THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA
Praying with Icons
A TREATISE
Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Ministry
By Jeana M. Visel
Washington, D.C.
2017
Praying with Icons
Jeana M. Visel, D.Min.
Director: Michael Witczak, S.L.D.
Today, many Roman Catholics do not understand the role of religious images. Unfamiliar with how to pray with sacred art, many are uncomfortable venerating icons or other images of
Christ or the saints. Often, sacred art is used as mere decoration. At the same time, we see increasing interest among Christians in Eastern icons. Without adequate training or theological education, many well-meaning Catholics and Protestants start painting “icons” of poor artistic quality, not following principles of Eastern iconography. Often, the result is bad art and bad visual theology.
Consequently, some Orthodox become protective of their tradition, sometimes refusing to work with others who would want to learn iconography. This tension does not help build ecumenical unity.
What is needed at this time? Broadly speaking, Roman-rite Catholics must be more intentional about how religious art functions within different sacred spaces. Many could benefit from catechesis on how to “read” religious art, and a deeper understanding of the ancient Christian tradition of visual culture. Beyond cognitive understanding, many Catholics also need to learn how to pray with images. While basic education about sacred images is a start, some people may need assistance “crossing cultures,” from the aniconic to the visual.
This project utilized presentations and guided experience within the framework of a 6-day
Intensive Spiritual Formation Week held at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology. The
immediate goal was to help seminarians gain understanding of and comfort with using icons in
different forms of prayer, so as to prepare them to use religious images appropriately in their future
ministry, and to become better partners in grassroots ecumenical dialogue between the Eastern and
Western churches. Assessment data gleaned from the project found that with focused catechesis and guided experience interacting with icons, Roman Catholics can become more knowledgeable and comfortable with appropriate use of religious images.
This treatise by Jeana M. Visel fulfills the treatise requirement for the doctoral degree in Ministry approved by Michael Witczak, S.L.D., as Director, and by Stefanos Alexopoulos, Ph.D., as Reader.
______Michael Witczak, S.L.D., Director
______Stefanos Alexopoulos, Ph.D., Reader
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks are due to Fr. Denis Robinson, OSB, and Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology for supporting me in the pursuit of this Doctor of Ministry degree. Thanks also to my prioress, Sr. Barbara Lynn Schmitz, OSB, and the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand, Indiana, whose prayer and encouragement have kept me moving toward completion.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ...... 1 Part I. Background And Rationale ...... 10 CHAPTER 1: THE PROBLEM: RELIGIOUS IMAGES AND ORTHODOX-CATHOLIC ECUMENICAL CONCERNS ...... 10 CHAPTER 2: ORTHODOX THEOLOGY AND USE OF ICONS ...... 14 CHAPTER 3: ROMAN CATHOLIC TRADITIONS USING RELIGIOUS IMAGES ...... 34 CHAPTER 4: A REVIEW OF CATHOLIC DOCUMENTS ON USE OF THE SACRED ARTS ...... 53 CHAPTER 5: A CONTEMPORARY CATHOLIC SYNTHESIS: DIFFERENT FORMS OF ART FOR DIFFERENT FORMS OF PRAYER ...... 76 Part II: The Project...... 92 CHAPTER 6: PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN: CROSSING CULTURES WITH CATECHESIS AND GUIDED PRAYER ...... 92 CHAPTER 7: CONTEXT AND METHODOLOGY: THE INTENSIVE SPIRITUAL FORMATION WEEK 115 CHAPTER 8: OVERVIEW OF SESSION CONTENT: “PRAYING WITH ICONS” IN THE INTENSIVE SPIRITUAL FORMATION WEEK ...... 125 Part III: Assessment, Evaluation, And Conclusions...... 137 CHAPTER 9: PROJECT ASSESSMENT ...... 137 CHAPTER 10: EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE ITERATIONS ...... 163 CHAPTER 11: CONCLUSION ...... 168 Appendices APPENDIX A: GOALS, OBJECTIVES, EXPECTED OUTCOMES ...... 172 APPENDIX B: PLAN FOR WEEK ...... 173 APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 1 ……………………………………………………………….176 APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 2……………………………………………………………….183 APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 3 ...... 187 APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 4 ...... 191 APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 5 ...... 198 APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 6 ...... 206 APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 7 ...... 210 APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 8 ...... 214 APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 9 ...... 217 APPENDIX D: PRE-TEST ...... 224 APPENDIX E: POST-TEST ...... 225 Bibliography ...... 226
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INTRODUCTION From the earliest years of Christian practice, sacred images have been used as part of prayer and worship. The walls of the catacombs are covered with Scriptural images, and fourth century writings reference early icons.1 Churches from every century are adorned with Christian imagery on
walls, windows, ceilings, and altars. In some parts of the Church, two-dimensional painting, frescoes
and icons have prevailed; elsewhere, three-dimensional statues of Jesus and the saints have held
pride of place. From liturgical vessels to processional crosses, imagery long has been part of the
adornment of liturgical spaces. Beyond the walls of the church, in many places Christian images are
the central focus of shrines along roadways and at outdoor places of pilgrimage. In Christian homes,
too, sacred images have found their place, as reminders of Christian identity, as focal points for
prayer, and as signs of the presence of those who have gone before us in faith.
Yet at various points in history, Christians also have wrestled with whether it is doctrinally
acceptable to use images for prayer and worship. Iconoclasm has emerged in different forms in
different periods. At each juncture, representatives of the Church have arisen to make arguments
justifying the place of religious art in Christian practice. Perhaps best known, the eighth- and ninth-
century experience of Byzantine iconoclasm sparked a spirited defense of icons, led by St. John of
Damascus, St. Theodore of Studios, and others. In this process, the Eastern Church came to define
sacred images as an intrinsic part of Orthodox Christian identity and belief. Indeed, to this day the
definitive end of iconoclasm is celebrated annually on the first Sunday of Lent with the “Sunday of
Orthodoxy.”
1 Leslie Brubaker, “The Sacred Image,” in The Sacred Image East and West, ed. Robert Ousterhout (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1995), 3. 1
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In the early modern period, Protestants, too, worked to reduce or eliminate imagery from
churches. While Martin Luther could accept some images in churches, those affiliated with Andreas
Bodenstein von Karlstadt, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Calvin were more vehemently opposed to sacred images. For the reformers, iconoclasm often served as a marker of how each group was moving away from Catholicism. The rejection of art also tended to represent the rejection of a worldview in which the material world is seen as capable of transmitting the sacred.2 Within various
Protestant denominations, views about the sacrality of religious images often have paralleled beliefs
about how literally one can interpret the sacramental presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
By and large, the Roman Catholic Church has affirmed using images in prayer and worship.
The Council of Trent responded to Protestant iconoclasm by affirming that it is good to venerate
images of Mary and the saints,3 and until Vatican II, the rite of profession of faith for converts
included a statement of affirmation of the practice.4 However, in the period following Vatican II,
Catholicism experienced a spate of simplification of worship spaces that left many churches rather
bare. This happened as a rather natural development following the Liturgical Movement of the early twentieth century. During these years, theologians, artists, and craftsmen began to lead the Church through a process oriented toward improving the quality and authenticity of sacred art, while also exploring how Catholicism might come to embrace the more abstract elements of modern art.5
2 See Sergiusz Michalski, The Reformation and the Visual Arts (New York: Routledge, 1993), 43-80.
3 Theodore Alois Buckley, The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent (London: Routledge, 1851), 214–15.
4 Maxwell Johnson, Rites of Christian Initiation: Their Evolution and Interpretation (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2007), 435n130; R. Kevin Seasoltz, A Sense of the Sacred (New York: Continuum, 2005), 169.
5 See Susan J. White, Art, Architecture, and Liturgical Reform: The Liturgical Arts Society (1928-1972) (New York: Pueblo Publishing, 1990).
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Following Vatican II, Church simplification also reflected a response to the conciliar emphasis on communal participation in the liturgy. Sacrosanctum Concilium calls for “noble simplicity” in the rites and the accoutrements of liturgy, and as this ideal is interpreted in the General Instruction of the Roman
Missal, it also applies to the worship space.6 The US bishops’ 1978 Environment and Art in Catholic
Worship reaffirmed the liturgy as a place of holy mystery, demanding quality and appropriateness in
art while reminding all that art must “serve the action of the liturgy” and not distract from it7. Such
simplicity is aimed at helping participants focus on the liturgy itself while in church.
Since the 1960s and 70s, then, many people have come of age in somewhat plain churches.
While most Christians are reasonably comfortable with using religious images as illustrations
alongside text, many now do not know how to pray with sacred images, or are uncomfortable at the
thought of venerating an image. When this kind of behavior is not regularly modeled for the faithful
in the public life of the church, such interactive prayer becomes less likely to happen in the private
life of the home. All this being said, the popularity of religious icons recently has increased,
paralleling a rise in visual culture at large. Roman-rite Catholics, Anglicans, and Protestants have
shown interest in using icons as decoration and learning to paint them. Without sufficient
understanding of the Eastern tradition of icons, however, these ventures occasionally lead to
6 Vatican Council II, Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy), in Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Postconciliar Documents, trans. Austin Flannery, rev. ed. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2014), no. 34: “The rites should be distinguished by a noble simplicity”; no. 124: “Ordinaries are to take care that in encouraging and favoring truly sacred art, they should seek for noble beauty rather than sumptuous display.” (Hereafter, unless otherwise indicated, all citations from the Vatican II documents are from the Flannery translation.); United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, General Instruction of the Roman Missal (hereafter GIRM) (Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2003), no. 292: “Church décor should contribute toward the church’s noble simplicity rather than ostentation. In the choice of materials for the church appointments there should be a concern for genuineness of materials and an intent to foster the instruction of the faithful and the dignity of the entire sacred place.”
7 Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy, Environment and Art in Catholic Worship (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 1978), nos. 12, 19–23, 25.
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aberrations and abuses that can make Eastern Orthodox Christians protective of their heritage and
less willing to teach others.8 This does not help ecumenical relations.
Rather than becoming an obstacle to unity, I would posit that icons have the potential to
serve as a point of ecumenical bridge-building. Because of their beauty, icons invite Christians from
different traditions to cross cultures and to share in what truly is the domain of us all, the mystery of
God made visible among us. With quality catechesis on what icons are, how they are used in their
Eastern context, and how images can serve different functions, Roman-rite Catholics can become
more sensitive to how to use sacred art appropriately in different forms of prayer and worship, in
ways that respect our own tradition, including the teachings of Vatican II. In the process, Roman-
rite Catholics may also find themselves becoming slightly more comfortable in the cultural world
inhabited by Eastern Christians, enhancing their own ability to be part of a Church called to
“breathe with both lungs.”9
This project thus is undergirded by a theology of ecumenism aimed at reclaiming the unity of
the Body of Christ, particularly as it is embodied in the relationship between the Roman-rite
Catholic Church and the various Eastern Catholic and Orthodox churches. Such ecumenism is
8 At this point, it may be helpful to define “Eastern” and “Western” a bit more clearly. Generally speaking, I use these term “West” to refer to the traditionally Latin-speaking geographical region of the Church, while “East” references the places where Greek was once the primary language. Though also a vast simplification, I speak of the East referring broadly to the Orthodox form of Christianity, with the West referring to Catholicism. It should be noted that a number of Eastern Catholic churches follow the Byzantine style of liturgy but remain in communion with Rome. Their theology, history, and culture make them in many ways aesthetically similar to the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Oriental Orthodox Churches, likewise, sometimes referred to as “Pre-Chalcedonian Churches,” which acknowledge only the first three ecumenical councils, also bear a resemblance to the Eastern Orthodox Church. Much of what I say about icons in the Eastern tradition applies equally to each of these churches, despite their very real and important differences. Historically, many of the disputes between Eastern and Western Christianity emerged due in no small part to language and cultural differences.
9 Cf. John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint no. 54: “the Church must breathe with her two lungs!” http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25051995_ut-unum- sint.html. Accessed 24 September 2016.
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important to me for personal reasons. As a Benedictine, I am shaped by monastic theology, and am
motivated by a charism of seeking God in community. Benedictine life by its nature is geared toward
gathering people of different backgrounds and forming them into one family of God. At the heart
of this worldview is the belief that we can find Christ among us, and that together, we are his Body.
Benedictine prayer is shared and liturgical, as practiced daily in the Liturgy of the Hours and
Eucharist. It is also profoundly personal and devotional, as seen in the tradition of lectio divina, a
form of meditative prayer with Scripture. In both prayer and work, ora et labora, Benedictine life
holds a deep faith in the value of sustained engagement in daily Christian practices.
These Benedictine themes feed into a spirituality that can nourish ecumenical efforts,
particularly with the Eastern churches. The Rule of Benedict, the guiding document for Benedictine
monastic life, draws heavily from earlier sources, many originating in the Eastern Church. Saint
Benedict is revered in both East and West, and Benedictine life resonates with many eastern
Christian practices. The Benedictine love of liturgy, beyond being a formative spiritual discipline,
manifests a shared love of beauty as a means to the good and the true. Pre-dating the 1054 schism
between East and West and the ruptures of the Protestant Reformation, the Benedictine order in a special way is able to represent the underlying wholeness of the Church. Perhaps for these reasons,
Benedictines have been entrusted with the work of ecumenism. My guiding theology, then, is based on Christ’s own desire for unity in the Church, his prayer “that all may be one” (John 17:21).
My approach to ministry draws heavily on the Vatican II pattern of revitalization rooted in
ressourcement, going back to the sources of our tradition, and aggiornamento, bringing practices up to
date so that they are meaningful to today’s world. In this project, ressourcement means drawing on the
theology and practice which belonged to the whole Church before the major divisions occurred.
While not without its share of historical controversy, praying with icons and other religious images is
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an ancient practice. If we can help make such theology and practice meaningful and accessible to
people of today in U.S. culture (aggiornamento), perhaps we have some hope of strengthening
ecumenical unity.
Personally, I have been a student of the icon since 2006, and I continue to learn both the
theology and practice of painting icons. Different schools of iconography have emerged in different
periods and parts of the world, yielding different processes and styles. My own understanding of
painting icons is influenced largely by what I have learned from master iconographer Ksenia
Pokrovsky, her daughter, Anna Gouriev, and her long-time assistant, Marek Czarnecki. Although
Ksenia passed away in 2013, Anna and Marek continue to teach the Russian tradition of
iconography through the Hexaemeron Six Days of Creation icon painting workshops. My master’s
thesis also explored the topic of how we can use icons in the Roman Catholic tradition, and was
published in 2016 by Liturgical Press as Icons in the Western Church: Toward a More Sacramental Encounter.
Much of the core background material of this project is based on research compiled for that work.
This D.Min. project aims to extend and apply this research in the ministerial context of preparing seminarians to use sacred images more effectively for both their personal spiritual growth and their future pastoral ministry.
As a Catholic woman, my work is shaped by the U.S. Bishops’ document on lay ministry, Co-
Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord. As noted in Part 1 of the document, “All of the baptized are called to work toward the transformation of the world. Most do this by working in the secular realm; some do this by working in the Church and focusing on the building of ecclesial communion, which has
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among its purposes the transformation of the world”.10 While perhaps just a small effort, this
particular project aims to strengthen such “ecclesial communion,” transforming the world one
peaceful interaction at a time. While I do not work in a parish, because I work in a seminary context,
my ministry and this project are similarly marked by characteristics the bishops consider as defining
lay ecclesial ministry in the Church: authorization to serve, leadership in a particular area of ministry,
close mutual collaboration with the ministry of the clergy, and preparation and formation
appropriate to the level of assigned responsibilities.11
The content and form of my work and this project are defined in terms articulated in the
U.S. Catholic Bishops’ norms for seminary formation, the Program for Priestly Formation (5th Edition).
This document describes four “pillars of formation” (human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral),
which undergird how the ministerial project is framed. Human formation deals with how one comes to know and love oneself in the process of healthy maturation as an integrated person. It involves a movement toward one’s own physical and psychological balance. Spiritual formation addresses how one prays and relates to God and the world in a spiritual way. It may involve such “internal forum” areas as spiritual direction and the sacrament of reconciliation, and it also can involve more publically visible expressions of spirituality such as participating in shared liturgy, work for social justice, or charitable efforts for the needy. Spiritual formation involves learning and living out various faith-based practices, and attending to how one’s spirit is motivated by God in the midst of prayer, work, and leisure. Intellectual formation concerns academic achievement and growth in knowledge and understanding. Growing awareness of the world and a willingness to engage the
10 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord: A Resource for Guiding the Development of Lay Ecclesial Ministry (Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2005), p. 8. Hereafter, Co-Workers.
11 Co-Workers, Part 1, p. 10.
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mind mark this pillar. Pastoral formation deals with how one learns the skills to serve others. Among other things, this involves becoming a person who can listen to others or who can attend to suffering people with compassion. It also would include the development of skills for preaching, presiding, and catechizing.
Set within the seminary’s “Intensive Spiritual Formation Week,” the project aims to teach seminarians different ways to pray with icons, an aspect of spiritual formation insofar as it provides new ways to engage their minds, hearts, and bodies in prayer and relationship with God and the saints. At the same time, the provision of background information about Eastern Orthodox and
Roman-rite Catholic theology and practice is intellectual formation. As the project aims to help people become more comfortable with crossing cultures so as to promote ecumenical unity, it engages a matter of human formation. Finally, this experience is geared toward giving seminarians pastoral tools that will help them serve others on their own spiritual journey. If they can learn new ways to pray that they then can teach or recommend to others, they have gained both a personal spiritual practice and a pastoral skill. Inasmuch as a parish priest may influence the sacred space of the churches in which he serves, this project involves pastoral formation geared toward service of others, providing knowledge and understanding of how religious images can aid or hinder the life of public worship and private devotion.
The project thus aims to offer a balanced approach engaging the whole person, as supported by the Catholic bishops’ guidelines. Church documents for the formation of priests, deacons, and laity are remarkably consistent in this concern. Both Co-Workers and the National Directory for the
Formation, Ministry, and Life of Permanent Deacons in the United States, the guiding document for deacon formation, also embrace the language of the “four pillars of formation” found in the Program for
Priestly Formation. Thus while this particular project is designed with seminarians in mind, it could
9 also have the potential to be undertaken in a retreat or parish mission setting. While this likely would work most successfully with fairly educated laypeople or deacons, with some adaptation of language, it also could serve those with less formal training. While the call to become an iconographer may be a very particular vocation, learning to pray with icons or other religious images is a spiritual practice that can appeal to and benefit Catholics across the board.
PART I. BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE
CHAPTER 1: THE PROBLEM: RELIGIOUS IMAGES AND ORTHODOX-CATHOLIC ECUMENICAL CONCERNS
This project represents an attempt to provide seminarians a chance to learn about what icons are, paired with various experiences of how icons or other sacred art can be used for different forms of prayer and catechesis. As noted in the Introduction, the need for this kind of formation emerges fundamentally from a desire to create greater unity and respect between Roman Catholics and
Eastern Orthodox believers. While icons have been described as being “intuitively ecumenical,”12 too often, ignorance of Orthodox belief about icons has led Roman-rite Catholics and others to create or use icons in ways that are at odds with what the Orthodox understand the icon to be.
Whether or not one intends to be disrespectful, these kinds of interactions do not help build ecumenical unity. In response, some Orthodox can become more protective of their tradition, and refuse to teach non-Orthodox believers about icon painting. This leads to greater distance between the ecclesial traditions, rather than building relationship.
Abuses of icons can take different forms, some being more harmful than others. For instance, some artists will invoke creative license and depict someone who is not a canonized saint in an “icon.” This goes against Orthodox teaching that only people recognized as saints by the Church can be shown in the heavenly world depicted in the icon. To represent someone visually in an icon is to suggest that the Church has recognized his or her sanctity. As visual forms of Church teaching, icons need to match the believed reality. Another abuse of the icon form is to depict a holy person using non-traditional or non-Christian imagery. While the Church is catholic, that is, “universal,” and icons can be expressed differently depending on their place or time-period of origin, certain
12 Mahmoud Zibawi, The Icon: Its Meaning and History (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1993), 150.
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forms are accepted as being within the “canons of iconography” and some are not. A level of
creativity is admissible, but utilizing blatantly pre-Christian or pagan imagery within an icon is not.13
Painting fictional characters in icons is not respectful.14 A related kind of abuse of the icon emerges
when an artist tries to use elements of the icon “style” to make some sort of personal critique of the
Church or the world.15 While conversion is always needed, and art in every era has emerged to serve
this kind of purpose, pointing out faults is not the role of the icon. Rather, the icon is meant to
make present the world of heaven while aiding both personal and communal prayer and catechesis.
Fundamentally, one must both understand and respect what an icon is meant to be in order
to avoid these kinds of abuses. While no harm may be intended, such works create confusion rather
than evoking the clear vision of the redeemed world intended by the icon. In an ecumenical climate
where the “dialogue of love” must precede the “dialogue of truth,”16 making sure that we are using
icons properly is a matter of attending to both levels of dialogue.
13 While his traditional icons are canonical, Robert Lentz also has done various artworks posed as icons that draw on more problematic material. His “icon” of Sts. Bridget and Darlughdach of Kildaire is one example of how he uses non-Christian imagery: https://www.trinitystores.com/store/art-image/sts-brigid- and-darlughdach-kildare. Accessed December 3, 2016.
14 Along with his other creative work, artist Jay Johnstone creates “icons” of characters from The Lord of the Rings stories: http://www.jaystolkien.com/. Accessed December 3, 2016.
15 Robert Lentz explains his icon of the “Apache Christ” as a critique of the Church’s abuses of Native Americans: http://robertlentz.com/featured-icons-apache-christ/. His icon of Harvey Milk is a critique of the Church’s position on homosexual unions: http://robertlentz.com/. Accessed December 3, 2016. In a less critical way, depicting holy people who have not been recognized by the Church as saints similarly disregards the Church’s authority to follow its own process. See “icons” of such people as Hans Urs Von Balthasar and Origen in the collection of William Hart McNichols: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/ william-hart-mcnichols.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=235173. Accessed December 14, 2016.
16 Angelo Maffeis, Ecumenical Dialogue, trans. Lorelei F. Fuchs (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2005), 41.
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More immediately, the project aims to address what seems to be a fairly widespread ignorance and some discomfort with our own rich Catholic heritage of using images for prayer, worship, and catechesis. However history has brought us to a contemporary ambivalence about using images, Catholicism has an incarnational dynamic that embraces religious imagery. It is important that the faithful come to see sacred images as a normal, healthy part of Catholic life and worship. Thus, besides introducing icons to seminarians, this project also explores various historically Roman Catholic expressions of sacred art, while situating iconoclasm and church simplification within their appropriate historical contexts. Drawing on guidelines rooted in Church documents ranging from Sacrosanctum Concilium to Built of Living Stones and the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, the project seeks to articulate different ways to use liturgical, devotional, and catechetical images appropriately. Guided experiences of prayer pave the way and help participants to cross cultures, moving from a less-visual to a more-visual experience of faith life. While it is not necessary for every Catholic to pray with images, for those who will be ministering to others, it is important to understand how visual culture can be an aid to faith development and more full, conscious, active participation in worship, whatever one’s background. Nostra Aetate suggests that bringing culture, morality, and spirituality into inter-community dialogue is important.17 Yet as
Eastern Catholic hieromonk Maximos Davies notes, “Questions of ecclesial culture tend to be underweighted in ecumenical dialogue.”18 While Roman-rite Catholics do not need to embrace every manifestation of Eastern Orthodox belief and practice, working to understand the culture of our
17 Alejandro García-Rivera, “Interfaith Aesthetics: Where Theology and Spirituality Meet,” in Exploring Christian Spirituality: Essays in Honor of Sandra M. Schneiders (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 2006), 180.
18 Maximos Davies, “What Divides Orthodox and Catholics?” America (Dec. 3, 2007), 16.
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eastern counterparts as well as that of our own historical tradition helps move us more steadily
toward becoming a Church that “breathes with both lungs.”19
19 Cf. John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint no. 54: “the Church must breathe with her two lungs!” http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25051995_ut-unum- sint.html Accessed 24 September 2016.
CHAPTER 2: ORTHODOX THEOLOGY AND USE OF ICONS
To begin with, then, it is important that we understand what an icon is in its traditional,
Eastern context. In Greek, an eikon simply is an “image, representation, or portrait.” 20 Broadly speaking, it could refer to any image. Yet traditionally, when we speak of an icon, we are talking about an image of Jesus, angels, or the saints painted on a portable wooden panel, which is used for prayer.21 Within Christianity, the icon represents “the visible image of the invisible,”22 a visual way of
depicting deeper theological truths. In a particular way, the icon manifests the same incarnational
dynamic that we see in the person of Jesus as God made visible, “the image of the invisible God”
(Col 1:15).23 John 14:9 says of Jesus, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” Just as we can say
that Christ is the primal sacrament, so we can say that Christ himself is the primary icon.24 Icons are
understood to make those depicted present to us in a special way.25
It is true that some Old Testament prohibitions would seem to deny the possibility of
creating images for prayer. Exodus 20:4 and Deuteronomy 5:8-9 declare that the Israelites are not to
make graven images or idols, “whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on
the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or
20 Irina Yazykova, Hidden and Triumphant: The Underground Struggle to Save Russian Iconography, translated by Paul Grenier (Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2010), 2.
21 Leslie Brubaker, “The Sacred Image,” in The Sacred Image East and West, edited by Robert Ousterhout and Leslie Brubaker (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1995), 3.
22 Yazykova, 2.
23 All scriptural references are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (NRSV).
24 Yazykova, 1.
25 Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia (Timothy Ware), “Praying with Icons,” in One in 2000? Toward Catholic- Orthodox Unity, ed. Paul McPartlan (Middlegreen, Slough, U.K.: St. Pauls, 1993), 149.
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worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” Psalm 97:7 admonishes: “All worshipers
of images are put to shame, those who make their boast in worthless idols.” Elsewhere, however,
God gives specific directions for how the Ark of the Covenant is to be designed, including images of
cherubim (Ex. 25:22; 26:1). Early synagogues, such as the third century building at Dura-Europos,
are covered with images from the Old Testament.26
At issue seems to be the difference between an image and an idol. As John of Damascus
would argue against the iconoclasts, Biblical prohibitions against images are primarily about the
importance of worshiping God alone. We are not to create idols, which take us away from or keep
us from going deeper into the reality of God. Yet after God becomes visible in Christ, it becomes
acceptable to depict and venerate images of him.27 Images become reminders of God’s loving,
redeeming presence among us, and lead us to remember Jesus. Inasmuch as saints have become part
of the heavenly Body of Christ, they too, show the face of Christ to the world, and can be depicted
and honored. As the 787 Second Council of Nicaea declared “The more often we gaze on these
images, the quicker we who behold them are led back to their prototypes in memory and in hope.”28
The religious image should bring us back to God, should lead us into the mystery of God.
Still, veneration and adoration may look similar. Proskynesis (“veneration” or literally, “kissing
toward”) is derived from an ancient Persian practice of greeting each other with a kiss, bow, or
prostration and giving respect to a person of higher rank. Greeks mistook this for honoring a person
26 See examples from the Yale University Art Gallery collection at http://media.artgallery.yale.edu/duraeuropos/dura.html. Accessed December 3, 2016.
27 John of Damascus, Three Treatises on the Divine Images, trans. Andrew Louth (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2003), 21-24.
28 Second Council of Nicaea, cited in the “Order for the Blessing of Images for Public Veneration by the Faithful,” in Book of Blessings (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1989), chap. 36, 465n27.
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as a god; when taken into the Roman Empire, proskynesis was used to show tribute to the emperor in
a way that would elevate him to the status of a god. In the Eastern Church, proskynesis refers to
bowing or kissing an icon or relic to show the veneration of honor, dulia, in contrast with latria, the
adoration of worship due to God alone.29 The difference is a matter of intent. As Bishop Kallistos of
Diokleia (Timothy Ware) explains, “We honour icons but we do not worship them; we pray before
them, but we do not pray to them. The icon is a sacramental symbol, not an idol.”30 Rather than
referring to itself, the iconic image always points beyond itself to God.31 While we may honor the
image, it is God alone whom we worship.
Painting an Icon
Because of the dignity inherent in any attempt to make the holy visible in an icon, icons
traditionally are constructed in particular ways. Some aspects of the processes of board preparation
and painting are given symbolic meaning, such as the layering of darker and then lighter colors
referencing humanity being created out of clay, and then filled with the light of faith and salvation.
Traditional icons are made using all natural materials: wood, marble dust, chalk dust, rabbit skin
glue, honey, oil, egg yolk, and crushed pigments gathered from earth or stone. From these earthy
materials comes a vehicle for the holy, a commentary on our own human and sacramental life.
29 See Lily Ross Taylor, “The ‘Proskynesis’ and the Hellenistic Ruler Cult,” Journal of Hellenistic Studies 47, Part 1 (1927): 53–62. Note also Yazykova, 185n5, regarding latria and dulia: “In the discussion of icons, these Latin terms are paired together. . . . They are derived from Greek and are used to differentiate the difference between worship (given to God alone) and veneration (respect shown to the saints or an image).”
30 Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia, 150.
31 Maxim Vasiljevic, “The Icon and the Kingdom of God: Theological, Cultural, and Artistic Implications,” in History, Truth, Holiness: Studies in Theological Ontology and Epistemology (Alhambra, CA: Sebastian Press, 2011), 215-216.
17
In traditional language, we say that an iconographer “writes” an icon. While this terminology
represents a double meaning present in the Russian word for “to write or to paint,”32 theologically
the references to “writing” or “the grammar of iconography” evoke echoes of the opening of the
Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God.” As Yazykova notes, “Within Orthodoxy a special language has been developed for icons, and
this language is deeply rooted in a theology of visual signs, a canon that is understood as the visual
expression of the dogmas of the faith.”33 Icons are about Christ the Word made visible.
Just as the Bible is comprised of a canon of books, so iconography is marked by a visual
canon, a collection of proper ways to depict particular characters and sub-elements of an
iconographic image. While not written out in a single organized list, as Roman Catholics might
expect of the canons of canon law, the canons of iconography are part of the lived tradition. They
“ensure that the iconic image is filled with the appropriate doctrinal and theological content.”34
Some canons are official Church proclamations, such as the horos (ὅρος) of the Seventh Ecumenical
Council, “command[ing] us to make pictorial representations, in as much as this is in accordance
with the history of the preaching of the Gospels, and serv[ing] as a confirmation that Christ in reality
… became man.”35 Other canons are collected in hermeneia, or painters’ manuals, which describe how
32 Charles Lock, “Iconic Space and the Materiality of the Sign,” Religion and the Arts 4 (Winter 1997), 10.
33 Yazykova, 2.
34 Ibid., 4.
35 As quoted in Yazykova 18-19.
18 certain saints, Biblical scenes, or festal images are to be shown. These manuals may include both written descriptions and drawings indicating patterns to be followed.36
Learning all the particular the canons can take a lifetime of study, but knowing some key principles of iconography can help discern whether an icon can be said to be “canonical.” First of all is the worldview depicted: the icon shows the world of heaven, a redeemed world where all that has been broken or wounded has been healed and made whole. While saints may be depicted with the instruments by which they were martyred, these elements represent their connection to the cross of
Christ, a sign of hope in a redeemed world. St. John the Baptist, for instance, who died by beheading, sometimes is depicted with his head both on a platter and also restored to his body!
Images of Christ’s Passion are part of the Paschal Mystery, and so are permissible, but in the icon the crucifixion is not a gory affair, as it would be in art of other styles. The icon’s connection with the world of heaven also implies belief about the persons depicted. Leonid Ouspensky explains that
the icon is an image not only of a living but also of a deified prototype… this is why grace,
characteristic of the prototype, is present in the icon. In other words, it is the grace of the
Holy Spirit which sustains the holiness of both the represented person and of his icon…
The icon participates in the holiness of its prototype and, through the icon, we in turn
participate in this holiness in our prayers.37
Inasmuch as the saints are alive in heaven, the icon connects us with them in the here and now.
Insofar as heavenly life defies boundaries of time and space, in the icon, the saint depicted is also present to us in a special way.
36 See The Painter’s Manual of Dionysius of Fourna, trans. Paul Hetherington (London, Sagittarius Press, 1974). 37 Leonid Ouspensky, Theology of the Icon (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1978), 191.
19
In the world of heaven, then, all time also is present. In icons, this means that multiple scenes
may be depicted at once within a single image. In images of the Nativity, for example, we see the
central image of the Blessed Mother and the Christ Child in the cave with the animals, but we may
also see details including the magi approaching, angels proclaiming good news to the shepherds,
midwives washing the child, and Joseph being tempted to believe that Mary was unfaithful.38 Vita
icons, similarly, around a central image of a saint present small images detailing stories from his or
her life. In contrast with festal images like the Nativity, however, typically the smaller images within
a vita icon are presented within their own space rather than being integrated into the main image. 39
The second major iconographic principle is the use of inverse perspective. In traditional
depth perspective, things that are farther away from the viewer appear smaller, and eventually
disappear on the horizon.40 In inverse perspective, the opposite is true: things that are farther away
are brought forward so that we can see them.41 In the icon this means that some parts of a figure
that normally would fall out of view are tipped forward, yielding the stylization that without
38 See example of icon by Andrei Rublev in the Museum of Russian Icons collection: http://www.museumofrussianicons.org/virtualexhibit/vex3/CA2F8CC6-4C48-40C4-9907-529023214550.htm or icon by Konstantinos Tzanes Bounialis from the British Museum: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3485956&partId= 1. Accessed December 3, 2016.
39 See example of vita icon of St. Nicholas from the Museum of Russian Icons: http://russianicons.pastperfect-online.com/36567cgi/mweb.exe?request=image&hex=085.jpg. Accessed December 3, 2016.
40 Clear examples of traditional depth perspective include paintings of “The Betrothal of the Virgin,” by Raphael and his student, Perugino. Note how the pavement in the background becomes smaller as it slips from view toward a vanishing point: http://pinacotecabrera.org/en/dialogo/perugino-and-raphael-the- marriage-of-the-virgin-a-dialogue-between-the-master-and-the-pupil/. Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. Accessed December 3, 2016.
41 In this example of a fifteenth century icon of St. Jerome from the British Museum, inverse perspective has the tops of the mountains tipped forward so that we can see them. Note also how the chair appears to get larger as one’s eye is drawn deeper into the image: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/ collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=58756&partId=1&searchText=byzantine+icon&p age=1. Accessed December 3, 2016.
20
understanding one might call “distortion.” Rather than creating distance between the viewer and the
object, inverse perspective draws the viewer closer, into relationship with the one depicted.42 Inverse
perspective makes it possible to see from multiple perspectives at once, so that we can see elements
of the top and the side of a figure’s head as well as the front. We can see the top-view angle of
clothing folding over shoulders and arms. Yet because everything is whole in the world of the icon,
what we see is not a cubist hodge-podge of body parts, but a complete person, based in reality. If
one were to take a photo of a more recent saint and superimpose it over a similarly composed icon,
the features of the person should more or less align.
The third major principle of canonical iconography is the use of light. Naturalistic use of
light assumes light comes from an outside source, which hits at a certain angle and then either
reflects or creates shadows. Rather than using naturalistic light, the icon is built using light that
emanates from within the person, an image of the holiness that comes from within the Christian
who, as part of the Body of Christ, is a light to the world. In icons one sees no spots of light on the
irises of eyes, which would be a reflection of outside light. Likewise, in icons, as in the world of
heaven, no true darkness exists, and so they are painted not with light and shadow, but only with
increasing levels of light. Again, while the use of light in the icon may be stylized, it is still based in
reality.
A final major principle of canonical iconography is that the icon makes visible the tradition
and teaching of the Church. This means that an icon needs to depict what the Church actually
42 Lock, 7, 16. Coming from the Greek tradition, George Kordis speaks of this as the “relational system of perspective,” noting that the point of this kind of construction is to create a space in which the artistic forms of the icon move toward the viewer, into relationship. See his Icon as Communion: The Ideals and Compositional Principles of Icon Painting, trans. Caroline Makropoulos (Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2010), especially pp. 8-10, 16, 21,40, 57-58.
21
believes, not an artist’s personal interpretation of Christianity apart from the greater community.
Icons adorn the public space of churches, and proclaim professed truths of Scripture and Tradition.
They are taken seriously as sources of theology, and in the eastern Churches, hold dogmatic value;
they shape prayer, and are used for teaching what the Church teaches.43 Thus it is important that
icons be faithful in representing the truth that has been received.
The process of painting an icon can vary, depending on tradition and locally available
materials.44 Typically iconographers begin with preparation of the wooden panel that will support
the image. Panels usually are selected from non-resinous woods, and may be reinforced with splines
to prevent warping, which would crack a painting. Some panels also include a kovcheg, a recessed area
surrounded by a raised edge that provides a natural frame. The panel then is sealed with a wash of
weak rabbit skin glue, after which a loose-weave fabric is secured with a stronger level of glue. The
artist then applies about a dozen layers of gesso, a mixture of chalk dust, marble dust, and rabbit
skin glue, touched with a bit of oil and honey. This may be painted on while warm and wet, or
spackled on when cooled to the consistency of firm tofu. When dry, the surface is sanded until it
feels like smooth stone. After this preliminary preparation, an artist may choose to gild part of the
43 Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia, 154-155.
44 Technical preparation of an icon varies; I share primarily the process I learned under the direction of master iconographer Ksenia Pokrovsky and her assistant Marek Czarnecki of the Izograph School of Iconography during their Hexaemeron Six Days of Creation workshops in 2008, 2010, 2014, and 2017. I continue to work with Marek Czarnecki, usually from a distance. For more on technical preparation of an icon, see Marek Czarnecki, The Technique of Iconography: Method and Teachings of Xenia Pokrovskaya and the Izograph School of Iconography (Sharon, MA: Izograph Studio, 2003); Egon Sendler, The Icon: Image of the Invisible, trans. Steven Bigham (Torrance, CA: Oakwood Publications, 1999), 187–239; Quenot, The Icon: Window on the Kingdom (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1996), 83–119; Leonid Ouspensky and Vladimir Lossky, The Meaning of Icons, trans. G. E. H. Palmer and E. Kadloubovsky (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1982), 51–55; Gianluca Busi, Il segno de Giona (Bologna: Dehoniana Libri, 2011), 200–317; Kordis, The Icon as Communion. For a compilation of various ancient methods, see The Painter’s Manual of Dionysius of Fourna, trans. Paul Hetherington (London: Sagittarius Press, 1974). Aiden Hart’s Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting (Leominster, Herefordshire, Australia: Gracewing, 2011) is perhaps the most complete handbook currently available.
22 panel with gold leaf. While icons do not have to include gold, a gold-colored background and gold haloes help convey the idea that the icon is dealing with a different view of reality, the world of heaven.
Unless the icon is of a brand-new saint, the image to be created is based on an existing prototype, which ideally is a quality icon that follows traditional canonical belief and practice. While a real icon is the ideal prototype, given the rarity of access to actual icons, more often prototypes come from art prints or image reproductions in books. When the original image is damaged, an artist may need to consult multiple sources to determine the proper composition. Usually the artist begins this phase by tracing the prototype, obtaining a quality drawing, and then transferring it to the icon board using carbon paper. This drawing then is reinforced with India ink painted with expressive, calligraphic lines. The inked drawing will show through subsequent layers of paint, guiding the painting that is to follow.
When it comes to painting the icon, the iconographer begins with the least important elements and then moves toward the most important. If one is not using actual gold leaf for a gilded background, the first step of painting involves applying a gold-toned background. Architectural features or other background imagery comes next, and then the darker base colors for the saint’s clothing. The base color for skin and hair is actually a cool green tone, called sankir in the Russian tradition. This step is called roskrish, which means “opening up,” or “unveiling.” The artist next applies “first lights” over the base tones, which begin to define the shapes with a level of brightness.
The face and other skin areas are given an orange tone that warms up the figure. “Second lights” follow with more definition (in the face, this would be a yellow light), and then “third lights,” even brighter tones which bring the figure toward completion. Ozhivki, or “enlivening lines,” are very fine, very bright white final highlights that appear to bring the saint to life. This movement of
23 starting with the darkest colors and moving toward the brightest mimics the Transfiguration of the
Lord. This dynamic becomes a metaphor of how in the life of faith we also are to be filled with light and gradually transfigured into our own deified image of Christ.
From this description, one can see that creating an icon takes a lot of time, with many layers of different kinds of work. Throughout the process, the iconographer should be steeped in prayer.
Often painters will use the Jesus Prayer, repeating some form of “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Physically, the repetition stabilizes each brush stroke, lending focus and calm. During this time one may also be praying to the saint, asking for help, or asking blessing on the person who eventually will pray with the icon. Irina Yazykova explains, “An icon is painted both in prayer and for prayer, for the purpose of teaching us to see the world as God and the saints see the world: as already redeemed and transfigured, made new under God—a world conquered by love.”45 Even at this early stage of the icon’s life, it is meant for prayer.
The Iconographer
Because the iconographer is seen as participating in a holy work, the Eastern churches have long held expectations for the life and behavior of icon painters that in some ways have paralleled expectations for priests. Every icon in some way makes manifest something of the current state of the Church, the world, and the iconographer’s own spiritual life.46 Thus, traditionally iconographers are expected to practice a level of prayer and fasting, and are to live a moral life. According to the
1551 Stoglav Council held in Moscow,
45 Yazykova, 3.
46 Ibid., 10.
24
An iconographer shall be reverential, humble, not given to vain talk or clownery; not
quarrelsome or of an envious nature; shall not be a drunkard, or a thief, or a murderer; most
important of all, he must guard to the utmost the purity of his own soul and body, and
whosoever is unable to endure in this state till the end, let him marry according to the law.
