Ancient sacred rituals come alive in Santa Fe icon workshop

By Mandy Marksteiner

For Orthodox Christians, icons are more than decorations:; the images are directly linked to Jesus, Mary and the saints and angels depicted.

As the church grew, the process of making an icon was formalized. Father Mefodii, a monk-priest from Saint Maximos the Confessor Skete in Virginia, will teach an icon workshop at Saint Anne’s Catholic Church in Santa Fe, July 6–11. Students will learn to write an icon of Saint Michael the Archangel in the Byzantine-Russian tradition and meditate on the spiritual meaning of each step.

Maintaining authenticity
Unlike artists who seek to capture their personal vision, iconographers follow intricate rules to ensure the authenticity of the religious images and to maintain doctrinal unity. Iconographers don’t even sign their work.

“Iconography is not egocentric,” said Mefodii. “It is an activity that centers on Christ.”

The scenes within the icons come from liturgical texts and use symbols and images that have been developed over centuries.

Traditional iconographers fast and pray to the angel or saint that they are representing before they begin to work. Anna Lee Hennies, the wife of an Orthodox priest, took the class three times. She said, “This was a very spiritual experience. It was a prayerful time, very quiet.”

“One year I did John the Baptist,” said Elizabeth Bezzerides, the organizer of the workshop for the past eight years, “and the whole week it was just me and John the Baptist. There was a closeness.”

Infused with meaning
The pattern of the image is transferred from paper to a white-gessoed wood panel using carbon paper and then traced with an engraving tool.

A series of steps symbolizes how God, in the Book of Genesis, united Himself with mankind by breathing into Adam. A mixture of clay, natural glue and honey represents human nature and the clay that God used to create Adam. The iconographer purifies it, applies it to the halo and rubs it smooth with a stone. He then breathes on the clay to get it moist, so that it will bond with sheets of 24-karat gold that represent God.

Each color has a significance. While lines stand for understanding, colors stand for feelings. Natural pigment egg tempura is used. The colors are applied in layers, called floats, until they become more refined.

In the places where there is usually shadow in a painting (under the eyes the creases in the wings), light issues from inside the saint. It’s an inner light instead of a shadow.

“People see their lives in a different fashion after writing an icon,” said Mefodii.

Icons are meant to be venerated, so when the painting is complete it is covered with linseed oil to protect it from candle smoke, fingers and kisses.

“It’s like the way we honor the flag of our country,” said Hennies. “We venerate it because we love our country and what it stands for.”

Completed icons are blessed by the priest, and the symbolic images are united with their heavenly prototypes.

To join the workshop in July, call Elizabeth Bezzerides at 505.660.9113.

— Mandy Marksteiner is a freelance writer.