Icons in Time, Persons in Eternity: Orthodox Theology and the Aesthetics of the Christian Image

378 Pages·2013·4.65 MB·English

by  C.A. Tsakiridou

icons in time, persons in eternity
Icons in Time, Persons in Eternity presents a critical, interdisciplinary
examination of contemporary theological and philosophical studies of
the Christian image and redefines this within the Orthodox tradition by
exploring the ontological and aesthetic implications of Orthodox ascetic and
mystical theology. It finds Modernist interest in the aesthetic peculiarity of
icons significant, and essential for re-evaluating their relationship to non-
representational art.
Drawing on classical Greek art criticism, Byzantine ekphraseis and
hymnography, and the theologies of St. Maximus the Confessor, St. Symeon
the New Theologian and St. Gregory Palamas, the author argues that the
ancient Greek concept of enargeia best conveys the expression of theophany
and theosis in art. The qualities that define enargeia—inherent liveliness,
expressive autonomy and self-subsisting form—are identified in exemplary
Greek and Russian icons and considered in the context of the hesychastic
theology that lies at the heart of Orthodox Christianity.
An Orthodox aesthetics is thus outlined that recognizes the transcendent
being of art and is open to dialogue with diverse pictorial and iconographic
traditions. An examination of Ch’an (Zen) art theory and a comparison of
icons with paintings by Wassily Kandinsky, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko and
Marc Chagall, and by Japanese artists influenced by Zen Buddhism, reveal
intriguing points of convergence and difference. The reader will find in these
pages reasons to reconcile Modernism with the Christian image and Orthodox
tradition with creative form in art.
Cornelia A. Tsakiridou is Associate Professor, Philosophy
and Director, Diplomat-in-Residence Program, at
La Salle University, Philadelphia, U.S.A.
For my mother Mary G. Gavriilidou
In memory of my father Alexandros P. Tsakiridis
NYN KAI AEI
Icons in Time, Persons in Eternity
Orthodox Theology and the
Aesthetics of the Christian Image
C.A. Tsakiridou
© C.A. Tsakiridou 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
C.A. Tsakiridou has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988,
to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
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Union Road Suite 3-1
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Tsakiridou, Cornelia A.
Icons in time, persons in eternity : Orthodox theology and
the aesthetics of the Christian image.
1. Christianity and art--Orthodox Eastern Church. 2. Image
(Theology) 3. Icons. 4. Orthodox Eastern Church--
Doctrines.
I. Title
246.5’3-dc23
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tsakiridou, Cornelia A.
Icons in time, persons in eternity : Orthodox theology and the aesthetics
of the Christian image / C.A. Tsakiridou.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4094-4767-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) -- 978-1-4094-5273-7 (ebook)
1. Icons. 2. Orthodox Eastern Church--Doctrines. 3. Aesthetics--Religious aspects--
Christianity. 4. Christianity and art--Orthodox Eastern Church. 5. Christian art and
symbolism. 6. Theophanies. 7. Image (Theology) I. Title.
BX378.5T73 2012
246’.53--dc23
2012013758
ISBN 9781409447672 (hbk)
IV
ISBN 9781409452737 (ebk)
Printed and bound in Great Britain by the
MPG Books Group, U.K.
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
Part I Preliminaries
1 The Need to Redefine the Christian Image 3
2 The Exemplary Work of Art 27
3 Enargeia and Key Concepts 49
Part II Theology and Art
4 The Orthodox Icon and Modernism 75
5 The New Iconoclasm 99
6 Theological Fallacies 117
7 Jacques Maritain’s Dialogue with Modernism 137
Part III Orthodox Iconology
8 Asceticism and Iconoclasm 151
9 The Mystical Lives of Beings in St. Maximus the Confessor 167
10 The Image in St. John Damascene 193
11 The Living Image in Byzantine Experience 207
vi icons in time, persons in eternity
Part IV Theophany and Art
12 Human and Divine Luminaries 227
13 The Theophanic Icon 251
14 Theophany and Modernism 269
15 Enargeia and Transcendence in Zen Art 297
Epilogue 313
Bibliography 319
Index 339
Illustrations
Color Plates 7 The Apostle Thomas, mid. 14th
century, Holy Metropolis of
1 Diver Jumping from a Tower into the Thessaloniki, Greece. Photo Credit:
Sea, “Tomb of the Diver,” early 5th C.A. Tsakiridou
century B.C., Museo Archeologico
Nazionale, Paestum, Italy. Photo Credit: 8 Marc Chagall, A Wheatfield on a
Erich Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y. Summer’s Afternoon, Study for backdrop
for Scene III of the ballet Aleko, 1942,
2 Theophanes the Greek, The Holy The Museum of Modern Art, New
Trinity (Hospitality of Abraham), c. 1374, York, N.Y., U.S.A., © 2012 Artists Rights
Fresco, Cathedral of Transfiguration, Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP,
Ilyina Street, Novgorod, Russia. Photo Paris, Digital Image, © The Museum of
Credit: C.A. Tsakiridou Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA/Art
Resource, N.Y.
3 Mark Rothko, No. 9, 1958, Collection
of the Fukuoka City Bank Ltd., Fukuoka,
Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, © 1998 Kate Black and White Figures
Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko/
1 The Need to Redefine the
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Christian Image
4 Andrei Rublev, The Savior, c. 1394,
1.1 Panagia Dexia (detail),
