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Speaking Icons
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| Luck | Date: Tuesday, 21.02.2012, 15:21 | Message # 16 |
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| The icon “The Annunciation” represents the even that had happened some time before Jesus was born. The angel appeared in front of Mary and told her that she was the woman who was chosen by God and who would give birth to a child who would be the son of God. There are two figures that the author depicted in the icon. These are Mary and the angel. Looking at the icon we can see that the author wanted to paint her as a very modest and submissive woman. She does not look directly into the eyes of the angel but she drops her eyes and is ready to accept her destiny and fulfill the will of God. The angel at the same time does not look arrogant; he admires the woman he sees, he even bends his knee since he understands how important the woman is and what her mission on the Earth is. This icon can evoke only positive, calm and meek emotions. The importance of the event is realized by every human: everybody who believes in Jesus will be saved. This concept goes through every icon.
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| Ayayulia | Date: Tuesday, 21.02.2012, 15:30 | Message # 17 |
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| The Annunciation is one of the most frequent subjects of Christian art. This theme appears in the work of almost all of the great masters. The figures of the virgin Mary and the angel Gabriel, are symbols of purity and grace.
The colours gold, blue represent the virginity of Mary by means of the announcement by the angel Gabriel that Mary would conceive a child, the son of God – Jesus. At the same time her dark clothes represents penitence and humility and at the same time rumours about her personality.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Annunciation is typically depicted above the Holy Doors (decorative doorway leading from the nave into the sanctuary).
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| MissJane | Date: Tuesday, 21.02.2012, 15:35 | Message # 18 |
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| The Annunciation shows a joyous moment when Mary was told she bore Jesus Christ – the Son of God. The Angel Gabriel, the God’s messenger, delivering the will of the Almighty, is depicted standing opposite to Mary. The posture of Mary reveals her total consent and submission, meekness and humbleness. The icon points at the divine project of God. For the Son of God to be born, it is necessary that His mother should be a divine female essence. This means that in the beginning God sent to the Earth the Mother of the Redeemer. She was the one to take care of Jesus before He started to fulfill the will of God.
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| Tanya | Date: Tuesday, 21.02.2012, 15:38 | Message # 19 |
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| The Icon Annunciation represents us the moment of the joy of the announcement of the Christ coming. This Icon represents the Archangel Gabriel who has descended from heaven, and Mary who has been chosen to be the Mother of God. The angel occupies the left half of the picture plane, Mary occupies the right. This Icon is rich in bright colors. The beautiful gold and blue-green of the angel also emphasizes its heavenly origin and is balanced by the dark clothing worn by Mary.
This Icon has a special symbolic meaning. It represents the crowning of our salvation and the revelation of the mystery.
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| Luck | Date: Tuesday, 21.02.2012, 15:41 | Message # 20 |
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| “The Transfiguration” is the icon the represents the event when God appeared in front of Jesus and his followers and said that Jesus was his son and they should have prayed and stayed with him, telling all the other people who he was and that he would bring the salvation. And his followers after having got the message from God realized who Jesus was and believed in his thoughts and intentions. I believe that the importance of this icon can’t be overestimated and this is one of the central icons in the church.
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| Tanya | Date: Tuesday, 21.02.2012, 15:46 | Message # 21 |
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| In order to understand icons and the author message it is important to pay attention to the composition. The Icon of Nativity is very interesting for interpretation. The main idea of this Icon is showing the miraculous power of God and the perfection of his presence on earth. This icon is connected with the birth of Jesus and this is the greatest event for many believers around the world. The largest figure here is Mary who represents the power, mercy and fulfillment of God’s will. Moreover we should speak about the colors which create a special atmosphere in this icon. Here we can see warn and harmonious colors. And we cannot see many highlights. And all these things give us the most emphasis. And I would like to say that many people admire this icon because It inspires , it helps us to believe in something good, for many people it is a representation of faith.
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| Teacher | Date: Wednesday, 22.02.2012, 00:30 | Message # 22 |
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| I would like to speake about the icon “The Nativity”. It represents the birth of Jesus Christ. In the center of the icon we see the Virgin Mary. She is lying on some red coverlet. The birth of Chirst doesn’t take place in some house, it is happening outdoors, because nobody in Bethlehem wanted to let strangers in. There are saints and angels around the Virgin Mary. Their heads are inclined in devout waiting. The colours of the icon are bright, mostly golden. The coverlet is red, because it's a colour of exultancy. As far as I understand, the idea of the icon is to show importance of Christ coming into the corporeal world. There're a great variety of icons. Of course, they are divided into several main religious themes. The attitude to them is different for believers and non-believers. For those who have faith icons are helpers. E.g. icons represent saints we invoke. Some other icons help to transmit the messages that were sent by Jesus Christ and the fisrt saints to their descendants.
In Vino Veritas...
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| Teacher | Date: Wednesday, 22.02.2012, 01:02 | Message # 23 |
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| "The Annunciation" is one of the main icons in the Orthodox Church. It shows an important moment when Archangel Gabriel comes from Heaven and says to Mary that she bears a divine child, Jesus Christ. Mary is shown angelic and calm. She inclines her head in God's Messenger's face. It's very interesting and sophisticated that the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is holy. That's one more proof of the fact that all God's deeds have nothing in common with the corporeal world. The Immaculate Conception also make us believe that newborn Jesus was absolutely clear. When a man and a woman loving each other want to conceive a baby, they have physical contact of their flesh. And even this dubious malice can't spoil the innocent soul of the Christ, because there's actually no physical contact between the God and Mary, but only His Will.
