Inseparable from the liturgical tradition, religious art is seen by Orthodox Christians as a form of pictorial confession of faith and a channel of religious experience. Because the icons provide...
Inseparable from the liturgical tradition, religious art is seen by Orthodox Christians as a form of pictorial confession of faith and a channel of religious experience. Because the icons provide direct personal contact with the holy persons represented on them, these images are objects of veneration, in either a public or private setting.
During the 8th and 9th centuries, the iconoclastic controversy in the Orthodox Church called into question whether religious images were a legitimate practice or sacrilegious idolatry. Although the use of images was in the end permitted, a thorough distinction between profane art intended to depict reality and sacred art designed for spiritual contemplation was established. That difference is one of the reasons that the artistic style of icons can seem so invariant. Certain kinds of balance and harmony became established as reflections of divinity, and as such they invited careful reproduction and subtle refinement rather than striking novelty. Although this philosophy resulted in a comparatively slow evolution of style, icon painting evolved considerably over the centuries. Unlike the pictorial traditions of the west that aspire towards increased realism and naturalism, the essence of Byzantine icon painting is not about the representation of physical space or appearance. Icons are images intended to aid in contemplative prayer, and in that sense, are more concerned with conveying meditative harmony than with laying out a realistic scene. They were not painted to please the eye of the mind, but to inspire reflection and self-examination.
This icon portrays Christ with eight saints. It's divided in three registers with three figures in each. The top register bears at the centre the representation of Christ, in the traditional iconography of the Pantocrator (all-powerful) holding the New Testament in his left hand and blessing with his right. The book is represented closed, as it is typical in Byzantine iconography (as seen for example in the mosaics of the deesis in Hagia Sophia or in the Pammacaristos Church in Costantinople), while Russian iconography will often represent the book open. On the right on Christ (left for the viewer) there is the Mother of God, occupying the same position She holds in the iconostasis of each Byzantine church. On the left of Christ (right for the viewer) John the Baptist in represented.
The central register bears the representation of three saints, the central one and the one on the right are bishops as indicated by them wearing an omophorion.
The bottom register bears the image of other three saints, the central one and the one on the right being St George and St Dimitrios.