THE UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA

Praying with

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 . 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 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 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 . In some parts of the Church, two-dimensional painting, frescoes

and icons have prevailed; elsewhere, three-dimensional statues of 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 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. 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 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 presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

By and large, the Roman has affirmed using images in prayer and worship.

The 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 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 ’ 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 , 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 . 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 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//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 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 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 , 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 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 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 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, , and 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 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 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 (NRSV).

24 Yazykova, 1.

25 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 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, 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

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 .

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 , 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 ,” 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.

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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.

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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 and . 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.

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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 (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.

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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 . 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 .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 , 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 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 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 . 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.

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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 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 (: 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.

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common tradition, even amid other disputes about religious images, early 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 . 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 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 , 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 . 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 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 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 , 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 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 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 , 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 in ,” 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 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 , 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 . 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, 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 . 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 , 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 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 ), called by

Empress Irene. The second wave was to run from 815 to 842, concluding with the “Triumph of

Orthodoxy” at . 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. ( 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 ,

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 , 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 .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 “ 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 .”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 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 , 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 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 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, 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 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 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 .

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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, “ 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 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 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 community to my own nearby house in Ferdinand, Indiana,

Monastery . 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 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:  Usully frontl, “imge,” “representtion,” or “portrit” confronts viewer

 Cn refer to wide rry of  Viewer sees, but lso is religious imges seen.  Typiclly “icon” refers to  portble imge of Jesus,  Holy person ngels, or the sints, understood to be usully pinted on  wooden pnel, nd used for present. devotion.

Mosics of Rvenn: Sn Vitle (c. 540-547), Sn Apollinire in Clsse (c. 549) 2 6

 Trditionlly ssocited “An icon brings the good news into the world by with Estern 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  Mkes dogmtic transfigured and deified; it is the image of the sttements in visul form. kingdom of heaven, the kingdom that is to come and that will restore the harmony now marred  Use prticulr methods to by sin… If an icon depicts a saint, its real convey prticulr forms purpose is to bring us face to face with someone flling within ccepted cnon of imges. 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 , 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. Fyum, Egypt: deth msks a layer of spar varnish.  Idelized portrits of person: sw person s eternlly live Eventually the glare will blend in when we oil the painting.  Believed in resurrection; body mummified to wit return of soul  Continuity in erly icons of Sini 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. Ctherine’s Monstery, Mt. Sini, Egypt: compass fitted with a ruling- pen tip. Acrylic paint works  Key becuse hs erliest existing icons: 6th c. wx encustic best over varnish.  Protected from iconoclsts, conditions good for preservtion. 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. Becuse Christ is the imge of God, imges re  fundmentl prt of ultimte relity, nd re criticl to our bility to grsp the mening of cretion.

34

 Erly Christinity: occsionl fer of flling into pgn prctices, but Christin scred imges clerly widespred by 4th c.  3. Becuse of the union of Christ’s humnity

 St. Bsil (4th c.): The honor given to n imges psses on to its prototype. nd divinity, we cnnot split them, not

 5th - 6th c.: Lighting lmps nd burning incense even when we depict Christ visully.

 6th c. Letter of Bishop Hyptius of Ephesus to Julin of Atrmyton: first reference to proskynesis to imges in churches

 Proskynesis: “venertion,” “kissing towrds,” sometimes including full prostrtion.  Derived from Persin prctice  Greeks mistook this for honoring person s  god; when prctice tken into Romn Empire, used to show tribute to the emperor  Proskynesis: devotion shown to imge or relic to show venertion  Ltri: dortion due to God lone.

 In civil world, icons becme prt of imperil ceremony. 32 35

 5 Min Themes:  4. Sints re holy people prticipting in deified relity, which is lso our cll.  1. Becuse of the Incrntion, Christ nd the sints cn be depicted.

33 36

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Hands-On Experience Opportunities 39

• Make egg emulsion  5. Every icon in some wy represents the • Make egg tempera paint

spiritul stte of the rtist, the Church of • Practice linework.

the time, nd the wider world in which it • Experiment with layering ws creted. colors • Pray while you paint!

37

 3 kinds/purposes of religious rt  Liturgicl  Devotionl  Historicl

 Ctechesis needed:  Wht n icon is nd is not  Nture of venertion vs. dortion  Wys to connect use of icons with liturgicl yer, scrmentl experiences  Wys to pry with icons

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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 iconoclsm, icons more centrl to life nd prctice

 Plcing icons on chncel screen led to development of iconostsis

 Conditions for venertion orgnized

 Sevcenko:consider liturgy in  “wide” sense

 Icons in both privte nd public relms

 Chmbers: personl devotion in liturgicl spce strengthens fith 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"

 KllistosWre:Trdition comprised of Scripture, Councils, Fthers, Liturgy, Cnons, nd Icons.

 “These things re not to be seprted nd contrsted, for it is the sme Holy Spirit which speks through them ll. It hs sometimes been sid tht the underlying cuse for the brek- up of western Christendom in the sixteenth century ws the seprtion between theology nd mysticism, between liturgy nd personl devotion, which existed in the lter Middle Ages. Orthodoxy for its prt hs lwys tried to void ny such division. All true Orthodox theology is mysticl; just s mysticism divorced from theology becomes subjective nd hereticl, scholsticism, ‘cdemic’ in the bd sense of the word. Theology, mysticism, spiritulity, morl rules, worship, rt: these things must not be kept in seprte comprtments.” (The Orthodox Church, 206-207).

 Est: mysticism lwys gol if  St. John of Dmscus: “I sw the humn fce not rule of God, nd my soul ws sved”  Cultivting reltionship  Pryerful devotion to sints  Hns Belting: “Medittion in front of religious present in their icons is open to imges ws n ctivity tht enbled ly people ll. to ply the role of sints nd to live temporrily like  sint. The prctice of imge devotion involved the sme imges tht hd  Love of outwrd beuty should been used by the sints nd hd inspired led to love of spiritul beuty. their visions. By trining their own imgintion, urbn people spordiclly entered the sints’ community, t lest in the  Importnt: God’s presence in the prescribed exercise of dily devotion in which world nd constnt need to imges offered the first stimulus. Imges remember helped overcome the limits of religious experience, which were imposed on the lity becuse of their seculr life with its mny  Orthodox Church: no forml prcticl needs.” (Likeness nd Presence, 362) system of medittion, but  Belting: the “icon is  medium for seeing spiritulity suffused with bodies” reflection on the Bible.

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 Blick nd Gelfnd: All devotionl  Like liturgicl objects designed for interction. pryer:  Medievl West: looking for scrmentl emotionl connection,  sense of “thetricl presence”  We re both body  Senses fully involved nd soul!  “Of course, beyond ctul sensul perception ly  wish  Ex: lighting to lso experience things tht could only be understood by cndles, crossing fith: to see the inner relities oneself, bowing, of our bfflingly physicl world nd to chieve intimcy with mking the divine without medition.” prostrtions. (Push Me, Pull You, xlii)

 Apophtic vs. ktphtic pryer

 Columb Stewrt, OSB: “We re bsolutely influenced by wht we see nd our senses, nd our imgintion ffects wht we do with it spiritully. Ascetic discipline is bout trining our cpcity to see, so tht we cn see clerly nd hve insight into Scripture.“

 Evgrius of Ponticus: scetic discipline t the service of pryer

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 How do we trin our senses to foster  helthy spiritul imgintion?

 Wht is the difference between creting n osis of beuty nd lerning to see with new eyes?