The artist should regularly seek the advice of a spiritual father, listening to his counsel in all
things and living accordingly, fasting, praying, and leading a life of restraint and humility,
devoid of shame and disgrace. . . . If any master painter, or one of his students, should begin
to live in a manner contrary to the rules . . . then the Church hierarchs are to place such
persons under discipline, must forbid them from painting, and not allow them to [even]
touch their paints.47
Russian theologian Pavel Florensky is quoted as saying, “Only saints can paint icons.”48 Similarly,
Archimandrite Zinon claims that today we have no iconographical geniuses today “because the nature of the person defines the nature of the icon” 49 (and presumably, we lack people of true character and goodness). Truly, a vocation to iconography demands holiness, a sense of awe and humility50 as well as an integrated life of charity. While the Eastern Church is known for a level of asceticism among all the faithful, the high standards held for iconographers have meant that historically, many iconographers have been monks and nuns. Today, iconographers can be lay or ordained, single or married. All are called to be holy.
47 As quoted in Yazykova, 37.
48 Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia, 143.
49 Yazykova, 38.
50 Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia, 143-144.
25
Summary: The Theology of the Icon
In summary, then, icons participate in the dynamic of the Incarnation. They are sacred liturgical art, a form of art created for and emerging out of a context of prayer. While various elements of an icon may be symbolic, the icon exists to reveal and proclaim theological truth, not to shroud it in mystery. In a particular way, defying boundaries of time and space, icons are understood to make Christ and the saints present among us. They have a sacramental nature. Furthermore, we could say that while all icons are religious art, not all religious art is an icon. In order to be a canonical icon, a work needs to depict the redeemed worldview of heaven, use inverse perspective, use light from within rather than true shadows, and ultimately, to teach what the Church teaches, following the tradition that enables the faithful to recognize Jesus and the saints in their icons. As with any kind of art, icons demand a level of skill and practice in order to be executed with beauty.
Prayer is important, and holiness is critical, but prayer alone will not make an icon beautiful. The very practical aspects of being human must collaborate with the divine.
Liturgical Use of Icons in the Eastern Churches
In the Eastern Church, icons are inseparably part of space for worship, “the acknowledged setting for any liturgical service.”51 Indeed, Philip Sherrard writes, “An icon divorced from a place and act of worship is a contradiction in terms.”52 Within Eastern Orthodox and Eastern-rite
Catholic churches, walls and ceilings may be covered with mosaics or frescoes, and icons are integral to the iconostasis, the wall of images demarcating the space of the sanctuary from the nave. What
51 Nancy Patterson Ševçenko, “Icons in the Liturgy,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 45 (1991): 45.
52 Bishop Kallistos of Diocleia, 143.
26
started as a practice of placing panel icons on a chancel screen grew into a custom of having first
one row of icons, then two, and by the fifteenth century, in the Russian tradition, up to five rows of
icons in this space, each row representing a particular theme or group of saints within the Church.53
In the years following iconoclasm, the use of particular images was organized into a framework that
continues to guide how they are seen and used within liturgical space:
[Icons] had a predetermined location in the churches and also were given a specified
function in church ritual. The church thereby expected to direct the attention of the faithful
first and foremost to official liturgy, which was the primary means of ecclesiastical self-
representation.54
Interaction with icons within liturgy takes different forms. Within the Divine Liturgy (what Roman-
rite Catholics experience as the mass), the priest may lead veneration of particular icons, incensing
and bowing to images of Christ and the Blessed Mother as they are invoked in prayer. Members of
the congregation, on entering the church, venerate various icons, usually offering a kiss, bow, and
sign of the cross. Near the entrance, on a proskynetarion, an icon stand, an icon of the patron of the
community is displayed, and nearby, the festal icon of the day. These images help community
members recognize that they are entering into sacred space and time. In churches without pews, the
faithful may move about before or during liturgy, visiting their beloved saints. Maxim Vasiljevic
writes that “a proper icon creates true relationships” and that it therefore gathers the Church in
53 On development and meaning of the iconostasis, see Belting, Likeness and Presence, trans. Edward Jephcott (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 233, 238; Lossky and Ouspensky, The Meaning of Icons, 60–68; Quenot, The Icon: Window on the Kingdom, 47–63; Thomas F. Mathews, Byzantium: From Antiquity to the Renaissance (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998), 59–64; Christopher Walter, “The Origins of the Iconostasis,” Eastern Churches Review 3 (1971), reprinted in Studies in Byzantine Iconography (London: Variorum Reprints, 1977), 251–67.
54 Belting, Likeness and Presence, 172.
27
synaxis, encouraging us to meet the other.55 Inasmuch as icons create relationship with Christ and
the saints, they also call us into relationship with each other as members of the Church. They are
part of the gathering of the congregation.
Personal devotion in a public space may feel awkward or divisive to Roman-rite Catholics,
who tend to emphasize uniform communal action while at liturgy. However, such behavior is quite
common in Eastern Christianity. Claire Maria Chambers articulates how Orthodox individual
veneration of icons at worship helps build community:
That everyone, as a community, was watching everyone else enter into a space of personal
devotion and relationship spoke of the icon’s ability to fuse a universalizing faith with local
participation…. Performance has the ability to put on display the highly personalized realm
of interior experience while at the same time creating space for shared experience.56
In an Eastern liturgical space, icons present an opportunity to express something of one’s inner
world. This calls for a level of trust and ease in others’ presence. While helping the individual
prepare spiritually to enter into liturgy, this veneration also helps “fuse [not only] the universal and
local, [but also] the individual and the community.”57 In this way, icons thus help the faithful
embody a core reality of faith: while an individual relationship with God matters, Christianity is not
merely personal; it is also intrinsically communal.
Icons also play a role in defining liturgical time. In the Eastern liturgical calendar, several
feasts actually include icons in the official rituals of the day, such as the Sunday of Orthodoxy,
55 Vasiljevic, 213.
56 Claire Maria Chambers, “The Common and the Holy: What Icons Teach Us About Performance,” Liturgy 28, no. 1 (2013), 21.
57 Ibid., 21.
28 commemorating the end of iconoclasm, and the feast of Akathistos, commemorating the
Constantinopolitan victory over the Avars with the assistance of the Theotokos.58 Moreover, many miracle working icons have their own feast days; some have more than one.59 Among the many icons on the iconostasis, one usually will find a row of icons of the great feasts of the faith: the
Annunciation, the Incarnation, the Transfiguration, the Passion and Resurrection, the Ascension, and Pentecost, among others. These are liturgical moments celebrated over the course of the liturgical year, along with hundreds of other small feasts celebrating particular saints and events in the life of the Church. When presented for veneration in a special place, the presence of a festal icon helps everyone gathered to understand that today, we celebrate this saint, this feast day. That the images can be physically rotated in and out speaks to the nature of liturgical time’s movement. The space is not necessarily the same today as it was yesterday, but rather is dynamic.60
Beyond Eucharistic celebrations of the Divine Liturgy, icons also play a role in other liturgies and sacraments of the Eastern Church. At Baptism and Chrismation, it is common for a child to receive an icon of his or her patron saint. Reconciliation involves a penitent confessing one’s sins to
Christ, made visible in an icon, while the priest stands by as witness, provider of advice, and conduit of absolution. In the Russian tradition, the priest says to the penitent:
Behold, my child, Christ stands here invisibly and receives your confession. Therefore do
not be ashamed or afraid… and you shall have pardon from Our Lord Jesus Christ. See, His
58 Brubaker, 10.
59 Communication with iconographer Marek Czarnecki.
60 Chambers, 28.
29
holy icon is before us: and I am merely a witness, bearing testimony before him of all the
things which you have to say to me.61
At marriage, the new couple may be given a household icon of the patrons of both spouses. An icon
also may be placed in the coffin with the deceased during a funeral.62 Icons accompany Orthodox
prayer wherever it happens, at every stage of life.
While the Eastern churches make ample use of icons within the liturgical space of the
church, Nancy Ševçenko posits that when speaking of the Orthodox world, we also need to
consider liturgy in a “wide sense” to include not only what takes place in church but also interaction
occurring in monastic cells, in the home, and even on the battlefield.63 In certain periods icons have
been considered palladia, cult objects recognized by everyone as bringing power and protection.64
Historically, icons have been carried in processions through the streets, sometimes representing
particular confraternities or other groups. Military ceremonies have included icons, and sometimes
icons belonging to the opposing side have been taken captive as booty.65 In his 1954 landmark study
of icons before iconoclasm, Ernst Kitzinger notes that in the seventh century, icons even functioned
in a “quasi-legal” way, acting almost as witnesses to the resolution of theological disputes.66 Believed
61 As quoted in Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church (London: Penguin Books, 1997), 289.
62 Quenot, The Icon: Window on the Kingdom, 43.
63 Ševçenko, 45.
64 Kitzinger, “The Cult of Images in the Age before Iconoclasm,” in The Art of Byzantium and the Medieval West: Selected Studies, ed. W. Eugene Kleinbauer (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1976, 116. This article was originally printed in Dumbarton Oaks Papers 8 (1954): 83-150. All numbers used in this treatise reference the 1976 pagination.
65 Brubaker, 10.
66 Kitzinger, 105.
30 to make Christ and the saints present in a powerful way, since early times, some icons have become known for various miracles, including different kinds of healing.67 Within the domestic sphere, icons have been used and honored since at least the sixth and seventh centuries.68 Even today, most
Eastern Christian homes usually will have an “icon corner,” which becomes a place of prayer.
Traditionally, the mother of the home is responsible for the “domestic liturgy,” making sure that candles are lit before the home icons. Here, Timothy Ware explains, icons “sanctify each action, bridging the gap between the secular and the sacred, and introducing the dimension of the transcendent into all aspects of our daily existence.”69 Orthodox prayer manuals include prayers to be said standing before one’s icons, at morning, at evening, and at other times. Within the more contemplative part of the tradition, monastic men and women may take longer periods of time to pray the Jesus Prayer or reflect in silence before an icon.
Icons and Catechesis
Canonical icons express the theological truth of the tradition. They illustrate the stories and mysteries of Christianity, manifesting both Scripture and Tradition. When beautiful, icons have the power to draw people toward the spiritual realities they represent. The truly beautiful compels us want to be one with it. Italian priest and iconographer Gianluca Busi writes that “the icon is beautiful that generates interior beauty.”70 In the Eastern tradition, an icon’s beauty is meant to lead to veneration and sanctification. Thus for Busi, the first criterion for the beauty of an icon, before its
67 Kitzinger, 107-113.
68 Ibid., 104.
69 Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia, 147.
70 Busi, 35, my translation.
31
technical qualities, is its theological vision and understanding.71 An icon must tell the truth, and also
make it compelling. On the 1200th anniversary of the Second Council of Nicaea, on the feast of St.
John of Damascus, defender of icons, Slavic pope John Paul II wrote that icons speak to the human
need for the “spiritual language of authentic Christian art”:
Authentic Christian art is that which, through sensible perception, gives the intuition that the
Lord is present in his Church, that the events of salvation history give meaning and
orientation to our life, that the glory that is promised us already transforms our existence.
Sacred art must tend to offer us a visual synthesis of all dimensions of our faith… [aiming] at
speaking the language of the Incarnation.72 …. [W]e are sent back to our most primordial
task of evangelization…. Our most authentic tradition, which we share with our Orthodox
brethren, teaches us that the language of beauty placed at the service of faith is capable of
reaching people’s hearts and making them know from within the One whom we dare to
represent in images, Jesus Christ, Son of God made man, “the same yesterday, today, and
forever” [Heb 13:8].73
The tradition of using icons, then, is using beauty at the service of faith, in order to move the heart.
It is a natural part of evangelization and catechesis, sharing the faith, proclaiming that Christ is Lord.
Perhaps it comes more naturally to the Orthodox and Eastern-rite Catholics than to Roman-rite
Catholics to explain the faith to visitors by talking about the images within their churches. Yet in our
71 Busi, 42.
72 Pope John Paul II, Duodecimum Saeculum (Vatican City: Dec. 4, 1987), no. 11. https://w2.vatican.va /content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1987/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_19871204_duodecimum- saeculum.html Accessed 8 November 2016.
73 Ibid., no. 12.
32
common tradition, even amid other disputes about religious images, early Church fathers from Basil
to Gregory the Great also saw the didactic purposes of sacred art. Gregory of Nyssa wrote that
“paintings also can wordlessly speak to us from walls, and thereby be of enormous value to us.”74
John of Damascus asked, “Do you not see how the function of image and word are one?”75 Today,
Busi posits that even outside a church, icons have a role in “pre-evangelizaton,” reaching people
who may not always be reached by regular pastoral care. Amid a number of museum exhibits on
icons, people of faith can take heart: “In a context of profound desacralization of experience and
environments, often it is just the icon itself that can weave a fine line between secularization and
spirituality.”76 The icon may well be a sacramental “bearer of presence.”77 Yet it is evangelization and catechesis that unpack the meaning of what is seen in icons, and help deepen faith. As disciples of
Jesus, we must speak of what we see. Ultimately, the icon’s beauty should lead to prayer. An
Orthodox maxim holds: “If you are a theologian, you will pray in truth; and if you pray truly, you are a theologian.”78 In the Orthodox worldview, the icon speaks of the good news of both Christ and
hope for humanity. Just as the saints are depicted in their deified glory, so are we called to be
transfigured and defied.79 Just as evangelizing words can lead one to follow Jesus, so the language of
74 Yazykova, 18.
75 John of Damascus, I.45, p. 45.
76 Busi, 67.
77 Denis McNamara, “Images as Sacrament: Rediscovery of Liturgical Art,” in Sacrosanctum Concilium and the Reform of the Liturgy (Chicago, IL: University of Scranton Press, 2009), 58.
78 Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia, 153.
79 Yazykova, 1.
33 icons can lead to salvation. Like John of Damascus, we also are invited to see the human face of
God and be saved.80
In the Eastern tradition, then, the icon is a statement of faith. Beyond being mere decoration, it is a statement of Christian identity. It is a sacramental sign of the presence of Christ and the saints, a sign of Christian belief in the redemption of the world, “already and not yet” established in the here and now. If Roman-rite Catholics are to use icons, it is important that we understand and respect this Eastern understanding of them. Our own tradition of using sacred images, while different in some ways, shares many of the same characteristics. To this topic we now turn.
80 Yazykova, 5.
CHAPTER 3: ROMAN CATHOLIC TRADITIONS USING RELIGIOUS IMAGES
In order to give a fair assessment of where Roman-rite Catholics stand in regard to using images today, it is helpful to examine how the visual tradition has developed over time in the
Western Church. In some ways, religious images have fulfilled similar purposes in different parts of
Christendom. Christian images have marked identity. They have commemorated saints, holy people, and special Church events. They have served as aids to prayer. They have taught the tradition. They have made visible the spiritual realities celebrated at liturgy. Emphasis has varied at different times in the different parts of the Church. In many ways, however, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox belief and practice surrounding sacred images have been somewhat similar for the greater part of history. Where differences have emerged, the underlying dynamic seems to be that in the East, the icon has served and grounded a whole range of uses, while in the Western Church, particularly through the Middle Ages, different kinds of images have developed to fulfill different religious purposes.81
Sacred Images as a Mark of Christian Identity
One of the fundamental purposes of sacred art is to express Christian identity. In early
Christianity, symbolic images like the anchor, bread, fish, grapes, and the cross made a statement
about the people connected with them. In some cases this identity was being posited subtly, over and against sometimes similar pagan imagery. Grapes, for instance, could reference Dionysius, or
Eucharistic wine. A young man holding a sheep could be construed to represent Orpheus, or could
81 Irina Yazykova, Hidden and Triumphant: The Underground Struggle to Save Russian Iconography, trans. Paul Grenier (Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2010), 22. 34 35
be an image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Such symbolic images also marked Christian identity
both in continuity with and distinct from Jewish life. On the walls of catacombs, early Christians
appropriated the art of synagogues, yet reinterpreted them in light of Christian belief. Images of
Noah’s Ark and the Red Sea, for example, became references not only to the Hebrew people being
saved from death, but also images of baptism and Christian redemption.82 Whether subtle or overt,
such Christian imagery was used to mark space as being Christian. When used in burial places or on
sarcophagi, these images proclaimed the identity of the person buried.
Christian images also give identity to Christian places of worship. Churches typically are
named for a particular patron saint, and so often will provide a place of honor for an image of the
patron. In the Eastern tradition this image usually is an icon presented just inside the doorway of the
church, and in a place of honor on the icon screen. In a Roman Catholic church, by contrast, the
patron might be depicted as a statue, or perhaps in a painting. This image may be presented in a side
chapel, in the narthex, or perhaps in a place of honor behind the altar or in a painted ceiling space of
the apse. Such an image helps the community to build a more personal relationship with the saint.
More broadly speaking, sometimes particular images represent the Catholic identity of a
whole nation, such as Our Lady of Częstochowa for the Polish people, or Our Lady of Guadalupe for those of Mexican descent. In their diversity, Catholic images express the identity of the local
Church as it has been inculturated in that place. A.F. Walls argues that because Christianity can be inculturated anywhere, we have no “normative Christian art.” In other words, the subject matter of
82 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, trans. John Saward (San Francisco: Igrantius Press, 2000), 117.
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Christian art can be identifiably Christian, but the style, form, and technique may be flexible.83 While
Eastern icons also manifest local styles, this flexibility is particularly discernable in Roman Catholic
art. Images may be identifiably Asian or African or Native American in their style, and yet are just as
Christian in their content as any traditionally European-American imagery. Particularly since Vatican
II, this diversity is an important part of how Christian art expresses the identity of the local
community.84
Art also has played a role in differentiating between Roman Catholic and Protestant spaces.
As Susan O’Brian notes, historically, creating a visibly Catholic space has been part of cultivating
Catholic identity.85 Often this has meant including imagery connected with particularly Catholic devotions, but it also means making reference to the presence of angels and the saints, and visual emphasis on the Blessed Sacrament. Protestant worship spaces, by contrast, tend to emphasize the
83 A.F. Walls, “The Western Discovery of Non-Western Christian Art,” in The Church and the Arts, ed. Diana Wood (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1992), 571.
84 Sacrosanctum Concilium no. 123: “The Church has not adopted any particular style of art as her very own; she has admitted styles from every period according to the natural talents and circumstances of peoples, and the needs of the various rites. Thus, in the course of the centuries, she has brought into being a treasury of art which must be very carefully preserved. The art of our own days, coming from every race and region, shall also be given free scope in the Church, provided that it adorns the sacred buildings and holy rites with due reverence and honor; thereby it is enabled to contribute its own voice to that wonderful chorus of praise in honor of the Catholic faith sung by great men in times gone by.” (Hereafter SC, Vatican Council II, December 4, 1963.) http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat- ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html. Accessed November 25, 2016. See also National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Built of Living Stones (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000), no. 38.
85 Susan O’Brien, “Making Catholic Spaces: Women, Décor, and Devotion in the English Catholic Church, 1840-1900,” in The Church and the Arts, ed. Diana Wood (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1992), 452.
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Word more than the Sacrament, the congregation rather than its leaders.86 Granted, Protestant
denominations differ in regard to how images are used or avoided. The more sacramentally-inclined,
such as Anglicans and Lutherans, do tend to allow for images of Jesus and the saints, while those
from the Reformed tradition tend to exclude most Christian imagery, at least in public worship
spaces.87 Within Catholic practice, as for the Orthodox, veneration usually is invited, perhaps by the
presence of a kneeler or a rack of candles to be lighted, whereas in Protestant practice it generally is
important not to cultivate any impulse toward veneration of images.88
Commemorating Saints
In a particular way, Catholic usage of imagery has played a role in cultivating belief, understanding, and relationship with saints. Presenting images of the saints in both public and private spaces allows particular people to be held up as role models for Christian living. Within
Catholic tradition, honoring someone with an image is tacit recognition that this person is worthy of
imitation, if not also veneration. Certainly this has been true of biblical figures, but as the tradition
developed, images have also become part of the official and unofficial processes of promoting a
cause and canonization. Sometimes images illustrate stories from a saint’s life, occasionally including
miracles that occurred in response to his or her intercession, either before or after death. By
86 Martin Dudley, “Honesty and Consecration: Paul Tillich’s Criteria for a Religious Architecture,” in The Church and the Arts, ed. Diana Wood (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1992), 518-19. See also R. Kevin Seasoltz, A Sense of the Sacred (New York: Continuum, 2005), 164-167.
87 See Sergiusz Michalski, The Reformation and the Visual Arts (New York: Routledge, 1993) for a full treatment of the range of belief and practice associated with different Protestant denominations. For a study on material culture across Christian faith traditions, see Colleen McDannell, Material Christianity: Religion and Popular Culture in America (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995).
88 Dudley, 519.
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presenting particular people’s lives for consideration, such images make a statement about what
constitutes holiness.
When a saint is known for defending or particularly embodying a certain Christian belief, presenting his or her image becomes a way of reaffirming that belief. Images of St. Gianna Molla, for instance, tend to bring to mind the fact that she died rather than to abort her child, thus reaffirming the Church’s stance on the sanctity of all life, including that of the unborn. Images of the
Blessed Mother giving the rosary to St. Dominic remind the faithful of the importance and power of that prayer. Images of St. Damien de Veuster speak of his love for the lepers of Molokai, and the importance of loving everyone as Christ, including the contagiously sick and deformed. Saints are models, and their lives are a statement about the authentic Christian life.
Images of the saints also help cultivate emotional connection between the faithful on earth
and those already in heaven. Particularly when presented as single figures facing the viewer, at eye
level, images of the saints invite relationship. This dynamic reaffirms the Christian belief that the
Body of Christ includes all the baptized, both those still living this life and those who have gone
before us. We believe that it is possible to become friends with saints whom we will come to know
even better with time. When used in this way, images of the saints are devotional images. Their
purpose is to create love and connection within the Body of Christ while spurring Christians on to
more tenacious pursuit of holiness and union with Christ.
Liturgical Images
One of the primary forms of Christian imagery receiving attention over the past century is
liturgical art. Particularly during the Liturgical Movement of the early twentieth century, the
Liturgical Arts Society spent time discussing what constitutes liturgical art. In their explorations,
39
these artists and theologians looked at the idea of the icon as paradigmatic for all liturgical art: “As
ikon [sic], liturgical art is seen as a vehicle for human prayer and divine communication, a ‘real
symbol of transcendent reality.’”89 Beyond making a statement of identity or illustrating a good
example of the moral life, liturgical art was to aid both human prayer and God’s own revelation. The
Second Vatican Council drew on much of this thinking in the composition of Sacrosanctum Concilium,
where sacred art destined for liturgical use is addressed in the final chapter as the “summit” of
religious art.90
More recently, Denis McNamara has defined liturgical art as making visible the heavenly,
invisible reality taking place when we celebrate liturgy. These images are sacramental. If the mass
makes present the liturgy being celebrated in the heavenly Jerusalem and the wedding feast of the
Lamb, the new Eden, the Kingdom of God both already and not yet present, the Paschal Mystery
re-presented among us, then these are the images that should be part of liturgical art in the
sanctuaries of Catholic churches. One of the primary purposes of the Liturgical Movement and the
liturgical reforms of Vatican II, according to McNamara, was to put things in proper order, with the
first things first, second things second, and so on. In contrast with what he calls devotional or
historical images, liturgical images are primary. They belong in the public liturgical space of the
sanctuary. Devotional art, by comparison, is fundamentally more private and belongs in its own,
89 Susan J. White, Art, Architecture, and Liturgical Reform: The Liturgical Arts Society (1928-1972) (New York: Pueblo Publishing, 1990), 117.
90 SC, no. 122.
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secondary place; historical art, being more didactic in function, is of tertiary importance, and
similarly belongs elsewhere.91
Liturgical art, according to McNamara, helps cultivate full, conscious, active participation of the
faithful at liturgy.92 These images help us to understand what we are doing. They help us begin to
touch the greater mystery in which we participate. As public images, they are meant for the whole
Church. They should draw us into the beauty of our shared religious belief and practice. 93 As Pope
John Paul II writes in his Letter to Artists, church art must “translate into meaningful terms that
which is in itself ineffable… It does so without emptying the message itself of its transcendent value
and its aura of mystery.”94 Such art aids revelation. In order to do this well, McNamara argues,
besides being “complete and theologically accurate, liturgical art must be naturalistic enough to be
legible, abstracted enough to be universal, and idealized enough to be eschatological.”95 We must be
able to recognize the imagery in liturgical art, yet it must also be able to draw us beyond itself,
connecting us to ultimate realities.
Devotional Images as Aid to Personal Prayer
Devotional images are Christian art that helps cultivate personal prayer. As mentioned
earlier, saints often are the subjects of devotional art, even as they also can be part of liturgical art,
91 Denis McNamara, “Images as Sacrament: Rediscovering Liturgical Art,” in Sacrosanctum Concilium and the Reform of the Liturgy, ed. Kenneth D. Whitehead (Chicago: University of Scranton Press, 2009), 61-63.
92 McNamara, 59-62.
93 Cf. Built of Living Stones, no 44.
94 Pope John Paul II, Letter to Artists, (Chicago, IL: Liturgy Training Publications, 1999), no. 12.
95 McNamara, 69.
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imaging some celestial aspects of our celebrations of Eucharist. Besides the saints, devotional images
can also include imagery such as the Stations of the Cross, Christmas crèches, or small statues of
Christ meant for a level of personal interaction. According to McNamara, this kind of image
generally belongs not in the sanctuary, but perhaps in a side chapel or other place where it is
appropriate to cultivate private devotion. Devotional art should not distract from liturgy. Yet, it is
important to note that while secondary in importance, these images form a legitimate support for a
prayer life that comes from and leads back to liturgy, the source and summit of Christian life.96 In
order to prepare one’s disposition to experience the full grace of liturgy, personal prayer is important
and should not be neglected.
As an aid to personal prayer, devotional images often are simplified from more complex
artistic compositions, perhaps focusing on one element of a scene with a more subdued
background.97 Such focus can help stimulate piety, which can take different forms. It can foster quiet
meditation, a sustained reflection on a single person, event, or mystery depicted, or can lead to silent
contemplation. As in icons, Roman Catholic devotional art can cultivate a sense of seeing and being
seen. Devotional art also can encourage active physical or imaginative interaction.98 Perhaps an image invites the viewer to identify with the person depicted, such as feeling the pain and suffering of a dying Jesus depicted on a crucifix. The image may trigger tears, or a sense of penitence, with the
96 McNamara, 63; cf. SC, no. 10.
97 Juan Luis González García, “Empathetic Images and Painted Dialogues: The Visual and Verbal Rhetoric of Royal Private Piety in Renaissance Spain,” in Push Me, Pull You: Imaginative and Emotional Interaction in Late Medieval and Renaissance Art, ed. Sarah Blick and Laura D. Gelfand, vol. 1 (Boston: Brill, 2011), 490. As I will be drawing from a number of different essays drawn from this excellent two-volume work, hereafter it will be designated “Blick and Gelfand,” followed by the volume number.
98 Sarah Blick and Laura D. Gelfand, “Introduction,” in Blick and Gelfand, vol. 1, xxxvii.
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viewer of the same crucifix reflecting on how his or her own sins contributed to Christ’s Passion.
Sometimes devotional art presents a model for behavior.99 Art of a particular period, for instance,
might include the donor or patron of the piece kneeling in prayer off to the side of the main central
image. Some people believe praying with an images makes their prayer more efficacious. If a
devotional image helps cultivate deeper focus, with a more lively sense of love and compassion for
Christ and the saints, it is fulfilling its function.
Images Making Christ and the Saints Recognizably Present
One important function of some sacred images, both Catholic and Orthodox, is to make
Christ and the saints recognizably present and tangible in a concrete way. Beyond the icon to be
kissed, a range of Roman Catholic art forms have served this purpose, particularly when God
otherwise might seem to be distant or inaccessible to the faithful. In twelfth and thirteenth century
Italy, for instance, during a time when taking communion was infrequent, painted crucifixes above
the altar helped the faithful visualize the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, allowing a more active
form of participation than they might otherwise have. While some people might participate in
“ocular communion” at the elevation of the host, watching through altar screens could be difficult,
and Eucharistic exposition outside of mass was not always available. Besides all this, seeing a
consecrated host and recognizing it to be Jesus is a rather abstract notion even for long-time
believers. Thus, the painted body of Christ on the crucifix helped people to make the mental
99 See Mark Trowbridge, “Sin and Redemptin in Late-Medieval Art and Theater: The Magdalen as Role Model in Hugo Van der Goes’s Vienna Diptych,” in Blick and Gelfand, vol. 1, 415-445.
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connection and to realize that Jesus really was present and could be adored at any time.100 A similar
dynamic led to Eucharistic imagery on tabernacle doors.
Other forms of sacred art have allowed the faithful more hands-on access to the holy. In the
early fourteenth century in the Netherlands, for example, a tradition emerged of creating beautifully
decorated jésueaux, small cribs with baby Jesus dolls. These often would be displayed around
Christmas time, or given to women entering monastic life.101 Such devotional images were held and
rocked, used to cultivate a loving sense of maternal devotion to the Christ Child.
A somewhat related practice of hugging a statue of St. James emerged at Santiago de
Compostela between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries, during a period when the crypt holding the relics of the saint was closed to the public. Pilgrims who had journeyed hundreds of miles grieved not to be able to see, kiss, and touch the tomb, and so took to different traditions involving a polychrome statue of St. James. The present statue, dating to 1665, stands behind the main altar, and holds a staff and phylactery reading “Hic est corpis Divi Iacobi Apostoli ac hispaniorum Patroni,” “This
is the body of James, Holy Apostle and also Patron of Spain.”102 Seventeenth century pilgrim Laffi
noted, “If you kiss it reverently you will be granted plenary indulgence, though you are not allowed
to touch the sacred body itself.”103 In a very concrete way, the work of art took the place of a relic,
allowing access to the sacred. This dynamic has often repeated itself wherever actual relics are
100 Kristen Van Ausdall, “Communicating with the Host: Imagery and Eucharistic Contact in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy,” in Blick and Gelfand, vol. 1, 490.
101 Annette LeZotte, “Cradling Power: Female Devotions and Early Netherlandish Jésueaux,” in Blick and Gelfand, vol. 2, 59-60.
102 Kathleen Ashley, “Hugging the Saint and Improvising Ritual on the Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela,” in Blick and Gelfand, vol. 2, 14-18.
103 Ibid., 19.
44 difficult to come by, especially in regard to images of the Blessed Mother. With no body to venerate, it is images of Mary, sometimes miraculous, that have drawn the devotion and veneration of pilgrims.
Images as Reminder of Death
One of the odder, more disturbing forms of Christian art is the memento mori, an image that helps one to remember the reality of death. Particularly present during times of the plague, especially at the start of the sixteenth century, the memento mori image was a macabre, fearful reminder of how close death actually could be. These images could range from coy prints of beautiful women whose flap skirts raised to reveal the disgusting spiritual results of lust indulged, to small, portable boxwood coffins, to explicitly detailed carved ivory corpses. Suzanne Karr Schmidt writes that “these death twinged artworks ranged from elegantly allegorical to downright gruesome”; their “inherent interactivity … turned them into … shocking reminders of death conjoining faith and fatality.”104
The point of such images, in their Christian context, was to urge the faithful to live well. In order to be ready at any time for death and whatever might follow, one’s spiritual house ought to be in order.
Such images also served as a Catholic response to Protestant refusal to pray for the dead. It was important for Catholics of the time to remember that the world of the dead was real, and potentially unpleasant, depending on one’s choices made during life.105 In Catholic understanding, prayers for the deceased could be beneficial if they could help ease a soul’s journey from purgatory to heaven.
104 Suzanne Karr Schmidt, “Memento Mori: The Deadly Art of Interaction,” in Blick and Gelfand, vol. 2, 261.
105 Ibid., 271.
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A less gruesome kind of Catholic art similarly connected with life after death was the indulgenced image. In the medieval period, occasionally popes would attach an indulgence to offering particular prayers before certain images. In Rome, the earliest and most famous indulgenced image was the likeness of Christ’s face impressed on Veronica’s veil, known simply as the Veronica, or the sudarium.106 According to Matthew Paris’s Chronica maiora, in 1216 the image “suddenly reversed itself” during a procession, and Pope Innocent III responded by writing a prayer in its honor with an indulgence of ten days for every prayer said.107 Though the indulgence was attached to the prayer itself, without mention of needing the image, the faithful naturally preferred to pray the prayer while seeing the image at the same time, and a tradition was born.
Another popular indulgenced image of the medieval period was the “Mass of St. Gregory.”
While stories differ, according to one English manuscript, this image emerged as part of a legend that while Pope Gregory was saying mass, a congregant voiced doubts about the real presence of
Christ in the Eucharist. In response to Gregory’s prayers for assistance, Christ appeared over the altar as the Man of Sorrows. Whatever the actual historical circumstances, Pope Gregory began to promote the image of Christ as the Man of Sorrows by granting an indulgence to anyone who said five Our Fathers and five Hali Mary’s before the image.108 With time, some versions of the
106 One may wonder why the image of Christ supposedly impressed directly onto Veronica’s veil now appears to be a painting. According to art historian J. Wilpert, who was allowed to study the image in 1917, it may be that an image was painted onto the fabric of the actual sudarium in the twelfth century, perhaps to brighten colors that had faded. See Brenda M. Bolton, “Advertise the Message: Images in Rome at the Turn of the Twelfth Century,” in The Church and the Arts, ed. Diana Wood (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1992), 122-123.
107 Flora Lewis, “Rewarding Devotion: Indulgences and the Promotion of Images,” in The Church and the Arts, ed. Diana Wood (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1992), 179.
108 Lewis, 183-184; Walter Gibson, “Prayers and Promises: The Interactive Indulgence Print,” Blick and Gelfand, vol. 1, 296. In the same volume, see also Susan Liebacher Ward, “Who Sees Christ? An Alabaster Panel of the Mass of St. Gregory,” 347-381.
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indulgenced image came to include St. Gregory presiding at mass with Christ appearing over the
altar; others also include the instruments of the Passion.
Indulgenced images could take different forms. In the late medieval period, indulgenced
panels could be part of church altarpieces, accompanied by inscriptions advertising the privileges to
be gained by prayers said. As these images could attract the charitable giving of pilgrims, churches
petitioned for the privilege of having them in order to support building campaigns.109 In a more portable format, art prints with the proper prayers printed below the image could be bought and sold. Though salvation and freedom from purgatory might not be actual vendible commodities, indulgenced prints certainly were, and such prints, as well as indulgenced altarpieces, were
particularly sought out for destruction during the Reformation.
Images as Conduits of Grace
In the Roman Catholic tradition, as in the various Eastern Christian traditions, some images
have been known to work miracles. These images, like relics of saints, embody or otherwise make
present something of the holiness of the person depicted in them, and so have been understood to
carry great power. Some images are miraculous by their very existence. As the suffering face of
Christ appeared miraculously on Veronica’s veil, so the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe
materialized on the tilma of St. Juan Diego, and produced roses. Other images have been known to
speak or cry, such as the San Damiano crucifix, which spoke to Saint Francis. Sometimes sacred
images have functioned as palladia, fulfilling a protective purpose and instilling either courage or
109 Amy Morris, “Art and Advertising: Late Medieval Altarpiece in Germany,” Blick and Gelfand, vol. 1, 325-329, 342.
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fear.110 The rather fierce image of the face of Christ known as the Uronica, kept at the Lateran
basilica, was used in this way in the ninth century. In order to counter the attack of the Lombards, a
barefoot Pope Stephen II (752-757) paraded the image through the streets.111
Such miraculous images often become the locus for pilgrimage, and then sometimes become
conduits of healing or other kinds of miracles. Attesting to prayers answered and graces received, ex
voto offerings traditionally have been left at the shrines where a saint’s relics or a sacred image have
been a source of grace. Sometimes these votives represent the fulfillment of a vow to bring a gift if a
prayer was answered; sometimes they represent gifts of gratitude for healing received.112 The votives themselves are their own kind of religious art, and include such things as small paintings of the situation resolved, small hearts made of precious metals, or wax or metal images of objects no longer bothering their owner (such as cherry pits or worms), or no longer needed (such as crutches or shackles).113
Though today the Western Church lives in a scientific age less ready to embrace the possibility
of miracles, Christianity still proffers an enchanted horizon, a space where anything is possible with
prayer and God’s grace. While never meant to become idols, sacred images can be conduits in this
reality. In 2001 the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments echoed
earlier Church documents with the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy: Principles and Practices,
110 Ernst Kitzinger, “The Cult of Images in the Age before Iconoclasm,” in The Art of Byzantium and the Medieval West: Selected Studies, ed. W. Eugene Kleinbauer (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1976), 116.
111 Bolton, 126.
112 Sarah Blick, “Votives, Images, Interaction and Pilgrimage to the Tomb and Shrine of St. Thomas Becket, Canterbury Cathedral,” in Blick and Gelfand, vol. 2; 21, 24.
113 Blick, “Votives, Images, Interaction and Pilgrimage to the Tomb and Shrine of St. Thomas Becket, Canterbury Cathedral,” 24.
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noting that sacred images are not idols. Here, as at the Council of Trent, the faithful are warned that
veneration of images should be offered “not because they are believed to contain some divinity or
power justifying such cult, nor because something has to be requested of an image, nor because trust
is reposed in them,” but to honor the prototype, the original holy person represented. 114 While it is important not to cultivate superstition, in this day and age, the more accurate challenge may be to cultivate adequate faith to believe that miracles are still possible, even in relation to prayers involving sacred images.
Images as Prophetic Critique
One particularly Western form of religious art is the use of images to critique injustice. The modern Catholic social justice tradition generally is understood to have emerged with Pope Leo
XIII’s 1891 social encyclical, Rerum Novarum, so in the larger scheme of Christianity, this is a more recent kind of image. Such art may depict contemporary persons who suffer oppression presented as the face of Christ, as suggested by Robert Lentz’s “Christ of Maryknoll” and other works,115 or
might juxtapose the mercy of the Blessed Mother against elements of injustice. Sometimes this kind
of art photography highlights the beauty, hope, and dignity of humanity in the midst of grave evil, as
seen in Wesaam Al-Badri’s portraits of Iraqi refugees.116 Occasionally, such art also can be used to
114 The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy: Principles and Practices (Vatican City, Dec. 14, 2001), no. 241. http://www.vatican.va/ roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20020513_vers-direttorio_en.html. Accessed November 30, 2016.
115 See https://www.trinitystores.com/store/art-image/christ-maryknoll for illustration. Accessed November 30, 2016.
116 See Erin Anderson, “Photographer tries to capture spirit of humanity amid horrors of war,” Lincoln Journal Star (July 30, 2012). http://journalstar.com/lifestyles/family/photographer-tries-to-capture- spirit-of-humanity-amid-horrors-of/article_0f2c263d-7054-588b-8f7d-808b58c64ead.html. Accessed November 30, 2016.
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point a finger at the Church itself. Inherently, religious images critiquing injustice reference some
kind of conflict. If an injustice is present, opinions may differ as to how the situation should be
improved. Besides potentially functioning in an educational or even devotional way, this kind of art
tends to challenge the viewer to think and to act.
More Problematic Uses of Religious Images
While this chapter has presented an array of legitimate purposes for sacred art, it is
important to note that in the Roman Catholic tradition, some images historically have also fulfilled
less than truly religious functions. Particularly during the Renaissance, often images with a religious
subject were created primarily to glorify humanity, emphasizing the human body, human beauty, and
human skill.117 At the other end of the spectrum, with the advent of modern art, sometimes religious
images have been so abstract that they don’t admit any recognizable humanity at all.118 While some
of these images might serve to illustrate Christian stories, or trigger awe leading to genuine religious
reflection and prayer, they become problematic if posed as sacred art when the underlying purpose
and reality of the work do not actually help build authentic relationship with God.
Some images can be beautiful, educative, sacramental means of grace. Yet others can be distracting, if not spiritually dangerous, as any number of image critics has argued over the years.119
117 For example, see “Saint Sebastian” by Italian Renaissance painter Andrea Mantegna, c. 1480. http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/saint-sebastian. Accessed December 14, 2016.
118 The French church of Notre-Dame de Toute Grâce, Assy, consecrated in 1950, was controversial for its use of modern art, particularly its bronze crucifix by Germaine Richier. See image at http://www.artway.eu/content.php?id=1960&lang=en&action=show. Accessed December 14, 2016.
119 Catholic suspicions of religious images have emerged periodically throughout history. In the fourth century, Eusebius of Caesaria wrote to Constantina, the sister of Constantine, in response to her desire for an icon of Christ. He argues that because the “flesh… has been overthrown” for the incorruptible life of God, desiring such an image of “the poverty of flesh” would be unfitting (Yazykova, 17). In his ninth-century Letter to Bonosus, Rabanus Maurus critiqued “false painting which shows the form of things in an unfitting
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Images that lead one to become stuck in the senses or that are used merely to appeal at an emotional
level are not sufficient as sacred art. Images that lack sincerity or misrepresent the Christian
tradition, likewise, are not sufficient. Images that focus on effect rather than truth, that lack quality
execution, that give a religious title to a non-religious work: all of these veer into the world of kitsch
rather than honest sacred art.120 As moral theologian Richard Egenter puts it, “Religious art must
embody a religious experience which is real in both the aesthetic and the spiritual sphere. It also, like
every other work of art, requires technical skill.”121 Lacking any of these, it becomes a kind of kitsch.
In a Church that has embraced a variety of images to fulfill a whole range of religious purposes, it is
natural that some works are more helpful than others. Fundamentally, though, when it comes to
sacred art, authenticity matters.
manner.” As contrasted with the steadiness of writing, “The picture sates the sight while it is still new but it palls once it is old, quickly loses its truth, and does not arouse faith” (Brubaker 15). Brubaker notes that [like Eusebius,] Rabanus is building on Augustine’s three levels of contemplation, in which one moves from using a visible outer image toward a “more genuine” inner image of the holy; the expectation is that images should eventually be left behind (fn81, p. 24). Eleventh-century Bernard of Clairvaux expresses a similar sentiment in his suspicions about religious images. In the fourteenth century, Jean Gerson argued that images could be useful, but also could be dangerous if leading to sensual responses (Blick and Gelfand, “Introduction,” vol. 1, xlvi). Catholic critique of the possible danger of images perhaps peaked in the documents of the Council of Trent, which aimed to route both superstitious devotion and overly sensual religious art. According to Theodore Alois Buckley, The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent (London: Routledge, 1851), 214–15, Session 25 affirmed that it is good to invoke saints and to venerate their relics and to retain images of Mary and the saints with honor and veneration, but it condemned “wantonness” in images. New or “unusual” images need to be approved by a bishop, and “no images conducive to false doctrine . . . [are] to be set up.” (Cf. Hetherington, introduction to The Painter’s Manual of Dionysius of Fourna, i; R. Kevin Seasoltz, A Sense of the Sacred, 169.
