Saint John the Baptism Painting

ICONS’ DIVINE ART ! I set out in this effort from love in our faith and tradition and I began my wandering in the boundless perceptible and heavenly space of hagiography, having as my aim to serve the art of hagiography (religious icon painting) and furthermore to convey this religious art spirit to every human being. And this noble concern of mine does not experiment beyond the rules of Byzantine Hagiography, yet seeks new propositions, which move parallel to and in harmony with them. So I search and work with more particular ways, trying to give a more specific hagiographic character to the icon. In other words, the use of antique wood, its processing in various ways, the background, the framework and the more specific design, comprise the object of a careful choice. My aim is the icon to be simple and humble and further, as the unforgettable Photis Kontoglou says, that it has a theological meaning and he concludes: “It is not, as we said, a painting which is made in order to please our eyes or even to remind us of the holy persons, as is the case with pictures which we have, in order to bring in our memory our beloved relatives and friends, but it is painted in such a manner, so as to uplift us from this perishable world and to enable us to sniff that new air of God’s kingdom”. Every religious icon painting is, from the beginning to the end, a small, humble and silent prayer to our Lord, the Christ of Love, the Christ of Mercy, of Compassion and Justice. I truly hope to make a minimal offer in my own way, using the talent which God’s grace has assigned to me for His service.