 How do we cultivte 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  Russin: Podlinniki

 Most fmous:  Pinter’s Mnul of Dionysius of Fourn  Usrov nd Vticn City, Bibliotec Antoniev-Sisky Apostolic Vticn, MS Vticnus Pltinus Pinters’ Mnul grecus 209, fol. 284 verso

 Cnon 73: importnce of the holy cross nd  Geometry: its venertion  Most icon proportions bsed on simple numbers:  Cnon 100: prohibited “deceiving pintings ▪ About 30% of icons which being exposed to public view corrupt hve 3:4 rtio the intelligence by exciting shmeful ▪ 30% hve 4:5 plesures…” ▪ 10% of icons hve proportions of 2:3, 5:7, or 5:6.  Cnon 82: Jesus no longer to be depicted s ▪ For full figures, 2:5 or lmb, but s  humn 1:3 used.

 Colors: “The canon, rather than depriving the icon Pseudo-Dionysius (The Celestil Hierrchy):  How does God communicte Himself to cretures so tht cretures painter of freedom, more accurately holds up an cn prticipte in his Divine life? ideal and a goal. The canon orients the icon toward a prototype. Properly understood, a  “Agin, of the mny colored vrieties of stones, the white represents tht 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 ech figure you will the faithful, it represents something find  mysticl interprettion which reltes these symbolicl imges to the things bove. The symbolism of horses represents obedience nd approximating the ‘true likeness’ of embodied trctbility. The shining white horses denote cler truth nd tht which holiness. Reference to a prototype helps prevent is perfectly ssimilted to the Divine Light; the drk, tht which is hidden nd secret; the red, fiery might nd energy; the dppled blck iconographers from losing their way.” nd white, tht power which trverses ll nd connects the extremes, (Irina Yazykova, Hidden and Triumphant, 10) providentilly nd with perfecting power uniting the highest to the lowest nd the lowest to the highest.” (Sendler, 152)

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 Colors  Trnsfigured Light

 White: divinity, purity, light, clm, glory nd power  Comes not from externl source but from God  Blue: trnscendence, trnquility, depth ▪ No shdows No reflection in eyes.  Red: “incndescence” (Dionysius), like red hot metl, ctivity, ▪ dynmism, moving out of oneself. Cn be color of bckground, like gold nd white. Like blood/life.  Portry “the uncreted light”  Purple: welth, power, sign of consecrtion, royl, priestly. described by Gregory Plms

 Green: nture, life, vegettion, symbol of hope, growth, fertility, youth, vitlity, clm, neutrl.  Everything moves out towrd specttor, including light.  Brown: reflects density of mtter, erthly, color of sceticism

 Blck: totl bsence of light, night  Yet icon’s light is lso bsed in relity.  Yellow: Dionysius: no symbolic mening of its own, though close to gold nd light.

 Inverse Perspective  Outside Time:  Rther thn objects in bckground getting smller  Multiple scenes my s they pper frther in be represented t once distnce, things t  distnce get lrger

 Gives sense of form without volume, shpe without specil depth

 Reflects icon’s role s window

 Rther thn shrinking one’s world, opens up to mystery of God’s infinity.

 Trnsfigured Relity  1551 Stoglv Council in Moscow:  No physicl defects in “An iconogrpher shll be reverentil, humble, not heven given to vin tlk or clownery; not qurrelsome or of n envious nture; shll not be  drunkrd, or  thief,  All in order or  murderer; most importnt of ll, he must gurd to the utmost the purity of his own soul nd body, nd whosoever is unble to endure in this stte till the end, let him mrry ccording to the lw. The rtist should regulrly seek the dvice of  spiritul fther, listening to his counsel in ll things nd living ccordingly, fsting, prying, nd leding  life of restrint nd humility, devoid of shme nd disgrce…. If ny mster pinter, or one of his students, should begin to live in  mnner contrry to the rules… then the Church hierrchs re to plce such persons under discipline, must forbid them from pinting, nd not llow them to [even] touch their pints.” (quoted in Yzykov, 37)

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 “Westernizing influences” Find several different iconic images of the same figure or gve wy to birth of Biblical scene. Renissnce 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 iconogrphic stndrds in the common? Est a What aspects of the images strike you as representing canonical standards?  Mnier grec: Westernized a Describe how you see inverse perspective in this work. style of Byzntine What colors are typical or symbolic? iconogrphy th a Are there any aspects that seem odd or perhaps non-  widespred by 13 c. canonical?  imgintive Western a If a Scriptural figure, how accurately does your image interprettions portray the Biblical text?  sense of communicbility nd a Look up your image in the Painter’s Manual. How do the wrmth of emotion, greter images you have found compare with the description nimtion of subjects’ eyes prescribed by Dionysius of Fourna? nd mouths. Coppo di Mrcovldo, Mdonn nd Child, 1265, S. Mrtino dei Servi, Orvieto, Itly

 Reference to limited erthly spce.

 Humnism rther thn reference to theocentric eternl spce

 Belting : “icons were not just imges like other imges. They required worship [sic] nd thus hd to ddress the clim tht they were justly qulified for venertion. It ws not the visible record of our world but the epiphny of nother,  trnscendentl world which they were ment to represent. Seen with Itlin eyes… such icons turned into  mjor problem for Itlin rt. The Renissnce revision of the imge demnded rdicl visibility resulting in the eqution of the visible with the rel in our gze.” (73)

Duccio di Buoninsegn, “Virgin nd Child in Mjesty,” from min pnel of “Mest Altrpiece,” Sien Cthedrl, 1308-11

Michaelangelo, The

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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?

 Emphsis vries, but should reflect how the Church is one, holy, ctholic, nd postolic.

 Wht is the biding, unifying truth depicted?

 Wht is holy bout it?

 Wht is universl, or ctholic, bout it? Does it unite ll people, or divide them?

 Wht is postolic, or evngelistic bout it? Is this imge “sent” to proclim the truth of life in Jesus Christ to the world? The Trnsfigurtion

 Forces driving Western  1. Articultion of Christin interest in theology icons?  2. Differences of  Implictions? Custom

 Wht kind of  3. Reflection on ecumenicl interctions devotions prticulr does this foster to one Church or the between Orthodox, other Ctholics, Anglicns, nd Protestnts?  4. Sints

 Wht do the inscriptions or the title emphsize?  My hve common theology, but different emphsis  Who re the figures? Why re they depicted in n icon? (Why re they considered sints? According to whom?) How re the  Exmples: figures in reltion to ech other? Wht does tht sy bout their reltion to God or our reltion to them?  “Dormition of the Theotokos” vs. “The Assumption of Mry.”  If deling with  historicl Church event depicted visully, wht  “The Virgin Mry” vs. “The Theotokos prt of the trdition is it enlightening or emphsizing?  Use of sources: Trdition vs Scripture  How do the colors reflect trditionl symbolic menings? Wht  Mny Orthodox imges re bsed on do they sy bout people nd the world depicted? trdition (or pocryphl sources) s well s Scripture.  How does the perspective spek bout the spiritul world? Is it  The ldder of John Climcus: techniclly he’s  multidimensionl view tht opens up into something bigger  sint in both trditions, but his Ldder of nd different, or  nturlistic perspective tht gets smller Divine Ascent is better known nd integrted frther wy from you, or re chrcters depicted in hrd two- into Orthodox life nd Trdition. dimensionl profiles? Is it  frctured relity or  coherent view? Wht does this sy bout the spiritul world?  Ctholics often emphsize the humn Mother of God visiting St. Segei of Rdonezh nd cell-mte Mikhei, with Sts. Peter nd more thn the divine, while the John  Is the orgniztion orderly, reflecting  redeemed world where Orthodox often emphsize the divine God hs triumphed over evil through the redemptive work of more thn the humn. Christ? [Logos = word, but lso lw, order, reson.]