120 Richard Egenter, The Desecration of Christ, trans. Edward Quinn, ed. Nicolette Gray (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1967), 40.
121 Ibid., 110.
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Conclusion
In more recent years, many Catholics have come to see religious art as existing primarily as a form of decoration. In some respects, such usage does fulfill a greater function in identifying a person or a space as Catholic. Yet Catholic tradition includes a much broader, richer array of purposes for using sacred images. Besides identifying a community and marking a space as Christian, sacred images tell stories, expound on the lives of saints, and express common beliefs. Images hold up moral examples. They also serve to build relationship within the broader Body of Christ, cultivating both personal and communal prayer with those who have gone ahead of us to heaven. Of particular importance is the function of liturgical images, which help make visible the invisible, spiritual dimension of worship. These works of sacred art invite the full, conscious, active participation called for by the Second Vatican Council. In this form, sacred images aid comprehension of what actually is happening at Eucharist. As devotional images, sacred art can take a variety of forms, from statues, to paintings, to Jesus dolls to be rocked. In Catholic tradition, religious images also have played a large role in helping the faithful come to terms with the reality of death and the possibility of purgatorial suffering. In this arena, images have helped people to remember death and so to prepare by living better, as well as providing opportunity to offer prayers for one’s own sake or for others, for indulgences. Some religious art serves the Church by critiquing injustice and calling the faithful to right relationship with the poor and oppressed. At their most efficacious, religious images are sacramental, acting as conduits of grace and expressions of God’s revelation. Historically, as with their Eastern counterparts, a number of Roman Catholic sacred images have been recognized as miraculous. While some images with religious content can be problematic, used properly, sacred images can be vessels of the holy.
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Do icons also express this range of purposes? By their canonical nature, they are less subject to such variety in form, yet icons also fulfill many of these same ends. Whether a Church chooses to use icons or the whole range of sculpture, painting, and other art forms, it is important to attend to the actual purpose being served by the sacred art. Especially in the Roman Catholic tradition, certain purposes call for specific kinds of image. This means that it is important to attend to the appropriate placement, or context of the image, as well as choosing appropriate content, and assuring that the meaning of the image is understandable to those who will pray with it. By helping people understand some of these different purposes and contexts, we can help them use religious art wisely in a way that is meaningful
CHAPTER 4: A REVIEW OF CATHOLIC DOCUMENTS ON USE OF THE SACRED ARTS
If the Roman Catholic tradition of sacred art has been full of fascinating developments, so
Church teaching and documents have reflected a similarly evolving response to such diversity. At times, the Church has appeared to embrace the visual arts at the service of faith. At other times, the relationship between the Church and artists has been more tenuous. Certain suspicions emerge regularly enough: about images becoming idols, about images becoming objects of superstition, about images cultivating immature faith or sensuous lusts. During the advent of modern art, the
Church wrestled with how abstraction might or might not fit into the realm of sacred space.
Sometimes questions of sacred art have become mixed up in larger political and social debates. Yet despite occasional difficulties, as doctrine has developed, the Catholic Church increasingly seems to have affirmed that images can have the power to teach, and as sacramentals, appropriate sacred art can raise the mind and heart to God in prayer.
The Early Church
Western writers in the early Church are somewhat divided on the place of images in the
Christian life. As Thomas F. X. Noble puts it, earlier Church writers tend to be more “iconophobic” than “iconoclastic,” in large part reflecting Jewish teaching against images as a protection against idolatry, and reacting to broader pagan practice involving idols.122 In the second century, for instance, Tertullian (160-220) considered any images idols, and believed that religious images
122 Thomas F.X. Noble, Images, Iconoclasm, and the Carolingians (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 12.
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distracted from the more important elements of worship.123 In his Contra Celsum, Origen (185-254)
wrote that the young should be instructed to hate idols and images.124 While still reflecting concern
to honor God properly, Western reasons for banning images became more complex. In Spain, in
about 306, the Council of Elvira produced a canon rarely if ever cited by another council dictating
that “there ought not to be pictures in churches, for what is worshiped and adored ought not to be
painted on walls.”125 Not long after this, Eusebius of Caesarea (263-339) wrote to Constantina, the
sister of Constantine, in response to her desire for an icon of Christ. He argued that because the
“flesh… has been overthrown” for the incorruptible life of God, desiring such an image of Jesus in
“the poverty of flesh” would be unfitting; his true glory was beyond what could be seen in an
image.126 Somewhat similarly, John Cassian (360-435) wrote with concern that images may cultivate
an unhealthy anthropomorphism of God.127 On a more concrete, practical level, Jerome (347-420)
believed money to be better spent on the poor rather than on the arts.128 In all these cases, we see
123 Ann Dawtry, “Art and Worship,” in New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship, ed. Paul Bradshaw (London: SCM Press, 2005), 28; Irina Yazykova, Hidden and Triumphant: The Underground Struggle to Save Russian Iconography, trans. Paul Grenier (Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2010), 17.
124 Contra Celsum 3.15, as quoted in Noble, 12.
125 Canon 36, as quoted in Noble, 12.
126 Text is in Patrologia Graeca 20:1545-49, as noted Noble, 13; Yazykova, 17.
127 Conference X.5, ed. Pichery, pp. 78-79, as cited in Noble, 35.
128 Dawtry, 28; St. Jerome, Letter 52 (Letter to Nepotian), Chap. X, trans. W.H. Freemantle, G. Lewis and W.G. Mortley, A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Ser. II, VI (Oxford: James Parker and Co., 1893, 94, as reprinted in Caecilia Davis-Weyer, Early Medieval Art, 300-1150: Sources and Documents (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1986), 38-39; Letter 130 (Letter to Demetrias), c. 14 in A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Ser. II, VI, 268-69, as reprinted in Davis-Weyer, 39-40.
55 very particular kinds of worry that using religious images might show a lack of proper respect for
God.
For some early Latin Christians, images were not necessarily harmful, but were seen as being better left behind for higher things. Augustine (354-430) could see artistic representations as signs, which could be of use to those prepared to understand them. Still, he considered words superior to images when it came to instructing people in the faith. He disapproved of artistic depictions that created anachronisms distorting the scriptural record, such as showing Jesus, Peter, and Paul together as if all three were historical contemporaries. For Augustine, vision could be “corporeal, pictographic, and conceptual,” and he saw the mental concept as being superior to any literal image.129 His Platonic framework of idealizing a movement from a concrete artistic work toward reflection and contemplation without images was to be influential in later strains of Catholicism.130
Whatever some of the arguments against their use, clearly images came to be fairly common in Western churches. Gregory of Tours (538-594) and his contemporaries of Frankish Gaul write of many decorated churches. Gregory illustrates the didactic nature of such images, including the story of how during the painting of the basilica of St. Stephen, the wife of Bishop Namantianus of
Clermont read from a book, dictating to the painters “stories of ancient deeds.” In pagan territory, this kind of art may have fulfilled a particularly missionary purpose.131 Gregory the Great (d. 604)
129 De genesi ad litteram, 12.6, ed. Zycha, pp. 386-87, and De fide rerum invisibilum, 20, ed. Van den Hout, pp. 1-2, as cited in Noble, 37.
130 See Blick and Gelfand, “Introduction,” Push Me, Pull You: Imaginative and Emotional Interaction in Late Medieval and Renaissance Art, Vol. 1, (Boston: Brill, 2011), xlvii: “Art was considered the first step on the ladder to devotion and mystical guides recommended that the devotee begin with an actual image, then produce an inner image, and then exclude all visual imagery to contemplate the formless God within the soul, attaining a mystical union.”
56 also took up the issue of religious images, in two letters to Serenus of Marseille dating from 599 and
600. Drawing on earlier sources, and often quoted later, he argues a similar theme, that images can serve an instructive function:
To adore images is one thing: to teach with their help what should be adored is another.
What Scripture is to the educated, images are to the ignorant, who see through them what
they must accept; they read in them what they cannot read in books.132
While acknowledging the error of idolatry, Gregory encourages art in churches so that tradition and belief can be taught.133
Iconoclasm and Its Aftermath in the West
Much of Church teaching regarding sacred images emerged in response to the iconoclastic controversies based primarily in the Eastern part of the empire. Yet the Western Church also had to negotiate how these issues were to be resolved. In the Byzantine world, iconoclasm came in two main waves, each giving rise to its own defenders of icons. The first period of iconoclasm stretched from 726 to 787, concluding with the resolution of whether religious images should be venerated at the 787 Second Council of Nicaea (also known as the Seventh Ecumenical Council), called by
Empress Irene. The second wave was to run from 815 to 842, concluding with the “Triumph of
Orthodoxy” at Constantinople. In the Eastern Church, these sometimes violent debates about
131 Decem libri historiarum 2.17, ed. Krusch and Levison, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Series Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum, 1.64-65, as cited in Noble, 39-40.
132 From translation in H.L. Kessler, “Reading Ancient and Medieval Art,” Word and Image 5, no. 1 (1989), 1, as quoted in Leslie Brubaker, “The Sacred Image,” in The Sacred Image East and West, ed. Robert Ousterhout and Leslie Brubaker (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1995), 14.
133 Dawtry, 28.
57 images ultimately were framed in terms of affirming or denying core theological truths of
Christology. In the Western, Carolingian world, however, concerns about the use of religious images were less pivotal; other issues were of greater concern when the Council of Nicaea was being translated and received in the West.134
The 787 council marked a time of growing cultural and ecclesial distance between the Greek- speaking and Latin-speaking worlds. Pope Hadrian I, a supporter of venerating icons, sent two legates to Nicaea, and they participated in support of the prevailing position. The council condemned iconoclasm and formulated the dogma that veneration of icons is a legitimate way to honor God:
We preserve untouched the entirety of the Holy Tradition of the Church, whether expressed
verbally or non-verbally. One of these traditions commands us to make pictorial
representations, in as much as this is in accordance with the history of the preaching of the
Gospels, and serves as a confirmation that Christ in reality, and not as mere apparition,
became man. . . . On this basis we define that the holy icons, in exactly the same way as the
holy and life-giving Cross, should be presented (for veneration), . . . so long as the
representations are done well; and they shall be shown in the holy churches of God, on
sacred vessels and liturgical vestments, on walls, furnishings, and in houses and along the
roads; and these icons will be of [Jesus, Mary, angels, and saints]. . . . [T]he more often these
latter, the more often will those who lift up their eyes to them learn to commemorate and to
love their prototype; and will be inspired to press their lips to their representations in
134 Leonid Ouspensky, Theology of the Icon, Vol. 1, trans. Anthony Gythiel, with selections trans. by Elizabeth Meyendorff (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1992), 109-114; Noble, 2-3.
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veneration and honor [dulia] of them, but not in actual worship [latria] of them, which . . . is
reserved only for him who is the subject of our faith and is proper for the divine nature. 135
Yet when the pope received the canons from the council and had them translated into Latin, terrible
mistakes were made. Mistranslations mixed up core concepts, such as “adoration” and “veneration.”
On seeing them, Charlemagne was outraged, and about 790, he commanded Spaniard136 Theodulf of
Orleans (750-821) to write the Opus Caroli¸ usually called the Carolingian Books. Though not coming at
the directive of the pope (who himself never personally approved or rejected the council), this
treatise denouncing the supposed errors of the Second Council of Nicaea comprised the ostensible
response of the Western Church questions of religious images.137 Leonid Ouspensky comments on
the matter, quoting Paul Evdokimov, “It can be said that at the moment when the Seventh
Ecumenical Council developed the theology of the sacred image, ‘at that very moment, the Libri
Carolini poisoned Western art at its source.’”138 What could have been a moment of unity between
East and West instead became an additional mark of division.
As Noble argues extensively, in the West these controversies were sparked not so much by the theology of Christian art per se, but rather by other contemporary issues, such as social order, relations between Roman popes and Frankish rulers, and Carolingian identity over and against
135 From the “Definition of the Holy Great and Ecumenical Council, the Second in Nicaea,” as quoted from Sergei Bulgakov, The Icon and Its Veneration [Ikona i ikonopochitanie] (Moscow, 1996), in Yazykova, Hidden and Triumphant, 18–19. For the complete “Definition,” see Daniel Sahas, Icon and Logos: Sources in Eighth-Century Iconoclasm (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985), 177–81.
136 Recall that the 306 Council of Elvira prohibiting religious images in churches took place in Spain. Though not observed consistently elsewhere, this worldview may have affected Theodulf of Orleans more than it might have his contemporaries from other regions.
137 Ouspensky, 132-142; Noble, 2-3; Morrison, 191; Demus 51.
138 Ouspensky, 142, quoting Paul Evdokimov, L’art sacré, nos. 9-10 (Paris, 1953), 20.
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Byzantine life.139 The civil and ecclesial worlds of the time were not independent entities. For better
or for worse, as events played out in the Western Church, Charlemagne’s 794 synod of Frankfurt
rejected both the 754 iconoclast Council of Hieria and the 787 Second Council of Nicaea; an 825
meeting in Paris again condemned the Council of Nicaea. All of these actions effectively approved
icons for use as decoration, but allowed them no real liturgical or dogmatic importance in the
Western Church.140 It would be hundreds of years before the Roman Catholic Church would more
clearly affirm the teachings of the Second Council of Nicaea regarding sacred images.
The Medieval and Early Modern Period
Thus complicated by conflicting messages from earlier writers, bad translations, and political
tensions, Roman Catholic Church teaching was somewhat ambivalent about images for a good
portion of its first thousand years. Still, as the examples of the last chapter attest, in the medieval and
early modern periods, the Catholic sensus fidei tended to gravitate in practice toward loving and using
sacred images in a number of different ways. At this time, European artists of the Middle Ages had
no official legislation guiding their work, though they did have guidebooks for technique.141
139 Noble, 4, 6-9. See also Karl F. Morrison, Tradition and Authority in the Western Church 300-1140 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1969), especially 167-253. Otto Demus tells of how some of the difficulties between Charlemagne and Empress Irene were born of a failed “matrimonial project,” in which he intended to link the Frankish kingdom with Byzantium by marrying off his daughter Hrvotrut to Irene’s son Constantine VI. The conflict came to a head with “warlike actions” between Charlemagne and Irene in 787, the year of the council. After the Carolingian Books, Charlemagne again declared the council invalid at the 794 Synod of Frankford, and even urged Pope Hadrian to excommunicate Irene and her son. (Byzantine Art and the West, [New York: New York University Press, 1970], 50-51).
140 Ouspensky 143; Noble, 7.
141 Paul Hetherington, “Introduction,” The ‘Painter’s Manual’ of Dionysius of Fourna, trans. Paul Hetherington (London: Sagittarius Press, 1974), i.
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Byzantine iconoclasm sent some artists and their work to Italy, and during the time of the Crusades,
many icons came to the Western Church, prompting a mixing of styles and theology.142
Medieval Catholic writers continued to take up the issue of sacred images. Bernard of
Clairvaux (1090 – 1153), like Augustine before him, expressed a level of suspicion about physical
religious images, and advocated leaving them behind for better things.143 Aelred of Rievaulx (1110 –
1167), on the other hand, encouraged his novices to meditate on the image of the young Jesus, as a
means of cultivating their spiritual imagination.144 Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) wrote of the
Christological dimensions of images,145 and considered their use justifiable for teaching, yet he was
aware of possible risks of excess emotional involvement with them.146 Bishop William Durandus
(1237 – 1296) noted that people tended to have more respect and to show more reverence in church
for images than for words, because their hearts were more moved.147 Theologian Thomas
Bradwardine (c. 1290 – 1349) built on this potential of images to move hearts and minds, suggesting
142 Regarding mixing of styles during the Crusades, see William D. Wixom, “Byzantine Art and the Latin West,” in The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era A.D. 843-1261, ed. Helen C. Evans and William D. Wixom (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1997), 434-507; Kurt Weitzmann, “Icon Painting in the Crusader Kingdom,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 20 (1966): 49-83; Jaroslav Folda, Crusader Art in the Holy Land: From the Third Crusade to the Fall of Acre, 1187-1291 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005). 143 Aelred of Rievaulx, Tractatus de Jesu puero duodenni in Oeuvres completes de Saint Bernard, 1-7 (Paris, 1865-67), vol. 6, p. 369 ff, as cited in Blick and Gelfand, “Introduction,” Vol. 1, xlvi. Cf. Sixten Ringbom, Icon to Narrative: The Rise of the Dramatic Close-up in Fifteenth-Century Devotional Painting (Abo: Abo Akedemi, 1965), 16. 144 Ibid.
145 Summa Theologiae, III, q. XXV, a.3, as cited in Seasoltz, A Sense of the Sacred, (New York: Continuum, 2005), 169, fn. 42, p. 370.
146 David Freedburg, The Power of Images: Studies in the History and Theory of Response (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1989), 387.
147 (Eds.) A. Davril and T.M. Thibodeau, Guillelmi Duranti Rationale divinorum officorum in Corpus Christianorum, continuation medievalis 140 (1995), vol. I, iii, 4 (36), as cited in Blick and Gelfand, “Introduction,” Vol. 1, xliv.
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that images should be vivid, so as to impress themselves upon the memory of the viewer.148 Heinrich
Suso (1295 – 1366) approved of images, but following the Augustinian tradition, favored leaving
them behind.149 By the time of Renaissance art, Jean Gerson (1363 – 1429) argued that images could
be useful, but also could be dangerous if leading to overly sensual responses.150 Responding to the
exuberantly grandiose art of his day, Savonarola (1452 – 1498) preferred that images for private
devotion be small and inexpensive.151
Catholic critique of the possible danger of images perhaps peaked in the documents of the
Council of Trent (1545 – 1563), which aimed to purge both superstitious devotion and overly
sensual religious art common in the Renaissance and Baroque eras. Toward the very end of the
council, Session 25 responded to Reformation Protestant critiques by affirming that it is good to
invoke saints, to venerate their relics, and to retain images of Mary and the saints with honor and
veneration, but it condemned “wantonness” in images. New or “unusual” images were to be
approved by a bishop, and “no images conducive to false doctrine . . . [were] to be set up.”152
Reaffirming the teaching of Aquinas (Summa II-II.92.2), the council argued that worship “performed in the wrong manner (modo indebito) or directed at the wrong subject (ei cui non debit exhiberi)
148 Thomas Bradwardine, De memoria artificiali adquirenda, ed. Mary Carruthers, Journal of Medieval Latin 2 (1992): 25-43; trans. Mary Carruthers Appendix C., as cited in Mary Carruthers, The Book of Memory. A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 281-88, esp. 284, as cited in Blick and Gelfand, xl
149 Heinrich Suso, Little Book of Truth, as cited in David Morgan, Visual Piety: A History and Theory of Popular Religious Images (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998), 61.
150 Jean Gerson, Opera monia (Strasbourg, 1514), leaf 71M, as cited in Blick and Gelfand, xl.
151 G. Gruyer, Les illustrations des écrits de Jérome Savonarole et les paroles des Savonarole sur l’art (Paris, 1879), 197, n. 1, 204, as cited in Blick and Gelfand, xlvi.
152 Theodore Alois Buckley, The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent (London: Routledge, 1851), 214–15. Cf. Hetherington, “Introduction,” The Painter’s Manual of Dionysius of Fourna, i; R. Kevin Seasoltz, A Sense of the Sacred, 169.
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constituted an error of faith.”153 Echoing the teaching of Basil the Great and the Second Council of
Nicaea that the honor shown to the image is transferred to its prototype, the clergy were directed to
remind parishioners that to kiss or go down on one’s knees before an image should be done out of
honor for the one represented, not for the image itself.154 Superstition was suppressed with the directive that no one should “ask” or “expect” anything from an image “as was done by the pagans of old.” To place “confidence” in the material object itself was declared wrong.155 Yet less than a
year later, Pope Pius IV issued a profession of faith which again included an affirmation of the
practice of venerating images of Jesus, Mary, and the saints.156 Balance was needed.
The fine line between legitimate veneration, petition to God through an image of a holy person, and superstition continued to be an issue during the early modern period. Cardinal Gabriele
Paleotti (1522 – 1597), in his 1584 Discourso intorno alle imagini sacre e profane, wrote that the efficacy of an image exists only insomuch as it can “cultivate piety” and “move the minds and spirits” of the viewer toward love of God, reflecting “the prototypes… which they represent.” For him, the problems of the day were rooted in two main issues: artists being too quick to try to impress others with their skill, and the poor and uneducated looking for relief when traditional medicine failed
153 Fredrika H. Jacobs, “Images, Efficacy, and Ritual in the Renaissance: Burning the Devil and Dusting the Madonna,” in Blick and Gelfand, Vol. 2, 147; Seasoltz, A Sense of the Sacred, 169.
154 Jacobs, 147, fn1.
155 Ibid., 148.
156 Note typographical error in Seasoltz, A Sense of the Sacred, 169, naming Pope Pius IX, rather than Pius IV as commissioner of this profession of faith, known as the “Tridentine Creed.” Affirmation of venerating images of Jesus, Mary, and the saints is in Article 8, found in the Enchiridion symbolorum definitionum et declarationum de rebus fidei et novum, ed. H. Denzinger, rev. A. Schönmetzer, 36th ed. (Freiburg: Herder, 1976), 1867. Cf. quote in Maxwell Johnson, Rites of Christian Initiation: Their Evolution and Interpretation (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2007), 435n130: “I profess firmly that the images of Jesus Christ and of the Mother of God, ever-virgin, as well as of all the saints, should be given due honor and veneration.” This formula was to remain the standard used for converts to Catholicism until Vatican II.
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them. Shrines connected with miraculous Marian images, in particular, seemed subject to
superstitious excesses.157 The 1607 Council of Malines reaffirmed the teaching of Trent, defining
superstition yet more clearly: “It is superstitious to expect any effect from anything, when such an
effect cannot be produced by natural causes, by divine institution, or by the ordination or approval
of the Church.”158
The Modern World: The Liturgical Movement and Currents Leading to Vatican II
The desire to put one’s faith in a visible connection to the spiritual world continued to be
deep-seated. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the modern world brought its spiritual
trials to the urban poor who spent their days working in factories. In the churches, after the
eighteenth and nineteenth-century development of the rococo style of luxurious, sentimental
elegance, and the responding neoclassicism, which returned to more classical ideals, through the
nineteenth century a romantic period brought a time of renewed emphasis on Christian ideals from
the Middle Ages. Feeling threatened by the dangers of the modern world, rather than fully engaging
the world of its day, the Church of this time sought refuge in images from a seemingly more
Christian past, as represented by the neo-Gothic style. 159 In this environment, imitation thrived,
giving rise to sentimental kitsch religious images, lacking in artistic skill.160
157 Jacobs, 151-152.
158 Ibid., 149; Helen Parish and William G. Naphy, “Introduction,” Religion and Superstition in Reformation Europe, (New York: Manchester University Press, 2002), 1.
159 Seasoltz, A Sense of the Sacred, 40-41.
160 Susan J. White, Art, Architecture, and Liturgical Reform: The Liturgical Arts Society (1928 – 1972), (New York: Pueblo Publishing, 1990), vii.
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In the decades leading up to 1930, the Liturgical Movement was born. Religious orders,
particularly Benedictines, and laypeople led a revival of scholarly exploration into the roots of
liturgical tradition while also seeking to bring modern thinking into conversation with Church
practice. As part of this movement, the Liturgical Arts Society was founded with the aim of
improving Church art. As Benjamin Musser wrote to their new quarterly magazine, Liturgical Arts, in
1932, the movement hoped to do battle with
prison stone churches looking like jails on the outside and either wedding cakes or vaudeville
theaters on the inside…. Cardboard chasubles and lace curtain albs and surplices, against
gold fringe frontlets and female angels in pink and blue dance frocks, against fret-saw shrines
and confessionals, against factory statues in “natural” colors tattooed with gold-leaf
“decorations” on religious habits, against wood painted to imitate grained marble, against
any and every sort of imitation.161
One of the foremost voices of this time, H.A. Reinhold, could write later that “the worst enemy of
true liturgical art is religious kitsch,” because kitsch isn’t just trashy work, but trash “with ambition,”
to be art. It can deceive even the wise, because even a skillfully executed piece can still be kitsch.162
Moral theologian Richard Egenter argues that kitsch is dangerous because religious art needs to be
authentic, embodying “a religious experience which is real in both the aesthetic and the spiritual
sphere.”163 Dishonesty in the religious sphere corrupts the faith, whether it occurs in government,
161 Benjamin Musser, “Letter to the Editor,” Liturgical Arts, Vol. 1, no. 2 (Winter, 1932): 78, quoted in White, 3.
162 H.A. Reinhold, Liturgy and Art: Religious Perspectives, ed. Ruth Nanda Anshen (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), 79.
163 Richard Egenter, The Desecration of Christ, trans. Edward Quinn, ed. Nicolette Gray (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1967), 110.
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teaching, or art. Thus the Liturgical Arts Society worked to cultivate more authentic creativity,
sponsoring a craftsman’s service, a building and information service, and various exhibits and
competitions through the 1930s.164
In 1932, Pope Pius XI, a man of refined aesthetic sense, gave an address at the opening of
the Vatican Picture Gallery, which featured the work of various modern artists, among others. Here
he referenced canon law excluding “crude forms” from churches. While some saw this as a
condemnation of modern art, the Liturgical Arts Society understood his words as supporting their
position.165 Through the 1930s, the Society had begun to wrestle with how modern art might serve the liturgy. They argued that its simplicity gave it teaching power, its abstraction lent it a mystical aspect, and its “economy of expression” a dignity; it “tend[ed] toward honesty and sincerity, not attempting to represent itself as belonging to any other era than its own.166
Yet while sometimes effective, modern art in the Church continued to be seen as somewhat
problematic. In 1947, Pope Pius XII wrote Mediator Dei et Hominum, an encyclical widely seen as the
“charter of the liturgical movement.”167 Here he noted the purpose of sacred art in assisting the rites
of the Church. He called for moderation of unreasonable multiplicity of sacred images and statues,
and said that modern art and materials “should not be universally despised and rejected through
prejudice.” Modern art could be of service if it could balance realism and symbolism without going
164 White, 43 – 49.
165 Ibid., 160-161.
166 Ibid., 156.
167 Ibid., 89.
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to either extreme, taking into account the real needs of the community. Yet some modern art was
unacceptable for the Church, and needed to be called to account:
Nevertheless… we cannot help deploring and condemning those works of art, recently
introduced by some, which seem to be a distortion and perversion of true art and which at
times openly shock Christian taste, modesty and devotion, and shamefully offend the true
religious sense. These must be entirely excluded and banished from our churches, like
“anything else that is not in keeping with the sanctity of the place” [Code of Canon Law, can.
1178].168
Just five years later, the Holy Office promulgated De arte sacra, an instruction on sacred art. It
begins with an explicit reaffirmation of the teachings of the Second Council of Nicaea, the Council
of Trent, and the Code of Canon Law in regard to the value of sacred art, before pointing out specific
canons and the pope’s recent words against “corrupt and errant forms of sacred art.”169 The
document then reviews canons regarding specific norms for church architecture and art, pointing
out that while new styles may be admitted, nothing should be found in churches representing “false
dogma” or which would lead the unlearned astray. Moreover, bishops “should strictly forbid that a
hoard [!] of statues and images of little worth, mostly of a stereotyped form, be inanely and
awkwardly presented for the veneration of the faithful on the altars themselves or against the
168 Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei et Hominum (Nov. 20, 1947), nos. 189, 195, reprinted in Seasoltz, The New Liturgy: A Documentation 1903-1965, 107-159.
169 Instruction of the Holy Office, De arte sacra (June 30, 1952), reprinted in Seasoltz, The New Liturgy: A Documentation 1903-1965, 175-176.
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adjoining walls of the chapels.”170 Artists were to have taste and skill, and seminarians were to be
trained to appreciate good art.
Shortly before the opening of Vatican II, in 1961, Pope John XXIII gave an allocution on
sacred art. Here he described sacred art as fulfilling the dual purpose of edifying spiritually and
aiding human development. In words later to be picked up by Pope John Paull II, John XXIII waxes
eloquent, saying that sacred art “has a character that we would almost like to call sacramental: not, of
course, in the strict sense of the term, but as a vehicle and instrument which the Lord uses to
dispose souls for the wonders of grace.”171 Again we hear reaffirmation of the Second Council of
Nicaea, with a note that because of its “catechetical and instrumental value,” the Church “has always carried on” a “strenuous defense of images” (emphasis mine).172 The arts have the power to draw
people away from evil and toward faith, and so have a role to play. In this light, the Church noted its
need to cultivate a stronger relationship with artists.173
Vatican II
From the preceding, it is clear that by the time of Vatican II, the groundwork already had
been laid to open the Church to the modern world, both in its arts and in its broader commitments.
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, addressed many of the issues explored by the Liturgical Arts Society during the Liturgical Movement, balancing “liturgical
170 De arte sacra, 176-177.
171 Pope John XXIII, Allocution on Sacred Art (Oct. 28, 1961), reprinted in Seasoltz, The New Liturgy: A Documentation 1903-1965, 457.
172 Ibid., 458.
173 Ibid., 459.
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freedom” and “liturgical responsibility,” “evolution” and “stasis,” “tradition” and “innovation.”174
Five months later, in his 1964 allocution on sacred art, Pope Paul VI spoke to a gathering of Italian
artists, describing how a tension had emerged between modern artists and the Church. The artists,
he pointed out, sometimes forgot the “fundamental canon of [their] consecration to expression,” the
Christian substance they were called to depict, and caused confusion and unrest in the Church. The
Church, for its part, had caused trouble to artists, imposing too many requirements for imitation
rather than allowing for real creativity. The pope admits to the artists with some humble sadness,
“We have placed a lead hood over you.” To make peace, he suggested, it would be important that
the Church allow for greater freedom of expression, while artists should note the importance of
having religious instruction, technical skill, and sincerity.175 He points to a particular “page” of
Sacrosanctum Concilium as “a pact of reconciliation and rebirth of religious art in the bosom of the
Catholic Church.”176 Indeed, Chapter 7 of the constitution deals with the themes of sacred art and
sacred furnishings, addressing the friendship between the Church and the arts, the importance of
beauty, the openness of the Church to different styles of art, and the importance of eliminating
anything repugnant to faith, morals, or Christian piety, due to “depraved forms” or “lack of artistic
worth.” Images are to be presented for veneration of the faithful, but their number should be
moderate and their placement should be in right order. Bishops should show concern for the
174 White, 95. Pierre Jounel, “Art and Liturgy,” p. 81, notes SC was relatively weak on art and liturgy because the council fathers did not include Paul Evdokimov or an Eastern authority as periti at council. “Liturgical art flows from a theology of beauty. And yet in the renewal of our cultural forms, we did not take the time to discover this theology. We proceeded directly to practice, to the arrangement of the sanctuary. Nevertheless, we did this very well…” 175 Pope Paul VI, Le nobili espressioni (May 7, 1964), reprinted in Seasoltz, The New Liturgy: A Documentation 1903-1965, 510-515.
176 Ibid., 513.
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training of liturgical artists, as well as their future priests.177 In Gaudium et Spes, the council also spoke
of the value of inculturating Christianity in whatever form necessary for it to take root in a truly
universal way.178 In regard to Church art, this meant that Christianity has no single cultural style; the
subject matter itself is what makes art Christian, whatever its local variant.179 These documents
summarize decades of previous conversation in regard to sacred art. The work of the Liturgical Arts
Society and the broader Liturgical Movement was coming to fruition at the highest levels of the
Church.
In the decades following Vatican II, the Church more broadly wrestled with how to
implement these guidelines, capturing the spirit of the council’s ressourcement and aggiornamento. In
1971, following an overly exuberant spate of simplification of church spaces, the Congregation for
the Clergy promulgated the circular letter Opera Artis, calling for a measure of care and respect when
dealing with moving or removing valuable art within churches.180 In 1978, the U.S. Bishops
promulgated the influential Environment and Art in Catholic Worship. This document articulated that art
is to serve the liturgy rather than to distract from it; to this end, some images might need to be
removed in order to facilitate greater focus on “primary symbols.”181 Abstraction and simplification
177 Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy: Sacrosanctum Concilium (Dec. 4, 1963), reprinted in Seasoltz, The New Liturgy: A Documentation 1903-1965, 498-500.
178 Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: Gaudium et Spes (Dec. 7, 1965), http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat- ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html. Accessed January 2, 2017.
179 See A.F. Wallis, “The Western Discovery of Non-Western Art,” in The Church and the Arts, ed. Diana Wood (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1992), 571.
180 Congregation on the Clergy, “Opera Artis: Circular Letter on the Care of the Church’s Historical and Artistic Heritage,” April 11, 1971, in ICEL, Documents on the Liturgy 1963–1979: Conciliar, Papal, and Curial Texts (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1982), 1358–1360.
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eliminating much sacred art continued to be a force in church art and architecture through the 1970s
and 80s.
With the pontificate of John Paul II, a Slavic pope raised near the Eastern Churches, trends
shifted back toward a more balanced embrace of both sacred art and liturgy. In 1987, the pope
observed the 1200th anniversary of the Second Council of Nicaea with the apostolic letter
Duodecimum Saeculum. Here he explicitly affirms the goodness of religious icons and their worthiness
for veneration. Citing the council’s affirmation of both written and unwritten traditions, John Paul II
notes that Vatican II similarly presents both Scripture and Tradition as sources of revelation.182 He
repeats the distinction between true adoration directed toward God (latreia) and the honor of
veneration given to icons (timetike proskynesis).183 Noting a resurgence of interest in the theology and
spirituality of icons in the West, the pope encourages fellow bishops to
maintain firmly the practice of proposing to the faithful the veneration of sacred images in
the churches [SC 122–24] and do everything so that more works of truly ecclesial quality
may be produced. The believer of today, like the one of yesterday, must be helped in his [or
181 Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy, Environment and Art in Catholic Worship (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 1978), nos. 12, 19–23, 25, 98-99. Cf. Jenna Victoria Farah, “The Implications of the Second Vatican Council on Historic American Catholic Architecture” (University of Pennsylvania, 2009), http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1124&context=hp_theses. Accessed January 2, 2017.
182 John Paul II, Duodecimum Saeculum (December 4, 1987, no. 7, http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp- ii_apl_19871204_duodecim-saeculum_en.html; cf. Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation) 10, in Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Postconciliar Documents, rev. ed. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2014).
183 Ibid., no. 9.
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her] prayer and spiritual life by seeing works that attempt to express the mystery and never
hide it.184
Rather than calling for simplification of spaces eliminating images, the pope writes of the potential
of sacred art for evangelization, as “the language of beauty placed at the service of faith is capable of
reaching people’s hearts and making them know from within the One whom we dare to represent in
images.”185 His words echo some of his medieval predecessors.
Also during the pontificate of John Paul II, in 1992 the Catechism of the Catholic Church was released. In dealing with sacred images, the text quotes John of Damascus and cites the Second
Council of Nicaea in speaking of how “the liturgical icon” is related to Christ and the Incarnation.
The faithful are encouraged to contemplate sacred icons, along with meditation on Scripture and singing hymns.186
Pope John Paul II continued to work for improved relations with the Eastern Churches, and
though he does not explicitly mention icons in his 1995 Orientale Lumen, in this document he
recommends that Roman-rite Catholics get reacquainted with the treasures of the Eastern tradition,
as it is the Christian East that “has a unique and privileged role as the original setting where the
Church was born.”187 If the Roman Church had in the past struggled with how to accept the Second
184 John Paul II, Duodecimum Saeculum, no. 11.
185 Ibid., no. 12.
186 Roman Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, and Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1994), nos. 1159 – 1162, 2130 – 2132, 2691.
187 John Paul II, Orientale Lumen: Apostolic Letter on the Eastern Churches (May 2, 1995) nos. 1, 5. https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1995/documents/hf_jp- ii_apl_19950502_orientale-lumen.html. Accessed January 2, 2017.
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Council of Nicaea and other particularly Eastern parts of Church tradition, by the 1990s, Catholics
were being instructed to study these parts of the tradition with more respect.
In 1999, Pope John Paul II wrote his Letter to Artists. Echoing the Vatican II theme of
“mystery” seen particularly in Lumen Gentium’s image of the Church itself being a mystery, the pope
waxes lovingly about how the beauty of art helps lift the mind and soul to God:
Insofar as it seeks the beautiful . . . art is by its nature a kind of appeal to the mystery. . . .
Beauty is a key to mystery and a call to transcendence. It is an invitation to savor life and to
dream of the future. . . . It stirs that hidden nostalgia for God.188
He speaks of the work of Church artists as a “noble ministry,” and gives thanks for the instructive
role of art over the centuries. Citing Marie-Dominique Chenu, he notes that art can be an authentic
“source” of theology.189 He concludes with a blessing that is Eastern in tone: “May your art help to
affirm that true beauty which, as a glimmer of the Spirit of God, will transfigure matter, opening the
human soul to the sense of the eternal.”190 If the years immediately following Vatican II represented
a great effort to clear the way for modern “noble simplicity,” by the turn of the millennium, Pope
John Paul II was able to reaffirm the goodness of art at the service of the Church without fear of artists leading people astray.
The U.S. Bishops’ 2000 document on art, architecture, and worship, Built of Living Stones, represents the presently developed doctrine on ecclesial art in a tour de force. No longer clearing out kitsch or defending against modernism and modern art, no longer so concerned with private
188 John Paul II, Letter to Artists (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1999), nos. 10, 16.
189 Ibid, nos. 10-11.
190 Ibid., no. 16.
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devotions distracting from the primary work of liturgy, and now ready to embrace a more universal sense of the Church “catholic,” the bishops write with balance and confidence. After years of documents focusing almost solely on liturgically oriented art, now it is noted that churches also provide space for people to come pray privately outside of mass, in ways that derive from and lead back to the liturgy.191 Thus sacred images not only help focus attention on the liturgy but also guide
devotional and contemplative prayer; church design can create spaces that allow such devotion to
complement rather than compete with liturgy.192 “Parishes will want both liturgical and devotional
art.”193 Moreover, a high standard is set: the appropriate, quality image must be able to “bear the
weight of mystery, awe, reverence, and wonder” and be able to “evoke wonder at its beauty but lead
beyond itself to the invisible God.”194
In 2001, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued
the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy: Principles and Guidelines, affirming the great importance of sacred images for popular piety.195 In contrast with some of the earlier documents of liturgical
reform, the directory “strongly condemn[s]” the “tendency to remove sacred images from sacred
191 United States Catholic Conference, Built of Living Stones: Art, Architecture, and Worship (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000), nos. 47, 130–31; cf. SC 12–13.
192 Ibid., nos. 131, 143. Note also no. 155: “Liturgical arts are integrally related to the sacraments of the Church while devotional arts are designed to enrich the spiritual life of the community and the personal piety of its members.”
193 Ibid., no. 155.
194 Ibid., no. 148.
195 Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy: Principles and Guidelines (December 2001), no. 18, http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/ congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20020513_vers-direttorio_en.html. Accessed January 3, 2017.
74 places . . . since this is detrimental for the piety of the Christian faithful.”196 Like liturgical images, devotional images are to reflect the truth of Catholic teaching. Pastors are to ensure that images presented for public veneration reflect the devotion of the community at large and not that of isolated individuals.197 While promoting veneration of sacred images, the directory echoes Trent in making clear that images are not to be idols; the faithful venerate the one represented not because of superstition, but in order to honor the holy person whose life was configured to Christ.198 Bishops and rectors “are to ensure that sacred images . . . are not reduced to banalities, nor risk giving rise to error.”199 While not as focused or influential as the U.S. bishops’ document, the directory similarly starts to strike a balance in regard to the developed Catholic theology and practice of using sacred images.
Conclusion
Despite some Roman Catholic ambivalence about the use of sacred images in earlier centuries, at this time, it seems the Church has developed a fairly coherent theology of sacred images. Church teaching addresses both liturgy and personal devotion, clarifying the nature of true worship of God, which allows for legitimate honor to be shown to the image, as opposed to idolatry and superstition. While still espousing the “noble simplicity” called for by Vatican II and promoted
196 Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, no. 243.
197 Ibid. no. 18.
198 Ibid., no. 241.
199 Ibid., no. 18.
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by the General Instruction of the Roman Missal,200 the Church seems more attuned to the need for both
nobility and simplicity, rather than just one or the other. Wider cultural trends today pose new
challenges, however. As our world becomes more digitally connected and less bound by place, for
many people of the younger generations, staying grounded in the concrete sacramentality of Catholic
life has become more important. Combined with the Church’s call for a new evangelization, for
some, this has meant embracing more elements of traditional visual culture that help identify one as
“Catholic.” Some from the generations that came through the Vatican II era, having freed themselves of many outward signs of Catholicity that they found unnecessary, see this desire for traditional elements as anachronistic, perhaps without recognizing that it is the visual, not merely the traditional or old fashioned, that the younger generation seeks. While playing out more broadly than just in the realm of sacred images, this is a tension that bears exploration and resolution. Though resolving this generational issue is not the main goal of this ministry project, the project framework does propose a responsible appropriation of the visual tradition of Catholicism, putting different kinds of sacred art into different contexts so that religious images can best serve their different purposes.
200 Vatican Council II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 34: “The rites should be distinguished by a noble simplicity”; no. 124: “Ordinaries are to take care that in encouraging and favoring truly sacred art, they should seek for noble beauty rather than sumptuous display”; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, General Instruction of the Roman Missal (Totowa, NJ: Catholic Book Publishing Corp., 2011), no. 292: “The ornamentation of a church should contribute toward its noble simplicity rather than to ostentation. Moreover, in the choice of elements attention should be paid to authenticity and there should be the intention of fostering the instruction of the faithful and the dignity of the entire sacred place.”
