The Catalog of Good Deeds

An Icon is not just a painting with a religious meaning but rather a sacred image, which ascends to the Archetype; it is a window into a different, spiritual world.

The technique of writing an icon (icons are “written” not painted) originated from ancient times and must follow strict guidelines and requirements referred to as cannons. Along with writing the icon there are preparatory stages such as preparation of the wooden board, paints, the techniques of writing the icon and the fact that the icon must be similar if not identical to the icon samples from which one creates a new image

Traditionally, icons are written on a well-dried wooden board, which is prepared using a special method. First, several layers of glue are applied on the board, and then the canvas is glued on top of the board. The most common type of canvas attached is made out of linen cloth and serves as a joining agent between the gesso and the surface.

The next step is the application of the gesso. Gesso is a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, glue, and oil varnish. Sometimes instead of the oil, varnish honey is added. The gesso is applied which about 5-6 layers. It is important to have the surface fully dried after the application of each additional layer. Afterwards the surface needs to be polished and the areas where the gold leaf is to be applied must be extra smooth.

Once the board is ready, the drawing can be outlined on it. In most cases, iconographers use thin paper on which the image is already depicted to trace it unto the board. The more experienced iconographers will paint directly on the gesso.

After the image has been drawn on the wooden board, the gold leaf is applied unto the icon which by now is covered with either water or oil varnish. This step requires diligence and attention to detail. Usually the gold leaf is applied to the halo and the background of the icon.

Icons are not written with standard paints and iconographers must prepare the paints themselves. The paints consist of pigments - well ground minerals and a binding agent in the form of egg yolk. This mixture is combined with a liquid mixture using a 1:4 ration. The liquid mixture is usually beer of water with vinegar. The result must resemble a more liquid form of sour cream.

The colors are applied with a thin layer as the space on the icon must be able to “breathe”. Both large and small round paintbrushes are used in the process. Because every color has is significant in its symbolic meaning it is important for the colors to be clear and easy to identify.

The first aspects of the icon that are written includes clothing, buildings and background architecture as well as landscapes and everything else with the exception of the faces, hands and feet on the image. The technique requires a gradual brightening of the image, usually in about three steps. Each crease on the clothing of saints as well as the brightened colors imply transfiguration and immateriality of the fabric. The clothing symbolizes the good deeds of the saints and the return to God’s grace from sin.

The next step involves writing the faces, hands and feet on the image and is similar to the previous step but will require more layers and time. Finally, the image need to be drawn-through with cinnabar (red paint) and whitened to improve the sharpness and clarity of the image.

Assist is applied towards the end of the icon painting process. Assist is a thin golden drawing that is found on the clothing of Christ, Mother of God, and some of the saints, which signifies the Divinity in their essence.

Inscriptions and outlines are also very important in the creation of the icon. These two aspects are the final pieces to the puzzle. Only after the inscription is added to the image can it be referred to as an icon.

Then the icon need to be covered with oil varnish and polish. It is a very important step in the process and the icon needs to have fully dried by the time this part begins. Finally, the last step is the blessing of the icon. It is best to keep an icon in a wooden case (kiot) covered with glass. This will guarantee protection from various outside and environmental factors such as dust, smoke, humidity and temperature changes that can in one way or another damage the sacred image.

Article written by Daria Chechko

Icons from the Icon Painting Studio of St.Elisabeth Convent

Who can sing in English in our Convent? What is special about liturgical music in English? I asked some of the people who took part in the recording of Mystical Supper — the first CD album of the chants of the Divine Liturgy in English — to shed light on these issues.

Part One. An interview with Nun Maria. on the English Language and the Language of the Liturgy

Nun Maria, what does the Liturgy mean to you?

Liturgy is life. We are renewed by the Liturgy and we are revived through communion. When we take communion, all our divisions and strifes cease, the walls between us and God and between us and other people fall into pieces. The Blood of Christ renews us, and we all become one.

The Mystical Supper CD album is a recording of the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. St John said some very beautiful words about the Liturgy, "There isn't anything that exalts one's soul, gives it wings, lets it soar above the ground, releases it from dark chains, delivers a philosophy, or helps to achieve total contempt for earthly cares better than harmonious singing and guidance by the text of the Divine chants."

Yes, the value of choir singing lies in catholicity, in unity. Where there is unity, there is God. Of course, technically you can sing the Liturgy alone, on your own, but this is hard to compare. The sound of a choir, when people sing together and try to tune in to each other, is much better. It can be difficult at times because we all are different and each one of us is in a different spiritual state. However, we should exert ourselves to "synchronise" with each other, to seize that unity. It makes us closer to God and to each other. Unity with God and with each other is the purpose of the Liturgy.