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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 emphsis on prticulr sints, even if common to both St. Margaret Queen of Scotland

 Some typicl colors tend to differ.

 “Props”: Ctholic sints my hold  rosry, while Orthodox sints might hold  pryer rope.

 Titles lso differ, emphsizing different spects of  mystery.

 Different styles of clothing Our Ldy of the Pssion

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Church of St. Matthias, Rome

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 Ctholic devotions rose from inspirtion given to prticulr Ctholic sints  certin “Ctholic” imges.

 Some Orthodox imges ssocited with prticulr Orthodox ntionl churches, just s some Ctholic imges connect with ethnic bckground. Synaxis of the Saints of America, by Fr. Luke Our Ldy 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

 Sints re mde in both the Ctholic nd Orthodox Church.

 No Church hs exclusive “rights” to ny sint, but mny better known in one thn the other.

 Orthodox sints: Sergei of Rdonezh, Serphim of Srov, John of Sn Frncisco, Hermn of Alsk, Elizbeth the New Mrtyr.

 Ctholic sints: John Henry Crdinl Newmn, Ginn Moll, Josephine Bkhit, Mximilin Kolbe my not be fmilir to Orthodox  Fmous sints well-known cross trditions.

 Sints from before the split: postles, Bsil, John Chrysostom, Gregory of Nzinzn, Benedict  Belong to ll of us!

St. Xenia

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St. Kassia

St. Macrina the Younger

St. Elizabeth the New Martyr

 Wht’s the gol?

 Need  synthesis: Estern techniques nd shred theologicl worldview, with prticulrly Ctholic content.

 To be n icon:  Theologiclly true  Aestheticlly dequte to subject  Uses “semntics” or “lnguge” of iconogrphy

 Imge invites you into pryer.  Should sense:  Holiness of the one depicted  Love of the Church  Love of creted world  Pryerful love nd work of iconogrpher

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 Find n icon tht could be considered “Orthodox.” Find nother tht could be considered “Ctholic.”

 Why do you ctegorize ech s you do?

 Do you consider both to be truly “icons” in the cnonicl understnding 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 delicte!  How to foster trust?  Impertive: Ctholics nd Protestnts need to lern more bout Estern theology, nd s much s possible, follow Orthodox stndrds when it comes to creting or propgting icons in the West.

 Hsn’t hppened with consistency.  Low qulity icon workbooks nd workshops  No credentils required of techers.  Web: esy to propgte poor imges

 Of concern: using wht ppers to be icon medium to do something other thn the uthentic work of  cnonicl 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:  Vticn II’s 1964 Unittis Redintegrtio (no. 1):  Use of  frontl view  “In ecumenicl work, Ctholics ssuredly  Simplified bckground must be concerned for their seprted  Hlos brethren… their primry duty is to mke   Inscriptions creful nd honest pprisl of whtever  Some inverse perspective needs to be renewed nd done in the Ctholic household itself, in order tht its  Lcking:  Shred theologicl worldview life my ber witness more clerly nd  Trnsfigured, deified relity: world fithfully to the techings nd institutions redeemed which hve been hnded down from  Use of inverse perspective to invite us into Christ through the Apostles.”  spiritul world  Grssroots ecumenicl efforts need to strt  The icon, in both the Estern nd Western understnding, is  “source” of theology. It with ttention to the wider effects of our own

needs to revel truth. Robert LentzL Christ of MaryknollL behvior. https://www.trinitystores.com/store/art-image/christ- maryknoll Marek Czarnecki, St. Kateri Tekakwitha

 Denis McNmr: Imges tht depict too much of n erthly perspective, rther thn hevenly relity, re insufficient s liturgicl rt (“Imge s Scrment,” 60).

 John Pul II : “scred rt must be outstnding for its bility to express dequtely the mystery grsped in the fullness of the Church’s fith.” (Ecclesi de Euchristi, 50).

William Hart McNichols, The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, http://wwwNfatherbillNorg/galleryNphp?action=viewPicture&id=2P5&gall_id=16

 Orthodox: nthemtize such imges

 Ctholic Church: no coherent review process or officil response.

 Sufficient to decide these re not icons per se?

 Question of deception nd confusion  Intuition: Most cn sense the icon form suggests whtever is depicted is considered hllowed.  Theology mde visible: suggests beliefs depicted re set nd pproved.

 The icon to clrify relity, not obscure it.

 Art tht belongs to the Church is to reflect teching 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 (Euchrist/mss)  Reflects differences of lnguge, theology, politicl power, nd geogrphy.  Divine Office (cnonicl hours)  Scred Mysteries (other scrments: bptism, chrismtion, crowning, unction, pennce,  With time, vrious forces led to the grdul division of ordintion) the Estern nd Western Churches.  Liturgicl Yer with fixed nd moveble fests  Cme to  hed with 1054 Gret Schism.  Smller services nd blessings (consecrtion of church, exorcism, monstic investiture, etc.)  As Western Christins under the ptrirch of Rome,  Icons prt of every liturgicl setting. we re Romn Ctholic. We follow Ltin Rite liturgy.  Icon of ptron sint given t bptism  At mrrige, fthers of spouses bless them with icons   At funerl, bptisml icon nd icon of Virgin precede Estern Churches, under the vrious ptrirchs, lso funerl procession follow different rites, or forms of liturgy.  In home: icon to be greeted with pryer nd homge  Portble icons: for journey

 Assyrin Church of the Est  Plces:  6 Orientl Orthodox churches: in communion with ech  Rome other  Orientl Orthodox generlly mens non-Chlcedonin  Antioch  Ex: Coptic Orthodox Church, Ethiopin Orthodox Tewhedo Church  Jeruslem

 Estern Orthodox Church: communion of ntionl or  Bethlehem Autocephlous Orthodox regionl churches, most recognizing the Ptrirch of Church in Georgi  Constntinople s point of unity Plestinin Monsticism  Ex: Orthodox Church of Russi, Antiochin Orthodox, Greek Orthodox  Other Sources:  Estern Ctholic Churches: 22 of 23 utonomous self-  Imperil court governing churches ll in communion with the Church of Rome nd the pope.  Domestic rituls  Generlly ech corresponds to  similr Orthodox church nd follows similr liturgy.  Theologicl commentry  Ex: MroniteCtholic Church, Chlden Ctholic Church, Syro- Mlbr Ctholic Church, Coptic Ctholic Church, Ukrnin  Populr liturgicl piety Ctholic Church

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 Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom  Liturgy of St. Bsil the Gret  Liturgy of St. Jmes  Service of the Presnctified Gifts

 Correct belief seen in worship, in pryer  Lex orndi, lex credendi.  Church to pss on deposit of fith, received nd encted through liturgicl customs.

 Min Purpose: remission of sins nd snctifiction of fithful. Imge of the divine world itself.

 Cbsils (14th c.): Liturgicl representtion of Christ nd his deeds initite nd renew fith, leding to union with Christ

 Contempltion nd pryer led to fith nd desire for God

 Liturgy informs who we re s Church

 Worship personl nd corporte  Lots of music  Involves direct experience nd  Incense (with bells) remembrnce  Colorful detiled vestments  Structure represents divine economy nd proclims Gospel  Gestures  Imges  Centrl ide is Light  Tste  Tends to be BEAUTIFUL  Music s key s imges:  Unhurried qulity  Kontkion: genre of hymnogrphy  Very sense-oriented  Most fmous: Akthistos in honor of Theotokos  Both clergy nd lity hve ctive roles Kssi the Hymnist

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 Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom excerpts http://www.youtube.com/wtch?v =IxTGLbNMGVk

 Russin chnt http://www.youtube.com/wtch?v =Hbl4u7CIMd0

 Georgin chnt https://www.youtube.com/wtch? v=6V8CoyzBc4E

 Decon hs prominent role: cntor St. Nicholas Cathedral,  Acolytes nd multiple priests Washington, DC  Role of choir

 Scriptures: often proclimed in chnt

 Priest usully fces ltr towrd Est when speking to God, nd fces people when speking to people. Not everything behind iconostsis.