CHAPTER 5: A CONTEMPORARY CATHOLIC SYNTHESIS: DIFFERENT FORMS OF ART FOR DIFFERENT FORMS OF PRAYER
Having explored some of the history, tradition, and teaching of the Eastern Orthodox and
Roman Catholic Churches regarding use of the icon and other sacred images, we now can explore this question: what kind of usage of sacred images makes the most sense for Western Catholics today while respecting Orthodox tradition? Liturgical reformer H.A. Reinhold once said that in regard to liturgy, it was important to put first things first, second things second, and so on. Right order creates harmony. Applied to sacred art, Denis McNamara interprets this order of importance with the conceptual framework of liturgical art first, devotional art second, and historical art third.201
As described earlier, each kind of art serves its own function and needs its own kind of place within and around the church building. Liturgical art should take prominence, in the shared public worship space of the church. Devotional art is secondary, but being important in its own way; it also needs a kind of prayer space. Historical, or didactic art, likewise has a role to play, but it is tertiary in relation to liturgical and devotional art, and so may be located elsewhere.
Many of the problems both preceding and immediately following Vatican II were expressions of a Church out of balance in regard to its use of images. McNamara writes of these periods that “[t]he desire was not to rid churches of imagery, but to make it make sense theologically and liturgically.”202 Yet especially in the years following the council, some churches were largely stripped of their art, lost to half-understood truths and a distortion of what emphasis on “the worshiping assembly” actually meant.203 What should have been made clear, but was not, is that the
201 Denis McNamara, “Images as Sacrament: Rediscovering Liturgical Art,” in Sacrosanctum Concilium and the Reform of the Liturgy (Chicago: University of Scranton Press, 2009), 65.
202 Ibid., 65.
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gathered members of the congregation stand in relation not only to the priest, but also to their
heavenly counterparts, likewise participating in the celebration. In liturgy, the invisible spiritual world
matters as much as the concretely obvious.204
In a 1978 address to those responsible for sacred art in western France, Pierre Jounel, then professor of liturgical art and a consultant to the Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine
Worship, wrote that Sacrosanctum Concilium was relatively weak on art in relation to liturgy, in part
because the council did not include someone like Paul Evdokimov or some other Eastern authority
as a council peritus to advise on the theology of art and the icon. “Liturgical art,” he said, “flows from
a theology of beauty. And yet in the renewal of our cultic forms, we did not take the time to discern
this theology. We proceeded directly to practice, to the arrangement of the sanctuary.”205 The
Church needed theological reflection on beauty itself. Thought not at the council, in 1961, Hans Urs von Balthasar, perhaps the foremost Catholic theologian of the time on the topic, reflected on the place of beauty in a world where modern art no longer required it:
203 Denis McNamara, “Images as Sacrament: Rediscovering Liturgical Art,” 67. We could say that coming out of Vatican II, two major lines of thought emerged in regard to liturgical space: those who supported simplification of space in order to give renewed emphasis on the worshiping community as the primary (and sometimes exclusive) focus at liturgy, and those who reacted negatively to the simplification of worship spaces, desiring more liturgical images that would enhance awareness of the heavenly domain as well as the human.
204 Cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 2: “It is of the essence of the Church that she be both human and divine, visible and yet invisibly equipped, eager to act and yet intent on contemplation, present in this world and yet not at home in it; and she is all these things in such wise that in her the human is directed and subordinated to the divine, the visible likewise to the invisible, action to contemplation, and this present world to that city yet to come, which we seek.” http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html Accessed March 23, 2017.
205 Pierre Jounel, “Art and Liturgy,” in The Environment for Worship: A Reader, ed. Secretariat, The Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy, National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Center for Pastoral Liturgy, The Catholic University of America (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference), 81.
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We no longer dare to believe in beauty and we make of it a mere appearance in order the
more easily to dispose of it. Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least
as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be
separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act
of mysterious vengeance. We can be sure that whoever sneers at her name as if she were the
ornament of a bourgeois past whether he admits it or not can no longer pray and soon will
no longer be able to love.206
Indeed, beauty is innately connected to the true and the good, and as Reinhold also noted, liturgy and art always have gone together historically. While the Church has no absolute need for visual art,
“[i]t is strange that where visual art leaves the Church, the Church becomes ineffectual.”207 As we have seen, the arts express the identity and beliefs of the community, make visible the heavenly dimensions of liturgy, and help individuals enter into prayer. Without these tools, without beauty, the mystery at the heart of the Church becomes much less enchanting.
Von Balthasar was to have great influence on Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger. Along with more recent scholars like Denis McNamara, it seems these voices have begun to make up for any temporary deprivation of theological reflection on the place of beauty and art in the life of the Church. Today many Catholics and others have come to appreciate beauty and the arts as expressions of our worship and agents of evangelization. After going back to the sources with meaningful theological reflection, we can take the theology and apply it more practically for today.
206 Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord, Volume 1: Seeing the Form, trans. Erasmo Leiva- Merikakis (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1982), 18.
207 H.A. Reinhold, Liturgy and Art: Religious Perspectives, ed. Ruth Nanda Anshen (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), 43, 46.
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In this chapter we begin to articulate some concrete possibilities for a meaningful, appropriate
Catholic use of the different kinds of religious art.
Liturgical Art
When it comes to liturgical art, most of us have to live with the churches we have. Spaces that have already been built and adorned may or may not be equipped with an ideal arrangement of liturgical art. Those on art and environment committees, or involved with a church renovation or building committee, may have more influence to shape the liturgical environment. This said, let us imagine some of the possibilities for experiencing liturgical art as part of the life of community celebration of the Eucharist and other sacraments.
To begin with, at the entryway of the church, a festal image placed on a stand could indicate
to the faithful that they are entering into sacred time, a specific sacred time in which to celebrate the
Eucharist. Perhaps we are about to celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. On this day, we
may be greeted by the icon of the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan, perhaps with a small
bouquet of flowers or a small candle before it. Our awareness is heightened, our mind primed to
better receive the Scripture to be proclaimed. We note that honor is due to Christ and St. John, and
notice that there is something special about what is depicted. Such images are easily rotated in and
out; over time, a church may develop a collection of festal images to use in this way. Ideally, in the
spirit of the Liturgical Movement, such images would be commissioned from trained artists. If
financial limitations make this impossible for a time, quality reproductions are more affordable.
Another possibility also could be stationed near the entrance, an image of the patron saint of
the community. Perhaps this image also is honored with flowers or a candle; perhaps it is a more
permanent image situated in a side chapel that the faithful pass on the way to pews in the nave. Here
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a prie-dieu may invite one to stop in, kneel, and pray. This image cultivates devotion, but it also
helps to shape the identity of the worshiping community: we are the Church gathered at St. Joseph’s;
we are Sacred Heart; we are the people of St. Anne’s. Particularly in a time of changing parish
identities with mergers and clusters, helping the worshiping community to remember who they are is
important. Defining Catholic space is part of creating Catholic identity.208 A religious image can help
the congregation know that they gather to worship under the mantle of their particular patron.
As we have discussed it thus far, the liturgical image properly speaks of the unseen heavenly,
eschatological aspects of the mass being celebrated. As Denis McNamara describes it, this includes
imagery from the wedding feast of the Lamb in the Book of Revelation. More broadly speaking,
however, churches actually can express this reality in different ways. As Louis Bouyer noted, the
Byzantine imagery of icons is “a fact: the most successful attempt, maybe, in the whole history of
the Christian church to make the invisible visible in Christian worship.”209 Among the wealth of
Byzantine imagery, many images could be considered liturgical precisely because they are making visible the invisible elements of the celebrated liturgy: the last supper, the incarnation of Christ seen in the annunciation or nativity, the transfiguration, the crucifixion, and the resurrection, for starters.
While symbolic connections could be made, not all of these would be considered literal depictions
of the mass of the Book of Revelation.
In practice, then, perhaps over the sanctuary, images of angels bow and pray in adoration,
reminding us at the “Holy, Holy, Holy” that we sing not just with our neighbors, but also with the
208 Susan O’Brien, “Making Catholic Spaces: Women, Décor, and Devotion in the English Catholic Church, 1840 – 1900,” in The Church and the Arts, ed. Diana Wood (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1992), 452.
209 Louis Bouyer, Liturgy and Architecture (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1967), 70.
81 angels. Behind the altar, images of saints gathered around Christ similarly depict for us our own liturgical position: we are gathering around the person of Christ as he is made sacramentally present among us. A prominent crucifix, large enough to be seen from the very back of the church,210 reminds us of the mystery of redemption taking place in our midst on this very altar; by his wounds we are healed. For those who are suffering, such an image may help them to bring their whole selves to the Eucharist, to offer their pain on the altar to be transformed along with the gifts. In a small chapel, a large icon of the resurrection or the incarnation behind the altar similarly could make recognizable other aspects of the Paschal Mystery being celebrated in the liturgy: the Body of Christ again comes among us and redeems us.
Such liturgical images can be both anamnetic and eschatological. In a feat of holy time travel, they can help bring the last supper into the present moment and at the same time give us a taste of the “already but not yet” nature of the Kingdom of God realized, a world where all has been set right.211 These images help us to understand and realize the nature of what is happening among us as we celebrate Eucharist. We, too, are present at the crucifixion, the offering of the Body. We, too, are drawn into the resurrection, the vision of glory, where all sin has been left behind for a love and beauty behind imagining. To be effective, of course, choices must be made. One church will choose to highlight one dynamic, while another will emphasize a different aspect of the Paschal Mystery.
210 Cf. USCCB, General Instruction of the Roman Missal, no. 308.
211 John Zizioulas writes of this dynamic in terms of Maximus the Confessor’s differentiation between the Old Testament as shadow (σκιά), the New Testament as image (είκον), and what is to come as truth (άλήθεια). Even the shadow and the image partake of the reality of the unseen future eschaton. A Platonist reading of είκον, the icon, invokes a notion of original perfection, an anamnetic reaching back to the truth, not forward, yet the Greek patristic tradition puts much more emphasis on apocalyptic theology. If Christ is the image of the Father, then “Eikon is the final truth of being communicated in and through an event of communion (liturgical or sacramental), anticipating the ‘end’ of history from within its unfolding” (Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church [Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1985], 99-101). The truly iconic image, connected to Christ who transcends time, can take us both backwards and forwards in time.
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A church provides a place for the celebration of various sacraments, often in different
spaces. Within the space of the baptismal font, usually near the entrance, imagery on the walls, on
the font itself, or in statuary can make visible the other waters evoked in the baptismal liturgy: the
baptism of Jesus, the Israelites crossing the Red Sea to escape death by the Egyptians, or crossing
the Jordan into the Promised Land. Noah’s ark also depicts the mystery of death drowning in the
water so that the good may be saved. In baptism, we, too, enter purified water, escape death and
enter a promised land. The invisible mystery can be made visible in various ways. The celebration of baptism, with the giving of a Christian name, also can be a moment for giving the neophyte an image of his or her patron saint. Being given a name is part of being born, part of being adopted into a family. Such an image can help trigger reflection on the “new birth into the Body of Christ” aspect of baptismal reality.
Especially where baptism and confirmation are celebrated together, imagery of the Holy
Spirit is also appropriate. The dove reminds us of the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove
at Jesus’ baptism. Flames of fire or Pentecost images remind us of the driving nature of the Spirt; we
are anointed in order to be sent to proclaim Jesus. Depicting the wind over the waters of creation
may be more difficult to execute, but could also be possible. God breathes us into life. This kind of
imagery may be a permanent part of the walls, ceiling, or floor of the space, or may be more
transitory, perhaps in a painting or banner displayed for the celebration of the sacrament but
removed at other times. Inasmuch as mystagogical reflection on one’s own baptism and
confirmation should be an ongoing part of the Christian life, ideally quality liturgical images of this
kind would be something the faithful encounter again and again as they grow in the Church.
The sacraments of healing, Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick, often take place
outside of the main body of the church. Still, specific liturgical images are also appropriate in these
83 places. In a reconciliation room, for instance, perhaps an image of a merciful-looking Jesus, perhaps as the Good Shepherd, is positioned where a penitent can ponder to whom he or she is confessing.
An image of Christ healing the lame, the sick, or the blind could be appropriate here as well, as confession is its own form of healing spiritual sickness. Rembrandt’s image of “The Return of the
Prodigal Son” similarly images the gentle forgiveness of God the merciful Father.212 These kinds of liturgical images may help penitents to overcome nervousness about speaking their sins to a priest.
The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick tends to happen at hospital beds, during home visits, or occasionally during or after a mass in a church. While the traveling nature of the sacrament doesn’t generally allow for a fixed image, a small icon or other image of Christ the healer certainly could be carried alongside the holy oil and set up in the space where the sacrament is to happen.
Granted, the person to be anointed may or may not be in a state to be able to see the image. If he or she still can see, showing such an image may be a comforting reminder of Christ’s presence; if not, it can be a reminder to others present that the priest shares in the healing ministry of Jesus, and that
Christ is the one conveying spiritual grace in the moment. A crucifix also can be a profoundly liturgical image for Anointing of the Sick, inasmuch as those who long for healing share in the great mystery of suffering in the Jesus on the cross; the grace of the sacrament may enable them to allow their own suffering to become redemptive, part of something bigger than themselves, the Body of
Christ. An image can help make this connection.
We may not typically imagine any particular liturgical image connected with the sacraments of vocation, Marriage and Holy Orders. Like most of the other sacraments except Eucharist, these are not everyday occurrences, even though they take place in the body of the church. Thus any
212 For a reflection on the spiritual meaning of this image, see Henri Nouwen’s Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming (New York: Crown Publisher, 1994).
84 liturgical image connected with these sacraments may or may not be fixed in the building. Certainly a large image of Christ in the apse of a church makes clear who we really are celebrating at any given
Eucharist; Christ the High Priest could be an appropriate fixed liturgical image that connects us to the sacrament of ordination to priesthood as well as the “regular” celestial banquet of the Lamb.
Images of Christ washing the disciples’ feet capture ordination for service, which is part of both diaconal and priestly ordination. Either Christ the High Priest or Christ the Servant could be set up as a temporary liturgical image for the celebration of these sacraments.
Marriage, like Eucharist and ordination, taps into themes of the wedding feast of the Lamb, a multivalent liturgical image appropriate for a central place in the sanctuary. In marriage, the two become one, an expression of the love of God binding together the Body of Christ. Thus perhaps in an image of the wedding feast of the Lamb (depicted with Christ either as a person or as a lamb), we also might see the saints, including spouses, gathered in peace to celebrate as one. We belong together, the image says, all the way to heaven. While not an explicitly romantic image, the crucifix again could be an appropriate liturgical image here, inasmuch as spouses are called to lay down their lives for each other as Christ did for us. In marriage, the spouses similarly offer themselves to each other in a covenant of love, sealed with their very bodies.
Some of these liturgical images lend themselves to more immediate connection between the seen and unseen sacramental activity going on; others require a bit more reflection to perceive. If a church is graced with quality liturgical imagery, a homilist can help the gathered congregation to see these images as expressing the reality being celebrated at any particular time.
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Devotional Art and Devotional Prayer
Generally speaking, particular priests and building committees have primary influence in
choosing the liturgical art of a church. Likewise, because of the major investment of time and
finances, those involved with building or renovation of a church tend to be more involved than the
general congregation in deciding how to create spaces for devotional prayer within the church
building. Side chapels or other semi-private nooks can be set up with votive candles, kneelers, or
seating areas, where images of Jesus, angels, or the saints can invite the faithful to prayer. Such
devotional images invite people into relationship via whatever prayer form comes most naturally.
Beyond the realm of building and renovation committees, though, any Christian can choose to
create a place to pray with a devotional image, in one’s own home.213 As the Catechism suggests, this
could be a “prayer corner,”214 perhaps including a special home altar decorated with a lovely swath
of fabric, flowers, candles, and perhaps blessed palms, a rosary, or other meaningful symbols. At its
simplest, a home devotional prayer space simply means positioning a chair or pillow comfortable for
prayer in relation to a holy image. Both at home and in more public spaces where the faithful gather,
opportunities for using devotional images for prayer abound.
One good introduction to praying with images is visio divina, the practice of lectio divina using a
passage of Scripture matched to an image. For those not accustomed to praying with images, this
form of prayer is a good starting point because it is largely Scripture-based. For instance, in the
home, one could set up a small icon of the call of the first disciples, perhaps with a candle; in a more
213 In his introduction to Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons, Henri Nouwen writes of how at a certain level, we have choices and are responsible for what we see. Choosing to gaze at a particular icon will form us in a different way than immersing ourselves in other kinds of stimuli (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2007), 21.
214 Roman Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1994), no. 2691.
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public space, for a group, one could perhaps use a larger icon or project the image onto a screen.
One then reads Mark 1:16-20 several times, slowly, and if in a group, invites those gathered to notice
a word, phrase, or detail from the image that speaks to them, to reflect on it, and to listen for what
God may be saying to them through the Scripture and image. If in a group, individuals may share
parts of their prayer aloud. Times of silence between each reading allow for deepening levels of
prayer, and the session ends with a lengthier period of silent prayer in which one simply rests in the
presence of God.
For those more accustomed to praying with God and the saints in a conversational way, using a devotional image for colloquy can help a person to cultivate a livelier sense of the presence of one’s partner in prayer. The image also helps focus the conversation, bringing back potentially wandering minds to the time of prayer. At a church shrine, visitors may pray with the patron of the
place in this way, kneeling, sitting, or standing for prayer with the holy person depicted in the image.
In the home, one may collect devotional artwork of personal patrons or particularly beloved imagery
of angels, the Blessed Mother or Jesus. The presence of these holy figures allows for regular
invitation to prayerful conversation, whether one is in the kitchen cooking dinner or comfortably
ensconced in a “prayer chair” somewhere else.
While colloquy tends to involve a level of talking, even if only in one’s mind, other forms of devotional prayer enter more deeply into silence, such as Centering Prayer, where one gently repeats a chosen “sacred word” as a sign of one’s intent to consent to God’s presence and action in the soul.
Simple contemplation without any words at all can carry a similar intent: just to be in God’s
presence and let God be God. When practiced before an image of Jesus, especially, this form of
prayer also can be given greater focus, as the image holds one in a place of presence. Although the
eye may move to examine different details of the image, while the image holds one’s attention, the
87 mind is less likely to get wrapped up in other distractions, the biggest challenge in this form of praying.
Somewhat like Centering Prayer, the Jesus Prayer is a traditional Eastern form of devotional prayer in which one repeats, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” or some shorter phrase derived from it. The prayer is traditionally prayed with a metanier, a rosary- like cord of knots, which particularly helps during the initial training phase, when committing to repeat the mantra a certain number of times per day. Praying with an actual image of Jesus similarly can help maintain one’s focus, especially if one has chosen to engage for a set period of time rather than a particular number of repetitions of the prayer. The point of the prayer is that it should become “prayer without ceasing.” With practice, ultimately the Jesus Prayer should move into one’s heart and continue praying itself without any willful action on the part of the individual.
Another use of a devotional image is the very act of praying while creating an artistic likeness of a holy person. As iconographers pray to God through Jesus or the saint they are depicting, so other Catholics involved in the creative arts can practice this form of prayer, perhaps asking for help, perhaps reflecting on the life of the person, perhaps repeating the Jesus Prayer or another mantra. The image helps to maintain the artist’s attention and focus, even as the prayer helps to stabilize both artist and depiction.
These forms of devotional prayer with art vary in their level of intensity. Depending on one’s level of engagement with the faith, some forms of prayer may be more comfortable than others.
Particularly for American-born Roman-rite Catholics, physical veneration of a devotional image is probably the least comfortable form of prayer. As a community, engaging in the Good Friday veneration of the cross often feels awkward and foreign, completed as an act of devotion solely because of the penitential nature of the day. However, as “honor,” veneration can come in different
88 forms. While many Catholics would not be comfortable making a full prostration to an image, even of Jesus, even in the privacy of one’s own room, they likely would be more comfortable with low- risk forms of veneration, such as lighting a votive candle or placing flowers before a sacred image of the Blessed Mother, perhaps giving a gentle touch hello to a statue of a beloved patron saint, or kneeling to pray at a prie-dieu before an image of St. Joseph. Some forms of veneration are more appropriate in the semi-public space of a church or shrine; some are more fitting in the home; many could be practiced either place.
Didactic Art and its Uses
While didactic, or historical art is not specifically meant for prayer, it holds an important place in evangelization and catechesis, both in the public and domestic church settings. This is the art that tells many of the stories of faith, holding up in honor great figures of history whom we should know and respect. While not central to worship the way liturgical images are, nor necessarily suited for devotional prayer, these images are important for teaching the faith. Within the public setting, they are appropriately placed in the church hall, conference rooms, and faith formation classrooms. Perhaps in one room, we might see images of the creation of the world. Perhaps in another we might see a set of images of the apostles. We might see an image of Queen Esther saving her people, or Jonah being swallowed and spat up from the belly of the whale. Elsewhere we might see images of particular martyrs, or holy women, or popes. Whether Scriptural or from later
Christian history, these images have a story to tell.
It is important for those involved in ministry to know how to tell the stories and to teach the faith using these images. Within the home, parents are the first teachers of their children, and so may choose to display such images as part of the décor. Perhaps Noah’s ark graces a child’s bedroom, or
89 a lovely print of Ruth in the barley fields in a hallway or the living room. Such images can be fodder for reference in conversation, both with the family and with guests.
While liturgical and devotional images have their own role to play apart from historical images, teaching about them is also important. When a catechetical group is learning about the liturgical year, ideally a catechist will know and share images from the different feasts of the Church.
Christians young and old should see and get to know the various saints, and their particular identifying symbols, which often are connected to some aspect of their story, often their martyrdom.
Christian images, whether liturgical, devotional, or historical, can be used for evangelization, triggering conversation about who and what they represent, and what these holy people or stories have to do with us. Ideally, when speaking of Jesus, saints, or angels, or historical moments of the
Church depicted in images, we will make connections with the spiritual life as we live it today. For example, if one member of the family has St. Anthony as his or her patron, perhaps an image of him hangs somewhere in the home. When friends or other guests come to visit, when showing people around, family members can say, “And here is St. Anthony of Padua. He’s Tony’s patron, and the patron of finding lost stuff. I call on him all the time when I’m losing things!” In short, the image provides an excuse to make an introduction. We should be friends with Jesus and the saints, and if friends, then not afraid to introduce them to others.
Conclusion
In this chapter we have explored how different forms of art can be used for different forms of prayer, rooted in their own particular place. While priests and building committees are those primarily responsible for considering the choice and placement of liturgical art and some devotional art, the common Christian man or woman also has a plethora of opportunities to make sacred
90 devotional or didactic art part of one’s life, both within the home and elsewhere. Given that many people have come of age in churches that do not model how to do this, though, tapping into visual, material culture may feel more odd and uncomfortable than might be expected.
Visual art, in a church space but also in a home, makes a statement about one’s identity. A major strain of Enlightenment philosophy still flourishing in the U.S. today is the notion that religion is a personal, private practice: whatever one chooses to do or believe is fine, as long as it does not affect others. Visual piety, however, speaks one’s belief out loud, in a sense. It is inherently evangelistic, expressing to all who see it the core truths of the faith, inviting interaction, perhaps inviting questions, perhaps inviting conversion. For many years, profoundly visual Catholic churches were the norm; our space itself proclaimed the faith, and perhaps gave the faithful language for sharing their belief with others. Yet in more recent years, sacred images have not been as common as they once were.
Perhaps it is no coincidence that about the time that many images left the churches, Pope
Paul VI issued his 1975 Evangelii Nuntiandi, an apostolic exhortation calling for a renewed emphasis on evangelization. Efforts to cultivate a new evangelization have been at play in the Catholic Church in the forty years since that time. However, misconceptions continue to permeate common understanding. In many ways Catholics are still learning how and why to evangelize. To reintroduce visual culture to Catholics is, in short, re-evangelization. It is a call to return to the sources of the tradition, to reflect on the incarnational nature of the faith, and to understand more deeply what it means for God to redeem us here in this concrete world. While quality liturgical art in public spaces can help do this, on a more personal level, introducing people to sacred images and how to pray with them is an exercise in crossing cultures. This sense of crossing over is an underlying principle of design for this DMin project, and in the next chapter we will explore more deeply what it means
91 to help someone cross from one culture to another, so as to be able to enter more meaningfully into prayer with sacred images.
PART II: THE PROJECT
CHAPTER 6: PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN: CROSSING CULTURES WITH CATECHESIS AND GUIDED PRAYER
Philip Sheldrake writes that “religious traditions are both cultural expressions and producers
of culture.”215 As cultural expressions, art, architecture, music, and practices such as pilgrimage are
part of the “range of genres” for articulating Christian spirituality.216 As a producer of culture,
Christian belief includes material practices.217 Thus despite some moments in history when the
Church has resisted imagery, we can speak of the culture of Catholicism as being one in which
fundamental truths can be expressed visually. To enter more deeply into Catholicism, one may need
to be able to cross from a relatively non-visual to a more visual religious culture. This may be a simple step for those with a natural affinity for signs, symbols, and beautiful art, or it may be a more uncomfortable process for those brought up to believe that any “graven image” is a disobedience against the second commandment. Those coming out of the Reformed Protestant traditions, especially, sometimes struggle in this way. Evangelization and catechesis may be needed, inviting conversion to a broadly sacramental view of the Christian story and vision. Through this process, a
catechist can act as a “cultural broker,” introducing the visual dimensions of the faith in such a way
that what initially might feel strange and foreign gradually can become comfortable, something
understood and perhaps even loved. This D.Min. project has been designed to introduce
seminarians to icons in just such a way.
215 Philip Sheldrake, “Spirituality and Its Critical Methodology,” in Exploring Christian Spirituality: Essays in Honor of Sandra M. Schneiders, ed. Bruce H. Lescher and Elizabeth Liebert (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2006), 21.
216 Ibid., 22.
217 Kathryn Tanner, as summarized by Amy Plantinga Pauw, “Attending to the Gaps between Belief and Practices,” in Practicing Theology, ed. Miroslav Volf and Dorothy C. Bass (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2002), 36-37. 92 93
Evangelization and Catechesis
In The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis notes that the arts can play an important role in evangelization. “Every form of catechesis would do well to attend to the ‘way of beauty,’” he writes.
In following Christ, we find “something beautiful, capable of filling life with new splendor and profound joy, even in the midst of difficulties. Every expression of true beauty thus can be acknowledged as a path leading to an encounter with the Lord Jesus.” The pope encourages churches to embrace use of the arts in evangelization, and to form people in the process of catechesis to understand beauty.218 By helping people experience how beautiful religious images can help one draw closer to the truth, goodness, and beauty of Jesus himself, catechists can create a pathway for deepening devotion and love. Use of religious images may also be part of popular piety, which the pope notes may be promoted as part of evangelization.219
At the heart of evangelization, of course, is the proclamation of Jesus Christ as Lord. In the
Catholic version of the kerygma, religious images can be part of that proclamation. This is because proclaiming the Good News means emphasizing God’s great love for humanity, and the dignity of matter, even after sin entered the world. God loved us so much that Jesus became one with us in flesh, someone we could see and know and touch. Wanting to remain with us always, before he died by offering his body on a cross, he offered his body for his disciples to consume, in the form of bread and wine, instructing them to continue to offer this sacrificial, redemptive meal in remembrance of him. We believe that he continues to offer himself to us in this way through the sacraments today, where we can still see, taste, and touch him. He wants to offer himself to us in
218 Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), (Nov. 24, 2013) no. 167. https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_ esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html. Accessed January 31, 2017.
219 Ibid., nos. 122-23, 126.
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concrete ways in which we can connect, be healed, and be transformed into his very life. Thus he is
also the Word. Passed down to us by earlier Christians, as a living Word, Scripture continues to
speak truth in new contexts. Visual images of these stories mimic the incarnational, sacramental
dynamic. Because the Word can be made visible, we have images of Christ, images of the stories that
point to Christ, and images of the Body of Christ as it has been expressed in his Church. Images
help us to see Christ, who continues to be among us through the Holy Spirit, in the people who are
joined to him and to each other in love. Images express and allow us to experience the presence of
salvation history and the communion of saints, particularly in worship.220 For Catholics, when
proclaiming the Gospel, sacramentality matters, and it is important to emphasize all the ways that
God becomes concrete so that we can know and love the Trinity better.
Practically speaking, images make the mysteries visible and thus accessible in another way.
They evangelize. They help tell what Thomas Groome calls the Christian story and vision,221 and
help open people to the lived experience of Christ. They inspire Christian imagination and make
present the Christian worldview. In this context, we can say that icons and other sacred images also
can play a role in “pre-evangelization”; they can do this work even when presented outside of the regular places of pastoral care, such as in art exhibitions.222 When evangelizing effectively, the iconic
image “enables us to discern the face of Christ and, in him, of the Father,” as Ratzinger puts it.223
220 Uwe Michael Lang, Signs of the Holy One: Liturgy, Ritual, and Expression of the Sacred (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2015), 93.
221 Thomas H. Groome, Will There Be Faith? A New Vision for Educating and Growing Disciples (New York: HarperOne, 2011), 262-63.
222 Gianluca Busi, Il Segno di Giona (Bologna: Dehoniana Libri, 2010), 67.
223 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, trans. John Saward (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000), 122.
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Such images attract us by their beauty and truth. Perhaps they invite us to ponder where we are in relation to the mystery of God. They confront us with the possibility of an enchanted world filled with more than meets the eye. In this way, religious images can help foster conversion.
Conversion As in evangelization, for a conversion to be particularly “Catholic,” the senses are involved, including one’s affective and imaginative life, and ultimately the body itself, not simply cognition.224
John Henry Cardinal Newman describes a trajectory of Catholic conversion in which the liturgy aims to convert a person at different levels, including affective, aesthetic, intellectual, and moral dimensions. Liturgy does this by teaching both the content of who God is and the method for responding in faith.225 Inasmuch as they participate in the life of the liturgy, touching people’s imaginations and emotions, liturgically appropriate sacred images also contribute to this conversion process, providing part of the “convergence of evidence” yielding a graced movement to faith, what
Newman calls the “illative sense.”226 As M. Francis Mannion says, liturgical space is an important part of the action of liturgy: “Material place symbolically amplifies the liturgical action, and the liturgy, in turn, draws into itself the spatial and the material.”227 Liturgical art and architecture
224 Michael Marchal, “What Makes a Conversion Catholic?” Catechumenate 27, no. 4 (July 2005) (Chicago, IL: Liturgy Training Publications): 25-35.
225 Robert C. Christie, “Conversion through Liturgy: Newman’s Liturgy Sermon Series of 1830,” Newman Studies Journal, (Pittsburgh, PA: National Institute for Newman Studies), 3, no. 2 (Sept. 1, 2006): 52, 54. On the formative power of the liturgy, see also Gilbert Ostdiek, “Liturgy as Catechesis for Life,” The Living Light 37, no. 4 (Summer 2001), 47-48.
226 Christie., 51 fn15.
227 M. Francis Mannion, “Toward a New Era in Liturgical Architecture,” Liturgical Ministry 6 (Fall 1997), 160, as quoted in Scott O’Brien, “Liturgical Space as Place of Ecclesial Conversion,” Liturgical Ministry 11 (Spring 2002), 84.
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provide a “metaphorical landscape,” a place to encounter Christ.228 Here the community is invited to
ponder its own situation, “as a people called into the eschatological household of God.”229 As a part
of the liturgical experience, images can facilitate Catholic conversion. If the images are beautiful and
good, they have the power to draw people to want to be one with what they express. If they express
what is deeply true, they can help cultivate recognition and understanding of what Christianity
proclaims. In a Catholic conversion, “an affective conversion that is deeply and broadly
sacramental,” perhaps involving practices or relationships, leads to intellectual and moral
transformation, eventually affecting beliefs.230
Catechetical Methods
Once past initial evangelization, we are in the realm of catechesis, where faith becomes more
deeply rooted and connected with the rest of one’s living. According to the National Directory for
Catechesis, the purpose of catechesis is to “prepare people for full and active participation in
liturgy.”231 The Catechism calls liturgy itself “the privileged place for catechizing the People of
God.”232 Catechesis is to be ecclesial, experiential, and an expression of faith. It should involve building up the community, sharing stories and beliefs, serving others, and praying together.233
228 Scott O’Brien, 83. Bernard Lonergan offers a similar concept of “horizons,” as the “range of knowledge and interests” within which a human subject operates. We could say that liturgical space helps shape a community’s horizons, expressing both the particularity and universality of the Church gathered in the place. See Ian Bell, “An Elaboration of the Worshipful Pattern of Experience in the Work of Bernard Lonergan,” Worship 81, no. 6 (Nov. 2007), 532.
229 Scott O’Brien, 84-85.
230 Marchal, 34. 231 No. 113, as quoted in Michael Moynahan, “Liturgy and Catechesis: Two Sides of the Same Coin,” The Living Light 29 (1992), 51.
232 Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1047, as quoted in Ostdiek, 47.
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Catechesis should reveal to us the mystery of Christ and the nature of the Church, calling us to continual conversion.234 Scott O’Brien writes that because of “theological claims about how place sanctifies and is sanctified by the Christian assembly,” people need catechesis about liturgical space; it mediates the identity of the Church in a symbolic, metaphorical way.235 True, sacred space can itself evangelize and catechize. Yet while conversion may be facilitated by holy images in liturgical space, for those uncomfortable with religious images, it may also be necessary to re-evangelize or catechize in a more Catholic manner, inviting continuing conversion in regard to sacred images themselves. What are some ways to do this?
Thomas Groome’s “shared Christian praxis approach” to catechesis provides a model for movement deeper into the life of God. Also called the “life to Faith to life” model, Groome’s method provides a way for a catechist to help bridge the gap between life experience and faith. It begins with some kind of focusing act engaging a theme from real life or faith. A topic is raised. The catechist then facilitates a critically reflective conversation on the theme in light of lived experience
(“life”). The next movement is to shift the conversation toward a point for sharing “faith,” where the Christian “story and vision” get shared in ways pertinent to the theme, the particular group, and the current context. The catechist then steers the conversation toward an encouragement to appropriate the new understanding of faith into one’s life, ending with an invitation to make a
233 Moynahan, 48, 50.
234 Ibid., 53. Cf. David Batchelder, “Holy God, Dangerous Liturgy: Preparing the Assembly for Transforming Encounter,” Worship 79, no. 4 (2005), 290; Donald L. Gelpi, Committed Worship: A Sacramental Theology for Converting Christians, Volume 1: Adult Conversion and Initiation (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1993), 9-33; Regis A. Duffy, James Shaughnessy, Barbara O’Dea, James Lepresti. Initiation and Conversion: Major Presentations Given at the 1984 National Meeting of the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1985), 40, 48.
235 Scott O’Brien, 81, 84.
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decision to live in a Christian way (“life”).236 Reflecting the General Directory for Catechesis, which also
recommends a pedagogy privileging experience in the teaching of faith,237 Groome’s approach is about getting beyond academic knowledge to personal appreciation and investment. Whether used for explicit faith formation or for religious education focusing on the more scholarly aspects of
Christianity, this model is geared toward connecting the faith with one’s identity.238
Groome’s method can be employed in helping Christians deepen in appreciation for how
icons and other sacred images express the faith. Depending the context, the method could be used
differently. In a liturgical space graced with quality liturgical art such as a beautiful crucifix, a homilist
has a ready point of reference. After establishing a theme and connection to real life experiences, the
preacher could invite reflection on the image of Christ on the cross and how the crucifix opens up
the meaning of both the day’s readings and the congregation’s lived situation at hand. He can invite
listeners to remember the image the next time they are faced with a related life challenge. Likewise, if
the church has a clearly visible image depicting a particular story told in the reading of the day,
referencing it in preaching can be used to connect faith to that particular liturgical moment in life. In
a faith formation space, similarly, religious images can be used with intentionality, to illustrate faith
themes central to the topic of the day’s conversation, and to invite continued reflection and
identification with the holy person imaged while going back to one’s regular life.
In the home, parents can use religious images to connect what is going on in the personal
life of the family with the greater faith tradition. In the bedroom of children, perhaps an image of
Jesus with the children provides an illustration of stable, loving relationship with God that can be
236 Groome, Chapters 8-9, particularly 299-303.
237 General Directory for Catechesis, nos. 133, 205, 207, 245, as cited in Groome, 271-72.
238 Groome, 274, 282.
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brought into a Groome-style discussion when a child expresses some concern or worry before bedtime. Around Christmas, a nativity set can provide opportunity for conversation about how Jesus
and his family experienced joy or faced challenges not so different from ours at his birth. Religious
images also can be part of celebration. In my family home, for example, somewhere along the line
my mother was given a small wooden figure of the Child Jesus who appears to be standing on a
wooden pin cushion. With his chubby arms upraised in welcome, offering a cherubic smile encircled
with curls, and bedecked in a silver sequined poncho and shiny crown, he is “Party Jesus,” often
present on the table at family gatherings and celebrations, eliciting all kinds of warm conversation
and laughter about how pleased he is to be there, or conjecture about what he really thinks of the
topic at hand. While this particular image borders on kitsch with his sequined attire, there is
something remarkably truthful about his sweet expression, and his presence at our table is a very real
image of Christ’s presence among us, Jesus who did very much enjoy parties and made water into
wine. Catechesis does not always have to be serious or formal.
For those not so accustomed to seeing images at liturgy or dining with images of Christ,
catechesis intentionally introducing sacred images may be more appropriate. In some ways, this is
simply a matter of religious education, a matter of learning about the tradition. Still, in the realm of
images meant to guide the heart closer to Christ, such education is not likely to remain a mere
academic exercise. For those open to the experience, learning to appreciate and pray with sacred
images can easily open new horizons for spiritual growth. For those coming from a background
where sacred images have been considered spiritually dangerous, however, becoming familiar with a
more visual religious culture may feel markedly uncomfortable. Entering a new culture is rarely a neutral experience.
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The Cultural Broker
When going to a new place, traveling with someone who has been there before can ease worries about the unknown. In the world of teaching, such a person is called a “cultural broker.”
Building on the work of Karen Gentemann and Tony Whitehead involving bicultural education,239
Geneva Gay describes how the cultural broker helps others to cross bridges and enter into a new culture by teaching cultural context:
A cultural broker is one who thoroughly understands different cultural systems, is able to
interpret cultural symbols from one frame of reference to another, can mediate cultural
incompatibilities, and knows how to build bridges or establish linkages across cultures that
facilitate the instructional process. Cultural brokers translate expressive cultural behaviors
into pedagogical implications and actions. They model maneuvers within and negotiations
among multiple cultural systems without compromising the integrity of any…. Several skills
are necessary for teachers to become cultural brokers. These can be classified as acquiring
cultural knowledge, becoming change agents, and translating cultural knowledge into
pedagogical strategies.240
Let us probe how this works in regard to religious images. Within Christianity, we could say that we have strains of both “visual culture” and “non-visual culture.” The first is usually represented by the
Eastern churches, Roman Catholicism, and some Anglican and Lutheran churches, those that
239 Karen M. Gentemann and Tony L. Whitehead, “The Cultural Broker Concept in Bicultural Education,” Journal of Negro Education 54 (1983): 118-129.
240 Geneva Gay, “Building Cultural Bridges: A Bold Proposal for Teacher Education,” in Multicultural Education: Strategies for Implementation in Colleges and Universities, edited by J.Q. Adams and Janice R. Welsch (Macomb, IL: Western Illinois University, Illinois Staff and Curriculum Developers Association, Illinois Board of Governors of State Colleges and Universities, 1995), 100.
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embrace a level of use of liturgical and devotional images for prayer. The second, “non-visual
culture” tends to be represented by various Protestant denominations, particularly those coming
from the Reformed tradition. These Christians usually have more difficulty with religious images,
especially when used in prayer. Thus we can say that in presenting sacred images to those coming
from a non-visual culture of Christianity, we are inviting them to cross cultures, to venture into the
unknown. To aid this transition, a cultural broker can interpret, mediate, translate, model, and
ultimately build bridges. At the heart of this D.Min. project is the exploration of how this kind of
bridge-building can be put into practice.
As Gay notes, the first characteristic of a cultural broker is that a person knows and
understands the different cultural systems in play. To become a cultural broker between visual and
non-visual Christian culture, it is important to understand the roots of both. Thus far, I have
articulated something of the theological worldview and culture of the strains of Christianity that
embrace a sacramental visual culture, but have not said as much about non-visual Protestant culture.
While space does not allow for thorough examination of all the sources of Protestant discomfort
with images, given the context at hand, it is important for a cultural broker to know at least a few
key characteristics and historical elements influencing this worldview.241 Alongside Catholicism’s
own historical reasons for over-simplifying some worship spaces after Vatican II, Protestant
perspectives have also contributed to modern Catholic practice (or lack thereof) related to images.
241 For a more detailed treatment of Protestant beliefs regarding sacred images, see my book Icons in the Western Church: Toward a More Sacramental Encounter, 127-140; Sergiusz Michalski, The Reformation and the Visual Arts (New York: Routledge, 1993); David Morgan, Icons of American Protestantism: The Art of Warner Sallmann (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996); Colleen McDannell, Material Christianity: Religion and Pop Culture in America (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995).
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While Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) gradually became more open to religious images than
other Protestant reformers, his primary concern was justification by faith alone: he did not want his
followers to seek salvation through interaction with images. As a nominalist, he saw images as only
relative signs; for him, a sacred image did not actually participate in the reality depicted.242 Luther
also was concerned about the “social costs of art,” and believed money to be better spent on the
poor.243 Nevertheless, he opposed violent iconoclasm,244 and supported the use of religious images
for teaching the faith. His 1534 German Bible was illustrated.245 While other Protestant traditions
would eliminate many visual and kinesthetic aspects of worship, Lutherans have maintained them.246
Today, Lutheran churches often include sacred images.
The Reformed tradition, represented by Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt (1480–1541),
Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531), and John Calvin (1509–1564), has tended to be more iconoclastic.
