Looking for an Icon

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SanRafael1102

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I’m in search of an icon of St. Maria Goretti to pair with a Mary of Egypt that I ordered from an Eastern Orthodox company.

Now if one Googles ‘Maria Goretti Icon,’ they will see a lot of results for Monastery Icons. I’ve heard weird things about this company.

Do any of you know where I need to go?

Thoughts?
 
St Maria Goretti by deviant art, in the comments section someone asked how they could buy one from Theophilia and was sent a pm regarding this.

Theophilia - if you click on the three dots before the share symbol, it comes up with the option to send this person a note.

ETA - there’s also Etsy
 
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That depends upon whether you are looking for the image on the icon, or an actual icon.

There is no circumstance under which something printed is an icon . . .
 
For an actual icon, the only suggestion I have is to contact an Eastern seminary, whether Catholic or Orthodox. I’m sure that there are other ways to get an uncommon one, but it’s common for seminarians to support themselves by writing icons (my priest did, decades ago).

An actual icon is “written”, not painted. There are specific prayers that are involved, and the icon itself is a prayer. The reason we reverence them in a way that we don’t with amazing religious paintings or statutes is that we are seeking to join the prayer. These special pares are windows between Heavan and earth.

hawk
 
I’d say the majority of “icons” found in homes of the faithful are nothing more that printed reproductions decoupage to wooden boards. Probably a good 1/4 of the icons adorning my own church are reproductions, and they’re venerated and treated the same as any original hand painted icon.
 
dochawk said:
An actual icon is “written”, not painted. There are specific prayers that are involved, and the icon itself is a prayer. The reason we reverence them in a way that we don’t with amazing religious paintings or statutes is that we are seeking to join the prayer. These special pares are windows between Heavan and earth.
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Very interesting. Thanks for sharing the info.
 
PatrickC1982 said:
Probably a good 1/4 of the icons adorning my own church are reproductions, and they’re venerated and treated the same as any original hand painted icon.
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A reproduction written by another iconographer would still be an icon . . .
 
If you can’t find one, or if commissioning someone to make one for you is cost prohibitive; don’t feel the slightest bit bad about using a holy card or printing a suitable image. You can always frame or laminate it, even mount it. The important part is the prayer. My patron saint is St Patrick. There are really only a handful of real icons to be found of him. I don’t give a second thought to venerating or praying in front of one of a few Western images or holy cards I have of him.
 
Definitely–there is nothing wrong with that (although the reverence we show for an icon might be out of place).

Or, you could take your hand at writing your own . . although I suppose learning enough first would be a task in its own right.

(as for mee, I lack the fine motor control for it to err be an issue . . . While I have been blessed in many ways, that’s not on the list, to the point that the head nun once tried to keep me off of Honor Roll for my handwriting . . . fortunately, we had a new principal the next year, and I could graduate . . .)

hawk
 
dochawk said:
The reason we reverence them in a way that we don’t with amazing religious paintings or statutes is that we are seeking to join the prayer.
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If that’s the only reason, why is then a necessity for an icon to be blessed at least once?
 
You’ve taken this past my knowledge level 🙂

It would certainly seem logical to me, however, that a physical prayer would benefit from blessing by clergy.

And I wouldn’t say “only” (again, past my knowledge level).

hawk
 
Excerpt from Byzantine Book of Prayer:

For instance, in primitive religions, there was a strong distinction between the “sacred” and the “profane”. In this context, a blessing transferred its object from the realm of the profane to that of the sacred.

In a truly Christian view, however, this type of the distinction between the sacred and the profane disappears, for the whole world and everything in it has been created by God—and He saw that it was all “good,” as the Book of Genesis reminds us. To bless something in this way of thinking means to acknowledge that it is truly good, that it comes from God ; it means that we see this blessed object as a sign of God’s presence among us. To bless, then, means to see things as they really are—as coming from God—and to acknowledge Him as the Source of all good.

The blessing of fruit, water, etc., means that these objects become visible signs of God’s presence in our lives. We can then “see beyond” the actual object, to a whole new world of God’s kingdom.

Cont’d
 
Excerpt from the Byzantine Book of Prayer (Cont’d):

“The icon is not a picture. The icon is not a painted representation meant to teach…It is the result of the faith and the prayer of the church. It is the life of the Church lived in Christ.”

Source: Raya, Archbishop Joseph & de Vinci, Baron Jose. Byzantine Book of Prayer. Pittsburgh, PA: Byzantine Seminary Press, 2nd ed., pp. XLI-XLIII, XXVII-XXVIII, XXIX
 
dochawk,

I tried to answer her question with quotations from +Raya. Hope it helps you too.

Margaret
 
Margaret_Ann said:
I tried to answer her question with quotations from +Raya. Hope it helps you too.
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Thank you. That is a far better explanation.

It matches my prior understanding, but has those word-things that let it spread to others 🙂
 
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