 On entrnce, proskynesis t icon stnds

 Free movement: Trditionlly no pews.

 For immedite venertion on entering the church.

 First pproch icon of Christ, then Theotokos, then icon of the fest dy or liturgicl cycle.

 Venertion:  Light cndles  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. 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 , Goshen, IN

St . Andrew, at St. Andrew’s  Strts Sept. 8: Birth Orthodox Church, Lexington, KY. Icons by Xenia of Mry Pokrovsky  Gregorin vs. Julin Clendr

 Icons mrk every fest: scred time

Icon of fests of Mrch

“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 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 (Jn. 1)  The Three Gret Hierrchs (Jn. 30)  Resurrection of Lzrus (dy before Plm Sundy)  Ntivity of John the Bptist (June 24)  Crucifixion  Beheding of John the Bptist (Aug. 29)  The Holy Trinity  Conception of Mry  Sts. Peter nd Pul (June 29)  Mysticl Supper  St. Nichols the Wonderworker (Dec. 6)  Triumph of Orthodoxy (First Sundy of Gret Lent)  The Protecting Veil of the Mother of God (Oct. 1)  All Sints (1st Sun. fter Pentecost)

 The Gret Fst (Lent)  The Fst of the Apostles  Dormition Fst  Christms Fst

 Also, ll Wednesdys nd Fridys re fst dys, except between Christms nd Epiphny, Ester week, nd week fter Pentecost.

 Exulttion of the Cross, Beheding of JBp, nd eve of Epiphny re lso fsts.

 Wht spects of Estern liturgicl life re prt of your own liturgicl life?

 How re your spces nd customs different?

 Does your community mrk scred time with use of prticulr imges?

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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, Pstorl Letter of 1905: Psalm 27:7-9  “The imge in itself is nothing. There is nothing superhumn or divine in it, nothing whtever. It is not to it tht we pry or do reverence, it is not to it tht we put our fith, but in tht which it represents. For this reson the hving one imge or nother, this sttue or tht, is  mtter of indifference. Every now nd then it is not so with the fithful. They wnt  prticulr imge or sttue nd honor nd venerte it more thn nother, lthough often it might be rtisticlly inferior to the other, nd even not decorous; yet if it is suggested to lter or remove it somewhere else, or exchnge it for  better, they ll protest nd cry out nd oppose its removl. Is not this  sign of superstition? If they ct thus becuse the imge is der to them, nd derer s hving been reverenced by their fthers, becuse bound up with memories, or becuse it excites their devotion to  greter degree, then their conduct my be tolerted. But I m frid tht the true reson is tht in their ignornce they see in it n undefinble something divine,  certin mysterious virtue, nd this is  remnnt of pgnism nd idoltry prohibited by the Council of Trent.”

▪ [On Religious Worship nd Some Defects in Populr Devotion, (London, 1906), pp. 105-106, quoted in Peter Fingensten, “Towrd  New Definition of Religious Art,” p. 140]

 Yers of embellishment led to  Anything “shoddy, trsh, tripe, slush, confusion regrding roles of chep sentimentlity, hokum, sob-stuff” devotionl nd liturgicl rt  “ work which in some wy clims to belong to the relm of rt but in some  Idel of “noble simplicity” led to respect remins indequte” new iconoclsm  Alwys present: “the bogus, spurious, untruthful, nd chepness”  Modern rt nd churches  “the disingenuous choice of subject  Conflicts: together with the im of getting  chep effect”  Lose the low-qulity, discrd wht’s beloved? From St. Edwrd Ctholic Church, Elmdle, MN  “When n rtist’s experience is trshy,  Blnce between rtistic freedom the work [produced] is likely to be nd rightly-given guidnce of kitsch– esthetic trsh” Church  “rtistic miscrrige” (Richrd Egenter, The Desecrtion of Christ)

 Post-Industril Revolution,  Religious title given to  non-religious imge desire for wrmth, color,  Trying to evoke  religious response with emotionl ppel t  lower level liveliness in churches  Focusing on the effect on specttor rther thn truth to be conveyed

 Lck of sincerity  Trums of modern world  Sweetness/idelism without relity desire for return to  softer,  Lck of chllenge: ppernce of sexless, effortless snctity “Christin world”  Tking wy fer element from ngels, the Pssion, etc.  Bogus ide with bd execution

 Ideliztion of medievl  Slovenly, meningless imges (not the simplicity of gret rt) neo-Gothic, plus Broque nd Rococo  Imittion mterils, stereotyped figures  Goes beyond imges:  Hymns with wek devotionl lnguge  Distrction… wht’s privte?  Flse zel in “edifying literture” Wht’s public?  Unctuous or emotionl sermons tht present the priest rther thn God Veit Stoss Altr, St. Mry’s Church, Krkow

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 Kitsch cn be present in either the work of rt or in the response to it.

 1. Respond to true or kitsch rt in kitschy fshion: your religion hs kitsch elements nd you re prtly to blme

 2. Mixed response: prt genuine/prt kitsch (comes from either the work or from viewer)

 3. Genuine religious experience from work which is in fct kitsch but hs 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 rel in both the esthetic nd the spiritul sphere. It lso, like every other work of rt, requires technicl skill.” (110)

 “[Religious rt]…must be the expression of the inner trnsformtion of the subject into something of universl vlidity through… the rtist’s unique, individul style… prticulrly… in  religious work, since without this personl commitment wht ppers to sense cn never be trnsformed into  scrmentl symbol.” (110)

 “In the light of Christin ethics, rt is not n ornmentl ddition to humn life but n essentil. A right reltionship to rt is therefore one of the morl requirements with which the morl theologin nd the priest must concern themselves” (129)

 Ctegories in religious rt:  Gol: renew the liturgy  1. Religious subjects tht ren’t yet rt (tringle 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) Mri Lch, Mredsous, Mont Cesr, Solesmes, Collegeville, MN  3. Genuine works of religious subject but creted without religious experience  Virgil Michel: brought it to the U.S.  4. Work lcking esthetic qulity (either  Church s the Mysticl Body of rtisticlly indequte, overly relistic, Christ or kitsch using religious subject)  Liturgy nd socil ction linked: love God nd neighbor  5. Kitsch religious rt (some bogus element, frivolity, sentimentlity yielding kitsch response)

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 John Julin Ryn: “Send forth boys nd  Power girls exceptionlly skilled in worshipping God in the mnner in which He wishes to be worshipped,  Simplicity: teching power lerning to pry continully with the whole Church, singing the chnts tht  Abstrction: ineffbility of re the voice of the Church, tking prt mysticl experience in ech Mss with n understnding of its generl nd specil significnce to the whole liturgicl yer. They must  “economy of expression” lern to pprecite nd dispose dignified themselves for the most fruitful reception of every Scrment they re  “tend[s] towrd honesty nd to receive s well s to tke full dvntge of their work of restoring ll sincerity”: depicting relity things in Christ, of even the lest of the rther thn illusion. Church’s scrmentls nd blessings. The properly trined Ctholics become  Represents its own time nd expert members of the Mysticl Body plce of Christ.” (Beyond Humnism, 62) Arcbs (Jen-Mrie Pirot), Resurrection, St Pul de Meythet Church, 1998