Karlstadt was involved in various image disputes in the 1520s. He was concerned that people should
not be misled by interior idols, and confessed a real fear of images; he believed they taught only
“fleshly desires.”247 Zwingli was the most political and intensely iconoclastic reformer, believing that
“nothing based on corporeal elements can lead to God.”248 He saw the cult of saints as being
242 Michalski, 4, 20.
243 Ibid., 6-7.
244 Ibid., 23–24; Morgan, Icons of American Protestantism, 4; Belting, Likeness and Presence, 458, 460, 463.
245 Michalski, 31–33, 119; Freedberg, 399; McDannell, 9; Seasoltz, A Sense of the Sacred, 173; Morgan, 4.
246 Seasoltz, A Sense of the Sacred, 36.
247 Michalski, 23–25, 43–45. 248 Ibid., 51; McDannell, 13.
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idolatrous, and wanted to emphasize the role of Jesus as the only mediator between humans and
God.249 Though he opposed unrestrained iconoclasm, he ordered that the religious images of Zurich
should be whitewashed or otherwise removed.250 Calvin, the most systematic reformer, similarly
ordered removal of religious images from Geneva in 1535. He saw external signs and symbols as
being unnecessary distractions from the true essence of God, which he emphasized as being purely
spiritual.251 For him, depicting Christ’s resurrected body was an affront to the glory of God, because
if Jesus was in heaven, he was not also present on earth.252 While preferring Biblical inscriptions on
the walls of churches, Calvin permitted some religious images in public places only if they were
unlikely to evoke a devotional response.253
In the English Reformation and the Anglican tradition, Eamon Duffy has argued that
iconoclasm and reforms were imposed from above rather than reflecting the actual wishes of the
people.254 Political tensions with Rome as well as concern about idolatry motivated some early
Anglicans to get rid of religious imagery. Yet under Elizabeth I (1533–1603), the Anglican Church
pursued a via media regarding images, evolving into something midway between Calvinist austerity and baroque Catholicism.255 Seventeenth-century Anglicans often replaced paintings and sculpture in
249 Michalski, 52, 55.
250 Ibid., 52–54, 186; Seasoltz, A Sense of the Sacred, 164.
251 Michalski, 62, 65, 105; Morgan, 4–5.
252 Michalski, 62; Morgan, 5.
253 Michalski., 70; Freedberg, 399.
254 Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400 – 1580 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992), xxxii–xxxvii.
255 Irvine and Dawtry, 8–10; see 24–31 regarding further developments in Anglicanism.
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churches with the Ten Commandments on an eastern wall, and a triptych with the Lord’s Prayer and
Creed visually summarized Christian belief.256 Today, many churches of the Anglican communion
embrace icons and some other forms of religious imagery.
In general, we can say that that Catholic and Orthodox worldviews are more sacramental,
and therefore emphasize the immanence of God, while the worldview of many Protestant denominations sees holiness as being somewhere other than in the everyday stuff of life; these groups
tend to put more emphasis on the transcendence of God.257 In concrete terms, Protestant spirituality, which predominates in American Christianity, tends to focus on cool rationality, and understands the holy as being somewhat separate from home life, sexual intimacy, economics, and fashion.258 This worldview emerged particularly from the teaching of Calvin, with his emphasis on
the idea of God as spirit.259 For this Reformed strain of religiosity, as articulated by Karl Barth (1886
– 1968), “there is no theological visual art.” Rather, it is important to hear the faith: “The
fundamental form of theology is the prayer and the sermon.”260 It is helpful to remember that the
Protestant tendency to emphasize auditory engagement aimed to be a corrective to a pre-
Reformation overemphasis on the value of images, to the exclusion of quality preaching and
proclamation of the Word.261 The Protestant concern to avoid idolatry similarly reflected a need to
256 Seasoltz, A Sense of the Sacred, 182–83.
257 Andrew Greeley, The Catholic Imagination (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), 5, summarizing the work of Catholic theologian David Tracy.
258 McDannell, 6. 259 R. Kevin Seasoltz, A Sense of the Sacred, 62.
260 Morgan, 3-4.
261 Michalski, 192; R. Kevin Seasoltz, A Sense of the Sacred, 170.
105 overcome some superstitious abuses of the time involving images. The Council of Trent aimed to address these issues.
Returning to the notion of the cultural broker as introducer of visual religious culture, knowing some of this history and theology of the major Protestant branches is important, especially when dealing with those coming from Protestant denominations, including converts to Catholicism.
When working in a realm of “interfaith aesthetics,” we create a space “where theological hardheadedness and spiritual openness fructify and intertwine with each other.”262 A cultural broker needs to be able to mediate between the non-visual and visual Christian traditions with a level of respect for what is important to each. Certainly cultivating an appreciation for the beauty and truth in another’s faith can help cultivate love; understanding the other’s culture, morality, and spirituality is a necessary part of theological dialogue.263 A Catholic cultural broker can admit that the Church at the time of the Reformation was in need of correction in a number of different areas, and today we can agree that use of sacred images in prayer and worship is not meant to replace good preaching, or study of the Bible, or congregational participation in liturgy. Catholics do not endorse idolatry, but prayer to God. When introducing icons, a cultural broker might point out how different they are from the sensuous images of the Renaissance and Baroque period; in contrast with some of the images that posed difficulty for early reformers, icons (and many other sacred images today) have a restrained asceticism about them. They emphasize the transcendent nature of God as much as divine immanence in the world, and invite us to remain focused on the Kingdom of God, the world of heaven, even as we are challenged to serve the poor and live the faith on earth. A Catholic cultural
262 Alejandro Garcia-Rivera, “Interfaith Aesthetics: Where Theology and Spirituality Meet,” in Exploring Christian Spirituality: Essays in Honor of Sandra M. Schneiders, ed. Bruce H. Lescher and Elizabeth Liebert (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2006), 181.
263 Garcia-Rivera, 178, 180.
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broker can meet the Protestant love for accessible Scripture with reflection on how sacred images
make Scripture visible and more memorable. It is important to affirm the good things on which
those of different backgrounds can agree. With this goal in mind, a visually-oriented cultural broker
can acquire knowledge of a less visual culture, and begin to build bridges of real connection.
In a sense, to become familiar with what is important to both the visual and less-visual
Christian traditions is to embody something of an intercultural spirituality. Thomas Grenham
suggests some principles that assist in nourishing an intercultural spirituality. We must know our
own tradition, but also know and respect what is important to the other. We need to listen,
especially to the disempowered, and be aware of how to deal with conflicts so that we can grow
through them. We should not be patronizing. Most of all, we need to learn to have meaningful
conversations that allow us to engage an issue, reflect on our lived experience, explore how our
tradition informs our experience, and reflect on and integrate the life-giving elements from within
the different traditions.264 Re-evaluating the roots of the Reformation, including the Catholic
Church’s need for rebalancing during that time, can give us a sense of where different Christian worldviews emerged. Likewise, it can be helpful to hold an awareness of how the Liturgical
Movement marked Catholicism’s attempt to wrestle with modern art; in neither cased did simplified worship space emerge simply out of hate for the human image. Sensitivity while crossing these
cultural boundaries in religion can help bring about mutual respect, understanding, and healing.265
Ideally this sharing in diversity can lead to spiritual inculturation, marked by a space of shared
264 Thomas G. Grenham, “Mutual Enrichment: Intercultural Spirituality in an Age of Cultural and Religious Pluralism,” in With Wisdom Seeking God: The Academic Study of Spirituality, edited by Una Agnew, Bernadette Flanagan, and Greg Heylin (Leuven: Peeters, 2008), 257-259.
265 Ibid., 254-255.
107 vision.266 Though non-visual culture has affected even a portion of Catholic life and practice,
Catholics share enough in common within our own denomination that coming to a shared worldview regarding religious images is possible.
While conveying knowledge and reflecting on perceptions of theological tradition is important, to become a real “change agent,” Gay says a cultural broker needs to model behavior and translate this into pedagogical practice.267 In short, when faced with religious images, how is a
Christian, particularly a Catholic, to respond? If sacred images are not simply decoration, not simply meant to beautify space for worship, then what are the spiritual practices associated with them? How can these practices be learned? The cultural broker is one who shows others how to use sacred images in a way that is faithful to Christian tradition.
Teaching Christian Spiritual Practices
In recent decades, study of spiritual practices has enjoyed a resurgence among scholars of religion. No longer relegated to the dubious category of “works” for Protestants, under the umbrella of “practical theology,” both Protestant and Catholic theologians examine the patterns of behaviors that comprise part of being Christian, and how these practices affect belief and relationship.268 In
266 Grenham, 250.
267 Gay, 100.
268 Dorothy C. Bass, “Introduction,” 3, and Amy Plantinga Pauw, “Attending to the Gaps between Beliefs and Practices,” 35-36, both in Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life, ed. Miroslav Volf and Dorothy C. Bass (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2002). For more on Christian practices, in the same book, see also Craig Dykstra and Dorothy C. Bass, “A Theological Understanding of Christian Practices, 13-33; Sarah Coakley, “Deepening Practices: Perspectives from Ascetical and Mystical Theology,” 78-93; Kathryn Tanner, “Theological Reflection and Christian Practices,” 228-242. Cf. David I. Smith and James K.A. Smith, Teaching Christian Practices: Reshaping Faith and Learning (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2011); Margaret Miles, Practicing Christianity: Critical Perspectives for an Embodied Spirituality (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1988); Kyriakos C. Markides, “Eastern Orthodox Mysticism and Transpersonal Theory,” The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 40 (2008), no. 2: 178-198; Elizabeth Liebert, “The Role of Practice in the Study of Christian Spirituality,” Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality 2, no. 1 (2002): 35 – 36.
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particular, practical theology and spirituality aim to address lived experience, sharing methodological
and pedagogical approaches for critical study of that experience.269 In this field, spiritual practices
can be studied and taught.
So just what is a Christian practice? Dorothy Bass writes that it is a cluster or pattern of ideas
and activities that over time shapes shared Christian life in the light of Christ.270 Practices help ground belief and belief helps ground practices, though people tend to be unable to be perfectly consistent between the two.271 According to Alasdair MacIntyre, Christian practices are social, and
they exist not simply to attain some goal, but are a good in themselves; they can help make us
virtuous.272 While they are rooted in the past and thus are connected to tradition, they also can be
adapted to changing times and cultures.273 Particularly vital practices are very flexible across many
societies and cultures.274 They articulate the wisdom of non-theologians and while sometimes messy,
can help academics learn a tradition more deeply.275 They can be part of the sensus fidelium. Craig
269 Claire Wolfteich, “Animating Questions: Spirituality and Practical Theology,” International Journal of Practical Theology (2009), 122-23. Cf. Liebert, “The Role of Practice in the Study of Christian Spirituality”; Mary Frohlich, “Spiritual Discipline, Discipline of Spirituality: Revisiting Questions of Definition and Method,” Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality 1, no. 1 (2001), 68, 71.
270 Bass, “Introduction,” 2-3.
271 Ibid., Introduction,” 3; Plantinga Pauw, 36, 48-49; Tanner, 232.
272 Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theology, Third Edition (Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame Press, 2007); Bass, “Introduction,” 6; Dykstra, 20-21; David I. Smith and James K.A. Smith, 7-8.
273 Bass, “Introduction,” 6.
274 Dykstra and Bass, “A Theological Understanding of Christian Practices,” 26.
275 Bass, “Introduction,” 4; Sheldrake, 22; Miles, 89. Chenu also writes of this dynamic, “An authentic theology is nothing other than a spirituality which has discovered the proper rational expression of its fundamental religious experience.” Une Ecole de théologie (Tournai-Le Saulchoir, 1937), 75, as quoted in Kees Waaijman, Spirituality: Forms, Foundations, Methods, trans. John Vriend (Dudley, MA: Peeters, 2002), 394-95.
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Dykstra and Dorothy Bass write that Christian practices “address fundamental human needs and
conditions.” They involve our embodiment, temporality, relationship, use of language, and mortality,
inviting awareness of both God and creation, a healthy balance to a too-disembodied theology.276
According to Margaret Miles, Christian practices can “both prepare the conditions under which
religious experiences are likely to occur and, subsequent to such experiences, provide a lifestyle that
integrates and perpetuates them.”277 We follow Christian practices because they help connect us to
God. Reflection on why we do what we do can deepen our commitment and make our practices more meaningful.278
Praying with sacred images is an especially vital kind of spiritual practice for Catholic spirituality. Because praying with images has been more often a part of popular piety than scholarly study, perhaps the importance of this practice for supporting belief has at times been underestimated. Still, religious images can shape our knowledge, our emotions, and our spirit. As
Sarah Coakley writes of particularly pure Christian practices, God can work on us “discreetly, quietly, and often even unconsciously… through the ‘long haul’ of repeated practices of
faithfulness.”279 This is particularly true of “bodily acts of worship and attention,” which “have their own integrity and effect.”280 Praying with a liturgical image at Eucharist may not be a particularly
conscious practice. Yet being visually aware of the otherwise unseen spiritual dimensions of what is
being celebrated deepens engagement in the sacrament. Being conscious that the images depicted
276 Dykstra and Bass, “A Theological Understanding of Christian Practices,” 22, 24.
277 Miles, 91.
278 Tanner, 234; Frohlich, 70.
279 Coakley, 83.
280 Ibid., 87.
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connect with the reality celebrated can make the practice even more meaningful, especially if such
awareness triggers theological reflection and prayer. The practice of praying with a devotional image
is often a conscious, personal practice, especially if it involves going to a particular place, kneeling or
otherwise presenting oneself in a particular posture, or lighting a candle. As with liturgical art, people
may also engage with didactic sacred art either unconsciously or consciously. Simply being
surrounded by images that tell the story of the faith can form religious knowledge, especially if
supplemented elsewhere with preaching or Scripture readings that make these things known.
Conscious engagement with particular images for the purpose of learning about Christianity can take
the experience to a whole different level.
To teach the practice of praying with sacred images, then, part of the process should involve raising awareness. The cultural broker instructing should aim to convey consciousness of the presence of appropriate images, knowledge of what they represent, and understanding of how these images connect to liturgy and the rest of Christian life. Beyond imparting simple knowledge, though, teaching others to pray with sacred images, particularly liturgical and devotional images, may involve
instructing bodies, with the understanding that minds and hearts will follow.281 The experience leads to comprehension of the spirituality. Yet at this riskiest moment, when one’s body becomes involved, the cultural broker plays a critical role, as model, mentor, teacher, and partner in the practice. Craig
Dykstra writes,
We need people who will include us in these practices as they themselves are engaged in
them, and who will show us how to do what the practices require. We also need them to
explain to us what these practices mean, what the reasons, understandings, insights, and
281 Coakley, 86, notes that the practice of instructing bodies with expectation for minds and hearts to follow is particularly part of the Benedictine tradition. Miles, 134 reflects on how bodily stance affects psychology.
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values embedded in them are. And we need them to lure us and press us beyond our current
understanding of and competence in these practices to the point where we together may
extend and deepen the practices themselves.282
When introducing liturgical images, luring the newcomer might involve shared lectio divina with a
beautiful image of a particular liturgical feast. When introducing devotional images, this could
involve inviting others along on a church visit, and modeling how to kneel before an image in a side
chapel, or showing how one can light a candle and pray before an image of a beloved saint. One
learns to venerate the cross on Good Friday by watching how others do it, and getting in line behind
a friend or family member. As one who accompanies others through such experiences, the teacher,
as cultural broker, needs involvement, not distance.283 The presence of the familiar gives courage to
encounter the as yet unknown.
Reflection on the experience is also important. As part of coming to understand the nature
of that in which we have participated, we need space to consider what has happened. For those
already “initiated” into the Catholic practice of praying with images, this is the dynamic of
mystagogy, a time to deepen our understanding of the mystery and its place in our lives.284 Robin
Konyndyk DeYoung summarizes:
So we need practices, and we need reflection on practices. Practices enhance and expand our
reflection, and reflection enriches and sustains our practices. We need immersion in a
282 Craig Dykstra, Growing in the Life of Faith: Education and Christian Practices (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), 72-73.
283 David Smith, “Recruiting Students’ Imaginations: Prospects and Pitfalls of Practice,” in Teaching Christian Practices, ed. David I. Smith and James K.A. Smith, 222.
284 Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, no. 244, as cited in Gilbert Ostdiek, “Liturgy as Catechesis for Life,” The Living Light 37, no. 4 (Summer 2001), 50.
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practice and we need a context of meaning for the practice itself, something that can be
gained through reflection.285
While knowledge about the traditions associated with sacred images can be gained in advance of
actually participating in a prayer practice with them, the experience itself can evoke a different kind of knowing, what Claire Wolfteich describes as “a form of phronesis that, in this context, might be called ‘pastoral wisdom’ or ‘theological know-how.’286 Reflection helps bring this knowing to
consciousness. Practically speaking, then, a cultural broker shares both knowledge and experience,
and provides a space for reflection on that experience. Particularly in introducing the world of
religious images and the prayer practices associated with them, it is important not to over-
intellectualize; the experience itself matters.287
Practical Considerations for Introducing Prayer Forms Involving Images
How can a catechist best introduce people to praying with sacred images? Certainly one can learn a great deal by reading or exploring the possibilities on one’s own. Through the medieval and early modern period, many devotional prayer practices were taught by devotional manuals. Some of these books advocated using religious images for prayer, to focus one’s meditation or contemplation; some recommended imagining oneself in the scene, and imitating gestures or postures seen in the picture. Sacred images were seen as an honored method for activating an
285 Robin Konyndyk DeYoung, “Pedagogical Rhythms: Practices and Reflections on Practice,” in Teaching Christian Practices, ed. David I. Smith and James K.A. Smith, 40.
286 Wolfteich, 141-142.
287 Miles, 89.
113 emotional connection with God,288 and clearly some people were motivated to read and learn more about how to pray well. While it still is possible to find books and other written materials describing how or why to pray in certain ways, in this day and age, teaching, testimony, and active accompaniment are perhaps a more effective introduction to praying with images.
When working with children, various teacher-directed pedagogies can be appropriate. When working with adults, however, a different approach may be more fitting, called andragogy. Adult education tends to include more self-directed exploration, though even Malcolm Knowles, the founder of adult education, recognized that the two approaches tend to exist on a continuum.289
However material is presented, adults need to feel free enough to choose whether and how to engage in the learning experience. Keeping this in mind, for introducing prayer with images, I recommend presenting some of the background information on sacred images first, including options for participants’ own further exploration within the time and space of gathering.290 Adult learners, like children, enjoy the opportunity to touch and handle objects as part of their study.
Particularly when introducing a practice involving concrete sacramentals, it is important to allow for this.291 When entering into shared experiences of praying with sacred images, it seems helpful to start
288 Miles, 133. Some examples of Catholic devotional manuals from different eras: Thomas Head, A Sixteenth Century Devotional Manual for Catholic Laywomen, in Vox Benedictina: A Journal of Translations from Monastic Sources 4, no. 1 (1987): 40-59; Edward David Cree, The Threshold of the Sanctuary: A Devotional Manual for Candidates for Holy Orders (Oxford and London: John Henry Parker, 1854); Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, Manual for Marian Devotion (Charlotte, NC: TAN Books - Saint Benedict Press, 2016).
289 Kieran Scott, “Is Adult Education Unique?” The Living Light 39, no. 1 (Fall 2002), 76-78.
290 Elizabeth Liebert suggests that in integrating spiritual practices into teaching, it is important that students be given multiple entry points to the experience (“The Role of Practice in the Study of Christian Spirituality,” 39-40).
291 See Paul Moyaert regarding the theological meanings of icons being something to be touched: “in the icon Christ lets himself be touched, just as he lets himself be eaten in the Eucharist” (“In Defense of
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with what is likely to be the most familiar and comfortable, and only gradually work toward
introducing the less familiar and possibly uncomfortable. These experiences can be arranged with as
much freedom as possible, even while presenting participants with a challenge to go beyond their
initial comfort zone.
Conclusion
However believers are taught, educating about sacred art and how to use it is a continuing
need.292 Sometimes the sacred art itself can do the work of evangelization and catechesis, inviting
continuing conversion in the already initiated. Those concerned to foster faith formation can help
the process along, and artists in particular, rooted in the life of faith, have an educational role to
play.293 We have many tools at our disposal. Various catechetical methods can be adapted for
inviting people into a more visual culture of Christianity. Those with a knowledge of multiple
traditions who are willing to accompany learners across the visual divide may use their skills in order
to act as cultural brokers. Practical theologians offer wisdom and various models for introducing
spiritual practices. Elements of each of these approaches have been integrated into this D. Min.
project. In the next chapter we shall examine a concrete program for introducing people to praying
with icons.
Praying with Image,” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 81, no. 4 [Fall 2007], 602-603); cf. “Touching God in His Image,” The Heythrop Journal 56 (2015): 192-202.
292 Rembert Weakland, “Art and the Church: The Need for Mainstreaming,” in The Environment for Worship: A Reader, edited by Secretariat, The Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy (Washington, DC: National Conference of Catholic Bishops and The Catholic University of America, 1980), 12, citing the U.S. Bishops’ Environment and Art in Catholic Worship (1978), no. 26.
293 Weakland, 12.
CHAPTER 7: CONTEXT AND METHODOLOGY: THE INTENSIVE SPIRITUAL FORMATION WEEK
Beyond the basic principles of design for this project, the local context has also affected the
methodology used. Part of the context in which this project emerged is my identity as a Benedictine
sister working within a seminary run by Benedictine monks. While rarely explicit within the project itself, a monastic theology shapes the concerns addressed. Moreover, a seminary is a particular kind of place. Designed around directives emerging from the Catholic bishops, Roman congregations, and the pope himself, seminary formation is multi-valenced. It is to include intellectual formation, pastoral formation, human formation, and spiritual formation. Within the seminary where I work, the most effective space in which to apply the principles of this project has been our Intensive
Spiritual Formation Week.
My Identity, Theology, and Approach to Ministry
While this project may be adapted for use elsewhere, in regard to methodology, a few words should be said about who I am as the agent of this project, and how that has affected my own approach to carrying it out in one local context. As a perpetually professed Benedictine sister, my ministry is rooted in and flows out of who I am as a person of prayer and community. For
Benedictines, community prayer and life are primary, and ministry is of secondary importance. (This order may not always seem to be the case in practice, but it remains in principle.) Moreover, if one is a Benedictine, ministry is always done on behalf of, in the name of, and as a representative of one’s community, whether or not this be explicitly stated. As a sister, I am never a fully independent agent.
As a Benedictine, whatever I do is at some level done out of obedience to my superior, to the Rule, to the needs of others, and ultimately to Christ (Rule of Benedict Ch. 1.1; 72.3-11). Suffice it to say,
who I am affects the ministry I offer.
115 116
Keeping in mind the secondary nature of ministry in Benedictine life, I prefer a fairly broad
definition. Ministry means “doing something,”294 doing work in the name of the Church for the
building up of the Kingdom of God. As Edward Hahnenberg defines it, “Christian ministry is any
activity, done on behalf of the church community, that proclaims, celebrates, and serves the reign of
God.”295 All gifts and training are only useful inasmuch as they are put to use for the good of the
wider community. When I paint an icon so that someone can pray with it, or teach about Eastern
theology, these gifts become ministry. While I may not be an ordained minister, inasmuch as my
community and the seminary employing me permit or ask me to do these things, I minister in the
name of the Church.
This D.Min. project is undergirded by a theology of ecumenism aimed at reclaiming the
unity of the Body of Christ, particularly regarding the relationship between the Roman Catholic
Church and the various Eastern Catholic and Orthodox churches. I am drawn to ministry at the
service of such unity primarily because I have been shaped by monastic theology. As a Benedictine, I
am motivated by a charism of seeking God in community. Benedictine life by its nature is geared
toward gathering people of different backgrounds and forming them into one family of God. At the
heart of this worldview is the belief that we can find Christ among us, and that together, we are his
Body. By choosing a life of prayer and service to each other in love, over time we are brought to the
knowledge and love of Christ incarnate. Benedictine prayer is shared and liturgical, as seen in the
Liturgy of the Hours and regular Eucharist. It is also profoundly personal and devotional, as seen in
294 Thomas F. O’Meara, Theology of Ministry: Completely Revised Edition (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1999), 75.
295 Edward P. Hahnenberg, Theology for Ministry: An Introduction for Lay Ministers (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2014), 109.
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the tradition of daily lectio divina, a meditative prayer with Scripture. In both prayer and work, ora et
labora, Benedictine life holds a deep faith in the value of sustained engagement in daily Christian
practices. While rooted in theology, this project is particularly concerned with practices.
The Rule of Benedict,296 the guiding document for Benedictine monastic life, was written in the
sixth century. It draws heavily from earlier sources, many of which originated in the Eastern Church.
Thus while St. Benedict is the patriarch of Western monasticism, Benedictine life resonates with
many eastern Christian practices. The Benedictine love of liturgy, for instance, beyond being a
formative discipline, implies a shared love of beauty as a means to the good and the true. Pre-dating
the 1054 schism between East and West and the ruptures of the Protestant Reformation, the
Benedictine order is able to represent the underlying wholeness of the Church in a special way, with
its charism of unity in community. For these reasons, among others, in 1924, Pope Pius XI wrote
Equidem verba, a letter to the Benedictine abbot primate entrusting to the Benedictine order
ecumenical efforts, particularly with the Russian Church.297 My guiding theology, then, is rooted in
Benedictine tradition, and based on Christ’s own desire for unity in the Church, his prayer “that all
may be one” (John 17:21).
My approach to ministry also draws heavily on the Catholic pattern of revitalization rooted
in the two dynamics of Vatican II, ressourcement, going back to the sources of our tradition, and
296 See RB 1980: The Rule of St. Benedict in Latin and English with Notes, edited by Timothy Fry, et al, Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1981.
297“Epistola ad Rmum D. Fidelem de Stotzingen, Abbatem Primatem O.S.B de preparendis monachis pro future opera unionis Russie cum Ecclesia Caholica,” Annales Ordinis Sancti Benedicti (1920-1926): 76-78; German translation, Benediktinische Monatsschrift 6 (1924): 295f, as cited in Pius Engelbert, Sant’ Anselmo in Rome: College and University From the Beginnings to the Present Day, trans. Henry O’Shea, OSB (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2015), 91. For a bit of history on how this request played out in the ecumenical development of the German Benedictine Abbey of St. Mauritius, see “The Beginnings of Our Ecumenical Commitment,” http://www.abtei-niederaltaich.de/ecumenism/the-beginnings/?L=3. Accessed May 15, 2017.
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aggiornamento, bringing practices up to date so that they are meaningful to today’s world. In this
project, this means drawing on theology and practices which belonged to the whole Church before
the major divisions occurred. While not without its share of historical controversy, praying with
icons and other religious images is an ancient practice. If I can help make such theology and prayer
meaningful and accessible to people of today in U.S. culture, perhaps we have some hope of
building ecumenical bridges.
As an un-ordained lay woman working in a Catholic seminary, my ministry is guided by the
Church. My own role is described by the U.S. Bishops’ document on lay ministry, Co-Workers in the
Vineyard of the Lord. As noted in Part 1 of the document, “All of the baptized are called to work
toward the transformation of the world. Most do this by working in the secular realm; some do this
by working in the Church and focusing on the building of ecclesial communion, which has among
its purposes the transformation of the world.”298 In this project, an underlying goal is to build such
“ecclesial communion.” Particularly because I work in a seminary and school of theology, my service is marked by characteristics the bishops list as defining lay ecclesial ministry in the Church: authorization to serve, leadership in a particular area of ministry, close mutual collaboration with the ministry of the clergy, and preparation and formation appropriate to the level of assigned
responsibilities.299 While my process of preparation may differ from that of parish lay ecclesial
ministers, and my authorization does not come directly from a bishop via a particular certification
process, as happens in some dioceses, in a very real sense the seminary context does require Church
approval of one’s preparation, leadership, and collaboration with clergy.
298 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord: A Resource for Guiding the Development of Lay Ecclesial Ministry (Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2005), 8.
299 Ibid., 10.
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My ministry thus flows out of my identity as a woman in relationship with God and others.
As a baptized member of the Body of Christ, I am called to put my gifts to use for the Kingdom of
God. As a Benedictine sister, I am formed and sustained by prayer and work in community. As I am
gifted, so I am called to cultivate the gifts of others. As I am nourished by prayer, so I am to help
others to pray. As I flourish best in community, so I am to work to build up community in the wider
Church and world. Working in an arena where future priests, deacons, and lay ministers are formed
is a privilege, a remarkable space in which to serve. While this project may eventually be adapted and
replicated in some way, in its particularity at this stage, this project is an expression of who I am and
how I feel called to work in the Church. It is my hope that in some small way these efforts might
help bring the Body of Christ to greater wholeness and peace.
The Seminary Context: Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology
This project emerged out of the context of my work at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School
of Theology. Set in the rolling hills of southern Indiana, the school is run by the monks of Saint
Meinrad Archabbey, the brother community to my own nearby house in Ferdinand, Indiana,
Monastery Immaculate Conception. Central to the mission of the school is “the initial and ongoing
formation of priests, permanent deacons, and laity to minister together effectively in the service
and evangelization of the Roman Catholic Church and the world.”300 The Benedictine tradition
influences the way this mission is carried out, marking it with “a love of learning integrated with a
lifelong seeking of God, a strong grounding in tradition and an ability ‘to attend to the signs of the
times’ (Gaudium et spes, 4), a love of the Church's liturgy and a personal commitment to a life of
prayer and service, [and] a sense of hospitality that welcomes Christ in each person and in the
300 Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, “Mission Statement,” http://saintmeinrad.edu/ about-us. Accessed April 5, 2017.
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community of disciples gathered in Christ's name.”301 The different elements of this project
express this Benedictine flavor.
Saint Meinrad’s seminary programs include a two-year pre-theology Master of Arts in
Catholic Philosophical Studies, and the four-year Master of Divinity. Seminarians who have already
completed undergraduate or minor seminary studies in philosophy begin their Saint Meinrad studies
in “First Theology,” the first year of the MDiv program. Others begin in “First Philosophy,” the
first year of the MA (Catholic Philosophical Studies) program. While some join us for two or four
years, some of these men may spend six years studying at Saint Meinrad, and possibly even a seventh
year midway through the MDiv in a parish pastoral assignment. For this project, I worked with
seminarians beginning their third year of studies in the MDiv program. Thus these students had a
good deal of philosophical and theological study under their belt, and were ready for a high level of
intellectual engagement.
Guiding Documents
Seminary formation is guided by various Church documents.302 Coming out of Vatican II
from 1965 are Optatum totius, the “Decree on Priestly Training,” and Presbyterorum ordinis, the “Decree
on the Ministry and Life of Priests.” Pope John Paul II’s 1992 post-synodal apostolic exhortation on
the formation of priests, Pastores dabo vobis, also continues to guide priestly formation throughout the
world. The Congregation for Clergy also provides guiding documents, particularly through the Ratio
Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, “The Gift of the Priestly Vocation.” While a 1970 version of this
301 Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, “Mission Statement.”
302 See the U.S. Bishops’ “Church Documents for Priestly Formation,” http://www.usccb.org/ beliefs-and-teachings/vocations/priesthood/priestly-formation/church-documents-for-priestly- formation.cfm for a list of major Roman documents concerning priestly formation. Accessed April 5, 2017.
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document has guided seminary formation for some time, the Congregation for Clergy has just
promulgated a new edition of the Ratio, and it will be setting basic guidelines for seminary formation
throughout the world. As these documents are applied within the United States context, norms for
seminary formation are defined by the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Program for Priestly Formation.303
Like a number of other Church documents relating to formation of priests, deacons, and
laity, the Program for Priestly Formation describes four “pillars of formation” (human, spiritual,
intellectual, and pastoral), which guide well-rounded growth and development of ministers of the
Church. Intellectual formation (PPF nos. 136 – 235) is concerned with academic knowledge. Human
formation (PPF, nos. 74-105) is a matter of becoming a mature human being, achieving physical,
emotional, and psycho-sexual development and integration such that one’s personality can be a
bridge for others to meet God, rather than a barrier.304 Spiritual formation (PPF nos. 106 – 135)
concerns being in union with God and humanity, cultivating a meaningful life of prayer and worship
such that one can attend to the presence of Christ in the world. Pastoral formation (PPF nos. 236-
257) is about becoming equipped to serve others and to lead them to God through the various
vicissitudes of life, as a shepherd of souls.305
This formation framework informs how this ministerial project is designed. The project is set within the seminary’s Intensive Spiritual Formation Week, and in terms of spirituality, the
303 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Program for Priestly Formation (5th Edition) [hereafter PPF] (Washington, DC: USCCB, 2006). A new revision of the PPF is expected fairly soon. It will be based on the Congregation for the Clergy’s Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, promulgated in December 2016. http://www.clerus.va/content/dam/clerus/Ratio%20Fundamentalis/The%20Gift%20of%20the%20Priestly %20Vocation.pdf. Accessed April 5, 2017.
304 PPF, no. 75. Cf. Pastores dabo vobis, no. 43.
305 PPF, no. 238. Cf. Pastores dabo vobis, no. 57; Optatam totius, no. 4.
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primary objective is to teach seminarians different ways to pray with icons. This fits into the PPF
directive that seminarians be provided guidance in “methods of meditation, contemplation, lectio
divina, and daily examen.”306 In order to prepare for instruction in how icons can be a part of various
prayer forms, a large part of the project provides intellectual formation regarding Eastern theology
and practice. Indeed, the PPF notes that, “Intellectual formation contributes to spiritual
formation,”307 and specifically recommends that where appropriate, seminary studies should “include
the role and contribution of the Eastern Churches.”308 At the same time, my greater goal of promoting ecumenical unity requires that I also address issues of culture-crossing and moving beyond one’s comfort zone. These are matters of human formation inasmuch as they are part of helping a seminarian to become a person of “freedom, openness, honesty and flexibility, joy and inner peace, generosity and justice, personal maturity, interpersonal skills, common sense, aptitude for ministry, and ‘growth in moral sensibility and character.’”309 Ultimately, this experience also is
geared toward giving seminarians tools for pastoral service and assistance to others, so it also is a
kind of pastoral formation. While the language of “pillars” may imply that each area of formation is
isolated from the others, in reality, they often overlap and nurture each other.310
Our Daily Bread: Spiritual Formation at Saint Meinrad
306 PPF, no, 123.
307 Ibid., no. 113; cf. no. 164.
308 Ibid., no. 223.
309 Ibid., no. 85.
310 In response to concerns about the language of “pillars” being too isolating, the most recent Ratio fundamentalis embraces the less mutually exclusive language of “dimensions of formation” instead (Chapter 5). No doubt this will soon be part of the next edition of the Program for Priestly Formation.
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As outlined in the PPF, seminary spiritual formation is marked by some shared experiences, such as regular communal Eucharist and Liturgy of the Hours, and occasional retreats and days of recollection. Other experiences generally are more private, such as prayer with Scripture, personal meditation, devotions, and acts of asceticism and penance.311 The predominant sources of spiritual guidance for those in seminary formation are regular spiritual direction and the sacrament of
Reconciliation, both also basically private affairs. Both are considered “internal forum,” meaning that formators working with seminarians in these capacities are not permitted to speak of the content of their meetings. The only exception is if a directee should disclose in spiritual direction a matter of grave or imminent danger to himself or others.312 In other words, what is shared in the internal forum cannot be brought to the “external forum,” where evaluative decisions are made by formators in regard to whether a seminarian should move on to the next stage of formation or ordination.
This distinction between the requirements of internal and external forum poses a challenge to seminary spiritual formation. If the bulk of spiritual formation is happening within the private sphere, how can a seminary assess quality or aim to improve it? Beyond the public example given by formators, and the shared experiences of liturgy, what other opportunities might offer a common experience of spiritual formation?
In aiming to address this challenge, several years ago Saint Meinrad developed a program of seminary spiritual formation called “Our Daily Bread,” which parallels similar in-house programs concerned with pastoral and human formation. In this program, a multi-year curriculum addresses various topics for spiritual growth suited to seminarians’ stages of formation. While including other
311 PPF, no. 110
312 Ibid., no. 134.
124 elements such as lectures, workshops, and even opportunities for pilgrimage, at the heart of the program is the Intensive Spiritual Formation Week, a six-day experience held before the start of academic classes each fall. Built into each day are mass, shared lectio divina facilitated by upperclassmen, and a range of presentations or workshops geared toward each year’s theme.
For those beginning their third year of theology study, the Intensive Spiritual Formation
Week helps prepare seminarians for the coming year of discernment, which for most leads toward springtime ordination to the diaconate. With this in mind, the three main themes of the week for these students are preparation for preaching (addressed four mornings of the week), learning about the history, theology, and spirituality of the diaconate (addressed two mornings of the week), and learning about the history, theology, and spirituality of praying with icons (addressed each afternoon). While not explicitly presented with an integrated purpose, in the broader context of the third year Intensive Spiritual Formation Week, praying with icons might be considered another spiritual tool for prayerful discernment, as well as fodder for reflection in preparation for preaching.
In any case, it makes sense that the topic of icons and Eastern Church tradition should be kept for upperclassmen at the seminary, after they have learned the foundations of Roman Catholic belief and practice, and have studied ecclesiology.
In the coming chapter, we will examine the curricular content of the Praying with Icons sessions of the Intensive Spiritual Formation Week.
CHAPTER 8: OVERVIEW OF SESSION CONTENT: “PRAYING WITH ICONS” IN THE INTENSIVE SPIRITUAL FORMATION WEEK
This D.Min. project had both short-term and long-term goals. In the long term, the project aimed to equip seminarians to become better dialogue partners with Eastern Christians, both
Catholic and Orthodox. To this end, a more proximate objective was to increase their familiarity and comfort level with Eastern theology and different forms of prayer involving images. I also hoped the week would help cultivate participants’ imagination about how they might use different kinds of images and prayer in their own future pastoral situations. The particular, measurable goals for the project that I shared with the seminarians were as follows:
As a result of this Intensive Spiritual Formation Week course, seminarians should be able to…
- Understand the traditional process of writing an icon.
- Describe some of the canonical principles for an Orthodox icon.
- Differentiate between an Orthodox and a Catholic icon.
- Practice some different ways of praying with icons.
- Analyze how icons can be used for devotional, liturgical, and catechetical purposes.
The framework of the Intensive Spiritual Formation Week provided a suitable space for addressing these goals. Over the course of a week, I was able to offer six two-hour sessions combining discussion, presentation, hands-on activities, and various prayer experiences designed to increase understanding of what icons are and to offer the opportunity to become more comfortable with praying with them. Session topics included What is an Icon?, The Icon in Devotional Prayer,
Canonical Icons and Orthodox vs. Catholic Icons, The Icon in Liturgy: Marking Sacred Space and
Time, The Liturgical Movement and Guidelines Since Vatican II, and The Icon in the West:
Categories of Art and Icon Function.
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Practical Considerations of the Week: Space and Time
Saint Meinrad is blessed with some beautiful spaces, seen in the natural beauty of the
campus, the quality of its architecture, and the care and attention to upkeep of the facilities. Under
the leadership of the current president-rector, the school has embraced a rich visual culture.
Worship spaces include both liturgical and devotional images. St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel, the space
used most frequently by seminarians, has a prominent carved wood crucifix behind the altar, and
icon-style images of the Blessed Mother and Divine Mercy on either side. Toward the back of the
space, near the reconciliation chapel, is a large painting of St. Joseph with the infant Jesus, an image
of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and a painting of St. John Paul II, alongside a zucchetto he once wore.
Most hallways are decorated with Catholic art of a particular theme. Besides the typical images of popes, former rectors, graduates, and saints, one hallway includes large portraits of famous Catholic writers, such as Dorothy Day, Flannery O’Connor, St. Therese of Lisieux, G.K. Chesterton, and others. One hall features art inspired by The Divine Comedy. Another is filled with images of the
Blessed Mother from around the world. These images provided plenty of fodder for reflection and
discussion during this project week.
For the project activities, I was able to use a wide, spacious classroom, with tables grouped
into three main “stations.” In one area, icon painting materials were available for exploration. On
the other side of the room, another station provided a number of books with high quality
reproductions of icons. A table near the front of the room held materials for preparing icon boards.
Along the chalkboard ledges on the perimeter, icons and mounted prints of icons were placed for
easy viewing and reference. Several rows of tables in the middle of the classroom comprised the
main seating area, facing a presentation screen and chalkboard, where the title screen of the first
presentation was up and ready to go each day. Books provided by the Spiritual Formation Program
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and a pre-test assessment were placed at each desk space for the seminarians to peruse as they
arrived.
In terms of the daily pace of the Intensive Spiritual Formation Week, each day was fairly
heavily scheduled with activities. All seminarians participated in communal meals, Morning and
Evening Prayer, and mass. Representatives from the fourth year theology class led groups from all
the other classes in evening theological reflection sessions. For the bulk of the day, each class had
morning and afternoon sessions geared toward themes appropriate to their level. For the third year
students, morning sessions focused on the spirituality of the deacon and preaching, as the bulk of
third year of theology studies is oriented toward preparing for and discerning whether ordination to
the transitional diaconate should occur in the spring. Sessions on praying icons were scheduled after
lunch, Monday through Saturday, from 1:15 – 3:15 p.m.
Daily Pattern of Project Sessions
The daily pattern of the project sessions was based particularly on the work of Elizabeth Liebert and
Thomas Groome, as referenced in Chapter 6. Liebert’s work in Christian spirituality advocates the
use of practice as well as intellectual study. As she notes, when students get involved with spiritual
practices, they are provided opportunities to “grasp and be grasped by the material we are together
investigating.”313 Because experience is the real content of the field of spirituality, the experiential, subjective dimension allows for a kind of knowing that the distance of objectivity sometimes prohibits.314 She writes, “When lived spiritual experience comes into the room, it makes the study of
313 Elizabeth Liebert, “The Role of Practice in the Study of Christian Spirituality,” in Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality 2, no. 1 (2002), 39.