Could you please tell about those who directly participated in the project?

The singers who took part in this project had not come from a certain choir of our Convent. The main selection criterion for them was, naturally, their proficiency in English. There were two sisters from the Monastic Choir, four brothers from the Festive Choir, Anton — a singer from the Male Choir, and Tatiana and Olga — one of them sings in the boarding home for children, and the other sings in other Minsk churches. Plus, Alexandra and Margaret — two MSLU undergraduates who sang in the student choir of that university — also participated in our choir.

Two of us knew practically no English — I mean Brother Konstantin and Nun Tatiana. Industrious people, they wrote Russian translations above the English texts in order to follow what we were singing. We all had to do a crash course in phonetics to level the variations.

Did you have any difficulties with translation?

We did not have to translate anything. The difficult part was in choosing one out of the many translations that exist. Since we sing in Church Slavonic, rather than Russian, in our church, we decided to choose a translation that would not sound too modern, a translation that uses…

The Shakespearean English?

No, not the language of Shakespeare, but a translation that uses some archaic and outdated words.

How did this idea come about? Why did people in a Belarusian Orthodox convent suddenly decide that they were to record church chants in English?

When we introduced our music CDs in Britain, people were asking, "Are they in English?" When we said that no, they aren't, we could spot the slight disappointment on the people's faces.

How did you choose the name for the album? Why not call it simply The Liturgy?

We tried to find a poetic name, which would sound equally good in Russian and in English, and be easily understood by all English speakers, be they Orthodox or Catholics or Protestants.

One of the chants has the following words, “Of Thy Mystical Supper, O Lord, may I today partake…” There is a tradition in some Orthodox parishes in Great Britain to sing this prayer during the communion, instead of the “Receive Ye the Body of Christ…” This is where the name of our album came from.

Click here to order a copy of
The Mystical Supper

Part Two. An interview with Konstantin Karmanov, the head of the audio studio of St Elisabeth Convent. On rehearsals, mutual aid, MIDI tracks, and other technicalities of creative process

How long did it take to release this album?

We did the first recording in 2010. A lot changed during this time: we changed mikes and some members of the choir… At times, I was beginning to think that this project would never end. It was when we were choosing the best takes during the editing stage that we felt we'd made it, in spite of all obstacles.

What were your rehearsals like?

By the time we could manage it for a rehearsal, we all were tired, having spent an entire day at work. Apart from that, I had to learn English. However, I saw how passionate everyone was to sing, to create, to be involved in our work, and this gave me strength.

Sure, it is hard to sing using manuscripts: some want to write down their own transliteration of the texts or make notes but there is no place in the music sheets to do that. This is why I decided to type this sheet music using a computer. In addition, we got MIDI tracks, which one could play and learn their parts independently. Not everyone needed them but some of us did. It was like a crash course in music for people whose main profession was not related to it. Naturally, we musicians explained all nuances and details – the things that every musician must know by default — to them as if they were kids. It sounded new and interesting to them. For us, professional musicians, this is a routine not unlike breakfast, lunch, and dinner; for translators and interpreters singing was like a real feast. The linguists, for instance, would change some words in the text because we could not always follow the written text to a tee. This exchange of knowledge during the rehearsals produced a unique experience.

We would record even in summer. Even though our linguists had exams and were getting ready for various contests, they still found time to come and sing with us. It was like: we gather for a recording session, and there is a thunderstorm outdoors. We would sing one take, wait for a thunderclap to pass, and then sing another one. You know, the proverb goes that there is no bad weather.

Some professionals visited us during our rehearsals and recording sessions. One of them was Nigel Rose, an Englishman. He is a choir director in his home country. Nigel listened to our singing and remarked that they never sang like this, that the way we sang was unprecedented.

Our first rehearsals made it evident that our singing was too amateurish. We made painfully slow progress: we had to gather seven or eight times in order to record just two chants. Nevertheless, recording sessions, or, more precisely, their inevitability, were the best motivation for all of us. As soon as I felt that it was time to do the recording, I would say, “Okay, let’s record it!” We met for recording sessions in the evenings: we would gather at around seven o’clock in the evening and warm up for the recording, which would go on until eleven, and sometimes even later. We liked to sing together.

What makes the Mystical Supper album so unique?