 Founded 1928

 Crftsmen’s Service

 Building nd Informtion Service

 Exhibitions nd competitions Abbey Church of St. John the Baptist, St. John’s Abbey,  Liturgicl Arts mgzine Collegeville, MN

 Worked ginst kitsch in churches nd influenced Vticn II

 Eric Gill nd Jcques Mritin:  Scred rt: rt to be used in church with power to evngelize  “rt for rt’s ske” vs rt t service  Religious rt: rt with  religious theme but which doesn’t of Church necessrily belong in church  Prophetic role of rtists?  Orte Frtres:  Liturgicl rt: “the plnning, building, nd decortion of  churches nd ll ncillry structures, the renovtion nd Work negting intelligible remodeling of existing buildings; the design nd execution of representtive subject mtter: scred vessels, vestments, sculpture, nd pinting; lso … recognizbility nd mening music nd other mtters which re subject to liturgicl usge” (White, 112)  Church documents:  Jcques Mritin: uthentic liturgicl rt  1932 Pius XI ddress t dediction of  1) reflects techings of the Church Vticn Picture Gllery  2) works within norms of liturgicl usge  1947 Pius XII Meditor Dei et  3) religious rther thn cdemic or sentimentl in its Hominum inspirtion.  1952 Pius XII instruction of the Holy Office De rte scr  John L Frge: liturgicl rt “should reflect by its very nture, not only rubricl correctness but the spirit of the officil worship itself, the spirit of the Church prying…” Crucifix t Church of Assy

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 “Wht We hve sid bout music, pplies to the other fine rts, especilly to rchitecture, sculpture nd pinting. Recent works of rt which lend themselves to the mterils of modern composition, should not be universlly despised nd rejected through prejudice. Modern rt should be given free scope in the due nd reverent service of the church nd the scred rites, provided tht they preserve  correct blnce between styles tending neither to extreme relism nor to excessive "symbolism," nd tht the needs of the Christin community re tken into considertion rther thn the prticulr tste or tlent of the individul rtist. ... Nevertheless, ... We cnnot 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 Christin tste, modesty nd devotion, nd shmefully offend the true religious sense. These must be entirely excluded nd bnished from our churches, like ‘nything else tht is not in keeping with the snctity of the plce.’"

The Church of Notre-Dme De Toute Grâce du Plteu d'Assy, designed by Murice Novrin, 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

 Estern Church: doesn’t reserve the Euchrist for the ske of worship fter liturgy. Kept only for sick/bsent members

 Western Ctholicism: outside of mss, Blessed Scrment reserved in tberncle: primry plce of orienttion in mny churches.

 Since Vticn II, tberncle often in  seprte chpel

 Thus ttention is shifted to the ltr, to which we bow or genuflect  Symbol of Christ, “the living stone.” (GIRM, no. 298, cf. 1 Peter 2:4).

 Crucifix usully bove or behind the ltr  Enbles visuliztion of relity occurring on ltr nd in community

 Est: prt from Euchrist in liturgy itself, icons re primry locus of the scred.  Embody “rel presence” of Christ in his own imge nd in tht of his sints.  Scrlize wider culture

 Post Vticn II Ctholicism: concerned to ressert primcy of liturgy .  Would promoting Estern understnding of reverence for icons weken Western liturgicl sensibilities or undo “progress”?  Could it serve liturgy?

 Connected to issues of theosis nd communion of sints: wht is shred trdition?  Ressourcement nd ggiornmento Icon by Mrek Czrnecki, “Mother Do Not Weep for Me” St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church , Oak Lawn, IL

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 Pope John Pul II, Orientle Lumen (My 2,  Estern provinces influenced by 1995), #1.  100 yers fter Leo XIII’s Apostolic Letter Jewish nd Muslim religions, “Orientlium Dignits” Pulicin sect, Monophysites/Non-  “Since, in fct, we believe tht the venerble nd ncient trdition of the Estern Churches is n Chlcedonins integrl prt of the heritge of Christ's Church, the first need for Ctholics is to be fmilir with  Desire of iconoclst emperors to tht trdition, so s to be nourished by it nd to encourge the process of unity in the best wy rise morl/intellectul stndrds possible for ech….” fter 7th c. dissters

 “The members of the Ctholic Church of the Ltin trdition must lso be fully cquinted with  Monks  problem for the stte this tresure nd thus feel, with the Pope,  pssionte longing tht the full mnifesttion of  Tension with ide of emperor s the Church's ctholicity be restored to the Church nd to the world….nd tht we too my “living icon” of Christ Pntocrtor be grnted  full tste of the divinely reveled nd undivided heritge of the universl Church  Iconoclst bishops blming which is preserved nd grows in the life of the Churches of the Est s in those of the West.” instbility on idoltry of churches Icon by Xeni Pokrovsky, “She Who Seeks the Lost”

 Bsic issue: venertion.  843: Empress Theodor  Wht is both pproprite to the icon nd nd Ptrirch Methodios nturl to people of our cultures tody? cll council in  Sense of “presence” in icons vs. Constntinople restoring decortion for churches. venertion to icons.  Aestheticlly icons do not necessrily ppel to everyone: “distortion”?  Solemn procession to  BUT: invites some sort of interction Hgi Sophi to return icons to church on Mrch  If the West is to come to  level of comfort with icons, it is necessry first 11, 843, First Sundy of to engge the Estern understnding of wht n icon is. Lent  Triumph of Orthodoxy

 By 6th c., venertion common, but lso some  Aristocrt writing from Mr Sb possible superstitious prctices monstery ner Bethlehem

 726: First wve of iconoclsm, Emperor Leo III  Argues for respectble trdition of removes icon from the Chlke (Bronze) Gte venertion of imges

 John of Dmscus responds  New dispenstion: now tht Christ hs come, rules hve chnged  754: Iconoclst Council of Hierei  Vindictes goodness of world  787: Second Council of Nice lys out  Sys imges re didctic iconodule position  Sys God mde humns in God’s  813: Emperor Leo V revives iconoclstic policies imge, so God ws first imge-mker.

 815: council llows imges, but still hve  Representtionl theory: different problems types of imges ply into understnding relity  843: Synod of Constntinople restores icons with “Triumph of Orthodoxy”

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 Aristocrt bbot of Monstery of St. John,  (4, cont.) Theodore of Studios: Explins unity of Christ Constntinople, exiled with his icon:  “The very sme person is being worshipped, even though  Min orthodox defender during second period of he hs been circumscribed [literlly, drwn] in the icon.” iconoclsm (Epistol d Pltonem de cultu scrrum imginum, PG 99, 500-505)  Christologicl significnce of icons:  5) John of Dmscus: dignity due to mtter:  God is circumscribble in Christ  “I depict wht I hve seen of God. I do not venerte  The imge restricts God no more thn the body of mtter, I venerte the fshioner of mtter, who becme Christ restricts the Logos mtter for my ske nd ccepted to dwell in mtter nd through mtter worked my slvtion, nd I will not cese  Issue of worship: lex orndi, lex credendi. from reverencing mtter, through which my slvtion  No point in mking icons if you don’t worship with ws worked… it is filled with divine energy nd grce. them (Tretise I.16).  To ssult Christin prctice is to ssult Christin fith  Icon hs theologicl, mystgogicl chrcter leding from  Affirms connection between mteril nd spiritul the humn to the divine, “from the creted to the world uncreted, uniting them ccording to the snctifying grce of Christ” (Drgs, 19).  “The prototype nd the imge hve their being, s it were, in ech other.” (Henry, 82) … Differ in substnce but shre  nme.  Snctifies sense of sight just s perceiving Scripture snctifies hering (John of Dmscus, I.17, Louth, 31).  Argues tht imges ren’t just for the illiterte. St. Theodore of Studios

 1) Address fundmentl nxiety tht the icon  6) Theosis/diviniztion: As God becme humn for our might be n idol: ske, so we re clled to be prt of God’s life  Bsed on Scripture nd wider Biblicl trdition.  OT prohibitions reflect concern to worship God lone.  Snctifiction ongoing process beginning with bptism  At time Lw ws given, God hd not yet become visible  John of Dmscus: just s Christ did not lose his divinity  However, fter Incrntion, “when the invisible [hd in becoming humn, so we retin our humnity even s become] visible in the flesh, then [it ws cceptble we re mde divine: “It is by mens of the incrntion to] depict the likeness of something seen.” (John of tht Christ deifies our flesh nd snctifies us by surrendering his Godhed to our flesh without Dmscus, Tretise I.8, Louth, 24). confusion.” (Tretise I. 21, Louth, 35).

