Icons

Welcome back Me!

A perfect swimming 'hole'

I spent two weeks on a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. The water is every bit as beautiful as you see in all the promotional photos, and more. This will not so much be a travelogue as on Icons. One thing I found out is that there are little chapels all over the island of Milos. I doubt it is unique in this quality, but I don't know. Churches too. Most of them were unlocked and you could stop in for a quick prayer any time of day.

Typical screened front. The alter is behind the doors

I have been contemplating taking an Iconography class this summer from a Greek Iconographer who is coming to do this workshop. It is an intense program, lasting 5 days I think it is, and full days. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. And only finishing one smallish icon.

With this in mind, I was paying attention to the icons. My first impression is that so many of Jesus and especially the saints, looked so dour. The overall images could be beautiful but still not something that would inspire me. I realize showing a peaceful or holy continence is not necessarily easy. The ones I tended to gravitate towards mostly had an enigmatic smile.

Here is one that I found on a book cover of all places, but really felt an affinity towards. It is called the Blue Angel. The artist has a shop on Oia, Santorini which we did visit. He was there the two times we stopped in to see his shop and studio and he never once said a word to us!

I wish I knew more about who the saints were. This saint above I started to recognize by his robes, his white hair and beard and always holding a book. He never 'looked' the same twice but by these symbols I learned to recognize him as he was in many of the churches and chapels I stepped into.

When in Athens at the end of my trip, I went to the Byzantium and Christianity Museum hoping to see some amazing Icons. This museum took you through the history of the Orthodox Church in Greece so it was a large collection dating back to the 2nd or 3rd century AD. Icons came rather later on that timeline. I did like the cartoons that the museum had on display and these were for large icons. Here is one of Mary and baby Jesus that had color added so it is easier to see. The tracing paper had thousands of tiny holes to transfer to the panels.

One of my favorite icons in this museum is not a typical one, if it is even an icon. It shows St Peter mourning his betrayal of Christ. It may be a painting on a panel from a church. I think I assumed it was an icon so really did not read the tag. He is more life like than is typical of iconography now that I am writing about it!

I am glad I went to this museum. It was well laid out and had not only religious artifacts but also how the early Christians lived, so included household items, jewelry, clothing, etc. I did not realize that hooks and eyes were in use as early as the 9th century, for instance. It was also like a little oasis in the sea of tourists that descended onto Athens everyday I was there from the cruise ships. There were people there but not many!