This album is unique because of the incredible creative approach and fresh treatment of familiar chants in a new and beautiful language. Originally, we took the church chants that are typical of our region and are often heard in the parishes of our Russian Orthodox Church but we adapted them to suit the liturgical English texts. We learned these chants at a leisurely pace, appropriated them by singing, and then recorded them. Our choir consisted of Slavic people who know English – a language that is very different from the original languages of these chants – well enough to sing in it. I assume that, as a result of this concerted endeavour, we managed to create an interesting church music sound mix, consisting of Slavonic church chants inseparably combined with worship texts from English church tradition.

I would like to highlight the fact that all these chants have a common nature and belong to one and the same cycle of the main Orthodox service – the Liturgy. This is very important because one could sing the Psalms, or specific concert pieces, or praise songs, but here we have liturgical chants taken from the regular rite of the Liturgy. The order in which they are recorded on the disc is the same order in which they are performed during the Liturgy.

Interview by Vadim Yanchuk

CLICK HERE TO PREVIEW THE ICONS FROM THE ICON CASING WORKSHOP

Visit the icon casing workshop

For more than 15 years, the Icon casing workshop has been operational in Saint Elisabeth Convent. All these years, day after day, brothers and sisters dedicate themselves to prayer and work: painting icons, embroidering shrouds, creating jewel casings and icon shrouds made of thin metal (foil, the copper, aluminium, brass) or cloth.

The tradition of decorating sacred images with luxurious casings, comes from ancient time. Long since, Rus has followed the example of Byzantnium where highly revered icons were covered with jewel casings.

However, icon casing should not be considered a decoration. Primarily, icon casing has deep symbolic significance – as an offering of gratitude to the Lord, The Mother of God, the saints for their eternal help and support. For Example, the glow of gold symbolizes Divine grace, white shade of silver represents holiness and spiritual purity, and natural gems personify numerous moral virtues.

Today, icon casing craftsmanship remains an equally important art for the orthodox faithful, just as it was hundreds of years ago.

Icon painters of Saint Elisabeth Convent icon casing workshop paint in various historic styles. The process begins with painting an icon. Over a chalk ground board the craftsman outlines the images. It is very important to note that our workshop will paint the icon in its entirety as opposed to the 19th Century approach where only the visible parts of the icon were painted.

Gold plating is performed with leaf-gold, acryl, oil, and tempera are used to paint (“write”) the icon and if the icon is painted in an open case, it is covered with “asist”. Then it is time to place the casing which is an overlay covering board over the multicolored layer.

The icon casing workshop is known for making luxurious casings out of different fabrics. First of all, the craftsman outlines the shape of the image on thin paper. This is the basis or the initial pattern. If we break down the casing layer by layer, we will see the following: paper, unbleached calico, thick cloth, flax. All components are glued together and embellished with velvet.

Then the casing is embroidered with pearls, beads and spun gold. Stitch by stitch, bead by bead… and there are no random components. Casing elements include consignment halos (decoration around the head), riza (part of icon casing, covering images of clothing), frame (covering the edges), and the background (metal framing).

The decorations include decorative plaque (small silver or gold rectangular or figure-shaped form plate with a cut out to attach the icon), stone bezel setting (metal frame around the stone).

One of the main tasks for the sisters and brothers in the workshop is to serve God, preserve ancient traditions and maintain high quality requirements. All the work is done manually, with prayer, and with strict adherence to Orthodox canons.

A Holy Fulfillment: The Old Testament and the Adornment of the Church

Any discussion of the theological importance of liturgical vesture within the Church is not complete without considering the place of the Old Testament Scriptures that specifically refer to garments used in Levitical worship. The primary scriptural references to the priestly garments of the old covenant are found in Exodus 25-36, in which God gives explicit instructions to the Prophet Moses for the outfitting of the Tabernacle as well as the garments to be worn by the priests. Indeed, these instructions read like technical notes, with emphasis given to how things are to be made: "The hem shall be interwoven with the rest, to prevent ripping" (Ex 28.27); what they are to be made from: "Gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet cloth; fine spun linen, and female goats' hair, ram skins dyed red and skins dyed blue, and incorruptible wood; oil for the light, and incense for anointing oil and for composition of incense; sardius stones, and stones for the carved work of the breastplate and the full-length robe" (Ex 25.3-7); and who is to make them: "Now Bezalel and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan in whom the Lord put wisdom and knowledge to know how to do all manner of work for the service of the holy place, did according to all the Lord commanded" (Ex 36.1).

It is interesting to note that over one quarter of the book of Exodus is devoted to these detailed instructions for the outfitting of the Tabernacle and the garments of the priests of God... The decorations of the tabernacle, ephod, and breastplate are no mere afterthought; indeed, thirty-eight verses are devoted solely to the curtains and the garments of the priests and are quite specific in the colors and symbols that are to be used (gold, blue, purple, and scarlet fabric and pomegranates and bells, respectively). There is a careful and methodical approach to these adornments and in this it is demonstrated that the worship of God must be attended to with order and reverence. Through this meticulous precision we see God teaching mankind that things used for His glory are to be "built by God."

