Jesus skin colour ?

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I have an icon of the Theotokos given to me by our bishop and for the life of me I do not know what its called because its in Ukrainian šŸ˜Š

He did say it when he gave me the icon but I forgot šŸ˜Š

But anyway, the skin tones are dark brown.

edit:
Thank you Google!

Its the Our Lady of Czestochowa. Its actually Polish but Iā€™m not surprised if there is a strong following in Ukraine. I guess the icon I have is a Ukrainian version of the icon along with Ukrainian text and prayers at the back (its on a cardboard but the front is really beautiful with glossy/shiny gold and silver which looks like actual gold and silver).

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ConstantineTG said:
I have an icon of the Theotokos given to me by our bishop and for the life of me I do not know what its called because its in Ukrainian šŸ˜Š

He did say it when he gave me the icon but I forgot šŸ˜Š

But anyway, the skin tones are dark brown.
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Was it Our Lady of Kazan?
 
I believe Jesus skin color is whatever you see him as. it does not matter as long as you believe. he or she can be any color or sex that you wish Jesus to be. God bless you as to what ever you wish Jesus to be. white or black , male or female. there is no colr involved amen
 
The Jesus on my crucifix is goldā€¦I think the most important thing about that is that he is on the crucifix:)
 
bcra said:
I believe Jesus skin color is whatever you see him as. it does not matter as long as you believe. he or she can be any color or sex that you wish Jesus to be. God bless you as to what ever you wish Jesus to be. white or black , male or female. there is no colr involved amen
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Before resurrection, it is more consistent with the skin color of a semitic man. After resurrection, you are correct that it can be any skin color as it seems that Jesus can alter his appearance in a way that many do not recognize him at first.

You are wrong though that Jesus will manifest as a ā€œsheā€.
 
TrueLight said:
The reason any of that has mattered especially in the past is that when people are enslaved and told that they are inferior because of their skin color, but are Christianized and shown pictures of a white God and Son of God, it wrecks your identity.

Things are changing, but in some places Jesus, Mary and all the Saints are shown as white. Imagine how that makes someone who is not white feel?

That may be an American thing since America has such an ā€“ shall we say-- interesting experience with race relations.

And thatā€™s all Iā€™m saying. There is a reason I generally donā€™t go to some of the other forums because I donā€™t like to get into racial discussions. Iā€™m here to learn about Catholicism. :signofcross:
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The way I see it, it would only matter to people obsessed with the race issue.

One of the most ancient Christian churches is the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. They have icons in their churches in Addis Ababa that portray Jesus as Ethiopian, which is fine since in ancient times, no one in Ethiopia had ever seen white people, so they portrayed Christ as they saw each other. White people in Europe did/do the same.

I was told all my life that Jews (like me) were going to Hell for not accepting Christ, and I was also told by schoolgirls that I crucified their Savior. So, Jews were portrayed to me by antisemites as evil people. It didnā€™t stop me from accepting Christ, or joining His Church. I never had issues because Jesus was portrayed as a blond-haired, blue-eyed Gentile, either. It just never mattered to me as a Jew, so why should it matter to blacks?
 
Iā€™ve seen plenty of Jews who were blonde haired and blue eyed. Perhaps Jesus looked like them.
 
Seamus_L said:
Iā€™ve seen plenty of Jews who were blonde haired and blue eyed. Perhaps Jesus looked like them.
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Those are Jews with Gentile ancestry. My kids are half Jewish and they have blond hair and blue eyes from my husbandā€™s side (he is not Jewish.)
 
Shalom Zhenia!!!

Jesus was a Jew from Israel - he most likely looked like all my Jewish cousins (especially the more handsome ones) - olive skin, brown eyes, wavy or curly dark hair, and most likely a fairly prominent nose. Since he walked everywhere and only ate when necessary, he was probably strong, muscular but rather slender to skinny. As it seems he had a commanding presence but not to the point of totally standing out, he probably was a bit taller with great posture and a piercing gaze.

But after the resurrection, not everyone could recognize Him, so the real question is will you and I recognize Him when He comes again. I sincerely hope so!!!
 
bcra said:
I believe Jesus skin color is whatever you see him as. it does not matter as long as you believe. he or she can be any color or sex that you wish Jesus to be. God bless you as to what ever you wish Jesus to be. white or black , male or female. there is no colr involved amen
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That is blasphemy, God the Son was the only Peron of the Holy Trinity to have a physical gender and He was a Man; to say that He was a woman is a manifest lie and heretical. Christā€™s appearance in religious art is a completely different matter, as we have never actually seen Christ or a photograph of Him, his physical appearance is largely up to the artist who in turn will draw their inspiration from traditional works.

