SHE'LL BE COMING AROUND THE MOUNTAIN WHEN SHE COMES!

About a year ago, when I brought home the magnificent icon of St. Sebastian, written by Mother Iliana of the Christ the Bridegroom Byzantine Monastery, asked if I had another saint that I wanted because people were asking about commissions and there would be a waiting list.  (There is a waiting list now measured in years.)  I asked for St. Joan of Arc because I was ordained on her feast day and my class took her as our patron.

I received a phone call about a week ago that said that St. Joan was ready and that I could come pick her up!  Fr. Anthony and I, feeling a little housebound, jumped on the chance for a road trip to Burton, Ohio where the Monastery is.  

When we got there, the sisters were not quite ready to greet us so we went to visit the shrine which was technically closed (and VERY muddy) which made it nicer for us to pray.

The monastery is under quarantine by order of their bishop so we couldn't go in so Mother Iliana brought Joan out to us.  

 Here is just a glimpse of St. Joan.  I don't want to completely reveal her until her feast day.

But let me say this - this is a phenomenally gorgeous icon!  Well done!  I love it and am looking forward to praying with it!  It is the same size as our St. Sebastian icon which stands at the front doors of the church currently to remind to pray through the intercession of St. Sebastian who is the saint to invoke against the spread of contagious diseases.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: BUT IS IT ART: RULES OF THE GAME

So far the subject of what is Beauty and the question of whether beauty is necessary for something to be called art has been avoided.  What we have done is clarified that some people have a broader interpretation of art than others.  Some will include almost anything and the other extreme (where I find myself) would say that, while not denying that many things may still be of great interest, the actual category of “art” is comparatively small.  The matter of beauty being in an object compared to how a person receives beauty has been explored.  Differenting world views have been acknowledged.  Great talent vs great art was bandied about.  These distinctions can help a person see why one person is enamored with a piece of art while another thinks he is an unsophisticated idiot with more money than brains.  Is one wrong and one right?  Well, that depends.  What are the rules for engagement?

If you are going to judge Icons, for example, and someone paints one with Western sensibilities and ideas of beauty, will you let it into the competition or by the rules of the contest, is it clearly not a true icon?  It depends.  It can beautiful in itself.  It can be perceived by some as beautiful.  But is it beautiful as an icon?  Is it a failed icon?  Is it a failed Western painting?  How much is in the receiver and how much is in the object?  Am I too narrow minded or too broadminded?  Maybe it is art but just the wrong kind of art - or maybe it just isn't really that good in the first place and we are waisting our time debating it.

So what is beauty?  I have a lot riding on this question in my priesthood.  As a priest I am afforded, under certain restrictions, to have a non-hereditary coat of arms so OF COURSE I had mine made up.  (I mean, who wouldn’t?  Really?)  - actually, plenty of people - but I think it’s cool so there’s that - ANYWAY, my motto is “Tandum Pulchritudine Salvabit Nos” which means roughly, “Ultimately Beauty Will Save Us.”  This formulation of this idea I received from the late, great Fr. Benedict Groeschel while on retreat with him at the Trinity Retreat House.  There is more to beauty than feelings or ideas of balance in that these things are not what make something beautiful but are characteristics of that which is beautiful.

Okay - as we get the heart of the matter - do you notice I am getting wordier?  It is like walking a path in the woods at night.  You know the path and feel when you are on it and when you are off of it but instead of just pointing at the trail and saying, “There!” you must describe how to tell when you are on the trail and when you are not.  So . . . as I have been long promising, next week we will look more closely at beauty (not necessarily if it is connected art yet.)

GUEST BLOGGER: I CON SEE YOU

Today's guest blogger is 13 year old David Beatty of St. Sebastian who gave this presentation when we unveiled the new icon of St. Sebastian written by Sr. Iliana of Christ the Bridegroom Monastery, in Burton, OH, to help us celebrate our 90th anniversary:

The Creation and Spirituality of Icons

The Panel

The panel is traditionally of wood. Plywood or MDF (medium density fibre board) is often used as cheaper options, especially for large panels, but the longevity of these as a support is unknown. We know that icons on wood have survived many centuries but MDF and plywood are inventions of the twentieth century so only time will tell. The board is sized with an animal based glue and allowed to dry.

The Ground

This is made of gesso, which is the Italian word for gypsum, or calcium sulphate. The gesso is made by mixing the gypsum, or whiting powder, in an animal based glue such as rabbit skin glue or gelatin. Several coats of gesso are then applied with a brush and allowed to dry between coats. Usually at least 8 coats of gesso are needed to make a good ground.
The ground is then smoothed with an abrasive paper or scraper. The resulting surface is white and smooth and is the only suitable surface for painting in egg tempera.

