high scaffolding to write large icons and thousands of square feet to cover by dipping his 1/4 inch brush in various jars of paint (maybe over a few million times he told me he was not counting) you would see a very high regard for the Byzantine preference for the 'writing' of icons.

That regard would increase watching him climb up and down the scaffolding to make sure the perspective is just right looking from the ground up. It would further increase seeing him 65 feet high laying on his back for hours on wood planks with paint dripping on him for many years. So he understands paint and Orthodox theology I'm sure.

From my perspective if an iconographer paints an icon with humility, prayer and Orthodox theology in his heart then it is written within the Byzantine tradition, for the glory, joy and adornment of the Orthodox Church.

I know that you had been addressing Father Averky, I hope you don't mind my response and I hope you take no offence at my words. It's a matter of experience, understanding and semantics.

In Christ,

Matthew

PS. I posted this in the wrong thread last night. Perhaps I misunderstood your question.

[Arsenios]

Dear Father A -


You wrote: "You have a powerful intercessor in St. George, may he always be at your side. God bless!"

My baptismal name is Arsenios [4th century] - The name George was given me by my father long ago who had a friend [a lawyer he admired] of that name. I was baptized but last March 5th, so I am very new in the faith. My sponsor is a monk who is a priest in ROCOR, though I am baptized in an Antiochian parish...

So maybe I have TWO intercessors? - I imagine that two would be none too many, for I am poor and needy...

And thanks to you, I will be taking a lot closer and more careful look at icons now...

Thank-you Father A...

geo [Arsenios]

[Archbishop Constantin]

Dear Father Averky, my beloved Brother in the Lord, our God!

Mr. McBride and Mr. Wilson, my beloved brothers in Christ, thank you for your comments.

I must ask you to pray for me and the success of my travel in the field of Mission. I am going to a very sensitive and dangerous area in Colombia. We have a priest and his wife, Missionaries, in the Southern part of Colombia where the Guerilleros are.

When I was there before, no one came up to me and asked me for my wallet or what business did I have in that area. Colombians still stop and kiss the hand of a priest walking in the street, in public. Clergy in Colombia are vested either in suit and colar or in their black robes, not as nice as the Byzantine flowing robes or as impressive. I had a calimafkion once with me, but it disappeared. I guess one of the Franks wanted or needed it more than me. So, since word travels fast &#40;believe me, faster than radio, TV or the Internet&#41;, I was recognized by all, they called me &#34;Monseñor&#34; and all of them came up and asked for blessings. There were sometimes as many as ten, fifteen people, waiting their turn. This gave me a chance to give a little sermon, which they wlaways found interesting and were surprised at some of the facts. They are very intelligent and inquisitive people, perhaps they are of the very few people on earth that they still have pride in their work. Of all things, they asked me why their bishop rides in a bullet proof and expensive vehicle. I told them that most likely being a local, he had acquired some enemies. I also told them that I had nothing they would desire from me. I had no money, no car and no expensive jewelry. My engolpion was not worth much, made out of beaten up Greek beer cans and sprayed with gold paint &#40;you should have heard the laugh; they thought it was funny&#41;. They have the idea that all bishops are rich men, who live in luxury. We had many meals of pot luck with them right there in the street. They always fixed me some fish fried in vegetable oil. They know that my stomach cannot withstand animal fat and all their food is fried in pork fat &#40;they call it manteca&#41;. The last time we also announced two Liturgies, one at 5:00 AM for those who had to go work in the fields and one at 8:00 PM for those who worked all day, or had to go hunting at night. We had record turn out at both services. Nevertheless that area is considered extremely dangerous. Our Missionary priest and his pious wife are locals and very faithful. They have four children after five years of marriage. They will accept all the children that God gives them and they will break their backs to up-bring them correctly and in the Church of Christ. It is unfortunate that we do not have a Pastoral School or Seminary, which teaches in the Spanish language &#40;there is none around the world&#41;. This is our big endeavor and our big goal: a School for Clergy. We used to recruit some former Roman Clerics that left the Holy Orders to get married, but we decided that it is better to have a smarter man go through a crush course, than someone who is totally inept at tying his shoes or frying an egg and has the personality of a man directly from the ice age. Every time we have a liturgy, it is outdoors, because the number of people that come cannot be accomodated in the small chapel. But Father Pedro is a man with forethought. When they built the Chapel, they made the walls of the front to be nothing but a giant door &#34;para las visitas del Arzobispo&#34;. So far, I have been lucky and never have had any trouble. With the prayer of all in our group and the protection of the Holy Spirit, I will go and come back, once more, safe and edified, praising God for His goodness.

Brothers and Sisters, please pray for me, the humble and unworthy servant of the Lord!

You might find it odd, but nowadays I travel with my European Union/Greek passport. Even though I need to get a visa, it is much better than to be labeled &#34;norteamericano gringo&#34;. I also thank God for speaking their language and have looks that blend well in with their crowds.

With some luck, I will be back in Miami in three weeks, possibly four...

May God repay you, one hundred fold...

In Christ´s Holy Name

&#43; Arzbispo Constantino

[Fr Averky]

Dear in Christ Arsenios,

Forgive me,I get confused between actual names and &#34;Church&#34; names. I have mentioned that when I was baptized 34 years ago, I informed my friends that from then on, I wanted to be called Nicholas, my Orthodox name., but that worked for me. I will be more mindful.

The Archbishop Matthew is talking about is the same I referred to, and his answer was much more clear than it was to me 20 years ago. As Matthew says, it is truly amazing to observe with what speed and accuracy he works.

The fine gold lines we see on icons are applied by the bishop by allowing egg white to sit out for a few days. When he has prepared the egg white &#40; and I missed what comes next&#41;, he takes what looks like a clear liquid, takes a fine brush, and makes hundreds of quick strokes. After this has set. He takes a piece of &#34;grey&#34; bread like a light rye, rolls it into a ball. With a swift movement, he taps a sheet of gold leaf with the bread-ball and drops it onto his &#34;invisible&#34; lines. He then takes a fan shaped brush, and brushes lightly across the icon, and the gold which did not adhere, falls off, and suddenly you can see beautiful and even very fine gold lines! It is something to behold.

I have a beautiful large icon that he painted for me in 1980, and until recently, there was a very good Russian iconographer who lived near here, and many times when some of the best iconographers in Russia would visit him, he would bring them to my office and show it to them, and they would speak of the beauty of the lines and the sorrow in the eyes of the Theotokos, much like those in the famous Vladimir Mother of God.

