Comments on: A “Mistake” in Byzantine Icons?

by: Scott P. Richert

Sat, 01 Jul 2006 15:56:55 +0000

Sorry to jump in late here, but I would encourage Mike Ross to reconsider his last sentence. As a Latin Rite Catholic who spent two years as a member of the choir of Epiphany of Our Lord Byzantine Catholic Church in Northern Virginia and who has great respect for the Eastern churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, I think it is only fair to point out that many, many Latin Rite Catholics have mistaken ideas about Byzantine iconography, liturgy, etc. Such mistakes, however, are not necessarily the fault of Rome but of the general ignorance of Americans (even those who attend Mass) of all things religious (pointed out so well by )

Trust me, neither John Paul II nor Benedict would have made the mistake that Bolitierri made.

Great site, by the way. And I’m an avid listener to Light of the East. We live up in Rockford, so it’s a little too far to drive down to Homer Glen every Sunday (especially with six children), but I look forward to visiting Annunciation someday.

by: mike ross

Sun, 11 Jun 2006 10:12:02 +0000

This type of comment is precisely why, when I had had enough of 30+ years of Protestant ‘dis-organized’ ecclesiastical structure (i.e. ‘church’), I left to find the Church. My journey has lead me to the Orthodox Church (Rus’ jurisdiction). My forbears were Ukrainian Greek Catholics, but coming to America, which has historically fought both outright and with subterfuge our Slavic Faith, our 3rd generation knows nothing of it. Of their grandchildren on myself has found the way back to our Faith. I could not, by conscience sake, join myself to a Rome that has so innovated the Apostolic Faith, and tossed an historic understanding…as quoted in the comment above. May all be well, S Bohom, Mikhail

by: Nathan

Fri, 02 Jun 2006 04:36:41 +0000

That offends me as a wanna-be iconographer. Sounds like someone really didn’t do their homework…

by: Michael Tinkler

Mon, 22 May 2006 17:59:40 +0000

Well, it’s always hard to convey the difference between slavish naturalism (always us the adjective ’slavish’ for maximum rhetorical efficiency) and what art historians call conceptual or idealized presentations of the body. Post-1000 Byzantine icons are highly conceptual.

Sadly, most of my students no longer have any preconceptions about Byzantine art; I used to think I needed to convince them that it ‘wasn’t flat.’ Turns out they didn’t know they were supposed to think it was flat. *sigh*

by: Leper

Mon, 22 May 2006 15:17:50 +0000

” You don’t hear us bashing the effeminate Sacred Heart statues on the radio, do you? :-)”

No, but as a Latin rite Catholic, and a woman, I would completely understand, and agree with you ;-)

It’s the pink nightgown, I guess.

I’ll tell you the truth, I think this ties in with the “emasculation” of the Liturgy from which our rite suffers. We’ve gone from men in lace who look like they could kick your ass if it needed kicking, surrounded by architecture and art that almost frightening it was so awe-inspiring, to the accompaniment for music that spoke of Mystery; to sacds of soft guys (and officious women) wearing polyester picnic tablecloths, desparate not to offend ANYONE or ANY opinion (or sin,) surrounded by bland happy-shiny “environments”, to the accompaniment of insipid tunes.
It’s enough to make a saint weep, and lesser mortals seek salvation elsewhere.

by: Gordo

Sat, 13 May 2006 04:42:27 +0000

And, here is a very interesting paper written on his subject (sans the finger references):

http://www.shroud.it/DAMON.PDF

Gordo

by: Gordo

Sat, 13 May 2006 04:26:42 +0000

Actually, there have been some studes done on the impact of the Shroud of Turin on Eastern Christian iconography, especially as it pertains to the face of Christ. Scientific studies have evidently confirmed that the icon of Christ from St. Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt follows the pattern of the Shroud (which at the time was known as the “Image of Edessa”).

That aside, the “long fingered” remark was out of place. You don’t hear us bashing the effeminate Sacred Heart statues on the radio, do you? :-)

by: Karl

Sun, 07 May 2006 12:57:46 +0000

I suggest a note be sent to Drew, along with a link to Eric’s excellent post. While we’re at it, we could tell Sean Herriot that Easter eggs are indeed Christian symbols.

I love Relevant Radio, but they could use a fact-checker.

by: tony c

Sat, 06 May 2006 17:37:43 +0000

A teaching moment for BEMA!

Most folks don’t understand the “perspective” of iconography, especially w/ regard to icons depicting scenes, for example, why the person/object in the middle is written large, etc.

by: JohnS

Sat, 06 May 2006 11:07:06 +0000

Eric,

I was also disappointed by Bolitierri’s remark about our “mistaken iconography.” Another example of Latin hegemony that the our Orthodox brethren will zero in on.

John