The Drawing

A line drawing is made of the icon to be painted and this is transferred to the gessoed panel by coating the back of the drawing with a powder pigment and tracing with a suitable instrument. The drawing is then brushed over with ink to make it more stable for painting.

The Gilding

Usually the haloes and (if required) the background are then gilded. This may be oil gilded (using transfer gold) or water gilded using layers of bole (a type of red clay) and gold leaf. In either case real gold is used. Water gilding allows tooling (embossing) of the gold and finishing with olipha. If oil gilding is used then the icon may be finished with shellac or a proprietary varnish.

The Painting

The icon is painted with pure powdered pigments, mainly earth colours, which are mixed (tempered) with egg yolk. The dark colours are painted first and then the lighter colours are added. Any very small gold details are then added. Finally the face and hands are painted – this brings the whole icon to life.

Finishing

The icon is then allowed to dry for a few weeks and is then be coated with a varnish for protection. The varnish is usually olipha, which is a mixture of refined linseed oil and stand oil.

An icon can be viewed as just a piece of art or it can be viewed as a spiritual work of grace created for the glory of God. The simple creation of an icon is not complete without constant prayer during the creation and finishing of an icon. It’s not just art and it should be viewed as such; a symbol of love for our lord.

Icons have had a place in Christian worship as early as we can establish. In the broader sense, icons may be found in basic wall paintings, graffiti of crosses and symbols on ancient tombs, to magnificent frescos, icons and stained glass windows in churches and cathedrals.

“In the beginning was the Word,” wrote St John. “He is the image [ikon in Greek] of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation,” wrote St. Paul. We meet him still in both word and image. Icons may be beautiful, but they do not exist just to add a little color or a special atmosphere to the rooms they happen to be in. They’re there to help us pray. An icon that isn’t being used in prayer is like a musical instrument not being played or a cookbook that never gives birth to a meal.

Praying before an Icon is just the same as praying before anything else like a crucifix or an altar. Although with the icon the preferred position of prayer is known as the Orant. This is to expose your body in heart mind and soul to the spirituality of the icon.

No icon is ever prayed the same way. As the icon is created different prayers are used specific to what the icon is an image of. The wood base is used to symbolize the cross and crucifixion of our Lord, the simple earthly colors display the pain and plainness during the time he was dead, and the gold symbolizes his glorious resurrection.

No less than the written

word, an icon is an instrument for the transmission of Christian tradition and faith. Through sacred imagery, the Holy Spirit speaks to the believer, revealing truths that may not be evident to those using only the tools of reason. And this is one of the most important aspects of the spirituality of icons, that they teach us that dogma, which is the revealed knowledge of God, is first and foremost beautiful. The icon gives us the sight of the saints, and reveals Christian dogma, such as the Trinity and the Incarnation, as being extremely beautiful.

The ecumenical council of 787 AD stated that the Icon was equal with Scripture, since it instructs with shape and colour in the same way as Scripture with words. Thus, icons do not simply attempt to instruct us about the life of Christ or the saints depicted, but they instruct us in the Theology of the Church. And the eyes, posture, colour and gesture come together to point to Theological truths.

The spirituality of icons also results from the fact that the icon is silent. No mouths are open, nor are there any other physical details which suggest sound. But the silence is not empty. St Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, made the comment: “He who possesses in truth the word of Jesus, can hear even its silence.”

The above was prepared for St. Sebastian Parish by Mr. David Beatty, age 13, for the dedication of the 90th anniversary St. Sebastian icon.

ROAD TRIP

So yesterday I wrote to you that I was going to be away from the parish most of the day with two of the seminarians who are staying at and working for the parish over the summer to go to Christ the Bridegroom Monastery to visit the sisters there and check on the progress of the St. Sebastian icon.  It is over in Burton, Ohio surrounded by an Amish community.  We passed a couple of buggies on our way.

We had lunch and chatted and then Sister Iliana FINALLY asked, "So, do you want to see the icon?"  It was killing me being polite while the anticipation built.  So we made our way to the icon room and got our first glance of St. Sebastian.

It is marvelous.  Better than I hoped.  But it isn't done yet.  She has to wait several months before putting on the last coats.  Everything needs to dry.  She was concerned about a delivery date but I assured her that we actually don't NEED it until 2018, the 90th anniversary of the parish.

On a whim she painted the background blue which turns out to be fortuitous.  The church building of St. Sebastian is largely blue in the interior due to the first pastor's devotion to the Blessed Virgin.  So that just turned out cool.