We have an entire $250,000 building built just for icon painting with special high ceilings, special windows in the ceiling and a sizable library. Thousands of Russian Byzantine style icons have been painted over the past fifty years in our monastery., and all there of our Master iconographers have painted the interiors of churches.
We do not paint New Style icons, but we could., and we restore many of them for people.

Love,

Fr. A.

[Catholic]

Sort of off topic perhaps but I am curious as to whether anyone here has ever seen work of Vladislav Andreyev.

I saw a collection of his icons - this was many years ago - and spent hours in front of them looking at them just entranced. I did not even know what an icon was at the time - but I loved being there and 'gazing' at them, I recall!

I never forgot his name ... I asked someone once who told me he was in New York, I think.

Regards to all,
in Christ,
Catholic
PS If you know where I might see his work, let me know...

[Fr Averky]

Dear Friends,

It ocurred to me that the local newspaper had an article with photos showing the funeral of our Master iconographer, Fr. Kyprian. You will be able to see some very beautiful photos of our monastery church, although small is a real gem as you will see.

Prof. McBride, I call to your attention that this church is painted according to a classic scheme as mentioned by Leonid Ouspensky in The Meaning of icons.&#34; You will also see a photo of Archbishop Alypy, of whom Matthew and I have been speaking. Fr. Kyprian and his young helper are responsible for all the wall murals. The beautiful Iconostasion was carved and guilded by our monks under Fr. Kyprian&#39;s direction, and the large chandelier was designed and made by our first Archdeacon, Fr. Pimen.

As you will see, we are sourrounded by celestial beauty, truly feeling that we are &#34;in heaven on earth.&#34;

I am joyful to be able to show you my home.

Alas, I have not learned how to give an addrerss which you can go directly to, but please make the effort.

Please go to:

utica.od.com/news/photogallery/jordanville/
Fr._Pishew.html

The photographer took very beautiful shots, and you get a good idea of how beautiful the church is. With a fine men&#39;s choir, a resident bishop and as many as ten priests, fifteen deacons and twenty servers, the services are very beautiful, and one knows when it is a Great Feast. For years, this monastery has been called &#34; a little piece of Russia in the New World.&#34;

Much love,

Fr. A.

[Rebecca]

Fr. A.,

Very beautiful icons. Thank you.

direct link (http://www.uticaod.com/news/photogallery/jordanville/Fr_Pishew.html)

[Fr Averky]

My dear Rebecca,

Thank you so very much for setting up the direct link for me! I hope more members will take a look at my home!

In Christ,

Fr. A.

[Moses Anthony]

Father Bless

Dear Fr. A. & Rebecca I have been an artist since my early childhood. I remember sitting anround our kitchen table in Virginia, watching my older brother do his art homework.

I graduated from a Church affiliated college with an undeargraduate degree in Fine Arts.
Fr. A. your home is astounding. The V. Rev. Fr. Kyprian, of blessed memory was truly a master iconographer.

the unworthy servant

[Richard McBride]

Monochos: Ikons

His Eminence Constantin and Father Averky:

Shifting the locus of the problem from the difficult English word, writing &#40;as in writing an ikon&#41;, back to its source in Old Greek, recalls as the Archbishop has said, a history more than a writing. Yet, the Greek meaning is really neither of these. This then shifts our focus back to the Old Greek that yields much more sense.

Even in Liddell-Scott &#40;which is not Old Greek&#41;, istorikos is a scientific term, focusing on that which is exact and precise. Then, istorioyrafia is embedded in this scientific meaning when it refers, not just to history, but history writing. For based upon the Old Greek word, istor &#40;ISTOR&#41;, the emphasis primarily, &#34;denotes an action, and only secondarily a state.&#34; [Kittel; III:391]

Thus, as Matthew Panchisin has said, the drawing &#40;an action&#41; of the outline figures in charcoal takes on the English word, writing, while infilling with color is something else &#40;I hesitate to label any of this process as painting&#41;.

The Archbishop&#39;s point of an ikon being the representation of a past event placed into contemporary time, not only emphasizes the position of the ikoniografer as a medium of transmission rather than as creator &#40;of which there should be no argument&#41;, but it also illustrates the different way Orthodox see time itself -- that is, as opposed to the popular modern emphasis upon time as an arrow aimed only at the future.

This is one of the lovely lessons emphasized by Marcia Eliade &#40;and Richard, did you not say that he was Orthodox?&#41;.

So the problem is a real one. All current emphasis I see in Russian literature is upon painting ikons. In fact, in published works and in discussions on the subject, I can recall no mention of writing when used in the Russian context. The problem here, of course, is that the Western notion of painting must primarily refer to the Renascent/Baroque manner of painting Church scenes. And this is not a casual reference. It is an important and fundament distinction.

In the humanizing of the West during the Renaissance, there was introduced, for the first time &#40;perhaps in all history?&#41; the concept of artist as &#34;creator&#34;. The concept first emerges in a conversation between Vasari and Michaelangelo, wherein the latter brings up the brand new term, buon disegno. Until this time, all painting had been as Plato and Aristotle envisioned it. Good painting had always been the faithful copying of reality. Design was merely following the given pattern. It was pure mimesis. And whether or not such purity were possible, nevertheless, no artist or sculptor thought of himself as &#34;creating&#34; those works -- until the Renaissance.

I find the lack of this, perhaps too fine, distinction to be the cause of much confusion, especially in translating the work of the ancients. There is no place in their world, I am confident, for the way we now commonly accept creativeness to be present in our world, almost in despite of God. A great deal could be said about this issue.

However, that aside, we are still left with no proper word to express the MAKING OF AN IKON.

Does anyone have a suggestion?

[Matthew Panchisin]

Dear Catholic,

Vladislav Andreyev has two excellent schools in New York. If you go to the link below you can click on the icons for a larger image.

http://www.prosoponschool.org/new/gallery.html#

In Christ,
Matthew

[Catholic]

Father, Bless!

How lovely the interior of the church is. I am going to look at it again later, too. Thank you for sharing this with us.

I hope that you are now well enough to attend regular services there.

Matthew:
Oh, thank you - I just clicked on the first page you posted - it is so interesting to realize that the first icons I ever saw were done by Mr. Andreyev and here he has two schools in NY! I think he was just starting out in this country in 1981 when I saw his work.