 2) Incrntion of Christ is model for icons  Cretion of imges of sints nd Christ connected with seeing slvtion: Insmuch s sints re deified nd  In Incrntion, humnity nd divinity brought prticipte in glory of God, they imge for us divine together: intimte spect of God in the Trinity relity in humn form. (Tretise II.10, Louth, 67-68).  Could no longer worship God independently of humnity of Christ  Desire to honor God’s presence mong deified  Becuse Christ is imge, or eikon, of God, imges re humnity leds Orthodox to venerte icons. fundmentl prt of ultimte relity, criticl to our bility to grsp mening of cretion.  Western Euchristic pryer: “By the mystery of this wter nd wine, my we come to shre in the divinity  As God is first imge-mker, nd humnity is creted of Christ who humbled himself to shre in our in imge nd likeness of God, so humns re clled humnity” (Romn Missl, 529) to mke imges (Louth, “Beuty Will Sve the World,” 74). John of Dmscus

 3) Greek philosophicl ctegories: form nd  Scrment:  visible sign, instituted by Christ mtter prt of how imge is connected with nd entrusted to the Church to give grce. prototype.  Plto: wht is seen in mtter is imge of unseen  CCC, no. 1131: “The scrments re efficcious higher idel form.  Aristotle: ultimte relity is present here in tngible signs of grce, instituted by Christ nd mtter entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the  4) St. Bsil: honor given to the mteril imge scrments re celebrted signify nd mke psses on to the one depicted. (On the Holy present the grces proper to ech scrment. Spirit, 18.45). They ber fruit in those who receive them with  Kenneth Prry: “Although there is  difference in essence between imge nd prototype, there is n identity of likeness the required dispositions.” which mens the two re venerted together.” (Depicting the Word: Byzntine Iconophile Thought of the Eighth nd Ninth Centuries, 25)  John of Dmscus: icon serves to mke visible the invisible, to help us understnd God  As Christ’s humnity nd divinity re connected, (Tretise I.11, Louth 26). so re the imge nd its prototype: uthentic imge of him puts us in the presence of both the humn nd divine.  JPII : the icon is, in  sense,  scrment, working by nlogy to mke present the mystery of the Incrntion (Letter to Artists 18). St. Bsil

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 Scrmentls: work with liturgy, prepre  Estern understnding: power in icon disposition to receive scrments, extend itself, in resonnce between the imge liturgicl life into the everydy (CCC, no. 1668, 1674-1675). nd holiness of person depicted.

 “scred signs by which effects, especilly  When people pry to the sints through spiritul effects, re signified in some their icons, the sints re present. imittion of the scrments nd re obtined  Proof: mircle-working icons through the intercession of the Church.” (1983 Code of Cnon Lw, Cnon 1166)  Leonid Ouspensky: “the icon is n imge not  Rúl Gómez: “scrmentls re similr to only of  living but lso of  deified scrments but differ from them both in their prototype…this is why grce, chrcteristic of origin nd efficcy. They re instituted by the the prototype, is present in the icon. In other Church rther thn by Christ, nd they bring words, it is the grce of the Holy Spirit which bout their spiritul effects by the pryer of the sustins the holiness of both the represented church – ex opere operntis (by the work of the person nd of his icon… the icon prticiptes gent) rther thn by the performnce of the in the holiness of its prototype nd, through work – ex opere operto (by the work the icon, we in turn prticipte in this holiness performed). “Venertion of the Sints nd Beti,” in Directory on in our pryers” (Theology of the Icon, 191). Populr Piety nd the Liturgy: Principles nd Guidelines: A Commentry, Ed. Peter C. Phn, 128).

 Drw from definitions of both.  Just s divinity of Christ cnnot be  John Pul II writes tht icons re “in  sense” scrments: “By nlogy with wht occurs in the seprted from his humnity, so holiness scrments, the icon mkes present the mystery of sints cnnot be seprted from their of the Incrntion in one or nother of its imges. spects” (Letter to Artists #8).

 Visible, scred signs  Pryer is the link. Holy Spirit gives grce to both deified sint nd imge.  In pryer, ct s scrmentls: prepre disposition  Vlue of iconogrpher’s pryer: work  Instituted by Christ or the Church? suffused with pryer connecting humn world with spiritul world of heven.  “Efficcious signs” tht “give grce”?  Not simply for oneself but s offering nd tool for others.  Is icon’s power result of pryer of the person  The uthentic icon is  gift of communion prying before it (working ex opere operntis) or is power intrinsic to the icon itself, working in  Even before nyone prys before n icon, itself (ex opere operto) regrdless of one pryer of the iconogrpher hs lredy been prying before it? connecting the imge with its holy prototype.

 Doesn’t redily fit into Ctholic ctegories

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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 Pstorl Constitution on the Church in the Modern World

 Affirms new forms of rt from round the world (GS 62)

 k Constitution on the  Pul VI ddress to Itlin Scred Liturgy rtists  Apologizes for “cus[ing]  Gol: “noble beuty rther trouble” by imposing so mny cnons requiring thn sumptuous disply” (SC imittion rther thn 124) true cretivity

 Encourges greter  Modern rt ffirmed, but friendship between nothing nsty rtists nd Church  Embrces modern rt  No style or period given St. Mry’s Ctholic Church of the Byzntine Rite, Mnhttn. exclusive privilege Designed by Brother Cjetn J. B. Bumnn, built in 1964.

Assumption Catholic Church in Merrill, Iowa, with reredos likely from late 1950s

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 U.S. Bishops  John Pul II  “Insofr s it seeks the beutiful…  Liturgy s plce of holy rt is by its nture  kind of ppel to the mystery… Beuty is  key to mystery demnds qulity mystery nd  cll to nd ppropriteness in trnscendence. It is n invittion rt. to svor life nd to drem of the future… It stirs tht hidden nostlgi for God…” (LA 10, 16)  Art to “serve ction of the liturgy” nd not  Reffirms coopertion of rtists distrct from it. nd Church  Affirms rt s  “source” of  Art consultnts theology (LA 11)

Bronze Cross, St. Anstsi Ctholic Church, Troy, MI. Instlled April 7,1989

 U.S. Bishops document of guidelines on rt, rchitecture, nd worship

 Mture sttement of Church St. Andrew Catholic Church, 1979, Bloomfield, NE position: blnced nd confident

 Corrective: reclmtion of devotionl pryer nd rt

St. John’s Bible, first illuminted mnuscript  Scred imges to help focus creted since the dvent of the printing press on the liturgy AND to guide devotionl pryer.

