In the Orthodox religion, icons are images of saints and their deeds.. The word "icon" is of Greek origin and means "image". This is an open door to the divine world.
A temple icon is not just an image of a saint or his feat, this is a symbol of faith, which should help earthly man to comprehend the spiritual depth, find support in it, help, heal and strengthen your spirit and body...
Orthodox temple icons came a long time ago, from time immemorial. They have preserved the ancient traditions of symbolism and are passed on from generations past, into ours and the future.
Every detail has its own symbolic meaning, and the content of the plot never changes. Robe color, all the movements and gestures of the saints, items, the environment should not be left aside, and for this, canons are applied that do not allow one to go beyond these established limits.
Each icon helps in a specific case, because there are a lot of them, and all holy images are aimed at helping people with their various problems.
The icon in churches is her heart. The veneration of icons in churches plays a big role, and for many it's more, than anything. They protect from everything evil - a person, church, home... In the icon, the church first of all sees the expression of Orthodoxy as a whole. They exist organically within religion itself.
An icon is not a portrait, and not a landscape, and the presence of the saint in his conditionally symbolic and at the same time real image.
Each icon has its own built internal structure, with a special symbolic formula, compositional dynamic dialogue - in color, lines, forms, fierce, which conveys important information, energy and directly affects the human soul, penetrating like a ray into the very depths of his heart. These are hints, secret signs, cipher and riddle of eternity. This silent but at the same time moving energy purposefully lifts the suppliant from the kingdom of earth to the heavenly, forming an energetic spiritual field. In the icon, these secret reflections receive their own harmonious sign system.
The icon is the Bible, just not written in letters, and with paints. They convey the whole divine history, phenomena, articles of faith. That’s why they are often called “theology in colors.”.
Color plays a very important role in an icon, because a suitable color selection carries a purposeful process when praying, and this:
– to isolate the supplicant from the spiritual world with the help of the breadth and versatility of color properties;
– concentrate the mind of the supplicant;
– appease the suppliant.
Choosing the right color intensity causes balanced and sustainable reactions. Color purity, transparency, airiness, softness, weightlessness, restraint at the same time radiance and light from within, all this helps to elevate the suppliant to the spiritualized, take away from worldly life, bring closer to the divine.
The space should provide a feeling of isolation, privacy, detachment and peace.
It is not surprising that tempera paints were used in the past., which gave this effect due to their transparency, but now oil paints have arrived that cope with this task perfectly, while preserving the icon for a long time.
This color method is also effectively used to treat depression and neuroses., fears and phobias, as well as for eliminating internal blocks and clamps, promotes mental healing, finding inner harmony, and also a person comes to understand the problem or himself, which brings many times greater effect, than if it were said from the outside by a psychotherapist.
There can be nothing accidental in icons, individual, arbitrary. There are no judgments or reasoning, no ideas, no analysis or evaluation, no comparisons with anyone, no standard, there is no beauty, aestheticism and bright accents, that's why everything in the icons is removed, what interferes with prayer.
Manifestations of one’s individuality in icon painting lose the face of unity. An icon is not self-expression but service, and therefore the author’s and personal style of writing of the performer is hidden, since these are church creations, and is intended to help a person in prayer.
What requests are made to the icon??
People turn to icons with prayer and a request for help - to heal and improve health. They deliver from death, death, give hope for the best and introduce a person to revelation. And also, icons help improve earthly goods, but not as an end in itself, but as a means to maintain strength on the earthly path.
Holy Scripture reveals the spiritual world to the human soul, and through the icon the human soul communicates with this world. It is open to man. The power of the icon testifies to the fact, that this world will bring us closer, that the soul itself is a particle of this world.
In detail order picture