Father Averky,
How many times a day do the monks gather for prayers - is it seven times?
Catholic

[Fr Averky]

Professor McBride,

Please, you are begging the question-no explanation is going to be suitable since you wish to focus on Russian new style iconography, while the Greeks are just as &#34;guilty. You are refusing to accept that no matter how spiritual the concept is, a person strill applies color with a brush! What pray do you call that! It is just a term meaning the action, not all of the nuances involved in creating an image, which is timeless-you and I both understand that. I have only heard American converts say that they are &#34;writing&#34; icons for their church, and it sounds like an affectation. Tell me, until just 10 or more years ago, did you hear that terrm? I did not.

Ir is very arrogant of you to try to push so much on the Russians-have you never seen even a print of Russian icons frm the 12th to late 16th centuries-come on now-some of the icons most pictured are Russian ones. Believe me, Russian iconographers understand that perfectly-many contemporary iconographers get minerals in rock form and render them down into powder. The beautiful icon of the three Angels, the Holy Trinity by St. Andrei Rublov has that gorgeous blue because the color derived from poweded Lapis Lazuli. Thiose iconographers, and contemporary Russian iconographers understand that icons are in themselves created from nature-the wood, the linen, the gesso, the eggs, and the natural pigments. It is only in the last 45 years or so that acrylics have become poipular, but they can never have inner warmth caused from light going through the pigment and coming back out as a &#34;glow as is een in icons painted with egg tempera.

If it will satisy your ego, I will , just for your sake, say that I know many very good iconwriters, and they write thei icons in the just only classic styles and colors. In fact a Russian fellow is today writing an icon of the Royal Matryrs for me. Both Archbishjop Alypy and Fr. Kyprian could write beautiful icons on the walls of churches.

To limit the word &#34;painting&#34; to a particular style and methodology seen not only in Russia, but in Greece and other countries as being due to some Russian aberration is simply an absurdity, and simply deniable.

I explained to you why the style came about, but like Owen, you still know better. I have been studying icons and iconography for more than forty years, lived with iconographers, watched how they are painted, identified and dated them for antique dealers, and have restored several myself, so please, dear sir-this is not &#34;Intellect, questioning and Orthodoxy.&#34; When I do not know what about a subject, you know that I will say I do not. I am going to find and post some lovely icons from Greece painted in the early part of the last century, but you will just call them Russian.

Please tell me what you call drawing or writing lines on a prepared piece of wood, then picking up a brush, not a pen, dipping that brush into paint, or color, and apply it with strokes onto the panel, and produce by that method, an icon in pure Byzantoine style. Is it a writing? No. Is it a painting? No It is an icon. What would you call it-and do only Greeks write their icons in that manner? Did you even bother to look at the &#34;Italian&#34; icons in the interior of our Church - your blind prejudicd would not peermit you. Please do so.

Even Italianate icons, both in Greece and Russians were never called paintings-but icons. Ask someone to send you pictures of St. Nektarios&#39; cell-you will see only new style Greek icons, and it really makes no difference, for they are no less icons than ancient ones.My whole point has been that iconwriting sounds odd-does it sound just fine to you?

Fr. A.

[Fr Averky]

Professor McBride,

Accepting what you have said concerning ther difficulty to express with our Western mentality the act of creating an icon, I wish there was a word. As I just said, I clearly understand what you are talking about concerning artist-as creator. But even the new style icon painters never felt they had done anything new, or had created anything. You don&#39;t understand Russians-they have a pious fear of mistreating anything holy. As I mentioned, even the bishop and the priests stand almost a foot away from the holy table, and touch it only when it is called for.. Although done in Western style, the feast or saint portrayed still followed the ancient norm as to hair, colors, articles held, and so on. Those icons were painted with much love, and they ranged from rather &#34;folksy&#34; one for the poor were enamelled and jewelled, like Imperial presentation icons. They were considered as holy, and treated as such.

If you can think of an appropriate word, please tell me. I see that I made a huge mistake in ever having brought this up-why don&#39;t I learn!?

A.

[Richard McBride]

Blessed of the Lord Father Averky

Forgive me Father.

I can never tell what will stir up your blood. The question does not involve my ego.
I ask and speak out of curiosity, not having had your experience. Just put it out of your mind and pretend I never said it. But please understand that I never intended the dark things you imagine.

richard mcb

[Effie Ganatsios]

What beautiful pictures of your church, Father Averky. One of the nice things about Orthodoxy is that all the churches are similar if not exactly the same. I felt completely "at home". The photo I especially liked was the one with the little boy looking into the casket. This one picture spoke volumes about the way we Orthodox view death. One custom that is slowly going "out of style" here in Greece is the custom of having an all-night vigil with the deceased in his casket in his home before being buried the next day. I have found that this custom teaches us to regard death as a part of life, to have the chance to say "goodbye" to our loved one, and to be allowed to grieve. It's also a chance for young children to accept death as something that is natural. It's sad that some people have stopped doing it.

Archbishop Constantin, have a safe journey and thank you for your interesting message.

I find that I never tire of reading all the very interesting information supplied on this forum.
A friend of mine is a student in a Church programme - she is learning to paint icons. She told me it was a long and very complicated procedure.

Effie

[Fr Averky]

My dear Professor,

I also am most sorry. It is just one of those matters of the heart. You are in the Greek Orthodox Church, and although I could say many things about the Greek Church, I have great respect for it as Mother of the Church of Russia, and try not to express my thoughts.

We at our monastery have had Greek visitors who have trashed the Russian Church, making fun of our traditions and telling us how wrong we are, so I am rather sensitive about that. When I was a novice, there was a monastery in Boston under our bishops which is named Holy Transfiguration, whose &#34;Elder&#34; is Fr. Panteleimon.

Although they had been taken in because they were aginst ecumenism, and treated with honor and respect, they did everything to undermine us by lies and intrigues. They attacked everything Russian at any opportunity, and questione the ecclesiology of our holy bishops becuse they refused to accept their fanatic view that all New Calendar churches are heretical and devoid of grace. We have never said that, and we have never believed that. They sent out a publication which denounced other churches, causing a strain with other jurisdictions. Being accused of gross immorality, the &#34;elder&#34; took his followers and tried out bishops until they managed to have their own, and now they are the only true Orthodox Church in the world.

Many converts were very enamored of them , for they chant beautfully, do services well, make wonderful incense, and for years flooded the market with their wooden pseudo Byzantine icons. I too loved them until I came here and saw the work of real masters of color, design and technique. The two monasteries visited back and forth, and there, the people touch and kiss all the icons on the iconostasion before receiving communion. having been there, our younger monastics started to do that here, and our bishop kindly asked us not to, because the old Russian monks were horrified., and that the Greeks do things &#34;differently.&#34; But when we were there, the Greek monks would call our icons &#34;vapid,&#34; our monasticism &#34;weak,&#34; our education poor-and full of errors. We have been told similar things by others. But I must add, we have hadmany wonderful, pious and sincere Greeks who come here, and no matter how we are treated, we try to be kind and hospitable.