Oneā€™s skin colour is ultimately not a fundamental part of who they are, their gender on the other hand is!
 
Crusading_Canuk said:
For me, I find it very uncomfortable to see pictures or statues of Jesus or Mary that portray them as having very pale skin, blue eyes and sometimes even blonde hair! They did not look like that, so I find it disturbing to have them depicted that way, as if the whiteness of your skin is an indicator of your holiness. I imagine for someone who is not white that it must be quite upsetting.
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I totally agree. In my fourth grade class there was a little book that portrayed Jesus as pale white with long blonde hair and blue eyes. I donā€™t know why, but it made me uncomfortable. Maybe itā€™s because Iā€™m not Nordic.

According to the historians, he had darker skin, short brown hair and brown eyes.
 
People around the world have often depicted the Holy Family as being similar in appearance to themselves. That seems to suit most people fine nowdays, unless theyā€™re depicted as looking like Central or Northern Europeans. Imagine if someone said ā€œI have a real problem with an Oriental or Negro Jesusā€
 
Chuck1 said:
i was just thinking do you think Jesus wouldnā€™t have been totally white being form that part of the world and form Nazareth ?
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*from And, I think He was brown or tan, like a modern-day Palestinian. I donā€™t think He was blonde, blue-eyed, or white. Not that have anything white, blonde, blue-eyed people.

God bless :byzsoc:

David
 
I collect ethnic Christian art; I have over eighty crucifixes, icons, retablos, bultos, etc., from around the world, all from different cultures. Iā€™m fascinated with how a culture adapts its art to the story of the Gospel, then to their own Christian history, etc. I have crucifixes where Christ is obviously black, obviously white, one image where He is Chinese (a man was cutting it in polished marble on the Great Wall of China the day my mom was there). I have numerous Coptic icons, painted on wood or leather. There is a richness in the way believers throughout the world have portrayed Our Lord, Our Blessed Mother, etc, and I believe we should cultivate a greater appreciation for those portrayals.
 
Given that Iā€™m White, I prefer the depictions of Jesus as White, because I can relate to it better.
 
People depict the Savior however they want. A Black artist would make him black, and a white artist would make im white. But it doesnā€™t really matter what color he was.

It would not hurt me any if I went to a church and they had a statue of a Black Jesus, or an Asian Jesus. Its not like the Statue is truly Jesus. His words mean more anyway.

Here is a website of a Black Catholic Church. I have to post the mural, for its beauty.



holyangels.com/
At the website they have a section called Black Popes. But for now it will not open for me.

But to be honest, I have never met a Catholic that cares to much about the skin color of Christ. Though I have met tons of Protestant fundamentalist white and black, who will argue either that Jesus was Black and the true Jews are Black, or that Jesus was not a Jew.
 
Although Iā€™m not Catholic anymore, Iā€™ll always be Eskimo and will always love the image of Our Lady of the Snows. If I could figure out how to download pictures, Iā€™d attach one. I love how Jesus and Mary are portrayed so beautifully in the Catholic Church.
 
EzraJacob said:
People depict the Savior however they want. A Black artist would make him black, and a white artist would make im white. But it doesnā€™t really matter what color he was.

It would not hurt me any if I went to a church and they had a statue of a Black Jesus, or an Asian Jesus. Its not like the Statue is truly Jesus. His words mean more anyway.

Here is a website of a Black Catholic Church. I have to post the mural, for its beauty.

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i434/Jacobyeager1891/HOLY_ANGELS_MURAL.jpg

holyangels.com/
At the website they have a section called Black Popes. But for now it will not open for me.

But to be honest, I have never met a Catholic that cares to much about the skin color of Christ. Though I have met tons of Protestant fundamentalist white and black, who will argue either that Jesus was Black and the true Jews are Black, or that Jesus was not a Jew.
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Simply fascinatingā€¦

God bless :byzsoc:

David
 
EzraJacob said:
People depict the Savior however they want. A Black artist would make him black, and a white artist would make im white. But it doesnā€™t really matter what color he was.

It would not hurt me any if I went to a church and they had a statue of a Black Jesus, or an Asian Jesus. Its not like the Statue is truly Jesus. His words mean more anyway.

Here is a website of a Black Catholic Church. I have to post the mural, for its beauty.

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i434/Jacobyeager1891/HOLY_ANGELS_MURAL.jpg

holyangels.com/
At the website they have a section called Black Popes. But for now it will not open for me.

But to be honest, I have never met a Catholic that cares to much about the skin color of Christ. Though I have met tons of Protestant fundamentalist white and black, who will argue either that Jesus was Black and the true Jews are Black, or that Jesus was not a Jew.
Click to expand...
Magnificent mural!
 
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