Greek inscriptions on icons

[Tom Denich]

Does anyone have a clue as to how the practice of writing memorials and the like at the bottom of Greek icons? Most hand written icons from Greece have a lot of stuff written along the bottom.

Any ideas?

[Olga]

Interesting question, Tom. I assume the dedication you’re talking about is a paragraph running into several lines and clearly visible at the bottom of the icon. It seems to have arisen in more recent centuries, and is analogous to the dedication panels at the bottom of “memorial” stained glass windows found in western churches.

The most common examples I’ve come across have the text enclosed in a distinct panel, often of a flowery, baroque form. It’s not just the Greeks who’ve done it, there are plenty of 17th-19th C Slavic and Romanian icons with the same treatment.

Occasionally, words are written within the whole border of an icon, though in this form, the text is usually either of a hymn, or a quote from scripture, or perhaps a writing or prayer associated with the saint depicted on the icon. If the border is narrow, and the lettering small so that it does not dominate the icon proper, I can’t see much wrong with this. After all, the words of the troparion sung at Vespers of Great Friday “Noble Joseph” are embroidered within the border of the Burial Shroud/Epitaphios/Plashchanitsa.

Here are my musings, for what they’re worth (as always, I am happy to be corrected):

1. Ideally, the only inscription on the icon should be the one denoting the saint or feast on the icon.

2. The iconographer should not sign his name on the icon, as would a conventional artist. Signing “by the hand of” is, in my opinion, only slightly less unsatisfactory (though even the great Photios Kontoglou had a habit of doing so ...). For a portable icon, it has been common practice for many centuries for the iconographer to sign or write his name on the back of the icon, and/or some reference to the person or family who commissioned the icon. No problem with this, as such inscriptions are not visible when the icon is hanging or on a stand.

3. Many portable Greek icons have an inscription in small lettering of the name of the monastery from where the icon was painted and the year the icon was painted, often in the old Greek numbering, though, occasionally, the more familiar Arabic numerals are used. This is a far better alternative to “by the hand of”, as it simply denotes provenance by locality and date, and the iconographer remains anonymous. In the case of mass-produced printed icons, any copyright references MUST be on the back. Thankfully I don’t recall seeing any ©s on the front of any icons I’ve come across, I would be apoplectic if this ever happened.

4. Many Greek mural icons and iconostasis icons have a small inscription usually in the bottom left-hand corner (no frame surrounding it) acknowledging patronage. The wording would be “Deesis (offering) ...” or “Dorea (gift of) ...” and the name of the donor (individual, couple or family). A variation would be “Eis mnimin (In memory of) ...”, with or without the donor’s name. I remember when a Greek church in the city I live in was being painted in the mid-1980s, there was a list of the proposed icons at the candlestand, with the cost of each panel. Whoever put up the money for a particular icon was entitled to have an acknowledgement in a corner of the icon. Interestingly, quite a few of the panels had no such inscription, so the donors must have chosen to remain anonymous. Such inscriptions should be as unobtrusive as possible, and the scale of the lettering should be significantly smaller than that which is used for the main inscription denoting the saint or feast. Ideally, the dedication inscription should only be legible at very close distances, illegible at normal viewing distance.

In short, if there is to be a dedicatory inscription, it should be as unobtrusive as possible, in a bottom corner, and with minimal wording, no more than “offering/gift of XXX”, or “in memory of XXX”. Dedicatory inscriptions running into several lines (which generally extol the virtues of the donor or the deceased being commemorated), particularly surrounded by a border which draws attention to it, are to be avoided if at all possible. An icon is not a vehicle for the aggrandisement of the donor or patron. (Matt 6:1-7)

Hope this helps.