tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15860677.post8996953107586976588..comments2024-03-25T14:27:40.121-05:00Comments on Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength: Why I Like IconsWeekend Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10425001168670801073noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15860677.post-82282477668579563822007-05-23T10:59:00.000-05:002007-05-23T10:59:00.000-05:00The questioning looks you get from the Orthodox ar...The questioning looks you get from the Orthodox are simply to determine "who goes first". They don't want to butt in ahead of you. It's like arriving at your bus stop and not being sure if the person sitting beside you is getting off at the same stop, so you don't know whether to wait for her to get up or climb over her.<BR/><BR/>Anastasia<BR/><BR/>I've just discovered this blog, have read half a dozen posts fo far, and I love your writing and with my own were more like it. thank you!Anastasia Theodoridishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16092531121989260111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15860677.post-48587516563633594692007-05-15T15:21:00.000-05:002007-05-15T15:21:00.000-05:00I'm also fond of icons. You wrote a very nice ess...I'm also fond of icons. You wrote a very nice essay here. There are definitely three approaches that vary in their objectives. Protestant art tends to very much illuminate "life and teaching of Jesus." Catholic art tends to illuminate the "heart" of the faith. Orthodox icons attempt to illuminate the "spirit" of the person being represented. <BR/>My stepfather (rest his soul) was Russian Orthodox and I loved his church, and the icons, because icon artists take responsibility for illuminating the essence of the spirit of the saint. It's like a time machine because one feels in the presence of an old friend! As such, I think of it as venerating and paying respect to the memory of the spirit that lives on in Christ. Catholic art, which is my "home boy" art :-) is to me a journey within the heart of the Roman Catholic faith, which is the sacrifice of the lamb, the New Covenant, and the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Catholic art is like walking through the Apostles Creed, visually.<BR/><BR/>One of my hobbies is design and paint pictures of monstrances with the Holy Eucharist present.MMajor Fanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18231879006543780827noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15860677.post-39238190855014076262007-05-14T12:15:00.000-05:002007-05-14T12:15:00.000-05:00Hi MarkI don't mean to imply that the veneration i...Hi Mark<BR/><BR/>I don't mean to imply that the veneration is required for participation in the service or anything of that sort. I think I was probably clearest when I put it this way: "a commended practice, something very close to obligatory." <BR/><BR/>Whenever I've been at an Orthodox service, I was very much expected to join the line, to where people on either side of me would give me the look and I would end up in line anyway so as not to scandalize them, and I just skipped out on kissing the icon or relic or whatever the object of the day might have been. After awhile I just developed the practice of joining the line and skipping the veneration, though the good Archimandrite did tend to raise his eyebrows when he held out a relic or I went through the icon line and I didn't venerate. <BR/><BR/>I'm curious, are there any members of your church who do not venerate? <BR/><BR/>Take care & God bless<BR/>WFWeekend Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10425001168670801073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15860677.post-18079403066684365032007-05-14T12:03:00.000-05:002007-05-14T12:03:00.000-05:00Japhy: I love "Crown him with many crowns". Last ...Japhy: I love "Crown him with many crowns". Last time we sang that (Christ the King Sunday last fall) we had 3 sopranos in the congregation who could hit that spine-tingling descant line. Beautiful. (No, I'm not a soprano, much less up to hitting the descant, but I sure do enjoy it when I hear it.) <BR/><BR/>I'll have to admit the May Crowning of Mary seems strange to me. If I were there I'd smile and keep my mouth shut since I expect it's harmless, but it's so ... well ... fantasy, if you know what I mean. I don't fault the devotional spirit that gives rise to the practice; but still the practice seems kind of odd to me, that's all. <BR/><BR/>Take care & God blessWeekend Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10425001168670801073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15860677.post-47581723782795991412007-05-14T09:52:00.000-05:002007-05-14T09:52:00.000-05:00I've only been attending an Orthodox parish regula...I've only been attending an Orthodox parish regularly since September but I don't think it's "required" to venerate the Icons after service. In the time before I and those of my family were comfortable with it nobody made any sort of comment at any time about that. I'm just saying I don't think it's "required" in the way you seem to think it is.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10837999838469082203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15860677.post-60629747968694642072007-05-14T08:26:00.000-05:002007-05-14T08:26:00.000-05:00I like icons too. The thing that always strikes m...I like icons too. The thing that always strikes me as odd about them is the anachronisms! Things like the baby Jesus holding a cross or a scepter. I know the artist wasn't trying to be "accurate" in that sense, but was probably following the amazing examples in the book of Revelation of multiple symbols coming together through time and space.<BR/><BR/>The first time (and so far, only time) I attended an Orthodox Divine Liturgy, the "veneration line" at the end of the Liturgy surprised me, too! Looking back on it now, it's not that different from what Catholics do on Good Friday, venerating the Crucifix: we come up in procession and venerate it however we see fit: some genuflect, some kiss it or touch it, some bow, some cross themselves.<BR/><BR/>I think it really comes down to our human element, our need for the physical, which we know can never replace or fill our need for the spiritual. I attended a May Crowning last week; adorning a statue of Mary with flowers is not idolatry or worship, it is an expression of our earnest spiritual desire to render the same service to Mary herself.<BR/><BR/>There's a hymn, "Crown Him with Many Crowns" (<A HREF="http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/r/crownhim.htm" REL="nofollow">link with audio and lyrics</A>) (cf. Rev 19:12). Would that we could place crowns and robes upon Christ's head and shoulders, and hand him the scepters of all the rulers of this earth! Our desire for the spiritual reality, because of our human nature, calls for a physical representation of that reality.<BR/><BR/>I have an icon similar to the one you've shown on my new <I>The Cross Reference</I> "business card".Jeffrey Pinyanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08758581112217835988noreply@blogger.com