314 Ibid., 35, 39.
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Christian spirituality immediate, transformative, compelling, self-implicating, and life changing.”315
Yet it is important to cultivate a level of critical distance even while using direct experience. The instructor must remain aware of how the experiential element is being used in one’s pedagogy and scholarship, and reflect on how the activity helps deepen immersion in the material.316 The questions one asks about the experience are important.317 Fundamentally, reflecting on experience is phenomenology, a basic teaching method that allows conclusions to emerge.318
Thomas Groome’s “Life to Faith to Life” method of catechesis, as noted in Chapter 6, is comprised of various movements, with the goal being to bring questions of faith to a place where they affect one’s identity. As he describes the movements, they may not follow an exact order, and may overlap, but generally the pattern begins with a focusing act, where the teacher engages the learner with some “generative theme” affecting both faith and real life. Movement 1 then is an act of responding to the theme as it pertains to the learner’s life. Movement 2 is a conversation reflecting more critically on the theme. Movement 3 is where the teacher shares the Gospel connection (“the
Story and Vision” of Christian faith) in ways that are pertinent to the theme, the group gathered, or the present context. Movement 4 involves encouraging the learner to appropriate this element of
Christian faith in one’s life, and Movement 5 comprises an invitation to the learner to make a
315 Liebert, 45.
316 Ibid., 42, 44.
317 Ibid., 40.
318 Ibid., 44.
129 decision in response to the process.319 Elements of praxis and reflection fit easily into this model, because “we always reflect on life from what we already know.”320
With these models in mind, I designed each day of the project using a similar framework.
After an opening prayer, which might hint at the theme we were to explore, I then pointed out where in their texts participants might read more about the topic of the day, a “focusing act” establishing the theme. I then offered an opportunity for opening reflections or questions that might have arisen since the previous day’s experience (Movements 1, 5). After that we typically dove into a more critical discussion of the day’s topic, typical of Groome’s Movement 2. A presentation then outlined the Christian theology and practice to be considered (Movement 3), which was then followed by an opportunity for hands-on activity or an experience of a particular form of prayer
(Movement 4). By the end of the week, I was able to make a clearer invitation to the participants to consider whether some of the practices we had studied might be worth integrating into their own lives (Movement 5). Overall, this ebb and flow felt very natural, and conversations sometimes would continue outside of class time.
As a “cultural broker,” I sequenced the topics and experiences of prayer with images such that we began with what was likely to be most familiar, and gradually worked toward experiencing the less familiar. At each stage, seminarians were free to engage as much as they felt so moved. As the week was not a for-credit course, they had no pressure to read or memorize anything. For the most part, participants were relatively free to choose whether to engage in the various prayer forms we explored. Beyond shared lectio divina with an icon, prayer experiences were described during our
319 Thomas Groome, Will There Be Faith? A New Vision for Educating and Growing Disciples (New York: HarperOne, 2011), 299-300, 333.
320 Ibid., 275.
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time together, and seminarians were given an opportunity to try them on their own. While each day
I invited participants to reflect on and share something of how things had gone, they were not
actually required to pray or to report on these experiences.
Content of the Sessions
On the first day, I opened with an exploratory session called “What is an Icon?” The
afternoon began with my leading a somewhat planned “spontaneous” prayer. I then briefly
explained the project and invited the participants to complete the pre-test evaluation at their place.
We went around the room with introductions, sharing names and responses to the question, “What
interest, experience, questions, or curiosities do you bring to the topic of icons?” I then introduced
the text provided to the students, A History of Icon Painting.321 I chose this book for them because it
features well-written, beautifully illustrated chapters on icon painting across different eras and
regions. The back pages provide information on some common inscriptions found on icons, an
illustrated chronology of developments, and a glossary. While pointing out these features, I also
explained that they might choose to use some of the illustrations for prayer experiences later in the
week. I noted that the day’s subject covered material particularly from the first two chapters, and
invited them to read as they might have time as we went through the week.
We then dove into a presentation entitled “What is an Icon? Sources, Forms, Theology.”
Using images and notes on Powerpoint and examples in the room, I explained what icons are, where
they come from, and the basic theological background for painting and using them, much as
321 The book is a collection of essays by Lilia Evseyeva, Hegumen Luka Golovkov, Mikhail Krasilin, Natalia Komashko, Elena Ostashenko, Olga Popova, Engelina Smirnova, Anna Yakovleva, and Irina Yazykova, edited by Archimandrite Zaccheaus Wood, translated by Kate Cook (Moscow: Grand-Holding Publishers, 2002 and United Kingdom: Orthodox Christian Books, 2005). Because her name is listed alphabetically first, in public listings it often is listed as being by Lilia Evseyeva.
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described in earlier chapters of this treatise. Participants were welcome to interject with questions as
we went, and we took a five-minute break partway through the presentation.
The last part of the day included various options for hands-on activities related to the
practice of painting icons. These were set up at the three different stations in the room. I invited
participants to try to pray while doing one of the activities, much as an iconographer repeats the
Jesus Prayer while painting. One option was to practice tracing an icon from a prototype using India
ink and brush on a transparency. These students were challenged to try to paint with smooth
calligraphic lines. Another option was to experiment with making egg tempera paint, combining egg
emulsion and pigment. These students explored the range of colors possible for icon painting, and
the various effects of adding more or less pigment to a bit of emulsion, to create more transparent
or opaque paint. A third option was to use sandpaper to sand a gessoed icon board to smoothness,
the last step of preparing a panel before painting. Those who were not interested in these activities
were welcome to explore the many illustrated icon books set up at another station.
In the final minutes of the session, I invited the participants to reflect on and perhaps to
share one nugget they might take with them from the day.
Session 2, entitled “The Icon in Devotional Prayer,” took place the following day. I opened with a short spontaneous prayer, then invited questions or reflections that might have arisen since the day before. While explaining that the text of the book does not follow point for point with each day’s topic, I noted that we would be using some of the images in the book for this day’s session.
Drawing on the experience and prior knowledge of the group, we then had a ten or twenty
minute discussion using the following questions to get things going:
1. What concerns do you or others you know have with praying with images?
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2. What is an idol? Why could an image become an idol? How does an image NOT
become an idol? What about veneration is difficult, particularly for modern
Westerners?
3. Regarding the relationship between the image and its prototype, Leslie Brubaker says
that the Byzantine viewer took “responsibility for the proper interpretation of the
sacred image.” What do you think is needed for proper interpretation?
4. How do we see non-religious images honored or defamed to make some statement
about their prototype?
With the theme established, I then used Powerpoint to use notes and images to present “The Icon in Devotional Prayer,” outlining the difference between liturgical and devotional prayer, and detailing some of the different ways that people can use icons for devotional forms of prayer. After this presentation, we took a short break.
On returning, we spent about half an hour doing shared visio divina with Mark 9:2-10 and the image of the Transfiguration, projected onto the screen. I invited participants to follow along in a
Bible if they so desired, or simply to listen as I proclaimed the text. As with traditional lectio divina shared in a group, I read the Scripture passage prayerfully several times. After an initial reading, I invited participants to consider what word, phrase, or detail from the image captured their attention.
After another reading, I invited them to think about how that word or phrase might be speaking to them and their own lives. What might God be saying to them? After another reading, I invited them to consider what they might want to say to God in their heart. After a final reading, we rested in the silence for a time, before closing with the Lord’s Prayer.
While this experience of visio divina was conducted in relative silence, given the size of our group, after the prayer I invited those who so wished to share how it had been for them. How did
133 the experience of praying with an image and Scripture differ from their usual experience of lectio divina prayed only with a text? Students noted how details from the icon highlighted certain elements of the text, and shared how the image changed their experience. In the final minutes of class, I again asked students to consider what might be one nugget they would want to take with them that day, and several shared their thoughts.
Session 3 covered two main topics, “Canonical Guidelines,” and “Orthodox versus Catholic
Icons.” Again, class opened with prayer, an opportunity to ask questions or share reflections on thoughts that had arisen since the day before, and a reference to pages of our text where they might deepen their understanding of the day’s topics. I then gave a presentation on “Canonical
Guidelines,” in which students deepened their understanding of what makes an authentic icon. This presentation was followed by a fifteen minute activity where participants were invited to look through their text and the other images in the room, and to find several different icons of the same subject. They were to study these images and consider what aspects struck them as following a norm, and what aspects might seem odd or different. We discussed their findings in the large group.
A second Powerpoint presentation, “Orthodox versus Catholic Icons,” explained characteristics of canonical icons found in both Orthodox and Catholic images, also noting some of the differences between them, We explored some of the different saints pictured in each tradition, identified distinct styles of clothing and liturgical garb, and learned about differences in titles given and details emphasized in regard to feasts depicted in icons. I invited them to look through the images in the room and to find one icon that could be considered “Orthodox” and one that could be considered “Catholic,” and to share their thoughts about why each could be categorized as such.
The presentation then continued with a brief overview of what I call “Weird Icons,” non-canoncial images that could raise concerns for the Orthodox and strain ecumenical relationships if not handled
134 well. Here we discussed some of the reasons it can be important to follow the canons of iconography, and noted other forms of art that may be appropriate for some of the purposes of non-canonical images.
Session 3 concluded with a take-home assignment inviting participants to enter into the experience of one of the forms of devotional prayer with images about which they had learned.
Before they left, I asked the seminarians to choose an image of an icon with which they would like to pray. They could use one provided in the room, one from their book, or perhaps another that they already had on hand. For those taking images from the room, I asked them to show me their image so that if needed, we could clarify the subject depicted. I then handed out a paper listing the following prayer options, and told participants that the next day I’d like to know generally how the experience went for them:
Go somewhere and pray with your image for at least 20-30 minutes. Options:
1. Remain in silence before your image, and simply gaze and be seen, in a version of
Centering Prayer.
2. Have a conversation (colloquy) with your sacred person. What do you have to say to
each other? What do you want to ask? How does God speak to you through this
person?
3. Pray the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me….”
4. Reflect on a passage of Scripture relating to your person while in the presence of his
or her image
5. If comfortable, you might also consider some of the more physical ways of praying
with your image: kneeling, crossing oneself, or perhaps bowing or some other form
of reverence.
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The next day, after the usual brief spontaneous prayer, Session 4, “The Icon in Liturgy:
Marking Sacred Space and Time,” opened with an opportunity to share reflections on how
participants had experienced praying with their image. This was a beautifully open conversation.
After referencing the text pages addressing the day’s topic, we had a discussion introducing the day’s
theme. I began with the following questions: “How do images in the sanctuary connect or
disconnect us from the Eucharist itself? Do you think images help or hinder comprehension of
liturgy?” I then offered a Powerpoint presentation on liturgical images and the various festal icons.
The session was concluded early enough to send participants off to their own spaces to experience a related form of prayer with images. They were given the following prompt:
Choose a particular feast day image. Reflect on what aspects of the feast are highlighted and
what they might mean in your life. Pray with God about it.
Again, they were able to choose from images in the room, from their text, or elsewhere.
The next day, Session 5 began similarly, with an opening question inviting reflection on how the experience of praying with a feast day icon had gone. The main topics of Session 5 involved a turn to reflecting more deeply on our own Catholic tradition, with two presentations on “The
Liturgical Movement” and “Guidelines Since Vatican II,” punctuated with a brief break. Participants were sent home with the assignment to pray with an icon or other sacred image in preparation for their experience of liturgy. I again invited them to consider the options of silence, colloquy, the Jesus
Prayer, or prayer with Scripture. They were to reflect on how their disposition and readiness to receive the graces God wants to give them were affected.
As a concluding exercise on this day, I asked participants to consider kitsch versus real religious art, and to think about how well they were able to pray with either. We then went on a tour of third floor Newman Hall, home to a vast collection of images of the Blessed Mother from around
136 the world. As the quality of these images varies, we were able to talk about what made some of them beautiful and others borderline kitsch.
On the last day, Session 6 focused on “The Icon in the West: Categories of Art and Icon
Function.” After a brief opening prayer, participants were again invited to share on how they had experienced the prior day’s assignment of praying with an image. At this point in the project, to help them become more aware of their comfort level, I also asked, “Do you find the experience different from earlier in the week?” I noted that the text we were given did not really address the day’s topic, but recommended Denis McNamara’s Catholic Church Architecture and the Spirit of the Liturgy and the
U.S. Bishops’ Built of Living Stones. I then gave a presentation on Catholic use of sacred images and the different ways they can be used as liturgical, devotional, or catechetical/historical art. We closed this final session with a conversation about what seminarians would take with them from the week, and I invited them to complete the written post-test evaluation.
Overall, while the presentations, activities, and prayer experiences differed somewhat each day, the sessions followed a fairly similar rhythm, building an increasing sense of familiarity with the content. In the next chapters, we will examine the assessment process and evaluate the findings provided in the pre- and post-test evaluations.
PART III: ASSESSMENT, EVALUATION, AND CONCLUSIONS
CHAPTER 9: PROJECT ASSESSMENT
When it came to assessing and evaluating this project, I devised a fairly simple pre- and post-
project assessment tool involving eight brief Likert-scale questions and one open-ended question.
The nature of these questions was decided after careful consideration of the underlying pastoral issue I was aiming to address, and the particular goals, objectives, and expected outcomes I set within the parameters of this project. The assessment tool was designed to align with all of these concerns. Ultimately this tool was useful for assessing whether this project achieved its aim.
The Pastoral Issue
When we get to the heart of the matter, the underlying pastoral issue I was aiming to address is the misunderstanding that leads some Roman Catholics to relate with icons and other sacred art inappropriately. Often, Catholics treat icons as if they are simply decoration. Some are uncomfortable with traditions of prayer involving any kind of images. Sometimes Catholics tolerate or perpetuate abuses to the icon form, not recognizing the core elements that make something an icon, let alone recognizing basic standards of quality that ought to be upheld. These attitudes sometimes harm ecumenical relationships with the Eastern Churches. When we consider how deeply rooted visual culture is in the Catholic tradition of prayer and worship, such ignorance and attitudes reflect something amiss, a misunderstanding and lack of familiarity with the meaning of part of our own tradition. While the Catholic Church has not had the same “covenant” with icons that the Orthodox have,322 we have a long tradition of liturgical art and devotional interaction with
322 Lisa J. DeBoer, Visual Arts in the Worshiping Church (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2016), notes that David Morgan coined the phrase “covenant with images,” referring to the “particular range of possibilities and codes of interpretation [to be embraced] before the viewer is able to see what the image 137 138 statues and paintings of various kinds. Even if no single form of sacred art has been designated as constituting true Catholic tradition, throughout history, Catholics have regularly engaged with images. This practice reflects the sacramental worldview that Catholics and Orthodox share. For
Roman-rite Catholics not to understand how to use sacred images is a deformity of our own tradition. For Catholics not to understand the nature of icons, in particular, is to invite assumptions and behaviors that cause ecumenical friction rather than respectful relationship.
As has been noted earlier, I think such attitudes and ignorance among Roman-rite Catholics are a fairly natural, if unintended, result of some of the simplification of worship spaces triggered by
Vatican II. In aiming to correct a lack in congregational participation in liturgy, in some cases, churches inadvertently created a vacuum for liturgical, devotional, and catechetical art. Growing up without adequate models for how to relate to these different forms of Catholic imagery, many
Roman Catholics today are not accustomed to the same forms of prayer as once were familiar to their elders, which are still part of the living tradition of our Eastern brothers and sisters.
Goals, Objectives, Outcomes
In order to address this issue, I devised three modest goals for the project, addressing comfort level, intellectual understanding of the theology of images, and a greater familiarity of the various important uses for sacred art:
Goal 1: Seminarians will experience increased comfort in praying with icons.
Goal 2: Seminarians will gain understanding of Eastern theology of images in relation to
Western theology. may reveal. The miracle of seeing what the image envisions does not happen without this covenant” (David Morgan, The Sacred Gaze: Religious Visual Culture in Theory and Practice (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), 76. As DeBoer sees it, within the Orthodox tradition, the “covenant with icons” is constituted by how icons are “painted and used in prayerful obedience to tradition,” 23-79, especially 38-39.
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Goal 3: Seminarians will gain clarity regarding liturgical, devotional, and didactic religious art
and how each might function within their own spiritual and pastoral sphere of
influence.
I then considered tactics that would help achieve each goal. These became the objectives of the project.
For Goal 1, my first objective was to introduce the theology of the icon in order to provide greater understanding of what icons are. As a cultural broker, one who helps others cross cultures, my basic presupposition is that greater understanding will yield increased comfort with icons and other images. A second objective for addressing Goal 1 involved multiple parts: gradually to introduce different ways of praying with icons, starting with those likely to be most familiar, and moving bit by bit toward the most foreign. As a cultural broker, I noted that this objective could be met by accompanying the learners through the various new experiences. As I considered the different forms of prayer with images, I categorized them as being devotional or liturgical, and sequenced them from most to least familiar. Thus I aimed to introduce participants to the following options for prayer with images:
a. Devotional prayer: praying while painting or doing other manual processes
b. Devotional prayer: guided visio divina with Scripture
c. Devotional prayer: colloquy
d. Devotional (and liturgical) prayer: silence
e. Devotional prayer: Jesus Prayer
f. Liturgical prayer: praying with a feast-day icon
g. Liturgical prayer: different low-risk forms of veneration
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h. Liturgical prayer: at least awareness of and respect for more “extreme” physical forms of
veneration
Respecting the freedom and comfort levels of the participants meant sometimes allowing some of these forms of prayer to be experienced in the privacy of the participants’ own space and time.
Although Goal 2 was concerned explicitly with knowledge, its two objectives also helped serve the goal of increased comfort level with images. Breaking open more specifically what is entailed in gaining “understanding of Eastern theology of images in relation to Western theology,” I first aimed to introduce the history and theology of icons, providing a context of comparison with Western
Catholic and Protestant traditions. The second objective was to teach the main canons of iconography and the Eastern worldview made visual in canonical icons. Comprehending these standards of authenticity is also key to any understanding of how Catholic choices in regard to sacred images may be perceived by the Orthodox faithful, a skill for ecumenical dialogue.
In regard to Goal 3, I set out three objectives. First, I would aim to introduce liturgical, devotional, and didactic ways to use icons and other religious images in different settings. I would help participants to analyze how images are used in their home parishes or in the current seminary setting. Finally, I would suggest ways that images might be incorporated appropriately into their own parish spaces, inviting them to consider how they might apply the knowledge and appreciation they gained. This invitation to make a practice one’s own is one of the key elements of Thomas
Groome’s “Life to Faith to Life” pattern for catechesis.
For each objective, I then surmised an expected outcome. In response to the objectives of
Goal 1, I expected students would experience increased comfort with praying with icons in at least one way. Secondly, they would gain a greater appreciation for those who pray with images, even if such might not be one’s own preferred prayer practice. If I were to fulfill the objectives of Goal 2, I
141 expected that seminarians would gain an increased familiarity with the theology of icons and how it relates to Catholic tradition. If I were to fulfill the objectives of Goal 3, I expected participants would have an increased understanding of the three functions and ways of using religious art.
The Instrument
The assessment instrument was a simple pre- and post-project questionnaire, with eight
Likert scale questions arranged in a box for easy visualization. Participants could rank each statement from 5 to 1 (5 = Strongly Agree, 4 = Agree, 3 = Disagree, 2 = Strongly Disagree, 1 = I don’t know).
The statements to be ranked were as follows, beginning with topics concerning knowledge, and ending with two questions regarding personal feelings:
1. I know about the traditional methods of creating an icon.
2. I am aware of the major principles that make an icon “canonical.”
3. I can describe some ways that canonical icons differ from traditional Western art.
4. I know of forms of devotional prayer that people can use with icons.
5. I know some ways that icons can be used in liturgical prayer.
6. I know some ways to use icons in catechesis.
7. I have an appreciation for why other people may pray with religious images.
8. Personally, I am comfortable praying with religious images.
Directions asked participants to circle the appropriate number, answering as honestly as possible. It was noted that all answers would be kept anonymous. Below these questions was an open response question, with room to write freely. On the pre-test version of the instrument, the prompt read:
“Please indicate below what you hope to experience or gain during this part of the Intensive
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Spiritual Formation Week.” On the post-test version, the prompt read: “Please indicate below what you have experienced or gained during this part of the Intensive Spiritual Formation Week.”
The pre-test assessment was placed at each desk space when participants entered the room on the first day of the Intensive Spiritual Formation Week, and they were invited to complete it before the day’s presentations began. The post-test version was given out at the end of the last session, and completed prior to leaving.
Results: Pre-Test
Twenty-three seminarians completed both the pre-test and post-test evaluations.
Question 1: I know about the traditional methods of creating an icon.
In regard to knowing about the traditional methods of creating an icon, prior to experience of the
Intensive Spiritual Formation Week, most participants (87%) chose “Disagree,” “Strongly
Disagree,” or “I don’t know.” It appears that most did not know much about traditional methods of creating an icon, though three (13%) reported that they did.
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Question 2: I am aware of the major principles that make an icon “canonical.”
When posed with this statement concerning knowledge of the canons of iconography, no respondent agreed. All participants responded “Disagree,” “Strongly Disagree,” or “I don’t know.”
Clearly this area of knowledge appeared to be fairly new to the participants.
Question 3: I can describe some ways that canonical icons differ from traditional Western art.
Although none of the participants claimed to know the principles making an icon canonical, when asked about whether they could describe some ways that canonical icons differ from traditional
Western art, ten participants (43 percent) responded that they could. Eight participants (35 percent) disagreed or strongly disagreed, and three (13 percent) indicated “I don’t know.” Based on these responses, we can see that about half of the participants seemed to believe they had at least some knowledge in this area; about half did not.
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Question 4: I know of forms of devotional prayer that people can use with icons.
When asked about whether they knew of forms of devotional prayer possible with icons, about half of the respondents seemed at least somewhat aware of possible forms of devotional prayer that can be used with icons, and half did not. Twelve participants (52 percent) responded “Agree” or
“Strongly Agree.” Seven (30 percent) responded “Disagree” or “Strongly Disagree,” and four (17 percent) responded “I don’t know.”
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Question 5: I know some ways that icons can be used in liturgical prayer.
A majority of participants (sixteen, or 70 percent), indicated familiarity with at least some ways icons could be used in liturgical prayer. Seven participants (30 percent) indicated that they did not.
Interestingly, no participant indicated “I don’t know” for this item.
Questions 6: I know some ways to use icons in catechesis.
Going into this project, a majority of participants felt fairly confident that they knew at least some ways to use icons in catechesis (17 responses, or 74 percent). Six respondents indicated that they did not know of catechetical methods involving icons, or weren’t sure if they did.
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The last two questions, shifting toward more personal reflection on feelings, dealt with whether participants could appreciate why others might pray with images, or whether participants themselves felt a level of comfort praying with images.
Question 7: I have an appreciation for why other people may pray with religious images.
Almost all of the participants (twenty respondents, or 87 percent) indicated that they could appreciate why other people might pray with religious images. Three (13 percent) indicated that they did not have an appreciation for why others might pray with images, or did not know if they did.
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Question 8: Personally, I am comfortable praying with religious images.
This final Likert-scale item addressed the most personal question. Eighteen participants (78 percent) indicated some level of agreement that they were comfortable praying with religious images. Four participants (17 percent) disagreed (three of them “Strongly”), and one indicated that he did not know whether he was comfortable praying with religious images.
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Overall, these initial responses indicate at least some familiarity with religious images. While
most were unfamiliar with the particulars of how icons are created, and principles making an icon
canonical, a fairly high percentage of participants seemed fairly confident that they knew at least
some ways to pray with images, and many of them indicated a level of comfort in praying with
religious images themselves.
Please indicate below what you hope to experience or gain during this part of the Intensive Spiritual Formation Week:
Presented with this open-ended question, fifteen participants (65 percent) responded; eight
(35 percent) did not. Most responses wrote of a desire to learn more about icons and ways they could be used in liturgical prayer, personal prayer, and catechesis. Two noted a level of familiarity with and even love for icons, but expressed a desire to learn more about how they are created and how they could be used in prayer. One participant wrote, “I hope to gain a deeper understanding of icons and how to pray with them, especially because people have given me many icons over the years.” While a number of responses indicated a desire to gain knowledge, and a handful expressed openness to deepening their own prayer life by learning to pray with icons, only one participant expressed a desire to gain a pastoral skill to be used for others, hoping to learn “how to better employ already existing Church art as well as bringing iconography into the consciousness of parishes.”
Results: Post-Test
At the conclusion of the final session of the Intensive Spiritual Formation Week, participants were asked to complete the post-project evaluation. Here are the responses received.
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Question 1: I know about the traditional methods of creating an icon.
After experiencing the week of formation, all participants were able to indicate that yes, they did know about traditional methods of creating icons. Twelve (52 percent) responded “Agree,” and eleven (48 percent) responded “Strongly Agree.”
Question 2: I am aware of the major principles that make an icon “canonical.”
At the conclusion of their formation week, all respondents indicated that they were aware of principles making an icon canonical. Fourteen responded “Agree,” and nine responded “Strongly
Agree.”
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Question 3: I can describe some ways that canonical icons differ from traditional Western art.
Post-test responses to this question similarly reflect strong agreement (96 percent) regarding knowledge of canonical icons in comparison with traditional Western art. Ten participants (43 percent) indicated “Agree,” and twelve (52 percent) indicated “Strongly Agree.” One, however, marked “Disagree.”
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Question 4: I know of forms of devotional prayer that people can use with icons.
To this prompt, at the conclusion of the project, over 95 percent of participants responded that they did know of forms of devotional prayer with icons. Ten participants (43 percent) marked “Agree,” twelve (52 percent) indicated “Strongly Agree,” and one (4 percent) marked “Disagree.”
Question 5: I know some ways that icons can be used in liturgical prayer.
After the week, all but one participating seminarian responded that they now knew some ways icons could be used in liturgical prayer. Eleven (48 percent) indicated “Agree,” eleven (48 percent) indicated “Strongly Agree,” and one (4 percent) indicated “Disagree.”
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Question 6: I know some ways to use icons in catechesis.
Following the week’s activities, all seminarians indicated that they now knew ways to use icons catechetically. Thirteen (57 percent) responded “Agree,” and ten (43 percent) responded “Strongly
Agree.”
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Question 7: I have an appreciation for why other people may pray with religious images.
At the end of the week, all participants responded affirmatively to this prompt. Eighteen seminarians
(78 percent) indicated “Strongly Agree,” and five (22 percent) marked “Agree.”
Question 8: Personally, I am comfortable praying with religious images.
After the week’s activities, the majority of participants (91 percent) indicated that they now were comfortable praying with religious images, though two (9 percent) indicated that they were not. Five seminarians (22 percent) marked “Agree,” sixteen participants (70 percent) marked “Strongly
Agree,” one (4 percent) marked “Disagree,” and one (4 percent) marked “Strongly Disagree.”
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Please indicate below what you have experienced or gained during this part of the Intensive Spiritual Formation Week.
In response to this open-ended question, twenty seminarians gave some sort of feedback,
and three did not. The responses given were rich with qualitative markers. More than half of the
responses (twelve, or 60 percent) indicated appreciation for the experience of prayer with icons or a
willingness to use sacred images in prayer. For example, one wrote, “It's been a fruitful endeavor
looking at icons and religious art. I enjoyed especially learning how to pray with icons. I would like
to try to continue to use icons/religious art in my prayer time.” Another wrote, “The presentation
greatly increased my knowledge about icons and their purpose within the Church. The "homework"
assignments [to try particular forms of prayer] were delightful and added to the overall learning
experience.”
Five responses (25 percent) noted that they had learned more about how icons are created.
For example, “I've gained a greater appreciation for the rigor and the uniformity of the icon process.” Five seminarians also described learning something about icons that they could use in their
155 future ministry. Two of these five specifically cited the catechetical use of icons. One wrote, “I have enjoyed the experience of praying with icons and encountering new stories and new ideas through exposure to saints I do not know. Icons really can catechize.” Three seminarians (15 percent of responses) specifically mentioned a gained appreciation for sacred art and its role in liturgy. One wrote, “I have come to appreciate how to visualize the Gospel message adding icons. Generally, I have come to appreciate the importance of icons in liturgy, devotion, and history.”
While most responses were very positive about the experience learning about and experiencing prayer with icons, a couple responses to this question seemed to indicate that while the participants had not fallen in love with icons or praying with images, they had been stretched to appreciate a bit more what might be beyond their comfort zone. One wrote, “Got an exposure to a very new form of art. I still don't really think icons are any different from religious art, but I at least know why they are so oddly colored and distorted now. I can better see why many Eastern peoples find them meaningful to pray with.” Another wrote, “I appreciate the small details which we learned about icons and, more broadly, art that will help me re-envision and be more open to art in churches that may not fit into my personal preferences.”
Evaluation: Comparison
When we compare the assessment data from the pre- and post-test evaluation data, it becomes apparent that the Intensive Spiritual Formation Week did make a difference for these seminarians.
On Question 1, regarding knowledge of how icons are made, pre-test answers tended toward disagreement, while on the post-test, all answers reflected agreement. While before the week most
156 did not know about the traditional methods of creating an icon, after experiencing the formation week, every participant did.
Question 2 reflected even sharper distinction between answers before and after the week.
While at the start of the week no participant claimed to be aware of canonical principles of iconography, by the end, every participant could claim such knowledge.
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Question 3, concerning difference between canonical icons and traditional Western art, showed a similar, if more nuanced, shift. While pre-test results show a significant number of participants already aware of some differences, post-test results indicate a much clearer comprehension of how canonical icons differ from Western art.
Comparative results on Question 4, concerning knowledge of forms of devotional prayer with icons, were fairly similar to the pattern seen in Question 3. Pre-test data showed some familiarity with forms of devotional prayer, but such knowledge was much more clearly indicated in the post-test data.
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Question 5 concerned knowledge of ways icons can be used in liturgical prayer. While prior to the experience most participants already claimed to know some ways to use icons in liturgy, afterward, the percent of participants more certain of their knowledge (as indicated by those marking “Strongly Agree”) was higher. The number of those marking “Disagree” or “Strongly
Disagree” did not completely disappear, but certainly shrank.
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Question 6, concerning knowledge of how to use icons catechetically, showed a clear swing toward stronger agreement. During the pre-test assessment, many participants indicated that they knew ways to use icons in catechesis, but a number did not. Post-test results show all participants squarely in agreement that they now know catechetical uses of icons.
Question 7 dealt less with knowledge than attitude toward others praying with images. Pre- test data indicated a general appreciation among the seminarians for why others might pray with images, though several seemed less sure of their feelings. Post-test data indicates a more solid sense of understanding or respect for why others might use images in their prayer practices.
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Question 8, concerning one’s own sense of comfort praying with images, showed a more nuanced shift. While pre-test data showed three people marking “Strongly Disagree,” in the post-test that number was reduced to one. In the pre-test, one person marked “I don’t know,” but in the post-test no one chose that answer. The number of those claiming to “Agree” and “Disagree” remained the same, but those indicating to “Strongly Agree” increased by three (or 13 percent). All in all, comparative results show a very moderate shift in comfort level praying with religious images.
As such attitudes probably are deep-seated, it may take more than a week’s worth of study and exercises to see significant change.
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When responses were averaged and compared before and after the Intensive Spiritual
Formation Week, it becomes clear that the greatest growth occurred in the areas concerning
knowledge addressed in the first four questions. From this self-reported data, we can surmise that seminarians learned the most about the traditional methods of creating an icon, the principles that make an icon canonical and how icons differ from traditional Western art, and forms of devotional prayer that people can use with icons. While the last four questions also showed a net increase in average response from before to after the project, these gains were less dramatic.
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Based on feedback given to the open-ended question and during conversation through the week, it appears that the seminarians did learn quite a bit that they could use in their personal prayer practice, in catechizing about the faith, and in pastoral care in their future parishes. In light of these results, it seems fair to say that the expected outcomes, objectives, and goals for the project were achieved.
CHAPTER 10: EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE ITERATIONS
I am pleased that quantitative and qualitative assessment data from the Intensive Spiritual
Formation Week showed that the expected outcomes of the Praying with Icons project were met.
For the most part, participants demonstrated increased comfort with praying with icons, and gained appreciation for those who pray with images, even if admitting this is not one’s preferred prayer practice. They gained increased familiarity with icon theology and how it related to Catholic tradition, and increased understanding of the liturgical, devotional, and catechetical functions of religious art. By all counts, the project was a success. That said, were I were to do this project again, or to pass it on to someone else to replicate, I would take into account a few observations from this experience, and would aim to improve several things.
Practical Considerations
While for the most part I was able to control the space for the project, some other practical matters also affected the way the seminarians experienced the week. First was the reality of student stress and fatigue. As third year seminarians, most of the participants were just returning from a very rigorous, emotionally challenging summer of Clinical Pastoral Education, where they had worked long hours in hospitals learning to accompany people under emotional and physical stress. While many of the seminarians voiced their appreciation for the CPE experience, few of them had been allowed much time to rest or recover before moving back to school, getting reacquainted with classmates, and starting the year with this Intensive Spiritual Formation Week. To compound this fatigue, each day was fairly heavily scheduled with activities, from morning through evening.
Morning sessions for the third-year students focused on the spirituality of the deacon and preaching.
Evening sessions involved shared theological reflection. Combined with our early afternoon time
163 164 slot after lunch, it was clear that some seminarians occasionally were struggling to stay awake, and not necessarily because they considered the topic boring! Were I to offer this project again, if possible, I would aim to assure that participants could arrive fairly rested and re-acclimated to seminary life.
The schedule dictated by the seminary required the project to run six days, Monday through
Saturday. While the experience was not the same as going to a regular theology class, expecting attendance on Saturday after a whole week of presentations seemed a bit much in light of the seminarians’ already fatigued state. I believe we probably could have addressed the same material in condensed form and finished by Friday. If I were to run the project again, I would like to try it within a shorter time-frame, with perhaps a little more time each day, to see if it could be as effective.
Assessment Tool
For the most part, I was pleased with the simplicity of the Likert-scale prompts, but responses seemed to indicate that the presence of “I don’t know” as an answer option may have been confusing. It was intended to give a choice in between “I know” or “I don’t know.” At the point of preparing to learn, it is possible that one might think one might know, or perhaps one might be aware of not knowing what one doesn’t know. If the question stem begins, “I know,” then a response of “I don’t know” could mean “I’m not sure if I know,” or could mean, “No, I do not know this area,” more akin to the intent behind the options “Disagree” or “Strongly Disagree.”
Moreover, the seminarians in this particular group included a handful of men for whom English is not a first language, so the option may have been doubly confusing for them. It is true that separating out “I don’t know” responses seems to strengthen the weight of the “Agree” or “Strongly
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Agree” answers, which is helpful. However, given the number of assessment items relating to knowledge, and thus beginning “I know,” in the future I imagine it might be better to articulate this option as “I’m not sure.”
Curriculum Content and Sequence
If I were to do this project again, I am inclined to suggest a revised topical order. Certainly, some ideas are repeated and addressed at different levels throughout the week, but it seems the project might be more effective if the sessions were ordered in this way, condensed into a five-day period rather than six:
1. What is An Icon?
2. Canonical Guidelines and Orthodox vs. Catholic Icons
3. Categories of Sacred Art and The Icon in Devotional Prayer
4. The Icon in Liturgy: Marking Sacred Space and Time
5. The Icon in the West: The Liturgical Movement and Guidelines Since Vatican II
As it was, the session on the Icon in Devotional Prayer seemed too Eastern in focus, and lacked adequate context. It probably should be reworked, and might make more sense if situated after the session on canonical guidelines, and a general introduction for the categories of sacred art.
The Icon in Liturgy presentation also included some background information on the Eastern churches that probably is not needed for seminarians in their third year of theology studies. By this time in their formation, these participants had already taken an ecclesiology course. Moreover, all were already familiar with Eastern-rite Catholic liturgies, as Divine Liturgy in the Melkite rite is celebrated monthly on campus, and most had already assisted in some capacity.
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Since offering the session on The Liturgical Movement and Guidelines Since Vatican II, I have become more aware of the fine lines of gradation between real sacred art meant for mature adults, sacred art appropriate for children, folk art created with great love but perhaps without much skill, and true kitsch. Some of the comments on the evaluation seemed to indicate that in the future
I should be more nuanced in presenting this range of work. Our walk through the hallway of Marian art from around the world also brought up the occasional difficulty of assessing quality when one is less familiar with the art and particular religious devotions of an unfamiliar country. If I were to do this project again, perhaps with more time in each day, in this session I would include a wider range of sacred art from around the world.
Activities
Given the fatigue likely with an after-lunch time slot, if I were to offer the project again, I would aim to trim some presentations in order to make more time for hands-on activities or prayer experiences. Seminarians particularly enjoyed getting their hands on the materials needed to paint an icon, and practicing using a brush and ink while trying to remember to pray at the same time. In the first session, however, we ran short on time to try it for very long. Participants also seemed to enjoy the activity finding and comparing different images, and our walk through the hall of Marian art, assessing what we saw.
I think it is critically important to help participants continue to make connections with their own local situation and experiences. While this came out in some of our discussions, particular activities might be developed to help make this connection clearer. Perhaps they could be given a scenario involving a church building or renovation project, with a challenge to create a workable
167 plan to incorporate liturgical, devotional, and catechetical art into the various spaces so as to invite deeper prayer.
Prayer
While entitled “Praying with Icons,” this project involved a lot of presentation, discussion, and activity not directly involving prayer. In some ways, this was appropriate. In order to enter into the prayer fruitfully, becoming familiar with the principles and some history is helpful. If I were to offer this project again, however, particularly if allowed a longer period of time for each session, I would like to include more shared experiences of prayer with images. As it was, many of the most critical introductions to prayer with icons were left to “homework assignments.” This approach respected the freedom of participants to enter into the experience as they felt drawn. However, I am inclined to think that a good cultural broker accompanies novices a bit more, before pointing the way and leaving new people on their own. I think it could have been very effective to invite participants to choose a festal image, or a particular devotional image, and to take shared time to ponder and pray in silence together.
I also would like to revamp the section on images and liturgical prayer. While my research and some presentations addressed the benefits of liturgical art amplifying the action and making visible the invisible mysteries of sacramental life, the project did not involve participants in any contextual activity designed to help them practice praying with images that do this, beyond praying with a festal image outside of liturgy. In a reworked project, adding a prayer activity involving real liturgical images at work during liturgy could be most fruitful.
CHAPTER 11: CONCLUSION
At the conclusion of a project like this, one can ask whether it really matters whether the
faithful know how to pray with images. At one level, sacred images are not absolutely necessary.
People can pray wherever they are, with or without images. Eucharist can take place almost
anywhere, with or without the benefit of a beautiful church adorned with liturgical imagery. God is
not limited by whether or not we create images to accompany our worship. However, as we have
seen, Christianity in its various currents has long embraced some level of visual culture. Liturgical
images help us become more aware of what we celebrate in our public sacramental life. Devotional
images help us deepen in awareness of the communion of saints and the personal nature of
interaction with God. Catechetical images help us to pass on the stories of faith. The concrete nature
of sacred images sharpens attention at prayer. They speak to the dignity of matter and the
sacramental transformation that happens in the Christian community. Images of Christ help us
ponder his humanity and divinity, his circumscribed and yet uncircumscribable natures. These are
not inconsequential matters. They are embodiments of belief tied deeply to Christian identity.
Sacred images also belie our communal commitments within the Body of Christ as we know
it. The way we paint and pray with images expresses the nature of the community and its way of
relating to God. This is particularly evident in the Orthodox churches, which have what David
Morgan calls a communal “covenant with icons.”323 In the Roman Catholic tradition, the faithful
have more flexibility in the kinds of images to be used in liturgical or devotional life; no one style of
art has come to be enshrined as holier than another. Still, the Roman Church offers many written
323 Lisa DeBoer, Visual Arts in the Worshiping Church (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016). 38-39; cf. David Morgan, The Sacred Gaze: Religious Visual Cultures in Theory and Practice (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), 76. 168 169
guidelines on the key elements of space and sacred art used for liturgy. Protestant churches tend to
shy away from images used in worship, but cultivate the arts in other ways, often supporting the
artistic endeavors of members of their own communities, hosting exhibitions of spiritually inspired
artwork in church spaces.324 In light of relations between these larger branches of Christianity, it is
important for Catholics to understand how our tradition stands in relation to others, and to know
the scope of our own tradition well enough to see where we actually share common ground. In
focusing on praying with icons, this project has been particularly geared toward cultivating more
sensitive, respectful relationships between Roman-rite Catholics and the Orthodox Church.
While increasing understanding of one’s own and others’ traditions can be helpful to
becoming more comfortable in a more visual culture, I wonder how flexible comfort level with
visual culture really is. The project is designed on the premise that one can “cross cultures,” and
come to be more comfortable in a culture that is not one’s native place. Yet I wonder if comfort
with visual culture is somewhat pre-determined, limited by what one has experienced most in
formative years. While I may be able to visit an ornately decorated Baroque Catholic church, and
appreciate its explosive beauty, given my own background, I’m not sure I would ever feel fully at
home there any more than I would at an exquisite Orthodox church, where I also can stand in awe
of its beauty and theological richness, but still feel overwhelmed. As a product of the post-Vatican II
American Catholic Church, I find the ethos of “noble simplicity”325 has shaped the range of my
comfort level in worship spaces, even though I have studied the art and experienced the liturgy in
324 DeBoer, 258.
325 Vatican Council II, Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy), in Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post-Conciliar Documents, trans. Austin Flannery, rev. ed. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2014), nos. 34, 124; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, General Instruction of the Roman Missal (Totowa, NJ: Catholic Book Publishing Corp., 2011), no. 292.
170 both Catholic Baroque and traditional Orthodox spaces. However broad the range of one’s comfort level, home still feels like home.
Still, expanding people’s experiences of prayer spaces and practices can create greater familiarity and respect, and this is important to the broader goal of building unity among Christians.
These are issues of culture, and as Eastern Catholic hieromonk Maximos Davies notes, “Questions of ecclesial culture tend to be underweighted in ecumenical dialogue.”326 Religious images and their veneration are among the customs and traditions that shape ecclesial culture, along with such things as clergy wearing or not wearing beards, forms of music, and liturgical clothing. Beyond political wounds and historical rifts created by real theological differences, our culture, our way of being
Christian, matters. It matters whether we know the riches of our own ecclesial heritage, just as it matters if we become more familiar with the culture of another Church tradition. We must know our own ecclesial identity to be an authentic dialogue partner, but to grow, we must also come to know something of the other. This familiarity is part of what the Church calls “the dialogue of love,” which must precede “the dialogue of truth” in ecumenical relations.327 In other words, people must come to trust and care about each other first, before they can tease out how to understand and articulate the theological issues on which we might differ. Getting to know one’s own tradition is an act of maturity. Getting to know and appreciate one another’s ecclesial culture is an act of love.
