[XWP]⇒ Download Gratis Iconostasis Pavel Florensky Donald Sheehan Olga Andrejev 9780881411171 Books

Iconostasis Pavel Florensky Donald Sheehan Olga Andrejev 9780881411171 Books

Download As PDF : Iconostasis Pavel Florensky Donald Sheehan Olga Andrejev 9780881411171 Books

Iconostasis Pavel Florensky Donald Sheehan Olga Andrejev 9780881411171 Books

St. Pavel (Florensky) the New Martyr was truly the Russian DaVinci and the greatest mind the Gulag took, as Solzhenitsyn once remarked. This book draws on the notion of the Dionysian doctrine of the symbols and further elucidates upon it in light of the history of various art schools. An absolutely brilliant work that I will read many more times.


Tags : Iconostasis [Pavel Florensky, Donald Sheehan, Olga Andrejev] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Born in 1882, Fr Pavel Florensky was a brilliant philosopher, theologian, scientist, and art historian who, in 1911,Pavel Florensky, Donald Sheehan, Olga Andrejev,Iconostasis,Oakwood Publications,0881411175,General,Christianity and art;Orthodox Eastern Church.,Icons.,Icons;Cult.,Christianity and art,Cult,Eastern Christian Churches,Florenskiĭ, P. A,Iconography (Fine Arts),Iconography, subjects depicted in art,Icons,Orthodox Churches,Orthodox Eastern Church,RELIGION General,Religion,Russkaia pravoslavnaia t

Iconostasis Pavel Florensky Donald Sheehan Olga Andrejev 9780881411171 Books Reviews

Pavel Florensky was one of the greatest minds of the century. His fate is lamentable, worthy of a book. His own book on iconography is, alas, a mistake. Florensky wrote in the period when they just re-discovered Byzantine iconography; only a few decades prior to that they had thought Byzantine style was primitive and old icons were simply dark wood panels with faint images painted in dirt. That generation had absolutely no connection to the past or theological tradition of icons. They had to re-discover it, and it took a few decades, and then again was stunted by the Communist regime.

At the time of Florensky, the Russian intelligentsia was under the influence of theosophy. This was the only type of mysticism they had came in contact with. Unfortunately, Florensky's own writings are much closer to "The Secret Doctrine" of H.P. Blavatsky than to any of the Church Fathers.

If one wants to learn more about iconography, this book should be the last on the list. Or Ouspensky's "Theology of Icons". Reading them first would give you the idea that icons contain some secret esoteric knowledge that runs in parallel with doctrines of the Orthodox Church.

I admire their efforts to do this archaeological work to bring back the lost treasures of Byzantine iconography, but today we should not base our understanding of icons on their writings. It would be like reading the books of the early archaeologists, who had just discovered huge bones and immense skeletons and concluded that these were dragons.
Pavel Florensky, Iconostasis, trans. Donald Sheehan and Olga Andrejev (Crestwood SVS Press, 1996). Pp. 170. Paperback $17.00.

Two weeks ago I participated in an egg tempera icon-painting workshop led by an instructor from the Prosopon School of Iconology in New York. The workshop lasted 6 days, and each day started with a lecture by the instructor. The lectures were outstanding. I learned how the process of writing an icon loosely follows a lectio divina model meditation, practice, and contemplation. This process, however, is not just a teaching method to instruct students how to paint. That is to say, painting (or writing) an icon is to be a form of prayer. Each layer of paint represents the process of human transfiguration. One ascends from body, to soul, to spirit, drawing closer to God with each step. This process is to be a model for our lives so that we too become an icon of the living God.

This school is very steeped in the mystical tradition of the Orthodox Church. One of the most influential theologians in this tradition happens to be Pavel Florensky and his book, Iconostasis. Though I had read this book several years ago, I thought in light of my recent experience, I should pick it up again and give it a second read.

Florensky starts by describing dreams, and how, when we dream, we are caught between two different worlds that of reality, and another dream-like world. He goes on to write, "A dream, then, is a sign of movement between two realms - and also a symbol of what? From the heavenly view, the dream symbolizes earth; from the heavenly perspective, it symbolizes heaven" (pg. 43). He starts with dreams because that's an experience we all have; it's an experience to which we can all relate. He then says that icons function in the same way "Art is thus materialized dream, separated from the ordinary consciousness of waking life" (pg. 44). In other words, the icon acts as the movement of ascent into the spiritual world, which is just as real - if not more - than our own.

This leads him into a discussion of how we, as human beings, are made in the image of God, but we are to ascend into the likeness of God (spiritual perfection). This is a mystical experience when "...the soul is raised up from the visible realm to where visibility itself vanishes and the field of the invisible opens..." (pg. 45). For Florensky the services of the Orthodox Church are the way to this sort of mystical ascent. It is here that Florensky starts to talk about icons.

He begins with a discussion of the iconostasis - the wall of icons that separates the altar from the nave in an Orthodox Church. For him, this wall of icons is not a barrier but an opening up. "But this spiritual prop, this material iconostasis, does not conceal from the believer some sharp mystery; on the contrary, the iconostasis points out to the half-blind the Mysteries of the altar, opens for them an entrance into a world closed to them...But the material iconostasis does not, in itself, take the place of the living witnesses, existing instead of them; rather, it points toward them, concentrating the attention of those who pray upon them - a concentration of attention that is essential to the developing of spiritual sight." (pg. 62-3). It's like those dreams he explained an entrance into a spiritual reality.

He then goes on to discuss the history of the icon and the theology of the icon. Finally, he ends with a discussion of the process of writing and icon, and the meaning behind this process.

Some are very uncomfortable with this mystical explanation of icons. In fact, they believe that Florensky is saying that icons are, in their essence, something other than paint and wood. However, I think this is resolved by what the translator says in the preface, "Through the medium of the believer's faith, the icon becomes an opening through which God can act directly in the believer as the cause of his or her comprehension of the icon such is the ground" (pg. 3). In other words, understanding iconography, as Florensky explains it, is like learning to read. If you don't know your ABCs, then words are just black lines on a page. If, however, you do know how to read, those black lines open up a whole new world.
I like ready theology, especially from Orthodox (in both senses of the word) sources although I am a Catholic, a religious and a priest. This is a deep work and I am still at the early stages of reading it but it is worth the effort involved. Having some background in philosophy and theology would help though!
The saintly author of this book has packed it with insights. Many are profound and worth pondering at length. His understanding of the tradition has enriched the hours I've spent mixing and applying egg tempera to gesso coated boards.
The two essays The Spiritual Structure of Dreams and Spiritual Sobriety and the Iconic Face are mind-altering. Florensky was an incredible Intellect, unfortunately little known in the west.
I would place this book right next to the Mathnawi of Jalaludin Rumi for lucid exposition on actual spiritual reality and practice.
Thank you to Donald Sheehan and Olga Andrejev for bringing these treasures to us poverty stricken English speakers!
(P.S. Andrejev is a member of the St Petersburg family that revived the mystical Russian Icon painting tradition and taught it for many years)
[...]
St. Pavel (Florensky) the New Martyr was truly the Russian DaVinci and the greatest mind the Gulag took, as Solzhenitsyn once remarked. This book draws on the notion of the Dionysian doctrine of the symbols and further elucidates upon it in light of the history of various art schools. An absolutely brilliant work that I will read many more times.