Understanding Ancient Iconography

From: Subject: Understanding Ancient Iconography Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 15:17:11 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; type="text/html"; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_001C_01C7D518.32CA5240" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3138 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_001C_01C7D518.32CA5240 Content-Type: text/html; charset="windows-1251" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://gnisios.narod.ru/ancienticon.html Understanding Ancient Iconography

Icons

Understanding = Ancient=20 Iconography
by=20 Archpriest Boris Molchanov

      In the Synod = Cathedral in San=20 Francisco, Archimandrite Cyprian has painted the iconostasis and = complete=20 interior according to the traditions of ancient Moscovy and = northern Rus.=20 If we listen to opinions concerning this iconographic style, then = along=20 with enthusiastic comments, unfortunately, one can also hear such = remarks=20 that testify to the ecclesiastical bad manners of secular critics = and to=20 their misunderstanding of the very principles of icon-painting.
      Making the demands of = icon-painting=20 that can only be made of secular art, incompetent critics look at = ancient=20 icons and observe in them a violation of the laws of perspective,=20 erroneous anatomy, non-observance of proportion ...
      For a correct understanding = of=20 ancient icon-painting, it is absolutely necessary to get rid of = the view=20 that it is some variant of secular painting. The principles of = secular art=20 and the principles of iconography are not only different but even = opposed.
      Secular painting depicts = the real=20 world, the three-dimensional world which is subject to the laws of = space=20 and time. Iconography depicts another world, a transcendental and = eternal=20 world where the laws of perspective, anatomy, fluctuation of light = and=20 shade are powerless. In iconography "there is no material nature; = neither=20 days nor nights nor gravity nor space in the human sense, nor time = ... The=20 terrestrial sun never rises and sets in the celestial land of = unutterable=20 Light. And that is why changes from one tone to another, in = colorful=20 combinations, are absent. ... And that is why the subjects do not = cast a=20 shadow, and we do not become aware of their weight, and their size = is not=20 subject to spatial perspective." (Serge Makovsky)
      For a correct understanding = of=20 icon-painting, it is necessary, first of all, to bear in mind that = being a=20 powerful subsidiary means of prayer for man, it must follow those = demands=20 whick flow from prayer and not those which flow from secular art. = Prayer,=20 according to ascetic rules, must be "unseen", i.e. not arouse any = clear=20 pictorial image in the imagination. An icon must be so painted = that it=20 stimulates only one reverential feeling of presence before the = Lord, and=20 not the imagination of the Lord Himself. (the same can be said = concerning=20 the portrayal of the Mother of God, the angels and the saints.) = Therefore,=20 whereas secular art is more valuable the more it arouses a vivid = picture=20 in the beholder, iconography is more valuable the less it acts = upon the=20 imagination of the person praying.
      The second ascetic rule of = prayer=20 is abstention from every attempt to attract one's heart to = participation=20 in it by means of artificial arousal in the heart of premature = conditions=20 of special compunction or a sweet feeling of divine grace. One = absolutely=20 ought not to be concerned with tender sentiments during prayer. = They come=20 by themselves without any of one's own efforts, exclusively by the = action=20 of God's grace. The main concern during prayer must only be full=20 concentration of attention on the contents of the prayer. The Holy = Fathers=20 say that one's whole mind must be devoted to every word of the = prayer. And=20 in the course of time, such attention to prayer brings the heart = into=20 participation. The only feeling during prayer that is recommended = by the=20 ascetic rules is weeping and contrition for one's sins. A contrite = awareness of one's sinful infirmity leads one to humility and = repentance,=20 that is, to that which is the necessary condition for correct = spiritual=20 perfection.
      Now such ascetic restraint = upon=20 one's imagination and the stirrings of one's heart during prayer = is at=20 first achieved in a dry, tight and narrow way. But, according to = the words=20 of Christ, it is only by the "strait gate" and "narrow path" that = one can=20 enter the Heavenly Kingdom. Our natural forces, corrupted by sin,=20 untransformed by the grace of God, cannot lead us to true feelings = of=20 sanctity. In their place, one erroneously often takes the flushes = of blood=20 and nerves for prayerful ecstasy. Such flushes have nothing in = common with=20 a genuine state of grace. The real presence in our heart of the = grace of=20 God is characterized by amazing peace, but not by flushes (Gal. = 5:22). The=20 voice of God is the voice of a "gentle breeze" (3 Kings 19:11-12), = and not=20 of excitement.
      In complete conformity with = this=20 rule of prayer, iconography must not be concerned with the = portrayal of=20 the spiritual state of holy persons. Feelings of holiness and = states of=20 divine inspiration must be unknown to the humble iconographer, = imbued with=20 an awareness of his own sinfulness.
      When secular painters, = unacquainted=20 with the ascetic rules and not having humility, daringly attempt = to depict=20 states of holiness only on the basis of their imagination, then = instead of=20 divine inspiration, an unhealthy hysteria inevitably results upon = the=20 canvas. It is well known how one talented painter who attempted to = portray=20 the feelings of the holy apostles at the moment of the descent of = the Holy=20 Spirit, as a matter of fact depicted an ecstatic dance of pagan = priests=20 and not the divinely inspired state of the holy apostles.
      The only state which prayer = and the=20 prescribed form of an icon permit is humility and repentance. The = bent=20 figures of saints, the ascetic sternness of their faces, the = prayerful=20 inclination of the head and position of the hands - all this = wonderfully=20 evokes penitence and the seeking of the Heavenly Jerusalem.
      The ancient icon = constitutes one=20 indissoluble whole with the church and subordinates itself to the=20 architectural design. Therefore, in almost all ancient icons, "in = keeping=20 with the architectural lines of the church, mortal figures were = sometimes=20 excessively rectilineal; sometimes, on the other hand, they were=20 unnaturally curved - in conformity with the lines of the arch. = Being=20 subject to an urge upwards for a high and narrow iconostasis, = these icons=20 sometimes became excessively elongated, the head being = disproportionately=20 small in comparison with the body, later becoming unnaturally = narrow in=20 the shoulders with the emphasis on the ascetic exhaustion of every = figure=20 (Prince Eugene Trubetskoi).
      The design of an icon = conveys one=20 of the central ideas of Orthodoxy. "In that supremacy of = architectural=20 lines over the human figure, which is observed in it, is conveyed = the=20 subordination of man to the idea of the church, the predominance = of the=20 ecumenical over the individual. Here man stops being = self-sufficient in=20 his personality and is subjected to the general architecture of = the whole"=20 (Prince Eugene Trubetskoi).
      The first powerful stimulus = which=20 made the Russian people acept Christianity was the beauty of = Orthodox=20 churches. The envoys of the holy Prince Vladimir, as the chronicle = relates, standing in the cathedral of the Holy Wisdom in = Constantinople,=20 could not say where they were - in heaven or on earth. And this = unearthly=20 beauty, which affected the Russian people on the threshold of = their=20 Christian history, became the main inspiration for their = subsequent church=20 culture. In no other area of spiritual culture did the Russian = people=20 attain such high achievements as in the area of iconography, = ancient=20 example of which are now recognized as an unequalled contribution = to the=20 world treasure-house of art.

From Orthodox Life, Vol. 27, No. 4 (July-August 1977), = pages=20 41-43.

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