In terms of inviting others to broaden their view or be pushed a bit beyond their present comfort zone, people have to bring at least a bit of openness to the experience. Perhaps one’s own ecclesial identity needs to be well-enough established to enter into an ecumenical experience without
326 Maximos Davies, “What Divides Orthodox and Catholics?” America (Dec. 3, 2007), 16.
327 Angelo Maffeis, Ecumenical Dialogue, trans. Lorelei F. Fuchs (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2005), 41.
171 feeling threatened. We live in a world where individuals tend to hone their own engrained patterns of behavior, surrounding themselves with others of similar mindset. Yet catholicity means universality. Within the Catholic tradition, cultivating awareness of the broad range of valid ecclesial expression is critical. Although some struggle with maintaining a wide view, when this richness even within Catholicism is adequately understood, it becomes easier to be more open to seeing the beauty and truth expressed in the practice and tradition of our Orthodox brothers and sisters.
For those who have found the experience of learning to pray with images helpful, the project may spur them toward action. I would hope that participants have been equipped to evaluate their own spaces for public worship and private prayer. If changes seem warranted, I would counsel conversation and patience. The domestic sphere certainly offers its own realm of possibilities for creating spaces for prayer with sacred images, presumably with minimal conflict involved. Within the public space of the church, however, the needs and experience of a wider community need to be considered. Those in authority need to be respected. If larger scale sacred art is involved, finances inevitably are part of the picture. These may not be easy conversations, but they can be opportunities for communal reflection on the meaning of the images of the church, and the functions those images fulfill. Visual changes affect everyone who sees them, so ideally, this kind of decision should be made with ample consultation and planning.
In the final analysis, sacred images are meant to draw people closer to God in prayer. They are meant to be an aid to worship, beautiful windows to deeper contemplation, not a stumbling block or distraction. To the extent that Christians can find ways to use sacred images to this aim, whatever their tradition, God is praised.
APPENDIX A: GOALS, OBJECTIVES, EXPECTED OUTCOMES Goals: Objectives: Expected Outcomes: 1. Seminarians will experience • Introduce theology of the icon in order to provide greater • Increased comfort with praying increased comfort in praying with understanding of what icons are. Greater understanding will with icons in at least one way. icons. yield increased comfort. • Greater appreciation for those who • Gradually introduce different ways of praying with icons, pray with images, even if it is not starting with those most familiar and moving toward the most one’s preferred prayer practice. foreign. a. Praying while painting or doing other manual processes b. Devotional prayer: guided visio divina with Scripture c. Devotional prayer: colloquy d. Devotional prayer: silence e. Devotional prayer: Jesus Prayer f. Liturgical prayer: praying with a feast-day icon g. Liturgical prayer: different low-risk forms of veneration h. Liturgical prayer: at least awareness of and respect for more “extreme” forms of veneration 2. Seminarians will gain • Introduce history and theology of icons, providing context of • Increased familiarity with icon understanding of Eastern comparison with Western tradition. theology and how it relates to theology of images in relation to • Teach canons of iconography and Eastern worldview made Catholic tradition. Western theology. visual in canonical icons. 3. Seminarians will gain clarity • Introduce liturgical, devotional, and didactic ways to use icons • Increased understanding of three regarding liturgical, devotional, and other religious images in different settings. functions of and ways of using and didactic religious art and how • Help them analyze how images are used in their home parishes religious art. each might function within their and current spaces. own spiritual and pastoral sphere • Suggest ways that images might be incorporated appropriately of influence. into their own parish spaces.
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APPENDIX B: PLAN FOR WEEK
Intensive Spirituality Week: Spirituality of Icons 3rd Theology 1:15-3:15 pm Sr. Jeana Visel, OSB
Goals: As a result of this course, seminarians should be able to… - Understand the traditional process of writing an icon. - Describe some of the canonical principles for an Orthodox icon. - Differentiate between an Orthodox and a Catholic icon. - Practice some different ways of praying with icons. - Analyze how icons can be used for devotional, liturgical, and catechetical purposes.
Overall Plan: Six two-hour sessions combining discussion, presentation, hands-on activities, and various prayer experiences designed to increase understanding of icons and comfort with praying with them. Session topics will include What is an Icon?, The Icon in Devotional Prayer, Canonical Icons and Orthodox vs. Catholic Icons, The Icon in Liturgy: Marking Sacred Space and Time, The Liturgical Movement and Guidelines Since Vatican II, and The Icon in the West: Categories of Art and Icon Function.
Space: Gregory Hall 160 classroom, with tables grouped into at least three “stations” (icon painting materials, icon books, and icon board preparation), seating in the center toward Powerpoint screen, and icons around perimeter. Books provided by Spiritual Formation Program and pre-tests will be placed at each desk space for seminarians so that on their arrival they can begin perusing. Title screen of first presentation will be up and ready.
Session 1: WHAT IS AN ICON? 1. Opening prayer: I lead spontaneous (somewhat planned) prayer. 2. Pre-test: Explain my project and ask them to complete quick pre-test questions. 3. Opening introductions. Names and what interest, experience, questions or curiosities do you bring to the topic of icons? 4. Look at reading: Overview of book: note organization, Inscriptions on p. 250, Timeline on p. 252, Glossary on p. 286. Today covers material from Ch. 1 (Principles) and Ch. 2 (Technique), also pgs. 43 – 45. Please read as you have time this week. 5. Powerpoint: What is An Icon? Sources, Forms, Theology (take a 5-minute break before History section) 6. Hands-on Activities: Challenge them to pray while doing one of these activities. a. Trace an image with calligraphic lines b. Make egg emulsion/paint c. Experiment with layering color d. Sand a gessoed icon board 7. Final minutes: What is one nugget you want to take with you today?
Session 2: THE ICON IN DEVOTIONAL PRAYER 1. Opening prayer: Spontaneous. 173
2. Opening questions/reflections since yesterday? 3. Reading: Today doesn’t really reference any particular pages in the book, but we’ll use the images. 4. Opening discussion (10-20 minutes): a. What concerns do you or others you know have with praying with images? b. What is an idol? Why could an image become an idol? How does an image NOT become an idol? What about veneration is difficult, particularly for modern Westerners? c. Relationship between the image and its prototype: Leslie Brubaker says that the Byzantine viewer took “responsibility for the proper interpretation of the sacred image.” What is needed for proper interpretation? d. How do we see non-religious images honored or defamed to make some statement about their prototype? 5. Powerpoint: The Icon in Devotional Prayer (5 minute break afterward) 6. Prayer with Images (20-30 minutes): Shared visio divina with Mark 9:2-10 and image of Transfiguration. 7. Final minutes: What is one nugget you want to take with you today?
Session 3: CANONICAL GUIDELINES and ORTHODOX VS CATHOLIC ICONS 1. Opening questions/reflections? 2. Reading: Today we reference Chapter 1 (Principles) 3. Powerpoint: Canonical Guidelines 4. Activity (15 minutes): Find several different images of the same subject. What aspects strike you as following a norm? Any oddities? 5. Powerpoint: Orthodox vs Catholic Icons 6. Activity: Find an icon that could be considered “Orthodox.” Find one that could be considered “Catholic.” Why do you categorize each as you do? 7. If Time: Continue Powerpoint with “Weird Icons” and ecumenical concerns. 8. Praying with Images: Tomorrow I’d like to know generally how this went for you. a. Choose an image of an icon with which you would like to pray, either one provided in the room, one from your book, or perhaps another you may already have. b. Before departing, share image: clarify what we’re seeing. c. Go somewhere and pray with your image for at least 20-30 minutes. Options: i. Remain in silence before your image, and simply gaze and be seen, in a version of Centering Prayer. ii. Have a conversation (colloquy) with your sacred person. What do you have to say to each other? What do you want to ask? How does God speak to you through this person? iii. Pray the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me….” iv. Reflect on a passage of Scripture relating to your person while in the presence of his or her image v. If comfortable, you might also consider some of the more physical ways of praying with your image: kneeling, crossing oneself, or perhaps bowing or some other form of reverence.
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Session 4: THE ICON IN LITURGY: MARKING SACRED SPACE AND TIME 1. Opening questions/reflections? How was praying with your icon? 2. Reading: Today references pages 26-28 (Iconostasis), 62-66 (place in church) 3. Discussion: How do images in the sanctuary connect or disconnect us from the Eucharist itself? Do you think images help or hinder comprehension of liturgy? 4. Powerpoint: The Icon in Liturgy: Marking Sacred Space and Time 5. Prayer with Images: (Send them off to their own spaces.) Choose a particular feast day image. Reflect on what aspects of the feast are highlighted and what that might mean in your life. Pray with God about it.
Session 5: THE LITURGICAL MOVEMENT and GUIDELINES SINCE VATICAN II 1. Opening questions/reflections? How was praying with your feast day icon? 2. Reading: Today doesn’t reference any pages from our book, but I would recommend Built of Living Stones and Denis McNamara’s Catholic Church Architecture and the Spirit of the Liturgy. 3. Powerpoint: Liturgical Movement (followed by 5 minute break), Guidelines Since Vatican II 4. Assignment for tonight: Pray with an icon or other sacred image in preparation for liturgy. (Try silence, colloquy, Jesus Prayer, or prayer with Scripture.) Reflect on how your disposition and readiness to receive the graces God wants to give you are affected. 5. Concluding Exercise: Consider kitsch versus real religious art. Which can you pray with best? (Walk through 3rd floor Newman Hall collection of images.)
Session 6: THE ICON IN THE WEST: CATEGORIES OF ART AND ICON FUNCTION 1. Opening questions/reflections? How was praying with your image yesterday? Do you find the experience different from earlier in the week? 2. Reading: See pgs. 231-249 (Icons of the 20th Century). Would recommend Denis McNamara’s book Catholic Church Architecture and the Spirit of the Liturgy and U.S. Bishops’ Built of Living Stones. 3. Powerpoint: The Icon in the West: Categories of Sacred Art and Icon Function 4. Closing conversation: What is one thing you will take with you from this week? 5. Concluding Evaluations: Complete written post-test.
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APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 1
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.For in him were created all things in heaven and on What is an Icon? earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. a In each icon, see whole culture’s ideals of beauty Colossians 1:15-17 a Not a general image a Typical colors, gestures, ways of depicting particular people
Jeana Visel, OSB a All icons are religious art, but not all religious art is an icon.
a To be an icon, must be a Theologically correct a Aesthetically adequate for subject depicted a Expressed in semantic language of iconography ▪ Inverse perspective ▪ Use of light ▪ Deified reality: world of heaven
a Not a style of painting, but a vision of reality a The icon is deeply connected to reality a About sacramental encounter: created in prayer for the sake of prayer 4
Greek word for icon, eikon: Usully frontl, “imge,” “representtion,” or “portrit” confronts viewer
Cn refer to wide rry of Viewer sees, but lso is religious imges seen. Typiclly “icon” refers to portble imge of Jesus, Holy person ngels, or the sints, understood to be usully pinted on wooden pnel, nd used for present. devotion.
Mosics of Rvenn: Sn Vitle (c. 540-547), Sn Apollinire in Clsse (c. 549) 2 6
Trditionlly ssocited “An icon brings the good news into the world by with Estern Orthodox showing the face of Jesus Christ: God became Church man. Moreover, through Christ, the icon also reveals to us the true image of humanity Mkes dogmtic transfigured and deified; it is the image of the sttements in visul form. kingdom of heaven, the kingdom that is to come and that will restore the harmony now marred Use prticulr methods to by sin… If an icon depicts a saint, its real convey prticulr forms purpose is to bring us face to face with someone flling within ccepted cnon of imges. in whom Christ’s goodness shines forth.” (Irina Yazykova, Hidden and Triumphant, 2, 4)
3 5
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Constructing Drawing Major Canons of and Transferring to Iconography Board 7 10
-- Deified, heavenly reality -- Tracing from prototype: India ink and transparency -- Use of inverse perspective -- Use expressive, calligraphic lines: not too wispy, nor too -- Multiple views and aspects of heavy. Pray! time present at once -- Can photocopy to enlarge or -- Use of light, not shadow shrink image to match board size -- Particular colors and ways of identifying certain figures -- Place carbon paper between drawing and the board, and trace over it again. -- To be created with prayer, fasting, moral discipline: this is -- The image will transfer to the a kind of Incarnation board. Erase or adjust as happening. needed with pencil.
-- With India ink and a soft brush, go over the drawing on the board, again using elegant, calligraphic lines.
Process of Painting: Choosing a Prototype Gilding with Gold Leaf 8 11
-- In iconography, we are -1. First scratch into the gesso passing on dogma of the around the contour of the area Church: must be faithful to to be gilded. original image reflecting theological truth. -2. Clean off dust and shellac -- Need best, classic examples. area to be gilded. Let dry 24 First spiritual and artistic hours. heights of iconography in Byzantium, after that, 14th – -3. Brush on layer of gloss spar 15th century Greece, Serbia, varnish. Let dry 12 hours. and Russia: these are most fundamental prototypes.
-- “Readability”
-- Sources: if possible, a real icon; books, prints, images from originals
-
Preparing the Board Gilding, Continued 9 12
-- Icon panel: board of bass, -4. Apply layer of slow-drying birch, cypress, mahogany, or gold size. Allow to “come to poplar wood, or perhaps Baltic tack,” about 16-18 hours. birch plywood -5. Apply sheets of 22-23 karat -- Some boards have raised border: kovcheg (“ark”): can gold leaf, gently rubbing paper carve it out or glue on strips of backing to release it. wood
-- Seal wood with weak strength rabbit skin glue
-- Soak fabric in high strength glue, smooth to panel, trim off edges when dry
-- Make gesso with medium strength rabbit skin glue, chalk dust, marble dust
-- Apply gesso to board, sand
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Opening Up the Icon: “Roskrish” and Gilding, Continued “Sankir” 13 16
-6. Touch up missed spots as If background not gilded, begin needed, and allow size to dry by painting base colors, in thoroughly. Russian, roskrish: “opening up, unveiling, manifestation, or appearance.” -7. Wipe off gold skewings with a cotton ball, then seal the gold After background, do base with spar varnish. colors for architectural features and trees, then garments, and lastly, hair and skin areas.
Base color for face is called, in Russian, sankir, “flesh.” Usually a cool, olive greenish hue. Reflects how God created humanity out of the clay of the earth.
Sankir = yellow ochre, Bohemian green earth, and a touch of Venetian red
Making Egg Tempera Reinstating the and Pigments, cont. Drawing 14 17
-We use natural earth pigments After you have built up the derived from earths, clays, sankir to an even level, minerals, and gems. reinstate the drawing with reddish-brown paint over skin -These are stable and lightfast areas. over time. Mixed in the egg emulsion medium, over time Other darker color lines can be the paint fossilizes and used to set off other color becomes hard, waterproof, and areas. permanent.
Making Egg Tempera and Mixing Pigments Lighting the Garments 15 18
-Separate egg yolk from white, We paint only with light. Each and gently rinse yolk under cold layer must connect with the water. layers that came before.
-Break yolk sac and collect yolk Notice transparent base layers in into small bottle. constructing form as they build up into light. -Measure out an equal amount of vinegar into bottle and shake Gradually add more lead white to emulsify the fat. to color.
Light in garments is based in reality. Pay attention to how light shines off of fabric.
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Hair: First, Second, and Third Lights Gold Assiste 19 22
Hair is organized into systems Some icons have gold lines that of locks. function as highlights that give form to the clothing. Gold Begin with base coat of sankir assiste can be painted on with like the face. For brown, add shell gold, or pressed on with transparent wash of umber . gold leaf over beer glue. Then for first light, mix a lighter tone of brown. Use this to give First one paints in the lines with first definition to locks. yellow ochre pigment and water. Without egg emulsion, it For gray hair, the first light is an will not bind permanently. umber, light brown gray. It maps out the locks. The second light involves adding more white, reinforcing the brightest parts of the locks. Hair around the curves of The third light, or ozyvki, the face is always highlights particular strands of brightest. Note how locks each lock. are reinforced with light toward the center.
First Lights on Face and Hands Gold Assiste, cont. 20 23
Add orange ochre layers to Next we gently rub a layer of bring up first light on face and pumice powder over the area. skin. Aim for plavia, seamless This protects the surrounding blending from one layer to the paint from the gold leaf next. possibly sticking to it where it doesn’t belong. On this layer, we move from the cool of the clay sankir tone Pumice powder is not a to the warm hue of human life. pigment, so ultimately it will be clear and not seen.
Second and Third Lights on Face and Hands, Enlivening Lines Gold Assiste, cont. 21 24
After you have reached Beer glue is made by boiling saturation of light with orange down beer until it is a sticky layer, move to second light on syrup. Adding a touch of face: yellow ochre. cadmium red to it makes it obvious so that later we can see Again, this needs to be if we missed any spots. We transparent enough to connect paint this over all the ochre and blend with earlier layers, lines. but eventually move to opacity on the brightest lit areas.
The third light involves adding white to the yellow ochre and reinforcing the brightest areas.
Ozyvki: Russian for “life giving” lines. These fine white lines make the face bright and lively.
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Gold Assiste, cont. Blessing the Icon 25 28
After the beer glue dries, we When we complete an icon, we breathe a warm breath on it to should have our parish priest restore tackiness, then press bless it and then begin praying gold leaf over it and when dry, with it immediately. brush away the skewings. There are special prayers for blessing icons. Usually a blessed icon is marked with a small cross on the back.
Icons may be sprinkled with holy water or anointed with oil.
Halos and Inscriptions 26
After gold assiste lines are st nd completed, protect them with 1 – 2 c. Fyum, Egypt: deth msks a layer of spar varnish. Idelized portrits of person: sw person s eternlly live Eventually the glare will blend in when we oil the painting. Believed in resurrection; body mummified to wit return of soul Continuity in erly icons of Sini re The icon is completed when we inscribe halos and the names identifying who is depicted. We can do halos with a draftsman’s St. Ctherine’s Monstery, Mt. Sini, Egypt: compass fitted with a ruling- pen tip. Acrylic paint works Key becuse hs erliest existing icons: 6th c. wx encustic best over varnish. Protected from iconoclsts, conditions good for preservtion. In this icon, crowns were painted with India ink and then varnished.
29
Short video on Fayum paintings:gs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ3tMrW0lIc Oiling the Icon Fayum Death Masks 27 30
After icon has dried, ideally several months, protect the paint by oiling icon with boiled linseed oil.
Setting icon in a protective box, we pour on as much oil as it can hold . We cover it with plastic and allow the oil to bond with the fat in the egg. Over the next 12-24 hours, we rub in the oil occasionally and add more if necessary.
After the oil has been absorbed into the paint, we wipe off as much as possible, then let it dry. When completely dry, we spar varnish the surface.
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6th c. Icons from Monastery of St. Catherine, Mt. Sinai 31
2. Becuse Christ is the imge of God, imges re fundmentl prt of ultimte relity, nd re criticl to our bility to grsp the mening of cretion.
34
Erly Christinity: occsionl fer of flling into pgn prctices, but Christin scred imges clerly widespred by 4th c. 3. Becuse of the union of Christ’s humnity
St. Bsil (4th c.): The honor given to n imges psses on to its prototype. nd divinity, we cnnot split them, not
5th - 6th c.: Lighting lmps nd burning incense even when we depict Christ visully.
6th c. Letter of Bishop Hyptius of Ephesus to Julin of Atrmyton: first reference to proskynesis to imges in churches
Proskynesis: “venertion,” “kissing towrds,” sometimes including full prostrtion. Derived from Persin prctice Greeks mistook this for honoring person s god; when prctice tken into Romn Empire, used to show tribute to the emperor Proskynesis: devotion shown to imge or relic to show venertion Ltri: dortion due to God lone.
In civil world, icons becme prt of imperil ceremony. 32 35
5 Min Themes: 4. Sints re holy people prticipting in deified relity, which is lso our cll. 1. Becuse of the Incrntion, Christ nd the sints cn be depicted.
33 36
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Hands-On Experience Opportunities 39
• Make egg emulsion 5. Every icon in some wy represents the • Make egg tempera paint
spiritul stte of the rtist, the Church of • Practice linework.
the time, nd the wider world in which it • Experiment with layering ws creted. colors • Pray while you paint!
37
3 kinds/purposes of religious rt Liturgicl Devotionl Historicl
Ctechesis needed: Wht n icon is nd is not Nture of venertion vs. dortion Wys to connect use of icons with liturgicl yer, scrmentl experiences Wys to pry with icons
38
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APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 2
To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul, my God, in you I trust. Psalm 25:1
After iconoclsm, icons more centrl to life nd prctice
Plcing icons on chncel screen led to development of iconostsis
Conditions for venertion orgnized
Sevcenko:consider liturgy in “wide” sense
Icons in both privte nd public relms
Chmbers: personl devotion in liturgicl spce strengthens fith of whole community
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“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”
a 1 Thess 5:17: “Pray without ceasing”
a Rom 12:12: “be constant in prayer”
a Luke 18:38: blind man sitting at the side of the road near Jericho: "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
a Luke 17:13: the ten lepers who "called to him, Jesus, Master, take pity on us'“
a Luke 18:14: cry for mercy of the publican, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner"
KllistosWre:Trdition comprised of Scripture, Councils, Fthers, Liturgy, Cnons, nd Icons.
“These things re not to be seprted nd contrsted, for it is the sme Holy Spirit which speks through them ll. It hs sometimes been sid tht the underlying cuse for the brek- up of western Christendom in the sixteenth century ws the seprtion between theology nd mysticism, between liturgy nd personl devotion, which existed in the lter Middle Ages. Orthodoxy for its prt hs lwys tried to void ny such division. All true Orthodox theology is mysticl; just s mysticism divorced from theology becomes subjective nd hereticl, scholsticism, ‘cdemic’ in the bd sense of the word. Theology, mysticism, spiritulity, morl rules, worship, rt: these things must not be kept in seprte comprtments.” (The Orthodox Church, 206-207).
Est: mysticism lwys gol if St. John of Dmscus: “I sw the humn fce not rule of God, nd my soul ws sved” Cultivting reltionship Pryerful devotion to sints Hns Belting: “Medittion in front of religious present in their icons is open to imges ws n ctivity tht enbled ly people ll. to ply the role of sints nd to live temporrily like sint. The prctice of imge devotion involved the sme imges tht hd Love of outwrd beuty should been used by the sints nd hd inspired led to love of spiritul beuty. their visions. By trining their own imgintion, urbn people spordiclly entered the sints’ community, t lest in the Importnt: God’s presence in the prescribed exercise of dily devotion in which world nd constnt need to imges offered the first stimulus. Imges remember helped overcome the limits of religious experience, which were imposed on the lity becuse of their seculr life with its mny Orthodox Church: no forml prcticl needs.” (Likeness nd Presence, 362) system of medittion, but Belting: the “icon is medium for seeing spiritulity suffused with bodies” reflection on the Bible.
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Blick nd Gelfnd: All devotionl Like liturgicl objects designed for interction. pryer: Medievl West: looking for scrmentl emotionl connection, sense of “thetricl presence” We re both body Senses fully involved nd soul! “Of course, beyond ctul sensul perception ly wish Ex: lighting to lso experience things tht could only be understood by cndles, crossing fith: to see the inner relities oneself, bowing, of our bfflingly physicl world nd to chieve intimcy with mking the divine without medition.” prostrtions. (Push Me, Pull You, xlii)
Apophtic vs. ktphtic pryer
Columb Stewrt, OSB: “We re bsolutely influenced by wht we see nd our senses, nd our imgintion ffects wht we do with it spiritully. Ascetic discipline is bout trining our cpcity to see, so tht we cn see clerly nd hve insight into Scripture.“
Evgrius of Ponticus: scetic discipline t the service of pryer
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How do we trin our senses to foster helthy spiritul imgintion?
Wht is the difference between creting n osis of beuty nd lerning to see with new eyes?
How do we cultivte wonder?
The Transfiguration Mark 9:2-10
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APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 3
”Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth. God created humankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Greek: Hermenei Genesis 1:26-27 Russin: Podlinniki
Most fmous: Pinter’s Mnul of Dionysius of Fourn Usrov nd Vticn City, Bibliotec Antoniev-Sisky Apostolic Vticn, MS Vticnus Pltinus Pinters’ Mnul grecus 209, fol. 284 verso
Cnon 73: importnce of the holy cross nd Geometry: its venertion Most icon proportions bsed on simple numbers: Cnon 100: prohibited “deceiving pintings ▪ About 30% of icons which being exposed to public view corrupt hve 3:4 rtio the intelligence by exciting shmeful ▪ 30% hve 4:5 plesures…” ▪ 10% of icons hve proportions of 2:3, 5:7, or 5:6. Cnon 82: Jesus no longer to be depicted s ▪ For full figures, 2:5 or lmb, but s humn 1:3 used.
Colors: “The canon, rather than depriving the icon Pseudo-Dionysius (The Celestil Hierrchy): How does God communicte Himself to cretures so tht cretures painter of freedom, more accurately holds up an cn prticipte in his Divine life? ideal and a goal. The canon orients the icon toward a prototype. Properly understood, a “Agin, of the mny colored vrieties of stones, the white represents tht which is luminous, nd the red corresponds to fire, yellow to gold, prototype is more than just a pattern to copy: for nd green to youth nd vigor. Corresponding to ech figure you will the faithful, it represents something find mysticl interprettion which reltes these symbolicl imges to the things bove. The symbolism of horses represents obedience nd approximating the ‘true likeness’ of embodied trctbility. The shining white horses denote cler truth nd tht which holiness. Reference to a prototype helps prevent is perfectly ssimilted to the Divine Light; the drk, tht which is hidden nd secret; the red, fiery might nd energy; the dppled blck iconographers from losing their way.” nd white, tht power which trverses ll nd connects the extremes, (Irina Yazykova, Hidden and Triumphant, 10) providentilly nd with perfecting power uniting the highest to the lowest nd the lowest to the highest.” (Sendler, 152)
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Colors Trnsfigured Light
White: divinity, purity, light, clm, glory nd power Comes not from externl source but from God Blue: trnscendence, trnquility, depth ▪ No shdows No reflection in eyes. Red: “incndescence” (Dionysius), like red hot metl, ctivity, ▪ dynmism, moving out of oneself. Cn be color of bckground, like gold nd white. Like blood/life. Portry “the uncreted light” Purple: welth, power, sign of consecrtion, royl, priestly. described by Gregory Plms
Green: nture, life, vegettion, symbol of hope, growth, fertility, youth, vitlity, clm, neutrl. Everything moves out towrd specttor, including light. Brown: reflects density of mtter, erthly, color of sceticism
Blck: totl bsence of light, night Yet icon’s light is lso bsed in relity. Yellow: Dionysius: no symbolic mening of its own, though close to gold nd light.
Inverse Perspective Outside Time: Rther thn objects in bckground getting smller Multiple scenes my s they pper frther in be represented t once distnce, things t distnce get lrger
Gives sense of form without volume, shpe without specil depth
Reflects icon’s role s window
Rther thn shrinking one’s world, opens up to mystery of God’s infinity.
Trnsfigured Relity 1551 Stoglv Council in Moscow: No physicl defects in “An iconogrpher shll be reverentil, humble, not heven given to vin tlk or clownery; not qurrelsome or of n envious nture; shll not be drunkrd, or thief, All in order or murderer; most importnt of ll, he must gurd to the utmost the purity of his own soul nd body, nd whosoever is unble to endure in this stte till the end, let him mrry ccording to the lw. The rtist should regulrly seek the dvice of spiritul fther, listening to his counsel in ll things nd living ccordingly, fsting, prying, nd leding life of restrint nd humility, devoid of shme nd disgrce…. If ny mster pinter, or one of his students, should begin to live in mnner contrry to the rules… then the Church hierrchs re to plce such persons under discipline, must forbid them from pinting, nd not llow them to [even] touch their pints.” (quoted in Yzykov, 37)
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“Westernizing influences” Find several different iconic images of the same figure or gve wy to birth of Biblical scene. Renissnce rt nd decline of a How do you know you are looking at the same person or scene? What characteristics do the images have in iconogrphic stndrds in the common? Est a What aspects of the images strike you as representing canonical standards? Mnier grec: Westernized a Describe how you see inverse perspective in this work. style of Byzntine What colors are typical or symbolic? iconogrphy th a Are there any aspects that seem odd or perhaps non- widespred by 13 c. canonical? imgintive Western a If a Scriptural figure, how accurately does your image interprettions portray the Biblical text? sense of communicbility nd a Look up your image in the Painter’s Manual. How do the wrmth of emotion, greter images you have found compare with the description nimtion of subjects’ eyes prescribed by Dionysius of Fourna? nd mouths. Coppo di Mrcovldo, Mdonn nd Child, 1265, S. Mrtino dei Servi, Orvieto, Itly
Reference to limited erthly spce.
Humnism rther thn reference to theocentric eternl spce
Belting : “icons were not just imges like other imges. They required worship [sic] nd thus hd to ddress the clim tht they were justly qulified for venertion. It ws not the visible record of our world but the epiphny of nother, trnscendentl world which they were ment to represent. Seen with Itlin eyes… such icons turned into mjor problem for Itlin rt. The Renissnce revision of the imge demnded rdicl visibility resulting in the eqution of the visible with the rel in our gze.” (73)
Duccio di Buoninsegn, “Virgin nd Child in Mjesty,” from min pnel of “Mest Altrpiece,” Sien Cthedrl, 1308-11
Michaelangelo, The Holy Family
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APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 4
Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, that many prophets and just people longed to see what you see, and did not see, and hear what you hear, and did not hear.” Matt. 13:16-17
Is the content true in the light of Christ?
Emphsis vries, but should reflect how the Church is one, holy, ctholic, nd postolic.
Wht is the biding, unifying truth depicted?
Wht is holy bout it?
Wht is universl, or ctholic, bout it? Does it unite ll people, or divide them?
Wht is postolic, or evngelistic bout it? Is this imge “sent” to proclim the truth of life in Jesus Christ to the world? The Trnsfigurtion
Forces driving Western 1. Articultion of Christin interest in theology icons? 2. Differences of Implictions? Custom
Wht kind of 3. Reflection on ecumenicl interctions devotions prticulr does this foster to one Church or the between Orthodox, other Ctholics, Anglicns, nd Protestnts? 4. Sints
Wht do the inscriptions or the title emphsize? My hve common theology, but different emphsis Who re the figures? Why re they depicted in n icon? (Why re they considered sints? According to whom?) How re the Exmples: figures in reltion to ech other? Wht does tht sy bout their reltion to God or our reltion to them? “Dormition of the Theotokos” vs. “The Assumption of Mry.” If deling with historicl Church event depicted visully, wht “The Virgin Mry” vs. “The Theotokos prt of the trdition is it enlightening or emphsizing? Use of sources: Trdition vs Scripture How do the colors reflect trditionl symbolic menings? Wht Mny Orthodox imges re bsed on do they sy bout people nd the world depicted? trdition (or pocryphl sources) s well s Scripture. How does the perspective spek bout the spiritul world? Is it The ldder of John Climcus: techniclly he’s multidimensionl view tht opens up into something bigger sint in both trditions, but his Ldder of nd different, or nturlistic perspective tht gets smller Divine Ascent is better known nd integrted frther wy from you, or re chrcters depicted in hrd two- into Orthodox life nd Trdition. dimensionl profiles? Is it frctured relity or coherent view? Wht does this sy bout the spiritul world? Ctholics often emphsize the humn Mother of God visiting St. Segei of Rdonezh nd cell-mte monk Mikhei, with Sts. Peter nd more thn the divine, while the John Is the orgniztion orderly, reflecting redeemed world where Orthodox often emphsize the divine God hs triumphed over evil through the redemptive work of more thn the humn. Christ? [Logos = word, but lso lw, order, reson.]
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St. Theodosia, St. Catherine’s Monastery, Mt. Sinai
St. Faustina, by Marek Czarnecki
St. Empress Helena, by iconographer Maria Poltorak
Different symbols used
Different kind of emphsis on prticulr sints, even if common to both St. Margaret Queen of Scotland
Some typicl colors tend to differ.
“Props”: Ctholic sints my hold rosry, while Orthodox sints might hold pryer rope.
Titles lso differ, emphsizing different spects of mystery.
Different styles of clothing Our Ldy of the Pssion
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Church of St. Matthias, Rome
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Ctholic devotions rose from inspirtion given to prticulr Ctholic sints certin “Ctholic” imges.
Some Orthodox imges ssocited with prticulr Orthodox ntionl churches, just s some Ctholic imges connect with ethnic bckground. Synaxis of the Saints of America, by Fr. Luke Our Ldy of Czestochow
Our Lady of Guadalupe St. George Three-Handed Theotokos, Hilander Monastery, Mt. Athos, Greece
Our Lady of Kazan, Moscow, late 19th c, The Hermitage
St. Bishoy
Sints re mde in both the Ctholic nd Orthodox Church.
No Church hs exclusive “rights” to ny sint, but mny better known in one thn the other.
Orthodox sints: Sergei of Rdonezh, Serphim of Srov, John of Sn Frncisco, Hermn of Alsk, Elizbeth the New Mrtyr.
Ctholic sints: John Henry Crdinl Newmn, Ginn Moll, Josephine Bkhit, Mximilin Kolbe my not be fmilir to Orthodox Fmous sints well-known cross trditions.
Sints from before the split: postles, Bsil, John Chrysostom, Gregory of Nzinzn, Benedict Belong to ll of us!
St. Xenia
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St. Kassia
St. Macrina the Younger
St. Elizabeth the New Martyr
Wht’s the gol?
Need synthesis: Estern techniques nd shred theologicl worldview, with prticulrly Ctholic content.
To be n icon: Theologiclly true Aestheticlly dequte to subject Uses “semntics” or “lnguge” of iconogrphy
Imge invites you into pryer. Should sense: Holiness of the one depicted Love of the Church Love of creted world Pryerful love nd work of iconogrpher
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Find n icon tht could be considered “Orthodox.” Find nother tht could be considered “Ctholic.”
Why do you ctegorize ech s you do?
Do you consider both to be truly “icons” in the cnonicl understnding of the term? Mary, Star of Evangelization. Icon by Marek Czarnecki
Catholic or Orthodox?
Sts. Peter and Andrew embrace
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Ecumenism is delicte! How to foster trust? Impertive: Ctholics nd Protestnts need to lern more bout Estern theology, nd s much s possible, follow Orthodox stndrds when it comes to creting or propgting icons in the West.
Hsn’t hppened with consistency. Low qulity icon workbooks nd workshops No credentils required of techers. Web: esy to propgte poor imges
Of concern: using wht ppers to be icon medium to do something other thn the uthentic work of cnonicl icon.
Diana, Princess of Wales, by William Hart McNichols http://www.fatherbill.org/gallery.php?action=viewPicture (Catholic) Marek Czarnecki and his &id=141&gall_id=21 (Orthodox) teacher Ksenia Pokrovsky
http://www.last.fm/music/John+Coltrane/ +images/45029027
http://www.fatherbill.org/gallery.php?action= viewPicture&id=91
http://www.fatherbill.org/gallery.php?action=viewPicture&i d=252
STS. BRIGID AND DARLUGHDACH OF KILDARE https://www.trinitystores.com/store/art-image/sts- brigid-and-darlughdach-kildare
https://www.trinitystores.com/store/art-image/albert- einstein-scientist-humanitarian-mystic-1879-1955 //www.allsaintscompany.org/icons/dancing-saints
Éowyn of the Rohirrim
Jay Johnstone
http://www.transpositions .co.uk/2012/10/featured- artist-jay-johnstone/ Gandalf the White
Frodo the Ring-Bearer
https://www.trinitystores.com/store/art- https://www.trinitystores.com/store/art- image/sacred-heart image/celtic-trinity Isildur’s Bane
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Suggestive of icons: Vticn II’s 1964 Unittis Redintegrtio (no. 1): Use of frontl view “In ecumenicl work, Ctholics ssuredly Simplified bckground must be concerned for their seprted Hlos brethren… their primry duty is to mke Inscriptions creful nd honest pprisl of whtever Some inverse perspective needs to be renewed nd done in the Ctholic household itself, in order tht its Lcking: Shred theologicl worldview life my ber witness more clerly nd Trnsfigured, deified relity: world fithfully to the techings nd institutions redeemed which hve been hnded down from Use of inverse perspective to invite us into Christ through the Apostles.” spiritul world Grssroots ecumenicl efforts need to strt The icon, in both the Estern nd Western understnding, is “source” of theology. It with ttention to the wider effects of our own
needs to revel truth. Robert LentzL Christ of MaryknollL behvior. https://www.trinitystores.com/store/art-image/christ- maryknoll Marek Czarnecki, St. Kateri Tekakwitha
Denis McNmr: Imges tht depict too much of n erthly perspective, rther thn hevenly relity, re insufficient s liturgicl rt (“Imge s Scrment,” 60).
John Pul II : “scred rt must be outstnding for its bility to express dequtely the mystery grsped in the fullness of the Church’s fith.” (Ecclesi de Euchristi, 50).
William Hart McNichols, The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, http://wwwNfatherbillNorg/galleryNphp?action=viewPicture&id=2P5&gall_id=16
Orthodox: nthemtize such imges
Ctholic Church: no coherent review process or officil response.
Sufficient to decide these re not icons per se?
Question of deception nd confusion Intuition: Most cn sense the icon form suggests whtever is depicted is considered hllowed. Theology mde visible: suggests beliefs depicted re set nd pproved.
The icon to clrify relity, not obscure it.
Art tht belongs to the Church is to reflect teching of Church
William Hart McNichols, Mary Most Holy Mother of All Nations http:OOwww.fatherbill.orgOgallery.php?ac tion=viewPicture&id=S2S
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APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 5
“When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, ‘Truly, the LORD is in this place and I did not know it!’ He was afraid and said: ‘How awesome this place is! This is nothing else but the house of God, the gateway to heaven!’ Genesis 28:16-17
Divine Liturgy (Euchrist/mss) Reflects differences of lnguge, theology, politicl power, nd geogrphy. Divine Office (cnonicl hours) Scred Mysteries (other scrments: bptism, chrismtion, crowning, unction, pennce, With time, vrious forces led to the grdul division of ordintion) the Estern nd Western Churches. Liturgicl Yer with fixed nd moveble fests Cme to hed with 1054 Gret Schism. Smller services nd blessings (consecrtion of church, exorcism, monstic investiture, etc.) As Western Christins under the ptrirch of Rome, Icons prt of every liturgicl setting. we re Romn Ctholic. We follow Ltin Rite liturgy. Icon of ptron sint given t bptism At mrrige, fthers of spouses bless them with icons At funerl, bptisml icon nd icon of Virgin precede Estern Churches, under the vrious ptrirchs, lso funerl procession follow different rites, or forms of liturgy. In home: icon to be greeted with pryer nd homge Portble icons: for journey
Assyrin Church of the Est Plces: 6 Orientl Orthodox churches: in communion with ech Rome other Orientl Orthodox generlly mens non-Chlcedonin Antioch Ex: Coptic Orthodox Church, Ethiopin Orthodox Tewhedo Church Jeruslem
Estern Orthodox Church: communion of ntionl or Bethlehem Autocephlous Orthodox regionl churches, most recognizing the Ptrirch of Church in Georgi Constntinople s point of unity Plestinin Monsticism Ex: Orthodox Church of Russi, Antiochin Orthodox, Greek Orthodox Other Sources: Estern Ctholic Churches: 22 of 23 utonomous self- Imperil court governing churches ll in communion with the Church of Rome nd the pope. Domestic rituls Generlly ech corresponds to similr Orthodox church nd follows similr liturgy. Theologicl commentry Ex: MroniteCtholic Church, Chlden Ctholic Church, Syro- Mlbr Ctholic Church, Coptic Ctholic Church, Ukrnin Populr liturgicl piety Ctholic Church
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Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom Liturgy of St. Bsil the Gret Liturgy of St. Jmes Service of the Presnctified Gifts
Correct belief seen in worship, in pryer Lex orndi, lex credendi. Church to pss on deposit of fith, received nd encted through liturgicl customs.
Min Purpose: remission of sins nd snctifiction of fithful. Imge of the divine world itself.
Cbsils (14th c.): Liturgicl representtion of Christ nd his deeds initite nd renew fith, leding to union with Christ
Contempltion nd pryer led to fith nd desire for God
Liturgy informs who we re s Church
Worship personl nd corporte Lots of music Involves direct experience nd Incense (with bells) remembrnce Colorful detiled vestments Structure represents divine economy nd proclims Gospel Gestures Imges Centrl ide is Light Tste Tends to be BEAUTIFUL Music s key s imges: Unhurried qulity Kontkion: genre of hymnogrphy Very sense-oriented Most fmous: Akthistos hymn in honor of Theotokos Both clergy nd lity hve ctive roles Kssi the Hymnist
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Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom excerpts http://www.youtube.com/wtch?v =IxTGLbNMGVk
Russin chnt http://www.youtube.com/wtch?v =Hbl4u7CIMd0
Georgin chnt https://www.youtube.com/wtch? v=6V8CoyzBc4E
Decon hs prominent role: cntor St. Nicholas Cathedral, Acolytes nd multiple priests Washington, DC Role of choir
Scriptures: often proclimed in chnt
Priest usully fces ltr towrd Est when speking to God, nd fces people when speking to people. Not everything behind iconostsis.
On entrnce, proskynesis t icon stnds
Free movement: Trditionlly no pews.
For immedite venertion on entering the church.
First pproch icon of Christ, then Theotokos, then icon of the fest dy or liturgicl cycle.