 By Congregtion for the  “Liturgicl rts re integrlly relted to the scrments of the Church Clergy while devotionl rts re designed to enrich the spiritul life of the  Full title: Oper Artis, community nd the personl piety of Circulr Letter on the its members” (155) Cre of the Church’s  “Prishes will wnt both liturgicl Historicl nd Artistic nd devotionl rt.” (155) Heritge”  The high qulity, pproprite imge must be ble to “ber the weight of  Deling with period of mystery, we, reverence, nd mjor church wonder,” nd be ble to “evoke St. Wendelin Ctholic Church, Luxemburg, MN, built 1872 wonder… led beyond itself to the simplifiction: how do invisible God.” (148) you hndle the old rt? Votive cndles, Shrine of Our Ldy of Gudlupe, LCrosse, WI

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 Withstnd test of qulity nd worthiness Tabernacle, St. Cornelius Catholic Church, Chadd’s Ford, PA  At lest some oversight legislted

 Not to be idols, but venertion ffirmed

 Of concern:  Should Western icons be subject to sme stndrds s Est?

 How is icon different from other scred rt?

 How to ssure tht Western icons re venerted properly?

 Do icons get specil tretment?

 How to educte congregtions? Icon by Aiden Hrt

GAINED SACRIFICED  Does your church pre- dte Vticn II?  Sense of primcy of  Sometimes nothing personl, communl liturgy recognizble, or inspiring left  Wht kind of rt is in  Full, conscious, ctive  Sometimes lost BOTH your spce? prticiption liturgicl nd devotionl rt  Neglected populr devotion:  Qulity rt  often considered Where is it?  Art of vrying styles “unsophisiticted,  More complete superstitious, emotionl,  How does its loction inculturtion: more individulistic, rectionry, help guide communl or ctholic liturgy nd even ntiliturgicl” personl pryer? (McNmr)

 Congregtion for Divine Worship nd the Discipline of the Scrments

 Affirming scred imges for populr piety

 As with liturgicl imges, devotionl imges to reflect truth in teching fith

From St. Mry Ctholic Cthedrl, Sn Frncisco, CA  To reflect fith of ctul community

 Imges 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.’”  Erly Church trdition: liturgy on erth prticiptory “foretste” of Matthew 22:21-22 hevenly liturgy of Reveltion

 McNmr: We behold the new Jeruslem… (cf. SC no. 8; GIRM no. 318)

 Authentic liturgicl imges mke hevenly liturgy visible, scrmentlly present to those on erth, id comprehension of fuller relity of wht is hppening, nd model behvior. (McNmr, CCA, 16)  SC, no. 122: “liturgicl rt nd rchitecture to be composed of the ‘signs nd symbols of hevenly relities.’”  Both nmnetic remembrnce nd eschtologicl nticiption.

 “fundmentlly public”

 Helps imgine hevenly relity, begin to understnd one’s own prticiption in it.

 To be complete, theologiclly ccurte, nturlistic enough to be legible, bstrct enough to be universl, nd idelized enough to be eschtologicl. (CCA, 144-153)

 Revels deified humn relity

 Mgisterium hs not given detiled directives on using icons.

 CCC 2691: ”The church, the house of God, is the proper plce for the liturgicl pryer of the prish community. It is lso the privileged plce for dortion of the rel presence of Christ in the Blessed Scrment. The choice of  fvorble plce is not  mtter of indifference for true pryer.”  — “Pryer corner” with Scriptures nd icons: for personl pryer, in secret before God. ”In  Christin fmily, this kind of little ortory fosters pryer in common.”  — Monsteries: “the voction of these communities is to further the prticiption of the fithful in the Liturgy of the Hours nd to provide necessry solitude for more intense personl pryer.  — Pilgrimges: “evoke our erthly journey towrd heven nd re trditionlly very specil occsions for renewl in pryer... shrines re specil plces for living the forms of Christin pryer ‘in Church.’”

 Directory on Populr Piety nd the Liturgy (2001) no. 238, quoting Nice II, Definitio de scris imginibus):  Imges to be “exposed in the holy churches of God, on their furnishings, vestments, on their wlls, s well s in the homes of the fithful nd in the streets.”  The fithful honor imges by “decort[ing] them with flowers, lights, nd jewels; they py respect to them in vrious wys, crrying them in procession, hnging ex votos ner them in thnksgiving; they plce them in shrines in the fields nd long the rods.”

Murals by Felix B. Lieftuchter, Cathedral of St. Joseph, Wheeling, WV

 Denis McNmr: 3 kinds of scred rt  “for venertion which is  Liturgicl Art fundmentlly privte nd ssocited with individul piety, or …  Devotionl Art [perhps] ssocited with pr-  Historicl Art liturgicl events.” (McNmr, “Imge s Scrment,” 63).  To integrte icons, first need to define  SC no. 125: devotionl imges for possible contexts. venertion should be kept, but their number nd prominence moderted  McNmr: Confusing kinds of rt hs so s not to crete confusion mong led to mny of the problems with the fithful. church rt nd rchitecture.  Devotionl pryer to come from nd led bck to liturgicl worship.  In order to be properly used, ech kind of imge needs its own identity nd to  Usul proper plce: seprte spces be used in its own pproprite plce. not in competition with ltr nd rt of the snctury, which reflect the primry importnce of liturgy.

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 Scenes from life of Christ or Church history.

 Didctic or honorry: less connected with liturgy itself.

 Less likely to evoke we or personl devotion.

 Tertiry importnce

 Proper loction: tends to be outside snctury.

 Lines blurred: imges connected with Pssion “Historicl rt.” This could be  liturgicl icon if plced in reconcilition room or plce for nointing of the sick.

 Meets stndrds:  Altr Crucifix: Intended to “[cll]  Anticiptes hevenly relities while to mind for the fithful the scrmentlly mking present wht otherwise would be invisible. sving Pssion of the Lord.”  Blnces recognizble, relistic forms with styliztion nd ideliztion.  To be lrge enough to be seen  Depict chrcteristics of both the humn nd the divine. by the congregtion, nd my

 Awreness of Communion of Sints: When remin in position even outside mde visible, sints nd ngels help evoke mss (GIRM, 308). celestil celebrtion in which we prticipte.

 Built of Living Stones no. 135: “Reflecting the wreness of the Communion of Sints, the  Powerful imge for liturgicl or prctice of incorporting symbols of the Trinity devotionl contempltion of the nd imges of Christ, the Blessed Mother, the ngels, nd the sints into the design of  church Body of Christ nd the Pschl cretes  source of devotion nd pryer … nd should be  prt of the design of the church.” (Cf. Mystery present in the SC, no. 8) Euchrist. Processionl Crucifix by Aiden Hrt

 How to experience their  Cn be displyed or processed. presence s prt of shred  Scred Time: erthly liturgy connected with liturgicl relity nd not simply tht of heven in liturgicl yer, mke visible s imges for privte devotion mystery of the fest itself. in public spce?  Built of Living Stones, 137: while discussing chllenges of finding right spces for imges of  Possibly helpful: situte them sints, speks of spces for imge of the dy. mply bove people rther  Issues: Are people expected to venerte such thn t eye level. n icon? Should they light cndles in front of it? Possibly pproprite honor: Flowers,  single cndle, spce for people to light smll cndles.  Lrge-scle imges: more likely to inspire we nd   Plcement ner entrnce: prepres community sense of greter relity to enter scred time of liturgy. Ginluc Busi, Icons in snctury of Seminry Chpel,  BLS no. 98: “well-plced religious rt cn fcilitte Albno Lzile, Itly the spiritul trnsition s people move to  sense  Smller imges: invite more of communl worship.” intimte exchnge of  Processing  festl icon: Would help mke devotionl pryer. visible the Word being proclimed.