Thre is an Old Calendar group in this country which does the same thing, while to our faces professing love and brotherhood. Last Summer, a man who is half Russian, his mother is an aristocrat, spent time with a monk in our Church. They went to visit the monastery of an Old Calendar bishop from New York who wines and dines our bishops, but not knowing my friend is Russian, spent their visit telling our monk to leave us and not waste time with the &#34;stupid and backward Russians,&#34; Being gentlemen, they remained silent through three hours of verbal abuse of anything Russian.. it is so insulting, because we love Byzantine chant, we use it on some feasts, we study Greek, so you can see why such a remark would get to me.

The Church of Russia is most disturbed because Patriarch Bartholomew is being called by his flock in this country, &#34;The spiritual head of the world&#39;s 300 million Orthodox Christians.&#34; Of course, he is to be honored as Primus inter pares, but such a claim has tones of papal pretensions. In a letter to Constantinople, the Patriarch of Moscow and of All Russia, Alexis II reminded Constantinople that the Church of Russia is an autocephalous Church, many times larger than that of the Phanar. As you know, for a time Alexis II removed Bartholomew&#39;s name from the diptychs because of his interference in the Church of Estonia. Constantinople lost a court case, but refuses to give back properties belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate.

Such matters are upsetting, when Orthodoxy has lost so much ground and faces so many challenges, and yet cannot clean its own house. When I first approached Orthodoxy, I thought of it as a united whole-not a monolith, but of the same heart and mind. Yes, we do believe the same, have the same True Faith, have the same Nicene Creed, venerate the Theotokos and the same saints. Yet when so much time is spent in petty squabbling as to who does what wrongly or rightly if falls right into the hands of the Enemy. In matters of the Faith, there must be unity, but local traditions makes each local church beautiful and salvific for its own peoples.

I am in the Church Abroad, long attacked as &#34;schismatic,&#34; &#34;uncanonical&#34; by the OCA, we have actually had very good relations with the Greeks and certainly with the Serbians. When any of our clergy have applied to any other Church they were readily accepted in their rank, and we do the same. We too have had people who have cause us shame by name-calling-it all is a scandal., and sinful. In the end, we have our differences, but we are a family, with the same God the Father, His Son and Holy Spirit.

By God&#39;s mercy, open negotiations between our Church and the Moscow Patriarchate have been started, and Met. Laurus met with Pres Putin, who said, &#34;There canot be a full restoration of Russia until the two parts of its Church are united into one.&#34; We will have a Church-wide clergy -laity conference to discuss this question. May God grant that it will be peaceful, and that God will show us the right path for the future of the Russian Church.The two Churches have always ackowledged each other&#39;s Mysteries-it was the enslavement and the complicity of some with the godless authorities. That dark time is over, and we can hope that there will in God&#39;s good time be no Moscow Patriarchate, and no Russian Church in Exile, but simply The Russian Orthodox Church. Please pray for us. &#40;Go to rocor.org, click on English version, and read the interview with Bishop Kyrill&#41;

My dear Professor, we are both Orthodox, and whatever the weakness of our particular churches might be, God knows, and yet he send us his Grace. Let that be a point of unity between all of us on Monachos-I don&#39;t care if people have to write an icon with crayons, if that is all they might have-God will not be offended.

Love,

Fr. A.

[Fr Averky]

My dear sister
Effie,

Yes, I felt the same when I saw some of the newer churches in Greece. The services are all the more beautiful when you really feel that you are not in the world with all its ugliness and sinfulness. Gazing at you are brave champions of Christ, who expressed the Trinity in their lives. Since we stand, and women are on the left and men on the right, all the small roundels on the left side are of women saints, holy martyrs and Mathers, many the patrons of pious Russian who gave their widow&#39;s mites to help build the church-on the right the patrons of monks and helpers, a &#34;personal&#34; memory of those who helped to build this lovely structure in honor of the Holy Trinity.

When we were founded in 1930, two simple Ukrainian men, one a priestmonk, unhappy with the spirit of another monastery, received a bklessing to start a small brotherhood with the proviso that there would be services every day. They put $25.00 down on an old farm, which just had a shed, and were so poor that when they plowed a field the first time, one of them was the horse. After much labor, they managed to build a shed which was part barn, part chapoel. When a group of pilrims came for its blessing, someone left a candle burning while everyone had a picnic, and the modest little building burned to the ground.

They managed to buy an old inn across the road, and after WWII, more monks arrived, two future First Hierarchs, and several bishops. In one summer, the built the residence building, and at first, only the lower church was complete, and the old Fathers remembered that if it rained during Liturgy, it was hard to hear because of water plinking into pots and pans all over the place.

The main church, a cathedral, &#40; we have four&#41; because a bishop resides here, was consecrated in 1950, having been built by our monks and pious helpers. The bricks were a donation from a brickyard going out of businesss, and thank God, because the original plan was for red brick some say, and it would have looked gloomy against grey winter skies.

In 2000, in honor of its 50th anniversary our Metropolitan-just a novice when he arrived here in 1946, ordered a $250,000 restoration of the church, and everything was guilded anew with 24k gold leaf by a master from Russia. The entire church was cleaned by a young man who restores icons in the Phanar, a new runner was especially loomed in Belgium, and a new wooden floor was donated by the father of one of the monks.

We have two bell towers, the small one on the front of thechurch with 12 bells, and the large one, with alll sizes of bells specially cast in the Netherlands with icons on them in honor of the millenium of Russian Orthodoxy, and the larget bell weighs 13,5000 pounds. When the Metropolitan serves on Sundays and Feasts, he is met by deacon, candlebearers, and many servers, who escort him to the church, as all the bells ring out beautifully .

Pascha here is just beautiful, for we wear white, in the Southern Russian style, not red, like Moscow and among the Greeks. At midnight, as the Met. censes around the latar, three times, eadch time the clergy and singers singer the hymn a little louder, and then the Royal doors open and the Met., 12 priests, 20 deacons, 30 servers, all vestments of the same cloth and trim come out bearing small white candles. After we have processed around the church, the Met. intones &#34;Let God arise.. at the end, he holds up the trikirion and shouts HrIstos vos Krese! *and hundred of peoply shout back Voyistinu Voskrese! as all the bells peal joyfully-one knows for sure that Christ is truly Risen! Russians experience a joyful madness and the whole church is glittering with hundreds of candles and even the chandeliers seems brighter than usual.Come and pray with us.

