Buying Old Icons

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Tis_Bearself

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I sometimes come across stores selling old used icons. By that I mean the actual icons painted on the wood and probably obtained in estate sales and the like, and are kind of expensive, not the kind of “icons” that are just paper pasted on wood or put in a frame and are available inexpensively, and which I understand are not truly icons.

I have sometimes considered buying an icon, but have not yet found one that really speaks to me for various reasons. However, as a Latin Catholic, I had a few questions about icon-buying just in case I found one that did speak to me at some point. I would be buying it with veneration in mind and not just for a wall decoration.
  1. Are there any restrictions on buying an icon, either generally or for a Western Catholic?
  2. If I did buy an icon, is there any special way to treat it, other than being generally respectful as one would be with any sacramental?
  3. Is one style of icon preferred? Like, the classic kind over the later more realistic Russian kind?
  4. Should I get the icon blessed, and if so, would it have to be blessed by an EC priest?
  5. Anything else I would need to know about this?
 
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  1. get a kiot made if it will be venerated with a kiss and handled by hands for hygiene purposes . It also protects it from humidity , dust and damage. Icons can warp hence the back will have a pair of horizontal planks to prevent that.
Would be respectful to kiss only the hands of a saint and the feet of Jesus. Sign with cross first.

Some icons are teaching tools and not meant for veneration like the ladder of divine ascent.
  1. blessing from a western rite priest is fine. The east side has mixed opinions , saying that the saints depicted are already holy in heaven and the icon are understood to be set aside for holy use , thus a blessing is not necessary.
  2. placed preferably at prayer corner , east but not necessary . I have mine east coincidentally , awaiting the rising of Christ.
Sources of info : orthodox articles and reddit after tons of reading
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
If I did buy an icon, is there any special way to treat it, other than being generally respectful as one would be with any sacramental?
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If it is a specially personal icon, have it blessed at the Altar during the Divine Liturgy…

If it is a replica of a Miracle Working Icon, you can “kiss” the replica to the original if it visits near you - I did that with my replica of the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God…

Do not be afraid to spend time before it in prayer…

geo
 
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anon91549587 said:
The east side has mixed opinions , saying that the saints depicted are already holy in heaven and the icon are understood to be set aside for holy use , thus a blessing is not necessary.
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This is very true.

I serve with two Eastern Catholic priests regularly; and am good friends with another Greek Orthodox priest. They all believe and teach that the icon acquires blessing during its writing.

One of them won’t bless icons at all.

There is a pious custom of bringing an icon to the Temple, and leaving it on the Holy Table for 30 days. I have done that before, myself.

If an icon needs cleaning, use Rose Water, which can be found in Mediterranean grocery stores.

I don’t know about any issues around purchasing icons, but there are laws governing the removal of icons from traditional Orthodox countries. When I have brought icons back from Greece, they are certified and say something like, “this is a reproduction of a traditional icon, it is permissible to export to other countries.”

Deacon Christopher
 
Diaconia said:
They all believe and teach that the icon acquires blessing during its writing.
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Indeed, for the iconographer cannot begin to write an icon apart from the Blessing of of the Priest or Bishop… It is a product of a Church… eg One cannot simply decide for one’s self “I will paint an icon and become an iconographer…” And then do it… THAT icon will have no blessing at all… But inexpensive reproductions are another category… They have not existed except of late… So their rubrics are not well defined… You can buy one on line cheap, and for these, especially if it is a feature icon in your ‘Beautiful Corner’, I would have it blessed by your priest at the Altar during a Divine Liturgy - And anointed with the Sign of the Cross while your at it…

geo
 
Tis_Bearself said:
I sometimes come across stores selling old used icons. By that I mean the actual icons painted on the wood and probably obtained in estate sales and the like, and are kind of expensive, not the kind of “icons” that are just paper pasted on wood or put in a frame and are available inexpensively, and which I understand are not truly icons.
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This bothers me as well.

Certainly there are times when an authentic icon has no one else in the family to take it, so it is better that it goes to someone like yourself, @Tis_Bearself.

But, it also feels a bit like simony, especially if people are trafficking in the sale of icons, or making big profits from them.
Do you remember some years back when people kept auctioning off Hosts from papal Masses? They may have been real Hosts, that someone removed from their mouths after receiving, or they may have been just unconsecrated bread from a Church supply store. It went on for a while before eBay made a rule that you couldn’t sell Hosts, relics, etc.
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I knew people who bought the Hosts, so as to make sure they weren’t desecrated; but also the act of purchasing them stimulated other criminals to continue selling them (whether they were actually from a Mass or not). I felt for people who were trying to rescue our Lord, yet it may have resulted in further sacrilege.

Deacon Christopher
 
Well, there are plenty of sellers of old icons, especially online. It’s better than having such things go in the trash or goodwill, and for the prices they charge they will likely go to good homes; maybe some who purchase will be buying for the art and not understand the religious aspect, but it’s better than an object of devotion being tossed on the curb or desecrated. And unlike a host, it wouldn’t encourage more people to create them, since you can’t create an antique.

The sad fact is a lot of people don’t have family to leave things to. So if they can’t be resold they may be desecrated or thrown in the trash.
 
A woman at a previous church we belonged to painted icons. She made one for me and my husband on the birth of our child. We made provisions for the icon in our will so that it goes to our current parish.
 
One of my cousins is a RO iconographer and she always has her works put on the altar either in her church or the monastery for which she writes icons.
 
I actually got an icon of The Flight Into Egypt written on papyrus. It has an Arabic inscription but does not have the MP OV for the Theotokos, which kind of makes me suspicious. I did have it blessed though.
 
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That author is explicitly calling to change current practice on which word we use, not describing current use . . .
 
Already some good advice in the thread. I would just add that I think it’s absolutely fine for a Western Catholic to have icons and I know of no restrictions on it.

If you need a reputable place from which to purchase them, try Byzantine Seminary Press:

http://www.byzantineseminarypress.com/
 
dochawk said:
That author is explicitly calling to change current practice on which word we use, not describing current use .
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I think that the point is that the word that some insist on in English is an affectation.
 
One art professor (not a theologian), as compared to the mainstream engish speaking world . . .
 
My pastor, who is an iconographer, does not in the least subscribe to the notion of insisting that icons are “written.” He is very well educated in the Byzantine tradition, and says that is a pious tradition of sorts, and nothing more.
 
Our parish gets liturgical calendars every year from Byzantine Seminary Press. ❤️
 
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