Venertion: Light cndles Sign of the cross Kiss
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St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery, Libertyville, IL
Middle section with Royal Doors of the Iconostasis of the Holy Trinity Church, Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra (Monastery), Sergiev Posad (70 km north east of Moscow). The Lavra-1. The Lavra-2. (05279)
Royal Doors, Barnoldswick, by iconographer Aiden Hart
Both icons are from Mt. Athos, Greece. Left: by contemporary monks. Right: classical
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Resurrection icon, by Xenia Pokrovsky, at St. Andrew Orthodox Church, Lexington, KY
Holy Protection Russian Orthodox Church, Goshen, IN
St . Andrew, at St. Andrew’s Strts Sept. 8: Birth Orthodox Church, Lexington, KY. Icons by Xenia of Mry Pokrovsky Gregorin vs. Julin Clendr
Icons mrk every fest: scred time
Icon of fests of Mrch
“Although you went into the grave, Immortal One, you destroyed the power of hell. You Deisis, from St. arose a mighty victor, Christ our God, bringing Paul the Apostle Orthodox peace to your apostles, joy for myrrh-bearing Church, Dallas women, and resurrection for the fallen.” (from prayers of day)
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“Your birth, O Theotokos, has filled “Today is all creation filled with joy, for the world with joy, for there rose Christ is born of the Virgin. Your birth, O from you the sun of justice, Christ, Christ our God, shines forth on the world our God. He destroyed the curse and with the light of knowledge, for those who adored the stars were taught by a star to replaced it with a blessing, thus worship you, the sun of justice, and to confounding death by giving us know you, the Orient from on high, O Lord, eternal life.” glory to you.” (Troparion of the Feast) (From prayers for Dec. 25)
“Hail, precious Cross, guide for the “Christ is baptized; he comes forth from blind, physician of the sick, resurrection the water and he raises the world with of all who have died. You raised us him” when we fell into corruption. By you did (hymn from Liturgy of the Day) corruption cease and immortality flower forth; by you have we, mortal though we are, been divinized, and the Devil defeated.” (from prayer of day)
“Here she is whom all those who have “Led to the temple by the Holy Spirit, the been in tribulation have been waiting for. elder took into his arms the master of the Let Joachim rejoice and Anna leap for joy entire universe, and in his joy he cried out for having offered [to God] a three-year- for all to hear: Now you may let your old, the immaculate Virgin Mary. servant go in peace, Master, for my eyes Mothers, share their joy; maidens exult; have seen the salvation you prepared as and you who are sterile join in the a light for the nations and the glory of singing, because she has opened up for your people Israel.” us the kingdom of heaven.” (from prayers for the day) (Zachary in Vespers hymn)
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“Today is the crown of our salvation, and “The Holy Spirit is the giver of all good a mystery hidden from eternity is now things; from him as from a mighty made known: God’s son becomes the spring prophecy flows; he consecrates virgin’s son, and a prince of heaven’s priests; he teaches wisdom to the hosts proclaims the grace of this good illiterate; he makes theologians out of news. Therefore, with him let us greet the fishermen; he gives form to the whole maid and say: Rejoice, O full of grace, the Church” Lord is with you.” (Great Vespers) (from prayers of day)
“Buried with you in Baptism, O Christ “On this day on Mount Tabor Christ has our God, we have been deemed worthy transformed Adam’s darkened nature; of immortal life thanks to your having covered him with his glory he Resurrection, and we cry out this hymn divinizes him.” of praise: Hosanna in the highest; (Vespers) blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Troparion of feast)
“Your death was a passage to a better and “Almighty Lord and Father, author of everlasting life, Lady most pure; it carried wonders beyond our power to grasp: This you from mortality to what is truly lasting evening, like those men of Galilee, we, and divine, Immaculate Virgin, to too, stand before you with uplifted minds contemplate our Son and Savior in joy” and hearts, contemplating your Son’s (Matins) Ascension in glory. As we celebrate this feast of his return to your hand, we pray you to let his light dispel the darkness of our ignorance and illumine our way to greater faith and wisdom. Make us worthy of the perfection he won for us by his unique offering of himself, for, just as he, our head, preceded us in glory, so do we, his body, also hope to follow.” (from prayer of the day)
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Circumcision of Christ (Jn. 1) The Three Gret Hierrchs (Jn. 30) Resurrection of Lzrus (dy before Plm Sundy) Ntivity of John the Bptist (June 24) Crucifixion Beheding of John the Bptist (Aug. 29) The Holy Trinity Conception of Mry Sts. Peter nd Pul (June 29) Mysticl Supper St. Nichols the Wonderworker (Dec. 6) Triumph of Orthodoxy (First Sundy of Gret Lent) The Protecting Veil of the Mother of God (Oct. 1) All Sints (1st Sun. fter Pentecost)
The Gret Fst (Lent) The Fst of the Apostles Dormition Fst Christms Fst
Also, ll Wednesdys nd Fridys re fst dys, except between Christms nd Epiphny, Ester week, nd week fter Pentecost.
Exulttion of the Cross, Beheding of JBp, nd eve of Epiphny re lso fsts.
Wht spects of Estern liturgicl life re prt of your own liturgicl life?
How re your spces nd customs different?
Does your community mrk scred time with use of prticulr imges?
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APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 6
Hear my voice, LORD, when I call; have mercy on me and answer me. “Come,” says my heart, “seek his face”; your face, LORD, do I seek! Do not hide your face from me... You are my salvation; do not cast me off; do not forsake me, God my savior! Geremi, Bishop of Cremon, Pstorl Letter of 1905: Psalm 27:7-9 “The imge in itself is nothing. There is nothing superhumn or divine in it, nothing whtever. It is not to it tht we pry or do reverence, it is not to it tht we put our fith, but in tht which it represents. For this reson the hving one imge or nother, this sttue or tht, is mtter of indifference. Every now nd then it is not so with the fithful. They wnt prticulr imge or sttue nd honor nd venerte it more thn nother, lthough often it might be rtisticlly inferior to the other, nd even not decorous; yet if it is suggested to lter or remove it somewhere else, or exchnge it for better, they ll protest nd cry out nd oppose its removl. Is not this sign of superstition? If they ct thus becuse the imge is der to them, nd derer s hving been reverenced by their fthers, becuse bound up with memories, or becuse it excites their devotion to greter degree, then their conduct my be tolerted. But I m frid tht the true reson is tht in their ignornce they see in it n undefinble something divine, certin mysterious virtue, nd this is remnnt of pgnism nd idoltry prohibited by the Council of Trent.”
▪ [On Religious Worship nd Some Defects in Populr Devotion, (London, 1906), pp. 105-106, quoted in Peter Fingensten, “Towrd New Definition of Religious Art,” p. 140]
Yers of embellishment led to Anything “shoddy, trsh, tripe, slush, confusion regrding roles of chep sentimentlity, hokum, sob-stuff” devotionl nd liturgicl rt “ work which in some wy clims to belong to the relm of rt but in some Idel of “noble simplicity” led to respect remins indequte” new iconoclsm Alwys present: “the bogus, spurious, untruthful, nd chepness” Modern rt nd churches “the disingenuous choice of subject Conflicts: together with the im of getting chep effect” Lose the low-qulity, discrd wht’s beloved? From St. Edwrd Ctholic Church, Elmdle, MN “When n rtist’s experience is trshy, Blnce between rtistic freedom the work [produced] is likely to be nd rightly-given guidnce of kitsch– esthetic trsh” Church “rtistic miscrrige” (Richrd Egenter, The Desecrtion of Christ)
Post-Industril Revolution, Religious title given to non-religious imge desire for wrmth, color, Trying to evoke religious response with emotionl ppel t lower level liveliness in churches Focusing on the effect on specttor rther thn truth to be conveyed
Lck of sincerity Trums of modern world Sweetness/idelism without relity desire for return to softer, Lck of chllenge: ppernce of sexless, effortless snctity “Christin world” Tking wy fer element from ngels, the Pssion, etc. Bogus ide with bd execution
Ideliztion of medievl Slovenly, meningless imges (not the simplicity of gret rt) neo-Gothic, plus Broque nd Rococo Imittion mterils, stereotyped figures Goes beyond imges: Hymns with wek devotionl lnguge Distrction… wht’s privte? Flse zel in “edifying literture” Wht’s public? Unctuous or emotionl sermons tht present the priest rther thn God Veit Stoss Altr, St. Mry’s Church, Krkow
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Kitsch cn be present in either the work of rt or in the response to it.
1. Respond to true or kitsch rt in kitschy fshion: your religion hs kitsch elements nd you re prtly to blme
2. Mixed response: prt genuine/prt kitsch (comes from either the work or from viewer)
3. Genuine religious experience from work which is in fct kitsch but hs religious subject (recognize truthfulness even if bogus elements re present)
4. Purely esthetic experience, not interested in religion.
5. Truly religious nd truly esthetic response to truly religious rt.
“Religious rt must embody religious experience which is rel in both the esthetic nd the spiritul sphere. It lso, like every other work of rt, requires technicl skill.” (110)
“[Religious rt]…must be the expression of the inner trnsformtion of the subject into something of universl vlidity through… the rtist’s unique, individul style… prticulrly… in religious work, since without this personl commitment wht ppers to sense cn never be trnsformed into scrmentl symbol.” (110)
“In the light of Christin ethics, rt is not n ornmentl ddition to humn life but n essentil. A right reltionship to rt is therefore one of the morl requirements with which the morl theologin nd the priest must concern themselves” (129)
Ctegories in religious rt: Gol: renew the liturgy 1. Religious subjects tht ren’t yet rt (tringle s Trinity) Be the Body of Christ in the 19th – 20th c. 2. Genuinely religious work (religious subject with both religious nd rtistic Benedictine monks: Beuron, form) Mri Lch, Mredsous, Mont Cesr, Solesmes, Collegeville, MN 3. Genuine works of religious subject but creted without religious experience Virgil Michel: brought it to the U.S. 4. Work lcking esthetic qulity (either Church s the Mysticl Body of rtisticlly indequte, overly relistic, Christ or kitsch using religious subject) Liturgy nd socil ction linked: love God nd neighbor 5. Kitsch religious rt (some bogus element, frivolity, sentimentlity yielding kitsch response)
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John Julin Ryn: “Send forth boys nd Power girls exceptionlly skilled in worshipping God in the mnner in which He wishes to be worshipped, Simplicity: teching power lerning to pry continully with the whole Church, singing the chnts tht Abstrction: ineffbility of re the voice of the Church, tking prt mysticl experience in ech Mss with n understnding of its generl nd specil significnce to the whole liturgicl yer. They must “economy of expression” lern to pprecite nd dispose dignified themselves for the most fruitful reception of every Scrment they re “tend[s] towrd honesty nd to receive s well s to tke full dvntge of their work of restoring ll sincerity”: depicting relity things in Christ, of even the lest of the rther thn illusion. Church’s scrmentls nd blessings. The properly trined Ctholics become Represents its own time nd expert members of the Mysticl Body plce of Christ.” (Beyond Humnism, 62) Arcbs (Jen-Mrie Pirot), Resurrection, St Pul de Meythet Church, 1998
Founded 1928
Crftsmen’s Service
Building nd Informtion Service
Exhibitions nd competitions Abbey Church of St. John the Baptist, St. John’s Abbey, Liturgicl Arts mgzine Collegeville, MN
Worked ginst kitsch in churches nd influenced Vticn II
Eric Gill nd Jcques Mritin: Scred rt: rt to be used in church with power to evngelize “rt for rt’s ske” vs rt t service Religious rt: rt with religious theme but which doesn’t of Church necessrily belong in church Prophetic role of rtists? Orte Frtres: Liturgicl rt: “the plnning, building, nd decortion of churches nd ll ncillry structures, the renovtion nd Work negting intelligible remodeling of existing buildings; the design nd execution of representtive subject mtter: scred vessels, vestments, sculpture, nd pinting; lso … recognizbility nd mening music nd other mtters which re subject to liturgicl usge” (White, 112) Church documents: Jcques Mritin: uthentic liturgicl rt 1932 Pius XI ddress t dediction of 1) reflects techings of the Church Vticn Picture Gllery 2) works within norms of liturgicl usge 1947 Pius XII Meditor Dei et 3) religious rther thn cdemic or sentimentl in its Hominum inspirtion. 1952 Pius XII instruction of the Holy Office De rte scr John L Frge: liturgicl rt “should reflect by its very nture, not only rubricl correctness but the spirit of the officil worship itself, the spirit of the Church prying…” Crucifix t Church of Assy
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“Wht We hve sid bout music, pplies to the other fine rts, especilly to rchitecture, sculpture nd pinting. Recent works of rt which lend themselves to the mterils of modern composition, should not be universlly despised nd rejected through prejudice. Modern rt should be given free scope in the due nd reverent service of the church nd the scred rites, provided tht they preserve correct blnce between styles tending neither to extreme relism nor to excessive "symbolism," nd tht the needs of the Christin community re tken into considertion rther thn the prticulr tste or tlent of the individul rtist. ... Nevertheless, ... We cnnot help deploring nd condemning those works of rt, recently introduced by some, which seem to be distortion nd perversion of true rt nd which t times openly shock Christin tste, modesty nd devotion, nd shmefully offend the true religious sense. These must be entirely excluded nd bnished from our churches, like ‘nything else tht is not in keeping with the snctity of the plce.’"
The Church of Notre-Dme De Toute Grâce du Plteu d'Assy, designed by Murice Novrin, constructed 1937-45
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APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 7
“There the angel of the LORD appeared to him as fire flaming out of a bush… When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to look, God called out to him from the bush: Moses! Moses! He answered, “Here I am.” God said: Do not come near! Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Exodus 3:2-5
Estern Church: doesn’t reserve the Euchrist for the ske of worship fter liturgy. Kept only for sick/bsent members
Western Ctholicism: outside of mss, Blessed Scrment reserved in tberncle: primry plce of orienttion in mny churches.
Since Vticn II, tberncle often in seprte chpel
Thus ttention is shifted to the ltr, to which we bow or genuflect Symbol of Christ, “the living stone.” (GIRM, no. 298, cf. 1 Peter 2:4).
Crucifix usully bove or behind the ltr Enbles visuliztion of relity occurring on ltr nd in community
Est: prt from Euchrist in liturgy itself, icons re primry locus of the scred. Embody “rel presence” of Christ in his own imge nd in tht of his sints. Scrlize wider culture
Post Vticn II Ctholicism: concerned to ressert primcy of liturgy . Would promoting Estern understnding of reverence for icons weken Western liturgicl sensibilities or undo “progress”? Could it serve liturgy?
Connected to issues of theosis nd communion of sints: wht is shred trdition? Ressourcement nd ggiornmento Icon by Mrek Czrnecki, “Mother Do Not Weep for Me” St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church , Oak Lawn, IL
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Pope John Pul II, Orientle Lumen (My 2, Estern provinces influenced by 1995), #1. 100 yers fter Leo XIII’s Apostolic Letter Jewish nd Muslim religions, “Orientlium Dignits” Pulicin sect, Monophysites/Non- “Since, in fct, we believe tht the venerble nd ncient trdition of the Estern Churches is n Chlcedonins integrl prt of the heritge of Christ's Church, the first need for Ctholics is to be fmilir with Desire of iconoclst emperors to tht trdition, so s to be nourished by it nd to encourge the process of unity in the best wy rise morl/intellectul stndrds possible for ech….” fter 7th c. dissters
“The members of the Ctholic Church of the Ltin trdition must lso be fully cquinted with Monks problem for the stte this tresure nd thus feel, with the Pope, pssionte longing tht the full mnifesttion of Tension with ide of emperor s the Church's ctholicity be restored to the Church nd to the world….nd tht we too my “living icon” of Christ Pntocrtor be grnted full tste of the divinely reveled nd undivided heritge of the universl Church Iconoclst bishops blming which is preserved nd grows in the life of the Churches of the Est s in those of the West.” instbility on idoltry of churches Icon by Xeni Pokrovsky, “She Who Seeks the Lost”
Bsic issue: venertion. 843: Empress Theodor Wht is both pproprite to the icon nd nd Ptrirch Methodios nturl to people of our cultures tody? cll council in Sense of “presence” in icons vs. Constntinople restoring decortion for churches. venertion to icons. Aestheticlly icons do not necessrily ppel to everyone: “distortion”? Solemn procession to BUT: invites some sort of interction Hgi Sophi to return icons to church on Mrch If the West is to come to level of comfort with icons, it is necessry first 11, 843, First Sundy of to engge the Estern understnding of wht n icon is. Lent Triumph of Orthodoxy
By 6th c., venertion common, but lso some Aristocrt writing from Mr Sb possible superstitious prctices monstery ner Bethlehem
726: First wve of iconoclsm, Emperor Leo III Argues for respectble trdition of removes icon from the Chlke (Bronze) Gte venertion of imges
John of Dmscus responds New dispenstion: now tht Christ hs come, rules hve chnged 754: Iconoclst Council of Hierei Vindictes goodness of world 787: Second Council of Nice lys out Sys imges re didctic iconodule position Sys God mde humns in God’s 813: Emperor Leo V revives iconoclstic policies imge, so God ws first imge-mker.
815: council llows imges, but still hve Representtionl theory: different problems types of imges ply into understnding relity 843: Synod of Constntinople restores icons with “Triumph of Orthodoxy”
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Aristocrt bbot of Monstery of St. John, (4, cont.) Theodore of Studios: Explins unity of Christ Constntinople, exiled with his icon: “The very sme person is being worshipped, even though Min orthodox defender during second period of he hs been circumscribed [literlly, drwn] in the icon.” iconoclsm (Epistol d Pltonem de cultu scrrum imginum, PG 99, 500-505) Christologicl significnce of icons: 5) John of Dmscus: dignity due to mtter: God is circumscribble in Christ “I depict wht I hve seen of God. I do not venerte The imge restricts God no more thn the body of mtter, I venerte the fshioner of mtter, who becme Christ restricts the Logos mtter for my ske nd ccepted to dwell in mtter nd through mtter worked my slvtion, nd I will not cese Issue of worship: lex orndi, lex credendi. from reverencing mtter, through which my slvtion No point in mking icons if you don’t worship with ws worked… it is filled with divine energy nd grce. them (Tretise I.16). To ssult Christin prctice is to ssult Christin fith Icon hs theologicl, mystgogicl chrcter leding from Affirms connection between mteril nd spiritul the humn to the divine, “from the creted to the world uncreted, uniting them ccording to the snctifying grce of Christ” (Drgs, 19). “The prototype nd the imge hve their being, s it were, in ech other.” (Henry, 82) … Differ in substnce but shre nme. Snctifies sense of sight just s perceiving Scripture snctifies hering (John of Dmscus, I.17, Louth, 31). Argues tht imges ren’t just for the illiterte. St. Theodore of Studios
1) Address fundmentl nxiety tht the icon 6) Theosis/diviniztion: As God becme humn for our might be n idol: ske, so we re clled to be prt of God’s life Bsed on Scripture nd wider Biblicl trdition. OT prohibitions reflect concern to worship God lone. Snctifiction ongoing process beginning with bptism At time Lw ws given, God hd not yet become visible John of Dmscus: just s Christ did not lose his divinity However, fter Incrntion, “when the invisible [hd in becoming humn, so we retin our humnity even s become] visible in the flesh, then [it ws cceptble we re mde divine: “It is by mens of the incrntion to] depict the likeness of something seen.” (John of tht Christ deifies our flesh nd snctifies us by surrendering his Godhed to our flesh without Dmscus, Tretise I.8, Louth, 24). confusion.” (Tretise I. 21, Louth, 35).
2) Incrntion of Christ is model for icons Cretion of imges of sints nd Christ connected with seeing slvtion: Insmuch s sints re deified nd In Incrntion, humnity nd divinity brought prticipte in glory of God, they imge for us divine together: intimte spect of God in the Trinity relity in humn form. (Tretise II.10, Louth, 67-68). Could no longer worship God independently of humnity of Christ Desire to honor God’s presence mong deified Becuse Christ is imge, or eikon, of God, imges re humnity leds Orthodox to venerte icons. fundmentl prt of ultimte relity, criticl to our bility to grsp mening of cretion. Western Euchristic pryer: “By the mystery of this wter nd wine, my we come to shre in the divinity As God is first imge-mker, nd humnity is creted of Christ who humbled himself to shre in our in imge nd likeness of God, so humns re clled humnity” (Romn Missl, 529) to mke imges (Louth, “Beuty Will Sve the World,” 74). John of Dmscus
3) Greek philosophicl ctegories: form nd Scrment: visible sign, instituted by Christ mtter prt of how imge is connected with nd entrusted to the Church to give grce. prototype. Plto: wht is seen in mtter is imge of unseen CCC, no. 1131: “The scrments re efficcious higher idel form. Aristotle: ultimte relity is present here in tngible signs of grce, instituted by Christ nd mtter entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the 4) St. Bsil: honor given to the mteril imge scrments re celebrted signify nd mke psses on to the one depicted. (On the Holy present the grces proper to ech scrment. Spirit, 18.45). They ber fruit in those who receive them with Kenneth Prry: “Although there is difference in essence between imge nd prototype, there is n identity of likeness the required dispositions.” which mens the two re venerted together.” (Depicting the Word: Byzntine Iconophile Thought of the Eighth nd Ninth Centuries, 25) John of Dmscus: icon serves to mke visible the invisible, to help us understnd God As Christ’s humnity nd divinity re connected, (Tretise I.11, Louth 26). so re the imge nd its prototype: uthentic imge of him puts us in the presence of both the humn nd divine. JPII : the icon is, in sense, scrment, working by nlogy to mke present the mystery of the Incrntion (Letter to Artists 18). St. Bsil
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Scrmentls: work with liturgy, prepre Estern understnding: power in icon disposition to receive scrments, extend itself, in resonnce between the imge liturgicl life into the everydy (CCC, no. 1668, 1674-1675). nd holiness of person depicted.
“scred signs by which effects, especilly When people pry to the sints through spiritul effects, re signified in some their icons, the sints re present. imittion of the scrments nd re obtined Proof: mircle-working icons through the intercession of the Church.” (1983 Code of Cnon Lw, Cnon 1166) Leonid Ouspensky: “the icon is n imge not Rúl Gómez: “scrmentls re similr to only of living but lso of deified scrments but differ from them both in their prototype…this is why grce, chrcteristic of origin nd efficcy. They re instituted by the the prototype, is present in the icon. In other Church rther thn by Christ, nd they bring words, it is the grce of the Holy Spirit which bout their spiritul effects by the pryer of the sustins the holiness of both the represented church – ex opere operntis (by the work of the person nd of his icon… the icon prticiptes gent) rther thn by the performnce of the in the holiness of its prototype nd, through work – ex opere operto (by the work the icon, we in turn prticipte in this holiness performed). “Venertion of the Sints nd Beti,” in Directory on in our pryers” (Theology of the Icon, 191). Populr Piety nd the Liturgy: Principles nd Guidelines: A Commentry, Ed. Peter C. Phn, 128).
Drw from definitions of both. Just s divinity of Christ cnnot be John Pul II writes tht icons re “in sense” scrments: “By nlogy with wht occurs in the seprted from his humnity, so holiness scrments, the icon mkes present the mystery of sints cnnot be seprted from their of the Incrntion in one or nother of its imges. spects” (Letter to Artists #8).
Visible, scred signs Pryer is the link. Holy Spirit gives grce to both deified sint nd imge. In pryer, ct s scrmentls: prepre disposition Vlue of iconogrpher’s pryer: work Instituted by Christ or the Church? suffused with pryer connecting humn world with spiritul world of heven. “Efficcious signs” tht “give grce”? Not simply for oneself but s offering nd tool for others. Is icon’s power result of pryer of the person The uthentic icon is gift of communion prying before it (working ex opere operntis) or is power intrinsic to the icon itself, working in Even before nyone prys before n icon, itself (ex opere operto) regrdless of one pryer of the iconogrpher hs lredy been prying before it? connecting the imge with its holy prototype.
Doesn’t redily fit into Ctholic ctegories
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APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 8
“I did once say that to me, art and the saints are the greatest apologetic for our faith.”
Pope Benedict XVI, Dialogue with the Clergy of the Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone, Italy, August 6, 2008 k Pstorl Constitution on the Church in the Modern World
Affirms new forms of rt from round the world (GS 62)
k Constitution on the Pul VI ddress to Itlin Scred Liturgy rtists Apologizes for “cus[ing] Gol: “noble beuty rther trouble” by imposing so mny cnons requiring thn sumptuous disply” (SC imittion rther thn 124) true cretivity
Encourges greter Modern rt ffirmed, but friendship between nothing nsty rtists nd Church Embrces modern rt No style or period given St. Mry’s Ctholic Church of the Byzntine Rite, Mnhttn. exclusive privilege Designed by Brother Cjetn J. B. Bumnn, built in 1964.
Assumption Catholic Church in Merrill, Iowa, with reredos likely from late 1950s
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U.S. Bishops John Pul II “Insofr s it seeks the beutiful… Liturgy s plce of holy rt is by its nture kind of ppel to the mystery… Beuty is key to mystery demnds qulity mystery nd cll to nd ppropriteness in trnscendence. It is n invittion rt. to svor life nd to drem of the future… It stirs tht hidden nostlgi for God…” (LA 10, 16) Art to “serve ction of the liturgy” nd not Reffirms coopertion of rtists distrct from it. nd Church Affirms rt s “source” of Art consultnts theology (LA 11)
Bronze Cross, St. Anstsi Ctholic Church, Troy, MI. Instlled April 7,1989
U.S. Bishops document of guidelines on rt, rchitecture, nd worship
Mture sttement of Church St. Andrew Catholic Church, 1979, Bloomfield, NE position: blnced nd confident
Corrective: reclmtion of devotionl pryer nd rt
St. John’s Bible, first illuminted mnuscript Scred imges to help focus creted since the dvent of the printing press on the liturgy AND to guide devotionl pryer.
By Congregtion for the “Liturgicl rts re integrlly relted to the scrments of the Church Clergy while devotionl rts re designed to enrich the spiritul life of the Full title: Oper Artis, community nd the personl piety of Circulr Letter on the its members” (155) Cre of the Church’s “Prishes will wnt both liturgicl Historicl nd Artistic nd devotionl rt.” (155) Heritge” The high qulity, pproprite imge must be ble to “ber the weight of Deling with period of mystery, we, reverence, nd mjor church wonder,” nd be ble to “evoke St. Wendelin Ctholic Church, Luxemburg, MN, built 1872 wonder… led beyond itself to the simplifiction: how do invisible God.” (148) you hndle the old rt? Votive cndles, Shrine of Our Ldy of Gudlupe, LCrosse, WI
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Withstnd test of qulity nd worthiness Tabernacle, St. Cornelius Catholic Church, Chadd’s Ford, PA At lest some oversight legislted
Not to be idols, but venertion ffirmed
Of concern: Should Western icons be subject to sme stndrds s Est?
How is icon different from other scred rt?
How to ssure tht Western icons re venerted properly?
Do icons get specil tretment?
How to educte congregtions? Icon by Aiden Hrt
GAINED SACRIFICED Does your church pre- dte Vticn II? Sense of primcy of Sometimes nothing personl, communl liturgy recognizble, or inspiring left Wht kind of rt is in Full, conscious, ctive Sometimes lost BOTH your spce? prticiption liturgicl nd devotionl rt Neglected populr devotion: Qulity rt often considered Where is it? Art of vrying styles “unsophisiticted, More complete superstitious, emotionl, How does its loction inculturtion: more individulistic, rectionry, help guide communl or ctholic liturgy nd even ntiliturgicl” personl pryer? (McNmr)
Congregtion for Divine Worship nd the Discipline of the Scrments
Affirming scred imges for populr piety
As with liturgicl imges, devotionl imges to reflect truth in teching fith
From St. Mry Ctholic Cthedrl, Sn Frncisco, CA To reflect fith of ctul community
Imges not to be idols
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APPENDIX C: PRESENTATION 9
“He said to them, ‘Whose image is this and whose inscription?’ They replied, ‘Caesar’s.’ At that he said to them, ‘Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what
belongs to God.’” Erly Church trdition: liturgy on erth prticiptory “foretste” of Matthew 22:21-22 hevenly liturgy of Reveltion
McNmr: We behold the new Jeruslem… (cf. SC no. 8; GIRM no. 318)
Authentic liturgicl imges mke hevenly liturgy visible, scrmentlly present to those on erth, id comprehension of fuller relity of wht is hppening, nd model behvior. (McNmr, CCA, 16) SC, no. 122: “liturgicl rt nd rchitecture to be composed of the ‘signs nd symbols of hevenly relities.’” Both nmnetic remembrnce nd eschtologicl nticiption.
“fundmentlly public”
Helps imgine hevenly relity, begin to understnd one’s own prticiption in it.
To be complete, theologiclly ccurte, nturlistic enough to be legible, bstrct enough to be universl, nd idelized enough to be eschtologicl. (CCA, 144-153)
Revels deified humn relity
Mgisterium hs not given detiled directives on using icons.
CCC 2691: ”The church, the house of God, is the proper plce for the liturgicl pryer of the prish community. It is lso the privileged plce for dortion of the rel presence of Christ in the Blessed Scrment. The choice of fvorble plce is not mtter of indifference for true pryer.” — “Pryer corner” with Scriptures nd icons: for personl pryer, in secret before God. ”In Christin fmily, this kind of little ortory fosters pryer in common.” — Monsteries: “the voction of these communities is to further the prticiption of the fithful in the Liturgy of the Hours nd to provide necessry solitude for more intense personl pryer. — Pilgrimges: “evoke our erthly journey towrd heven nd re trditionlly very specil occsions for renewl in pryer... shrines re specil plces for living the forms of Christin pryer ‘in Church.’”
Directory on Populr Piety nd the Liturgy (2001) no. 238, quoting Nice II, Definitio de scris imginibus): Imges to be “exposed in the holy churches of God, on their furnishings, vestments, on their wlls, s well s in the homes of the fithful nd in the streets.” The fithful honor imges by “decort[ing] them with flowers, lights, nd jewels; they py respect to them in vrious wys, crrying them in procession, hnging ex votos ner them in thnksgiving; they plce them in shrines in the fields nd long the rods.”
Murals by Felix B. Lieftuchter, Cathedral of St. Joseph, Wheeling, WV
Denis McNmr: 3 kinds of scred rt “for venertion which is Liturgicl Art fundmentlly privte nd ssocited with individul piety, or … Devotionl Art [perhps] ssocited with pr- Historicl Art liturgicl events.” (McNmr, “Imge s Scrment,” 63). To integrte icons, first need to define SC no. 125: devotionl imges for possible contexts. venertion should be kept, but their number nd prominence moderted McNmr: Confusing kinds of rt hs so s not to crete confusion mong led to mny of the problems with the fithful. church rt nd rchitecture. Devotionl pryer to come from nd led bck to liturgicl worship. In order to be properly used, ech kind of imge needs its own identity nd to Usul proper plce: seprte spces be used in its own pproprite plce. not in competition with ltr nd rt of the snctury, which reflect the primry importnce of liturgy.
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Scenes from life of Christ or Church history.
Didctic or honorry: less connected with liturgy itself.
Less likely to evoke we or personl devotion.
Tertiry importnce
Proper loction: tends to be outside snctury.
Lines blurred: imges connected with Pssion “Historicl rt.” This could be liturgicl icon if plced in reconcilition room or plce for nointing of the sick.
Meets stndrds: Altr Crucifix: Intended to “[cll] Anticiptes hevenly relities while to mind for the fithful the scrmentlly mking present wht otherwise would be invisible. sving Pssion of the Lord.” Blnces recognizble, relistic forms with styliztion nd ideliztion. To be lrge enough to be seen Depict chrcteristics of both the humn nd the divine. by the congregtion, nd my
Awreness of Communion of Sints: When remin in position even outside mde visible, sints nd ngels help evoke mss (GIRM, 308). celestil celebrtion in which we prticipte.
Built of Living Stones no. 135: “Reflecting the wreness of the Communion of Sints, the Powerful imge for liturgicl or prctice of incorporting symbols of the Trinity devotionl contempltion of the nd imges of Christ, the Blessed Mother, the ngels, nd the sints into the design of church Body of Christ nd the Pschl cretes source of devotion nd pryer … nd should be prt of the design of the church.” (Cf. Mystery present in the SC, no. 8) Euchrist. Processionl Crucifix by Aiden Hrt
How to experience their Cn be displyed or processed. presence s prt of shred Scred Time: erthly liturgy connected with liturgicl relity nd not simply tht of heven in liturgicl yer, mke visible s imges for privte devotion mystery of the fest itself. in public spce? Built of Living Stones, 137: while discussing chllenges of finding right spces for imges of Possibly helpful: situte them sints, speks of spces for imge of the dy. mply bove people rther Issues: Are people expected to venerte such thn t eye level. n icon? Should they light cndles in front of it? Possibly pproprite honor: Flowers, single cndle, spce for people to light smll cndles. Lrge-scle imges: more likely to inspire we nd Plcement ner entrnce: prepres community sense of greter relity to enter scred time of liturgy. Ginluc Busi, Icons in snctury of Seminry Chpel, BLS no. 98: “well-plced religious rt cn fcilitte Albno Lzile, Itly the spiritul trnsition s people move to sense Smller imges: invite more of communl worship.” intimte exchnge of Processing festl icon: Would help mke devotionl pryer. visible the Word being proclimed.
218
Church documents on spce for devotion: Devotionl pryer not to distrct from the liturgy (BLS, no. 131, Cf. SC, no. 13) CCC 2691: “For personl pryer, [the church building cn provide] ‘pryer corner’ with the Scred Scriptures nd icons, in order [tht prishioners my] be there, in secret, before our Fther.”). Possible: spces seprte from nve nd snctury, such s lcoves or smll side chpels for sttues or icons (BLS 137).
Blnce: cler ccessibility nd level of reltive privcy.
Recognize flexibility in pryer forms:
How to present icons for devotionl pryer: context should suggest different kind of spce. Gentle, well-directed lighting: focus nd privcy. Limiting presenttion to only one or mybe severl imges
When such spces re creted for devotionl pryer in churches, sets exmple for how people All Faiths Chapel, U.S. Naval might lso use scred imges for pryer in their Academy, Annapolis, MD homes.
BLS no. 138: “It is prticulrly desirble tht significnt imge of the ptron of the church be fittingly displyed, s well s n imge of Mry, the Mother of God.”
Sints or imges chosen to be of prticulr mening to community (BLS 138) “Populr piety encourges scred imges which reflect the chrcteristics of prticulr cultures; relistic representtions in which the sints re clerly identifible, or which evidently depict specific junctures in humn life: birth, suffering, mrrige, work, deth.” (Directory on Populr Piety nd the Liturgy, no. 243)
Another possibility: rotte imges s pproprite through the liturgicl yer (BLS 137)
Most icons probbly best ctegorized s devotionl imges. Invite more privte personl pryer nd venertion. Different from much other devotionl rt: scrmentl “berers of presence”
Cultivte connection with communion of sints.
Nice II: “the more often we gze on these imges, the quicker we who behold them re led bck to their prototypes in memory nd in hope.” (quoted in Book of Blessings, 465).
Sints: models of holiness drws us towrd beuty of goodness.
Imges of Christ: nurture emotionl connection, increse love for him.
John Pul II: “rt cn represent the form, the effigy of God’s humn fce nd led the one who contempltes it to the ineffble mystery of God mde mn for our slvtion” (DuodecimumSeculum 9) Privte pryer: preprtion for fruitful scrmentl life.
219
Tertiry importnce: Fundmentlly eductionl or honorry
Usully more pproprite outside snctury, nve, nd devotionl chpels
Best spces: gthering re, trnsitionl spces, or perhps church hll or dining re.
Scrmentl nture of icons: If not just decortion, how to honor historicl icon ppropritely?
Possible: flowers, cndle, plcement within spce mrking imge s something specil.
Icon of the Sermon on the Mount, by Kenneth Dowdy
GIRM 315: the plce of the tberncle should be “in John Pul II: “Authentic Christin rt is tht which, prt of the church tht is truly noble, prominent, through sensible perception, gives the intuition tht the Lord is present in his Church, tht the redily visible, beutifully decorted, nd suitble events of slvtion history give mening nd for pryer”; cndle or oil lmp should be kept lit orienttion to our life, tht the glory tht is nerby “to indicte nd honor the presence of promised us lredy trnsforms our existence.” Christ.” (Cf. CCL 938) (Duodecimum Seculum 11). In Church open to ll different kinds of scred rt, BLS 73: Spce dedicted to Christ in the Euchrist how re icons to be treted? to be designed so tht ttention is drwn to the tberncle tht houses the presence of the Lord. Church with only icons: context lone my provide Iconogrphy cn be chosen from symbolism enough guidnce ssocited with Euchrist. Heterogeneous communities: wrrnt multiple styles of scred rt. Deling with Abstrction: perhps imge of Christ Needs creful plnning nd ctechesis. would id fuller comprehension of his presence. Perhps best to provide icons own spce, such tht interction with them not confused with tht for other Honor given to presence of Christ in the icon needs kinds of rt. to be seen s going immeditely towrd Christ in Key: provide necessry context for ech piece Euchrist, nd ultimtely, to Christ Icon by Ginluc Busi, on tberncle door, suggesting pproprite interction. “uncircumscribed.” Church of Pin di Venol-Mrzbotto, Itly
Benedictine Abbey, Blessed Sacrament Chapel, National Shrine of Mt. Angel, OR the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC
People need to be tught wht mkes n icon beutiful, uthentic, nd worthy of venertion.
Busi, 35: icons beutiful to the degree tht they convey the spiritul imge of the divinized figure nd convey the “beuty tht sves”: “the icon is beutiful tht genertes interior beuty” Xeni Pokrovsky: “the church doesn't need gret rt; it needs rt tht's good enough.”
Stndrds for blending, brushwork, clligrphy, nd overll proportion?
Does work dequtely depict truths of belief? Is it cpble of “bering the weight” of devotion nd the trnscendent mystery of God? True beuty “is key to mystery nd cll to trnscendence… It stirs tht hidden nostlgi for God” (Letter to Artists 16).
Clssic Western sense of beuty: “n object is beutiful when it most clerly nd fully revels its ontologicl relity” (McNmr, CCA 21). Aquins: beuty is mrked by integrits, consonnti, nd clrits: wholeness, proportionlity, nd clrity of thing’s inner being.
People cn be tught … to pprecite how qulity icon rdites truth of Christin belief, beuty of holiness, nd wonder of world redeemed, present right in our midst. difference between idoltry nd proper venertion. to pprecite spects of Christin trdition rightly vilble to ll. Monastery of Our Lady of the Annunciation, Quebec
220
Visul reminder: one’s personl fith journey is connected with tht of holy people
Tool for theologicl study
John Pul II: Church needs rt to communicte messge of Christ. “Art must mke perceptible, nd s fr s possible ttrctive, the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of God. It must therefore trnslte into meningful terms tht which is in itself ineffble… It does so without emptying the messge itself of its trnscendent vlue nd its ur of mystery.” (Letter to Artists 12)
Imges hve power to respect the mystery of God nd the Church.
Icons s mode of pre-evngeliztion: Public exhibitions of icons Icons in homes s spiritul meeting point: ▪ Mny people fr from the pths of ecclesil life recover hint of the “spiritul” by buying icons nd plcing them in their homes. In context of profound descrliztionof experience nd of environments, often it is the icon itself tht cn weve fine line between seculriztion nd spiritulity, where other tools do not seem to be present tht could permit the meeting of these sides… This kind of person, feeling sympthy nd closeness with scrmentl like the icon, sserts the need to identify wy of pproching the scred… [Yet] it tkes ptience nd discernment to evlute on wht bsis nd with wht connections imges cn be introduced in worship, so tht they do not encourge prtil forms of membership in the Church.” (Busi, 67, 69)
Icon by Mrek Czrnecki, Cthedrl of the Immculte Conception, Springfield, IL
Need for qulity theologicl nd technicl trining for Ctholic iconogrphers Bsic rtistic skill nd trining Theologicl nd spiritul formtion required for rtists to become dequte vehicles for the scred.
Stndrds for morl behvior nd spiritulity of iconogrphers?
Some sort of locl review process?
Wht kind of liturgicl rt do your churches use? How do visitors respond?
Wht kind of devotionl rt is round your church spce? Where is it? How is it treted? Who decides?
Do you use historicl rt nywhere? How do you use imges to ctechize or to form your community?
Do you hve community rtists? Opportunities for theologicl nd rtistic trining?
221
APPENDIX D: PRE-TEST
Intensive Spiritual Formation Week: Praying with Icons (Pre-test)
Please answer as honestly as possible. All answers will be kept anonymous.
5 4 3 2 1 Please circle the appropriate number. Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly I don’t Agree Disagree know.
1. I know about the traditional 5 4 3 2 1 methods of creating an icon.
2. I am aware of the major principles 5 4 3 2 1 that make an icon “canonical.”
3. I can describe some ways that 5 4 3 2 1 canonical icons differ from traditional Western art.
4. I know of forms of devotional 5 4 3 2 1 prayer that people can use with icons.
5. I know some ways that icons can 5 4 3 2 1 be used in liturgical prayer.
6. I know some ways to use icons in 5 4 3 2 1 catechesis.
7. I have an appreciation for why 5 4 3 2 1 other people may pray with religious images.
8. Personally I am comfortable 5 4 3 2 1 praying with religious images.
Please indicate below what you hope to experience or gain during this part of the Intensive Spiritual Formation Week: 224
APPENDIX E: POST-TEST
Intensive Spiritual Formation Week: Praying with Icons (Post-test)
Please answer as honestly as possible. All answers will be kept anonymous.
5 4 3 2 1 Please circle the appropriate number. Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly I don’t Agree Disagree know.
1. I know about the traditional 5 4 3 2 1 methods of creating an icon.
2. I am aware of the major principles 5 4 3 2 1 that make an icon “canonical.”
3. I can describe some ways that 5 4 3 2 1 canonical icons differ from traditional Western art.
4. I know of forms of devotional 5 4 3 2 1 prayer that people can use with icons.
5. I know some ways that icons can 5 4 3 2 1 be used in liturgical prayer.
6. I know some ways to use icons in 5 4 3 2 1 catechesis.
7. I have an appreciation for why 5 4 3 2 1 other people may pray with religious images.
8. Personally I am comfortable 5 4 3 2 1 praying with religious images.
Please indicate below what you have experienced or gained during this part of the Intensive Spiritual Formation Week: 225
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