'Religious Icons for Communication to Christian Heaven' - Limited Edition of 20 Photograph

The remarkanlly expressive face of this babushka seller competes with the faces of Christ and other high figures of Christianity shown on these reliigious portraits known as icons. They are traditionally framed wood. Slavic peoples -- predecessors of today's Russians, Ukrainians, and others of Euroope's East, used to commue with God. Predominantly illiterate,orthodix followers were nearly all unable to read the Bible or other religious material. They, like their Western European peers who followed Roman Catholicism, depended on church services to inform them and their Roman and Western Eurppean counterparts of the Christ story and church teachings. The orthodox church was somewhat less powerful as it developed long centuries after the Christian church of Rome competed with polytheistic Rome and its vast pantheon of Gods. With no need to compete with machinations of colorful families of Gods, the development of the orthodox story of Christ's role in ordinary lives and influernce on people's souls became more important than depending on art and art treassures to tell the church's development story.and the church;s place in individuals' lives Consequently there was less need in orthodox church development to emphasize the role of Christ and less that of Mother Mary. Christ became in Orthodox religion fasr greater than the Romam Catholics' mother Mary as mother of Christ AND matron and 'founder' of Christ's Church -- and hence Christianity. Orthodox Chhristians Christ instead showed devotion to Christ by keeping Christ icons that kept Christ nearby. Orthodox followersn showed devotion to Christ by keeping His image Christ nearbu, in their homes, places they worshipped and even small icons they carried with them while traveling--relying on the miniature or small icons for personal safetyplaces they worshipped, often around the dwellijg, to remind them of their relationship with God. When traveling, orthodo followrs carried smaller icons with them for ease of transit, sot tht they might have Christian comforts and protections of their body and soul provided by Christ. Mother Mary was adored but did not ocupy the overweening place in the church pantheon that the Roman Cathjolics placed on her. After fal in 1991 of the Soviet union due to corruption and overspending forits military, the former USSR devolved into its constituent repuvlics, each one forming a separate legal entity. Ukraine devolved into a sepqarate country, a status which ontiues to this deay, thogh under constant threat by neighboring Russia. The Rojan Catholic church had at its outset to compete with the various Gods of ancient rome qand a tradition of visualizing the Gods. Christianity was forbiddern in ancient Rome, so CFhristian traditions had to be concealed from the Roman state. Christian woorshippers then had inherited a tradition of relicioin being depicted and that tradition seems to have carriedoer into the Chriswtian church. The subsequent split with Protestantism came later at a time when there was less need to illustrate the Christ story, since that had been developed extensively under the Roman Catholic founding church in its earliest days The Orthodox church grew in the Slav areas of Eastern Eurpope that became Russia, Ukraine and other Slav regions; The growth of Orthodoxy with its expression in the icon, occurred far later when there was no need to compete with Rome's polytheistic Gods and Goddesses, and thus less need to depend on artwork to educate and bind followers. The icon remains today symbolic of the Orthodox church which even now has a large following in Ukraine with a sister orthodox church in Russia -- the two having been in schism recently.. The icons she is selling are not just historic or representative of past culture onoly for icon buyers. Many Ukrainians are Orthodox followers, so such Christ depictions in many homes are displayed prominently. john (Crosley) © 2012, all rights reserved

Photography:Digital on Paper

Artist Produced Limited Edition of:20

Size:36 W x 24.6 H x 0.1 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.