I warmly invite any of you to come and visit us if you can. We have a modest guest house- &#34;Very Eastern European,&#34; which charges very little, and it includes meals at the monastery. As you can see, I love my home-but most of all one senses the grace of the prayers of so many who suffered the dark years of the revolution , leaving forever their Motherland, praying for those left behind and persecuted. St. John of San Francisco. many bishops and holy monks and ernest young seminarians, devoted priests have offered so many prayers for our suffering world along with old Babushkas, with their heavy boots and scarves, young families and quiet and attentive children &#40; the little boy in the photo and his little brother and sisters stand trough the entire 3 hour long Sunday service, and pray very attentively, never fussing or talking&#41; and one can sense it., as the soft gaze of the icons look out from heaven at us and we are at one with them in our Holy Orthodoxy.

Fr. A. &#34; a man of few words. &#34;

[Fr Averky]

Dear Catholic-could you use a name &#34;Catholic&#39; is like a generic, I have no sense of you as a person.

We do have the hours, such as terce sext and none, abut they are only about ten minutes long, so are part amain service. Before daily vespers, the Ninth hour is read. after Vespers is Matins, followed by the First hour. After morning prayers at 5:00a.m., the Third and Sixth Hours are read, followed by liturgy.

Since ours is a &#34;Working Monastery&#34;, with many duties and fewer monks, our tradition served by a priest and two people chanting. If there is a polyeleos, bells are rung just before it starts, and if people can, they go to church, help sing, hear the Gospel, get anointed, and go back to their duties. We publish a periodical in Russian every two weeks, so it takes a lot of work-we have wood shops, icon mounting shops, a hand book bindery, printing presses for our books, a folding room, a packaging and mailing room, a bookstore, a seminary, beehives, a truck garden and and icon painting studio, so we are very busy.

Our services are long: Saturday night vigil is from 3 hours to 3 and a half. Sunday&#39;s Liturgy can last over 3 hours, because it is almost always pontifical, which has many added ceremonial aspects. During the first week of Great Lent, we are in church from 5:00a.m,.until 1:45 p.m. with only a 20 minute break from 10:00 to 10:20., then from 7:00pm until 9:00 p.m. We eat only tea, boiled potatoes, bread, piclkes, pickled beets and sour cabbage and that, once a day. For Holy Week only a few hours a day are not spent in Church. Plus, we all have our own prayer Rule spiritual, and reading from the Scriptures. We are required to attend morning prayers and evening prayers. Half of the year is spent in Church.

That is all...

Fr. A.

[Richard McBride]

monochos: Icons

Dear Father Averky

Thank you for explaining the situation into which I had inserted myself. Again forgive my crude intrusion, but please understand that I have no part in those tribal games between ethnic groups. I am blessed that I am well received in my church. But I am not Greek, and I would be in terrible straights if I wanted to be treated as one. Probably, the worst thing I face is that the Greek Church cares not a fig for sub deacons, whereas the Antiochian Church does a good job of using them wisely.

Its all a matter of the trials with which one is blessed, Father. As long as one realizes what the trial if for, then one is learning. Happily, my trials are usually started with a 2x4 across the noodle, and there is little mistaking their purpose. How blessed we are to have such a concerned Parent to guide our lives out of the muck.

I know what you mean, however, about some of the Greek groups. The Cypriots get a bad name for their old calendar antics, and there is that bunch who are called Matthewites. But there are so many people who have suffered so long under one sort of suppression or another, that we must be patient with them. Especially we, who have had to pay nothing for this beautiful Orthodoxy which has been freely handed to us, which has been preserved by so many saints over the years. It is not at all enough to thank God &#40;actually the Theotokos&#41; for leading me here. The Greek and the Russian Orthodox can never be repaid for all they have been through to maintain the true Church. The Antiochians too have suffered so long under the Ottomans and now the Jews. And the poor Copts have been slaughtered by the Musliim for 1300 years.

So many saints.

But you are truly blessed Father, to be able to call home such a beautiful place. The Holy Spirit comes as a fair breeze from the lovely pictures of your Church -- even on the internet, His presence is powerful. I envy you being so often in the presence of such powerful Saints.

I have been following preparations for your Church&#39;s Synaxis with Metropolitan Laurus from Patriarch Alexi II. This is indeed a great thing. I pray that all goes well. You are also blessed that President Putin is such a good Orthodox.

God grant you many years, Father.

[Fr Averky]

Dear Prof. McBride,

Sparks often fly between us, but we have enough Christian love for each other to always come back, and make up. I never think ill of you personally, while I may not agree with you, but I have learned much from you.

Keep in mind, that for my being able to make it here, I had to give up so much-my people, my culture, my language, and my understanding of social intereaction and adopt a whole new one.

I know what it is like, when but for a moment, you know that you will never really be one of &#34;them,&#39; whoever they might be-and that is whether you want to or not. Russians and Americans are like oil and water, and they never can really understand each other, but Russians are very gracious, accepting you because you are Orthodox, and that is what really counts.

I am still very American, am patriotic, and fulfill all my obligtions to my country which I love with all my heart. I love my country which is ever willing to lend a hand, to tries to see good in others, and has so many rich gifts. It has its downside,but it is my land.

Yet, I have come to love the Russian people as my own. I understand them a little better than most. I have learned their language and their services and what is proper and what is not in Russian society, and I have grown as a person by all the love and spiritual treasure they have heaped on me willingly and patiently. Thus, if I feel they are being demeaned, it strikes my heart if it were my own family. Our Russians live a life completely surrounded and imbued with the life of the Church. Many are in church every morning at six, they know so many hymns, even movable one by heart, they pepper their language with holy words or thought. They never say &#34;I shall come to see you on Tuesday-they say, &#34;God willing, I shall...&#34;they understand the difference between having what we want and what we need, and even very wealthy people live very modestly, young people are very respectful to their elders and are obedient to their parents. Dr. McBride, not only is my home beautiful, I am surrounded by Orthodox people, and that is my life&#39;s blessing. I know that I am very unworthy that in my sinfulness, God has provided me a place like this-it has not been easy, it never was meant to be, but is has many consolations.

Forgive my lack of patience and love; it is my heaviest cross and is very hard to bear for I am proud and cold of heart.

Fr. A.