Across the street is a shrine dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  You can go visit it yourself.  A number of people visited it while we were there praying and looking around.  The first thing that you come across is this church.  It doesn't look like much from the outside but the inside is pretty cool and conducive to prayer.

Then you take a long walk back to the outdoor shrine.  

This is the main shrine on the property but there are many more minor shrines such as to Fatima and Lourdes.  Some of it is in disrepair but the community seems to slowly restoring it to what it once was.

Then there are these bells.  I need them.  I promised not to make too much noise but I had to ring them at least once and Sister was kind enough to let us have at it.

SYMBOLIC SATURDAY - ICON AND NOW YOU CAN TOO

A continuation of a look at icons.

To those in the west, particularly those who have not had much contact with or understanding of icons, they can be seen as, well, ugly. In any even, they are certainly not of the same ilk as westernized art that has tended to be sumptuous and somewhat realistic. But icons are not intended to appeal to our senses in the same way that Western art has tended to do. They are trying to do something different.

Rather than copy the world, there is a spiritual reality that is trying to be brought to the fore. Rhythm and pattern replace material reality, dogma is emphasized over faith, and anatomy is by and large ignored. It is the concept that is important, not the appearance.

Detail is minimal. Only that which is indispensable for understanding is retained. This is the ideal world transfigured by faith. In this world there is no such thing as perspective. Size has more to do with the importance of the persons depicted rather than how far or near they are to the viewer. Time becomes relative as before and after can be seen together and the supernatural light in which they are bathed casts no shadows. The flatness of the figures takes us out of world of bodies. However these are not attempts of art that are more primitive thereby causing these aberrations, but highly calculated symbolic art that has a definite message to get across.

Icons are read much the same way that statues are read (top to bottom) though some of the symbolic language may be different. For example it is sometimes difficult to tell if a person is inside or outside a building. A general rule of thumb is if there is a cloth draped over the buildings in the background the person pictured is inside. If not, they are outside. Also, notice Mary is always pictured with Jesus. If Jesus is not in the icon with Mary He is depicted in an icon to her left. It might be handy to pick up a book on icons if you want to know more about their unique symbolic code.

If you have the opportunity to go to a Divine Liturgy or to visit an Eastern Rite parish, you will notice an icon screen between the nave of the church and the sanctuary. In the Roman Church this became the altar rail while in the East there developed an iconostasis. This is a kind of wall or screen on which there may be a number of icons. Remembering from last week that to look on an icon is to be looking on and contemplating the heavenly realm, one can appreciate the beauty of gazing upon this while the celebration of the Church is making present the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity during the Divine Liturgy, Jesus descending from heaven and coming to his people as it were.

I am afraid that I am not an expert on icons and I’ve almost exhausted everything that I know about them over the past couple of weeks. But I hope it gives you some insight into the special and very important aspect of the Catholic faith.

SYMBOLIC SATURDAY - ICON SEE YOU

The icon that you have hanging on your wall is more probably a copy of a true icon than an icon itself. A true icon should be made after prayer and fasting. They are created on wood that was primed with glue mixed with chalk. Gold leaf is applied over a red or dull yellow base over which tempera paints are applied then gold details and finally a transparent varnish. Most of the ones we see are prints plastered on wood.

Icons are in a class of Church art all their own. In fact they are part of the Tradition of the Church and have very legislation governing their appearance. Unlike much of Western Church art that can be fairly fluid depending on what a particular artist is trying to get across, producing an icon is much closer to writing out Scripture, there is not the artist’s trying to emote something he feels about the faith, it is rather a bringing to life of a strict language of faith.

Often those of the Western Church fail to see the significance of icons. It should be noted that they are not mere pieces of art. For example a painted picture of the Virgin Mary and an Icon of Mary and Jesus are two very different things indeed! Though we treat sacred images with the kind of respect we might treat a portrait of an honored member of our family, because icons are tools used to incarnate divine and not sensual matters, they deserve the kind of respect that we would offer, for example, the cross on Good Friday or as when the priest kisses the Gospel at mass.

One does not venerate the picture itself or the materials from which it is made, but the ideal that lies behind. That is why icons can look so odd to western eyes. It is not this world that it is trying to present, but the next. One Byzantine priest explained to me that when one gazes upon an icon, one should look through the eyes of the saint depicted into heaven itself. For these reasons icons are to be treated with more reverence than other pieces of sacred art.

More on icons next week.

Some information for this post came from Michael Schauzer’s article, “Driven to Abstraction” in the July-August 2007 edition of “This Rock”.