In Vino Veritas...
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| Teacher | Date: Wednesday, 22.02.2012, 01:33 | Message # 24 |
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| "The Transfiguration" shows the divine power and glory of Jesus Christ. It is said, that Christ has transfigured, His face has brightened lika the Sun, and His clothes have become white like the Light. And then there was the Voice of God from the white cloud: "This is my beloved Son; there is My acceptance in Him; Listen to Him". This episode of the Orthodox history shows the Unity of the God (expressed by His voice), the Paraclete (that is the white cloud), and the Divine Son. And sould and hearts of those who were eyewitnesses of This were filled with piety, understanding of God's Will and His infinite possibilities.
 ("The Transfiguration". Raphael, 1518-1520. Pinacotheka, Vatican)
When I was analyzing this icon, I thought that one of its and other icon's main messages is to show that in the Heaven above our corporeal world there is the God (or some Power, or smth. else) that protects us from the greatest evils in our lives. And He fights for us, his creatures, who very often don't respect their lives (that are one of the greates gifts) and spoil them with a variety of little evils, that are too small and too numerous to wage a war against them. And only we can fight them.
In Vino Veritas...
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| Luck | Date: Wednesday, 22.02.2012, 20:08 | Message # 25 |
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| One of the icons I have at home is called “The Intercession of the Mother of God”. The icon impresses me with its grace and spiritual power that one can feel looking at this particular icon. The central figure that is depicted in it is Mary. She is also the biggest and the most important one. She holds a big shroud in her hands under which we can notice people and angels. The main idea the author wanted to transfer is that the Mother of God is our Mother as well, she always protects and cares for us as a real mother and she is always with us. She loves the creatures created by God and she is ready to be a defender of the whole mankind.
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| Tanya | Date: Sunday, 26.02.2012, 22:14 | Message # 26 |
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| While understanding icon it is very important to pay attention to its composition. I would like to speak about the Intercession of the Theotokos or the Protection of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. In the central part of the icon we can see the Virgin Mary with a scarlet veil in her hand. Groups of praying people, prophets and archangels are placed symmetrically to the left and to the right of the ambo. We also can see here architectural details such as buildings with columns and turrets. The scarlet veil has a special symbolic meaning. It represents protection from visible and non-visible enemies. Speaking about colors we can see the scheme which is organized as a combination of different shades of red, green and ochre. This Icon represents a perfect image of mother-intercessor who can help people in every difficult situation.
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| Teacher | Date: Monday, 27.02.2012, 02:21 | Message # 27 |
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| One of the icons that I have at home is "Unexpected Joy". The icon was influenced by a story about some sinner’s miraculous dream. It was written by Dmitry Rostovsky in the composition “The Dewed Fleece”. The story tells us about a man who used to pray in front of the Mother and Child icon any time he was going to commit atrocity. But one day he saw that the Virgin Mary and Jesus had come to life. Christ’s body had been crusted with ulcers, and there was blood running out of his side. The Virgin Mary told the sinner, that any time he or some other villain did something bad, they unintentionally crucified Jesus. The sinner asked the Virgin Mary to pray Her Son for him. She agreed, but Jesus Christ rejected her prayers twice. Then He agreed, but demanded that the sinner must kiss His ulcers. The villain kissed Christ’s body and then changed his life. The remission of sins became an “unexpected joy” for him.
We can see a praying sinner in the bottom-left corner of the icon. He is on his knees in front of the Hodigitria. The Infant Christ wears tattered clothes and has ulcers. There are the opening words from “The Dewed Fleece” or the prayer to this icon under the divine image. And there is sometimes a ribbon of words coming from the mouth of the sinner who appeals to the Virgin Mary.
In Vino Veritas...
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| MissJane | Date: Monday, 27.02.2012, 22:52 | Message # 28 |
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| I can’t say I have many icons at home; just two of them top on the little shelf near my desk; and a few icons found their shelter in one of the niches in the dining room. So you can see there is no special place (“a holy corner” in the tradition of Old Russia) in my apartment. My favourites are the icon of the martyr Eugenia and the Crucifixion, the latter being a small version of the great holy depiction accompanied with the text of the prayer: Psalm 90 (this is one of the 4 prayers I know, I admit). The icon of Saint Eugenia shows an early Christian Roman martyr whose feast day is celebrated on January 6 in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The daughter of Philip, "duke" of Alexandria and governor of Egypt, she dressed as a man and thus, being unrecognized, she managed to get baptized and later to become an abbot. She was believed to possess healing powers which made the maiden the victim of one her (”his” in fact, as she still was in her disguise) patients. The members of her family were baptized as well but in the times of religious persecution Eugenia and her relatives were beheaded. She is said to have prophesied her death after seeing Christ in her dream. The icon has a prayer to the saint on its reverse. It helps those who have been guiltlessly calumniated and proves the guilt of the detractors.
 
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| FoxyT | Date: Sunday, 06.01.2013, 16:22 | Message # 29 |
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| The icon is an image of God, which is depicted by man. This image was taken from the human mind. Therefore, the icon becomes miraculous when God is real and holy in the human mind.
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| Nastay62rus | Date: Tuesday, 08.01.2013, 08:38 | Message # 30 |
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| The icon is the image of persons or events of the sacred or church history, being an honoring subject, at orthodox and Catholics
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