Fr. Loya's Icons Question

[Dave_in_Dallas]

I see several places sell them. Are they all hand-painted or are they prints? I had read somewhere that prints were not allowed… icons had to be hand-painted…

Thanks!

 

[puzzleannie]

I see several places sell them. Are they all hand-painted or are they prints? I had read somewhere that prints were not allowed… icons had to be hand-painted…

Thanks!

why on earth would prints of approved icons not “be allowed” whatever that means? be allowed for what? as the furnishings of an Eastern rite church? for private devotion? for sale?

 

[Hesychios]

I see several places sell them. Are they all hand-painted or are they prints? I had read somewhere that prints were not allowed… icons had to be hand-painted…

Thanks!

I didn’t know he was selling them.

Basically, he has always been a very busy guy, so I imagine that they are prints, but you could write him and ask if he has any originals he wants to sell or do on commission.

We have a couple of members from his congregation who post here occasionally, and father Loya has posted here too (he probably forgot his login ). Hopefully someone who knows will respond.

But to answer the question, there is a prescribed way to paint an icon, which is different that what one might expect (the darker colors are normally laid on first, for instance), and the iconographer would normally be praying the entire time.

But reproductions are not forbidden, they enable many people to access them (that is a positive good), and prints can often be found in parish bookstores for sale.

When the people bring their icons from home on the Triumph of Orthodoxy, most of them will be printed reproductions.

 

[Dave_in_Dallas]

Thank you!

 

[5Loaves]

Fr. Tom’s iconography is sold through Morning Star Books & Gifts.

Each is made of wood and embossed with the image in its original bold colors.

I haven’t seen any of these from Morning Star Books & Gifts but I’d assume they’re similar in quality to those sold in parish bookstores and on line at places like skete.com.

If you want to commission an iconographer to paint/write a Holy Icon for you or your church be prepared to wait a while for its completion and to pay for the work at a different price point. We have a combination in our temple of Holy Icons painted for us and of the embossed reproductions like those you’re talking about.

FYI You can see photos of Fr. Loya painting the iconography in his parish temple on their website.

 

[Alexander_Roman]

In Eastern Europe in the days before icon prints were invented, there were always certain popular icon-painters around called “Bohomazy” (literally: “God painters”).

Their iconography was, suffice it to say, not the best quality, but they did them cheaply and people eagerly bought their wares to fill up their home icon-corners.

These painters would often break various iconographic rules (as they just didn’t know them).

Icon prints are fine, especially for the home and there are even cases of reported miracles occurring through icon prints . . .

Alex

 

[5Loaves]

Thanks, Alex. This thread had made me start to think about where all the holy icons for home icon corners came from in the days before these reproductions.

Off topic… a favorite painting of mine is the one that shows the iconographer at work surrounded by the younger and older men watching him work.