[Fr Averky]

Prof. McBride.
Just in passing:your remark had nothing to do with &#34;tribal games,&#34; although White Protestant Americans, present or former, like the British, think in terms of other darker peoples as being &#34;tribal&#34; like the Raj, the Indian nobility ivited to tea, could not really join the whites at all. Perhaps that is why Orthodoxy is of the
East...

The intital question was about Russian understanding of iconography, and that is what bothered me. I am over it, but did bother me because it sounded like a blind prejudice against Russian understanding of Orthodox ethos and praxis and appeared to be pointing a finger at &#34;guilty&#34; parties who &#34;chose&#34; to do something wrongly. Russians, even those in present day Russia, see their world through Orthodox Christian eyes.

Fr. A.

[Richard McBride]

Perhaps, if I were as adept at "pushing buttons" as I am at being smug, you could have a point, Father. But I am not intentionally pushing buttons -- in that controlling sense. I merely make observations, offer criticism, and accept rebuke as my due.

It is quite common, indeed anticipated, up to the sophomore year in architectural design courses, that students accept all criticism as being a personal affront. But design teachers critique the work, not the person. It takes that long for students to untangle themselves, their egos, from the small efforts they produce. I suppose there is much of that in sending messages to the list for all of us. Still, it is interesting to see how various people grow in their response to criticism -- and how some of us become puffed up when we are applauded.

In truth, I should be neither puffed up nor disheartened, nor indeed should I care that much, beyond taking what I may understand and using it to improve my vision -- which is always in need of repair.

I thank Father AVerky for the trouble he has gone to in correcting me. The only problem is that I desearve much worse.

[Catholic]

Father Bless!

I have enjoyed your account of daily life and activities at the monastery. I've heard of other houses which also keep bees. What is a polyelos (I don't know how to spell this) service, if you feel up to answering?

It is very interesting to learn of your prayer schedule and the food regimen. Wow! Only one meal a day, and so simple too.

[Fr Averky]

My dear Prof. McBride,

Sentiments are hard to figure; whatever reproach you might give me, I would gladly accept. But as I said, saying unkind things about my spiritual family and my Orthodox ethos does upset me. If I told you that rhe Greeks are responsible for throwing the entire Orthodox world into chaos, because one masonic Patriarch changed the calendar, in order to celabrate Chrismas with the Catholics and Protestants, and whose idea of Orthodox clerical wear was a grey suit and a Canterbury collar, when every other Patriarch was dead set against it, setting off years of fighting and recrimination and the open persecution of faithful Greek Orthodox, leading to the tragedy of multitudes of zealot groups causing the Church to be divided. And that prominent Greek Orthodox hierarchs have been in the forefront of the ecumenical movement, openly praying with not only Catholics and Protestants and Jews, but Shintoists, Buddhists, Aborigines, have participated in Pan-rfeligiouservice with a Greek Orthodx bishop carrying a holy Gospel in procession surrounded by androgenous young men lifting pots of incense, and that this convocation started by the participants walking through Australian Aboriginal &#34;holy smoke&#34;, participated in a Pan-religion communion service and featured a ceremony performed by a korean woman minister who claimed &#34;Christ as her Father and Buddha as her Mother.&#34; &#40; meeting of the WCC, held in Australia&#41; and betrayed the Church by agreeing to Catholic proposals, you might not like it., and be offended by my crude and insulting words. Please read on:

&#34;In the text below, I should like to discuss, by way of example, the agreement reached between the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of America and the National Catholic Conference of Bishops in America, on June 3, 1999 The Greek translation of the original text was made by Protopresbyter George Dragas, a professor of Holy Cross School of Theology in Boston.

1. Baptism rests upon and derives its reality from the faith of Christ Himself, the faith of the Church, and the faith of the believer.

2. Baptism is not a practice required by the Church, but is rather the Church&#39;s foundation. It establishes the Church.

3. Baptism was never understood as a private ceremony, but as a corporate event. The occasion for the whole community&#39;s repentance and renewal.

4. Continues point 3, and says that ;Since Baptism rests upon faith in Christ, since it is the basis of the Church,and since, moreover, it is the work of the community, this means that any recognition of Baptisms entails recognition of the Church in which the Baptism is performed. In the Agreed Statement we read: &#34;The Orthodox and Catholic members of our Consultation acknowledge, in both of our traditions. a common teaching and a common faith in one Baptism despite some variations in practises, which we believe, do not effect the substance of the mystery. The two sides each acknowledged an ecclesiastical reality &#34;in the other, however,much they may regard their way of living as flawed or incomplete.&#34;

&#34;The certain basis for the modern use of the phrase &#34;sister Churches is to be found in this point:

&#34;The Orthodox Church and the Latin Church are two &#34;sister Churches,&#34; because they have the same tradition, the same faith, and the same Baptism, even though there are certain differences between them.&#34;

5. The fifth point is that the authors of the Agreed Statement find fault with St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite, who, in interpreting the views of St. Cyprian of Carthage, St.*Basil the Great, , and the Second Ecumenical Synod, talks, ___as do all the Kollyvades Fathers of the eighteenth century__about exactitude and economy with regard to the way in which heretics are received into the Orthodox Church. ...However, even when the Church does receive someone by economy, this means that She effects the mystery of salvation at that time, precisely because the Church is superior to the Canons, and not the Canons to the Church, and because the Church is the source of the Mysteries, and, eo ipso, of Baptism, whereas Baptism is not the basis of the Church. The Church can receive this or that heretic by the principle of economy, without any implication that She recognizes as a Church the community that previousl baptized him. This is the context within in which St. Nicodemus interprets the relevant decision of the Second Ecumenical Synod.

&#34;The Church does not rest upon the Mystery of Baptism: rather, the Baptism of water, in conjunction with the Baptism of the Spirit, operates within the Church and makes one a member of the Body of Christ. There are no Mysteries outside the Church, the living Body of Christ, just as there are no senses outside the human body.&#34;

From this brief analysis, it is obvious how much confusion prevails in ecumenist circles regarding these issues. It is also obvious that Orthodox ecumenists understand the acceptance of the baptism of heretics-Catholics and Protestants, who have altered the dogma of the Holy Trinity, and other dogmas to mean accepting the ecclesiastical status of heretical bodies and, worse still, that the two &#34;Churches&#34; are united in spite of &#34;small differences...&#34;

From &#34;Baptismal Theology&#34;, a commentary written by METROPOLITAN HIEROTHEOS VLACHOS of Navpatkos and Hagios Vlasios.
Orthodox Tradition&#34; Volume XX Number 2 2003


As we Orthodox Christians in North America know, most dioceses of Churches whose bishops are members of SCOBA have ordered their priests not to Baptize any person who has been Baptized in the Name of the Trinity, because that person is already a &#34;member of the Christian Church&#34; and must be received only by Chrismation. One priest read me the letter he had received, from his diocese, threatening suspension or even defrocking to any priest who refused to obey the directive. The Elder Ephraim faced fierce reprimands from the Ecumenical Patriarch when he visited the Monastery of St. Anthony in Arizona because his monasteries were Baptizing converts.