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 Church documents on spce for devotion: Devotionl pryer not to distrct from the liturgy (BLS, no. 131, Cf. SC, no. 13)  CCC 2691: “For personl pryer, [the church building cn provide]  ‘pryer corner’ with the Scred Scriptures nd icons, in order [tht prishioners my] be there, in secret, before our Fther.”).  Possible: spces seprte from nve nd snctury, such s lcoves or smll side chpels for sttues or icons (BLS 137).

 Blnce: cler ccessibility nd level of reltive privcy.

 Recognize flexibility in pryer forms:

 How to present icons for devotionl pryer: context should suggest  different kind of spce.  Gentle, well-directed lighting: focus nd privcy.  Limiting presenttion to only one or mybe severl imges

 When such spces re creted for devotionl pryer in churches, sets exmple for how people All Faiths Chapel, U.S. Naval might lso use scred imges for pryer in their Academy, Annapolis, MD homes.

 BLS no. 138: “It is prticulrly desirble tht  significnt imge of the ptron of the church be fittingly displyed, s well s n imge of Mry, the Mother of God.”

 Sints or imges chosen to be of prticulr mening to community (BLS 138)  “Populr piety encourges scred imges which reflect the chrcteristics of prticulr cultures; relistic representtions in which the sints re clerly identifible, or which evidently depict specific junctures in humn life: birth, suffering, mrrige, work, deth.” (Directory on Populr Piety nd the Liturgy, no. 243)

 Another possibility: rotte imges s pproprite through the liturgicl yer (BLS 137)

 Most icons probbly best ctegorized s devotionl imges.  Invite more privte personl pryer nd venertion.  Different from much other devotionl rt: scrmentl “berers of presence”

 Cultivte connection with communion of sints.

 Nice II: “the more often we gze on these imges, the quicker we who behold them re led bck to their prototypes in memory nd in hope.” (quoted in Book of Blessings, 465).

 Sints: models of holiness drws us towrd beuty of goodness.

 Imges of Christ: nurture emotionl connection, increse love for him.

 John Pul II: “rt cn represent the form, the effigy of God’s humn fce nd led the one who contempltes it to the ineffble mystery of God mde mn for our slvtion” (DuodecimumSeculum 9)  Privte pryer: preprtion for fruitful scrmentl life.

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 Tertiry importnce: Fundmentlly eductionl or honorry

 Usully more pproprite outside snctury, nve, nd devotionl chpels

 Best spces: gthering re, trnsitionl spces, or perhps church hll or dining re.

 Scrmentl nture of icons: If not just decortion, how to honor historicl icon ppropritely?

 Possible: flowers, cndle, plcement within spce mrking imge s something specil.

Icon of the , by Kenneth Dowdy

 GIRM 315: the plce of the tberncle should be “in  John Pul II: “Authentic Christin rt is tht which,  prt of the church tht is truly noble, prominent, through sensible perception, gives the intuition tht the Lord is present in his Church, tht the redily visible, beutifully decorted, nd suitble events of slvtion history give mening nd for pryer”;  cndle or oil lmp should be kept lit orienttion to our life, tht the glory tht is nerby “to indicte nd honor the presence of promised us lredy trnsforms our existence.” Christ.” (Cf. CCL 938) (Duodecimum Seculum 11).  In  Church open to ll different kinds of scred rt,  BLS 73: Spce dedicted to Christ in the Euchrist how re icons to be treted? to be designed so tht ttention is drwn to the tberncle tht houses the presence of the Lord.  Church with only icons: context lone my provide Iconogrphy cn be chosen from symbolism enough guidnce ssocited with Euchrist.  Heterogeneous communities: wrrnt multiple styles of scred rt.  Deling with Abstrction: perhps imge of Christ  Needs creful plnning nd ctechesis. would id fuller comprehension of his presence.  Perhps best to provide icons own spce, such tht interction with them not confused with tht for other  Honor given to presence of Christ in the icon needs kinds of rt. to be seen s going immeditely towrd Christ in  Key: provide necessry context for ech piece Euchrist, nd ultimtely, to Christ Icon by Ginluc Busi, on tberncle door, suggesting pproprite interction. “uncircumscribed.” Church of Pin di Venol-Mrzbotto, Itly

Benedictine Abbey, Blessed Sacrament Chapel, National Shrine of Mt. Angel, OR the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC

 People need to be tught wht mkes n icon beutiful, uthentic, nd worthy of venertion.

 Busi, 35: icons beutiful to the degree tht they convey the spiritul imge of the divinized figure nd convey the “beuty tht sves”: “the icon is beutiful tht genertes interior beuty”  Xeni Pokrovsky: “the church doesn't need gret rt; it needs rt tht's good enough.”

 Stndrds for blending, brushwork, clligrphy, nd overll proportion?

 Does work dequtely depict truths of belief? Is it cpble of “bering the weight” of devotion nd the trnscendent mystery of God? True beuty “is  key to mystery nd  cll to trnscendence… It stirs tht hidden nostlgi for God” (Letter to Artists 16).

 Clssic Western sense of beuty: “n object is beutiful when it most clerly nd fully revels its ontologicl relity” (McNmr, CCA 21).  Aquins: beuty is mrked by integrits, consonnti, nd clrits: wholeness, proportionlity, nd clrity of  thing’s inner being.

 People cn be tught …  to pprecite how qulity icon rdites truth of Christin belief, beuty of holiness, nd wonder of  world redeemed, present right in our midst.  difference between idoltry nd proper venertion.  to pprecite spects of Christin trdition rightly vilble to ll. Monastery of Our Lady of the Annunciation, Quebec

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 Visul reminder: one’s personl fith journey is connected with tht of holy people

 Tool for theologicl study

 John Pul II: Church needs rt to communicte messge of Christ.  “Art must mke perceptible, nd s fr s possible ttrctive, the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of God. It must therefore trnslte into meningful terms tht which is in itself ineffble… It does so without emptying the messge itself of its trnscendent vlue nd its ur of mystery.” (Letter to Artists 12)

 Imges hve power to respect the mystery of God nd the Church.

 Icons s mode of pre-evngeliztion:  Public exhibitions of icons  Icons in homes s spiritul meeting point: ▪ Mny people fr from the pths of ecclesil life recover  hint of the “spiritul” by buying icons nd plcing them in their homes. In  context of profound descrliztionof experience nd of environments, often it is the icon itself tht cn weve  fine line between seculriztion nd spiritulity, where other tools do not seem to be present tht could permit the meeting of these sides… This kind of person, feeling  sympthy nd closeness with  scrmentl like the icon, sserts the need to identify  wy of pproching the scred… [Yet] it tkes ptience nd discernment to evlute on wht bsis nd with wht connections imges cn be introduced in worship, so tht they do not encourge prtil forms of membership in the Church.” (Busi, 67, 69)

Icon by Mrek Czrnecki, Cthedrl of the Immculte Conception, Springfield, IL

 Need for qulity theologicl nd technicl trining for Ctholic iconogrphers  Bsic rtistic skill nd trining  Theologicl nd spiritul formtion required for rtists to become dequte vehicles for the scred.

 Stndrds for morl behvior nd spiritulity of iconogrphers?

 Some sort of locl review process?

 Wht kind of liturgicl rt do your churches use?  How do visitors respond?

 Wht kind of devotionl rt is round your church spce?  Where is it?  How is it treted?  Who decides?

 Do you use historicl rt nywhere?  How do you use imges to ctechize or to form your community?

 Do you hve community rtists?  Opportunities for theologicl nd rtistic trining?

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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