On account of these detailed passages, some authors have argued that Christian vestments have their origin in Levitical dress, but even the most desultory comparison of the garments clearly illustrate that this could not be so. But just as the study of Orthodox Christian theology reveals much about the qualities of beauty within the Church, so it is through a reading of these chapters in Exodus that yet another quality of beauty within the Church is revealed: the fulfillment of types. This fulfillment is found in the progression from the Levitical understanding of worship, as outlined in the Old Testament, to the Christ centered understanding of liturgy as found in the New Testament and the unwritten tradition handed down by the early Church a rapidly coalescing tradition which led to the standardization of vestments and other adornments of the Church in the first few centuries following Christ's earthly life.

St. John of Damascus, writing in response to the iconoclasts who were arguing for a rejection of images based on Old Testament passages such as "You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath" (Ex 20-4), states:

It is not I who am speaking, but the Holy Spirit who declares plainly through the holy apostle Paul, "God spoke of old in many various ways to our fathers by the prophets." Note that God spoke in many and various ways. A skillful doctor does not prescribe the same for all alike, but each according to his need... In the same way the most excellent physician of souls prescribed correctly for those who were still children and susceptible to the sickness of idolatry, holding idols to be gods, and worshipping them as such, abandoning the worship of God, offering to the creature the glory due the Creator.

He goes on to further explain this fulfillment of types by quoting from a sermon of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews: How can what comes first be the image of what is to follow, as Melchizedek is of Christ?

Melchizedek is used as an image in the Scriptures in the same way as a silhouette is an outline for a portrait. Because of this, the law is called a shadow, and grace and truth are what is foreshadowed. Consequently, the law personified by Melchizedek is a silhouette of Him whose portrait, when it appears, is grace and truth inscribed in the body. So the Old Testament is a silhouette of things to come in a future age, while the New Testament is the portrait of those things.

St. John recognized that just as a tiny seed looks nothing like the blooming, flourishing plant, so it is necessary to be mindful that Orthodox Christian worship is not designed to look like Old Testament worship. The fulfillment of the beauty and liturgy of the Church, like the fulfillment of the salvation of mankind, comes in no less a person than Christ Himself through His Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection.

The instructions in Exodus lay the groundwork, teaching that adornment of the holy things of God is integral to our worship of Him. But just as Christ took the place of rams sacrificed on stone altars, the adornment of our churches took a new and holy form through Christ's Resurrection, molded by the time and place in history in which the Resurrection took place and by the subsequent establishment of a Christian nation in the Byzantine Empire.

We know that the Fathers of the Church had a deep and thorough knowledge of the Scriptures (after all, St. John Chrysostom spent two years memorizing the Scriptures in their entirety) and such an education could not have left them puzzling over how to outfit the churches of their day. Add to this the unwritten tradition which they had inherited and it would be completely illogical to suppose that men so formed by these Scriptures and providentially shaped by a world in which honor and majesty were the cornerstone of political and social hierarchy would have been able to construct liturgies to the Creator of All without glory and beauty. "Bring to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in His holy court" (Ps 28.2). They knew that "holiness is proper to Your house, 0 Lord" (Ps 92.5) and that "they shall speak of the magnificence of the glory of Your holiness, and they shall describe Your wonders" (Ps 144.5).

While Exodus teaches that order and reverence are necessary components to the worship of God, the Church Fathers knew that any reading of the Old Testament Scriptures must be undertaken with an understanding that such Scriptures have their fulfillment in the coming of Christ and the traditions of the Church. Majestic and holy worship began with the Old Testament Levitical patterns but did not find its culmination until the Resurrection of Christ and the subsequent redemption of the world. With Christ's coming everything is raised to a higher order, so the Church's worship follows the same essential patterns, yet looks different. As adopted sons of God, we are the inheritors of this holy fulfillment. As the Psalmist prophesies: They shall be intoxicated with the fatness of Your house, and You will give them drink from the abundant water of Your delight. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light shall we see light. (Ps 35.9-10) In the beauty of the Church's worship we find the fulfillment of the prophetic words and foreshadowing of all the Old Testament Scriptures.

From "The History of Vestments"

By Subdeacon Zoran Bobic

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/zjbobic/history-of-vestments

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Three Icons of the Mother of God

About the Icon Casing Workshop

Origins of Orthodox Vestments

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