This Consultation was a result of the infamous &#34;Balamand Agreement,&#34; and who gained ground? the Latins, while the Orthodox betrayed the teachings of our Holy Church. Metropolitan Hierotheos gives as his conclusion a sane and true Orthodox critique by Fr. George Dragas:

These recommendations will not win agreement of all Orthodox, and certainly not of those who are Greek -minded., and consequently, they are by their very nature, divisive....These recommendations and conclusions indeed, the entire Agreed Statement are the epitome of Western skepticism. Their acceptance by Orthodox theologians signals a deliberate betrayal of Orthodox views, and a capitulation to the outlook of Western ecumenism. This is something we should reject.&#34;

In an article from the publication &#34;Agios Kyprianos&#34; from the Greek Orthodox Shrine of Sts. Cyprian and Justina in Jersey City, NJ, Bishop Vsevolod of Scopelos, Ukrainian Orthodox Church, U.S.A.,Patriarchate of Constantinople states, in his his article
&#34;Reflections of Balamand&#34; says the following:


&#34;Let me be quite unequivical: I fully assent to these affirmations of the Balamand Statement. I genuinely believe that the Catholic Church And the Orthodox Church are Sister Churches and the &#34;profession of apostolic faith, participation in the same sacraments, above all the one priesthood celebrating one sacrifice of Christ, the apostolic succesion of bishops&#34; are fully present in both communities, and that the tragedy of our estrangement is that each has failed to appreciate the full value of the other.

I am not alone in this conviction. But it is by no means the unanimouus conviction of all Orthodox hierarchs and all Orthodox theologians! On the theological level, I have the impression that the Catholic consensus in favor of this affirmation is stronger, and certainly Pope John Paul II has stressed this understanding repeatedly.&#34;

Paragraph 13 and 14 of the Balamand Statements says:

&#34;One each side it is recognized that what Christ has entrusted to His Church, profession of Apostolic faith, participation in the same sacraments, above all, one priesthood...cannot be considered the exclusive property of one of our Churches. In this context, it is clear that rebaptism be avoided.&#34;

Agios Kyprianos
etoz B Teyxoz 4
A Trimno 1008



But who has the upper hand, Prof McBride? More Traditional Greeks, or the ecumenists? I have met many good , pious, and sincere Greeks who tell me that &#34;we are just the same as the Catholics.&#34; Our ignorant simple Russians might have painted Western icons, but they would never have countenanced such a betrayal of their holy Church. As we all know, there have indeed been times when Local Orthodox Churches granted economies, such as those that can be found in the Hapgood translation of Divine Services , which was completed just before the Revolution in Russia.

While it is true that in a very special limited and special economy, in order to bring thousands of Carpatho Russians and &#34;little Russians&#34; who had beeen forced into the Unia by Austria back to the Church, allowed people to join by confession and communion, and priests were received by &#34;vesting,&#34; but it has never happened again on a wholesale scale and not very much even in single circumstances. Again, many feel that to receive a former Catholic priest by &#34;vesting&#34; is stretching an econmy and recognizes that he was a priest in the first*place. An ordination would take not one minute longer!

So too, the economy of &#34;general absolution&#34; can be granted only under such circumstances as the bombing of a city during war, an on coming flood, fire, or some other real crisis with possible iminent death. In some Orthodox parishes in the U.S., it has become the norm, with &#34;optional&#34; personal confession with a priest. In some parishes, people never go to confession, but commune weekly.

The Church of Russia soundly condemned the ecumenical movement in its Sobor of 1948, but it was forced by the Soviet government in 1961 or so to join thje WCC in order that bishops, free of suspicion, could carry KGB documents all over the world. Today, a great internal struggle is going on, and only a few, but powerful diehards hold to ecumenist ideas, but a growing number of young bishops, monastics, priests, and almost all the faithful want out. Perhaps the influence of the Church Abroad will help move this along. How surprized the MP was when, with the fall of Communism, thousands of Christian &#34;missionaries&#34; saw suffering Russia as fair game, and her &#34;Sister Church&#34; of Rome, hastened to set up dioceses, after high level hierarchs prayed with them and gave them precious engolpians, More recently, when Cardinal Egan was enthroned as Archbishop Of New York, he is pictured in the &#34;Orthodox Observer&#34; with Orthodox bishops, wearing an engolpian prented to him.by one of them.


You know, I have mentioned these things, not to be insulting, but out of genuine concern for the integrity of our Church, and because as I said, we often call ourselves the &#34;Russian Greek Orthodox Church&#34; and it frightens us to see canonical holy bishops making such compromises. Dear Professor McBride, I could ask, &#34;Why is it that some very important Greek hierarchs, especially the highest of all of them, choose, as our beloved Mother and Great church, to permit , encourage and participate in actons which compromises all Orthodox Christians, when we need a true champion? This is very painful, and that is why we have stood to theside since the madness of the rise of ecumenism in the 1960&#39;s. Before that we served with all Churches except the MP and the Metropolia, and the Calendar was never an issue!

The Russian Church Abroad does receive people by Chrismation, but not with the idea that they are already members of the Church, but because particular situations demand *an economy. We have a local family in which the husband and wife were baptized as infantts into the Catholic Church. They then joined, and were &#34;baptized&#34; by the esoteric cult the Holy Order of M.A.N.S., then &#34;baptized into Orthodoxy by the deposed hieromonk Herman, who had been received by a false bishop in Queens, NY. When they came to our Church, the father, who had been a &#34;priest in the cult, wanted the whole family to be bsaptized properly, but the wife did not want to, so she was Chrismated. It goes without saying that we accept the Mysteries of all canonical Churches-the group in Boston under Panteleimon insisted on &#34;reallly baptizing&#34; people who had been baptized in any New Calendar Orthodox Church.this they did in direct disobedience to their bishops. They left us and became the present day &#34;H.O.C.N.A.,.&#34; which Herman recognizes as Orthodox.

One of our former convert priests, went off the deep end, and was re-baptized, re-chrismated, and re-ordained to the priesthood by a Greek Old Calendarist bishop in Montreal, because another fantatical priest convinced him that he was not really a priest because he had been chrismated, not Baptized! The fanatic had once been a monk in the now H.O.C.N.A. monastery Boston.

My dear Professor, we Orthodox face so much confusion, and very real dangers, so we really have to pray for each other and hold onto to our Holy Orthodox faith.

I was not being Sophomoric, Professor, my dear Brother, I know that I might quite often seem a little unhinged to you, and that I am an overly-sensitive tribal savage, who can teach you nothing that you, Owen and Daniel do not already know in your refined intellects, all to which I readily and publicly admit, and thank you, hoping you can teach me to be sane and more civilized, and even to perhaps jump start my feeble brain,but I am not stupid. &#40;smile&#41;


For almost 35 years I have known many people who were close enough to bishops or worked in diocesan offices, and myself served as a secretary, to know too much what quietly goes on. No matter what different jurisdictions might &#34;say&#34; about each other, their bishops have circumstances in which they consult with each other.

What is amazing, once I went with my bishop to a banquet at which the local Greek Bishop and Serbian bishop were present. After the official part was over, four of us were ushered into a small lounge where for over an hour, the bishops had a warm and very loving conversation, as if they were brothers, or the best of friends. I came along to translate the few words in English my bishop might not have understood. Then we went out into the dark of the night, with the barriers which keep us apart back in place.

When Patriarch Diodoros of Jerusalem came to Chicago, it was Bishop Iakovos of the Greek Archdiocese, who came up to our meek and shy Bishop, and speaking to him in Russian, introduced him to the Patriarch,and made sure our bishop was given a place of honor.

Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver who I knew from when he was chancellor of the Chicago Greek diocese told me that when he was last in Chicago, a priest took him to see our new cathedral, painted entirely by the aging Archbishop Alypy. He said that our bishop greeted him as a brother bishop, prepared lunch for him and the priest, and &#34;proudly&#34; showed them the church he leave as the spiritual monument to his love for God and his flock. Met. Isaiah said he was very moved...

I pray with all my heart that I will live to see those barriers come down, and our Holy Church be as it should be. What a spiritual power there would be-such Grace!

Dear Professor, let us never cease to forgive or pray for one another. I too take into consideration your words, and I will try to do better with your good prayers. Forgive me.

Fr. A,

[Matthew Panchisin]

Dear Richard Mcbride,

Russian Orthodox iconographers have "written" many icons for Greek Orthodox churches. Sometimes those icons are venerated in New Calendar Greek Orthodox Churches.

Sometimes those Greek Churches are of a modern architectural design by more western minded architects and not of traditional Byzantine design. I don't know how many there are in the Midwest, but I was just helping a Greek friend, "write" the Pantocrator and we had discussed the Churches structure at great length since it wasn't the most accommodating interior for the work at hand. I understand that during the 1950's or 1960's some modern influence was exerted. Not being an architect I was not counting the nuts and bolts, and how many traditional Byzantine elements had been missing. But there was no usual Dome (cupola), but there was some sort of a disk shaped skylight. A traditionally designed special place is usually reserved for one of the most meaningful symbols of our Orthodox faith, the icon of Christ Pantocrator, the glorified Christ reigning on His heavenly throne. With much difficulty, under the circumstances we did the best that we could. We are both afraid of such heights. So back in the studio Peter stared at me for what seemed like 5 minutes and said "We can't just sit here looking at each other nothing will get done. Whose brave enough to start? “Don’t worry about I already figured it out, Sara’s 14 year old daughter will start the initial writing and we will take it from there and if God will not permit us to do this then we won’t." From my understanding at this time, I just wanted to let you know you are very correct, I know not the proper word for the making of an icon.

In Christ,

Matthew P.

[Richard McBride]

Beloved of the Lord Father Averky

I am grateful for the deep love you have shown for me soul, and perhaps someday I may even rise to the level of your portrait &#40;of me&#41;.

But I must confess, your large picture of me is too kind, and I suspect you have confused my messages with someone else&#39;s -- clearly someone who is more worthy than I.

Otherwise, I hope this does not cause you to seek out and uncover my true wickedness. For even the Lord has not confronted me with the full wretchedness of my low estate. Indeed, I am not worthy of the effort.

As I have said earlier, I pray for the success of the coming talks between Moscova and ROCOR, and I pray that you are fulfilled in your good efforts before God.

richard mcb

[Matthew Panchisin]

Dear Prof Richard McBride,

I noticed that your &#40;Profile Does Not Exist.&#41; I hope you are well and still check in once in a while, since I thought many of your comments to be good hearted and quite colorful. Additionally, as you had mentioned, we are still left with no proper word to express the MAKING OF AN ICON.

I have been told that tradition has it that the first Icon of Theotokos painted by St. Luke was made of wax and mastic, known as &#60;&#60;spelaiotissa&#62;&#62;.

I don&#39;t know how St. Luke painted or wrote with wax and mastic, nor do I know the meaning of the word &#60;&#60;spelaiotissa&#62;&#62;. Perhaps it refers to a technique?

I await your good reply.

In Christ,

Matthew P.

[Effie Ganatsios]

Dear Matthew, can I say something here.

Without knowing which particular icon you are referring to I can tell you that icons of the Theotokos are given names in Greece and the ending of the word you are wondering about is &#34;tissa&#34; which is feminine and is the way these icons are named. Spilia means a cave, so it can be inferred I think that the name &#34;spelaiotissa&#34; means &#34;lady of the cave&#34; - perhaps this particular icon was found in a cave or perhaps St. Luke created it in a cave.

I will try and find out for you.

Effie

[Effie Ganatsios]

Mathew, I found the following information :

&#34;Monastery of Mega Spilaion: This monastery is built over a large cave, at the base of a large rock cliff. For this reason, it was named Mega Spilaion, or the Monastery of the Great Cave. It was founded in 362 AD over the spot where the icon of the Theotokos, painted by St. Luke, was found.&#34;

&#34;Moreover, St. Luke is recognized as one of the first iconographers of Christianity. He used his talent in art to depict the Virgin Mary holding the Christ-child. Upon seeing the icon, the Theotokos gave St. Luke her blessing to continue with the depiction, which he later completed and presented to the Mother of God as a gift. Currently, this icon resides at the Mega Spileion monastery in Greece. Participants of Ionian Village visit this monastery to learn about St. Luke’s contribution to iconography, as well as of the icon’s discovery after being hidden in a cave and guarded by a beast for so long.&#34;

Hope this has been helpful.

Effie

[Matthew Panchisin]

Dear Effie,

Thank you for the information!


Matthew P.