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
undated, Church of Panagia Dexia,
Photo Credit: SCALA/Art Resource,
Thessaloniki, Greece. Photo Credit:
N.Y.
C.A. Tsakiridou
5 Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1951, Oil on
1.2 St. Marina (detail), undated,
canvas, The National Gallery of Art,
Monastery of St. Marina, Andros,
Washington D.C., U.S.A., Gift of The
Greece. Photo Credit: C.A. Tsakiridou
Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., Image
courtesy of the National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C. 2 The Exemplary Work of Art
6 Christ Pantocrator, 14th century, 2.1 Josef Koudelka, Ireland 1972,
Byzantine Museum, Athens, Greece. Croagh Patrick Pilgrimage 1972,
Photo Credit: C.A. Tsakiridou Magnum Photos
viii icons in time, persons in eternity
2.2 Portrait of the Boy Eutyches, 6 Theological Fallacies
100–150 A.D., Encaustic on wood, The
6.1 Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio), The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
Disputa of the Sacrament, Fresco, 1509–
York, N.Y., U.S.A., © The Metropolitan
1510, Vatican Palace, Vatican State.
Museum of Art. Image Source: Art
Photo Credit: SCALA/Art Resource,
Resource, N.Y.
N.Y.
3 Enargeia and Key Concepts 6.2 Domenico Veneziano, St. John in
the Desert, c. 1445/1450, Tempera on
3.1 Christ Deesis, 12th century, Mosaic,
panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection,
Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey. Photo
Image courtesy of the National Gallery
Credit: Eric Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.
of Art, Washington, The National
Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.,
4 The Orthodox Icon and U.S.A.
Modernism
6.3  Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio), The
4.1 Kazimir Malevich, Peasant Head, Miraculous Draught of Fishes, 1515–
1928, Russian State Museum, St. 1516, Victoria and Albert Museum,
Petersburg, Russia. Photo Credit: Art London, U.K. The Royal Collection, ©
Resource, N.Y. 2012 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
4.2 Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist 6.4 The Savior Acheiropoietos (Holy
Painting, 1917–1918, Stedelijk Museum, Face), 12th century, Tretyakov Gallery,
Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Photo Moscow, Russia. Photo Credit:
Credit: Art Resource, N.Y. SCALA/Art Resource, N.Y.
4.3 Vladimir Tatlin, The Sailor, 1911,
9 The Mystical Lives of Beings in
Russian State Museum, St. Petersburg,
St. Maximus the Confessor
Russia. Photo Credit: SCALA/Art
Resource, N.Y.
9.1 Francisco de Zurbaran, Saint
Anthony Abbott, after 1640, Uffizi,
4.4 Natalia Goncharova, The
Florence, Italy. Photo Credit: SCALA/
Evangelist (Saint Mark) in Blue, 1911,
Art Resource, N.Y.
Russian State Museum, St. Petersburg,
Russia, © 2012 Artists Rights Society
9.2 St. Anthony the Great, 16th
(ARS), N.Y./ADAGP, Paris. Photo
century, Russian State Museum, St.
Credit: Art Resource, N.Y.
Petersburg, Russia. Photo Credit:
SCALA/Art Resource, N.Y.
4.5 Marc Chagall, The Cattle Merchant,
1912, Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland,
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), 12 Human and Divine Luminaries
N.Y./ADAGP, Paris. Photo Credit:
12.1 Diver Jumping from a Tower into
SCALA/Art Resource, N.Y.
the Sea, “Tomb of the Diver,” early
4.6 St. Luke Writing at his Desk, Codex 5th century B.C., Museo Archeologico
163, folio 199v, 12th century, National Nazionale, Paestum, Italy. Photo
Library, Athens, Greece. Photo Credit: Credit: Erich Lessing/Art Resource,
Werner Forman/Art Resource, N.Y. N.Y.
illustrations ix
12.2 Theotokos and Child, Mosaic 14.2 Vincent van Gogh, The Sower,
from the Apse, 834, Hagia Sophia, 1888, Rijksmuseum Kroeller-Mueller,
Istanbul, Turkey. Photo Credit: Erich Otterlo, the Netherlands. Photo
Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y. Credit: Erich Lessing/Art Resource,
N.Y.
12.3 Cathedral of the Ekatontapyliane,
4th century, Paros, Greece. Photo 14.3  Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist
Credit: C.A. Tsakiridou Painting, 1917–1918, Stedelijk Museum,
Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Photo
12.4 St. Panteleimon, early 19th
Credit: Art Resource, N.Y.
century, St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox
Monastery, Florence, Ariz., U.S.A. 14.4 Mark Rothko, Untitled, c. 1951–
Courtesy of the Holy Monastery of 1952, Tate Gallery, London, U.K., ©
St. Anthony, Ariz. Photo credit: C.A. 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher
Tsakiridou Rothko/Artists Rights Society (ARS),
New York. Photo Credit: Art Resource,
N.Y.
13 The Theophanic Icon
13.1 Theophanes the Greek, 14.5 Robert Delaunay, Simultaneous
The Holy Trinity (Hospitality of Windows (2nd Motif, 1st Part) (Les
Abraham), c. 1374, Fresco, Cathedral fenêtres simultanées [2e motif, 1re
of Transfiguration, Ilyina Street, partie]), 1912, Oil on canvas, 21 ⅝ ×
Novgorod, Russia. Photo Credit: 18 ¼ in. (55.2 × 46.3 cm), Solomon R.
C.A. Tsakiridou Guggenheim Museum, New York,
Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding
13.2 Christ Pantocrator, 14th century, Collection, By gift 41.464
Byzantine Museum, Athens, Greece.
Photo Credit: C.A. Tsakiridou 14.6 Wassily Kandinsky,
Composition, 1926, Russian State
13.3 Andrei Rublev, The Savior, Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia,
c. 1394, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS),
Russia. Photo Credit: SCALA/Art N.Y./ADAGP, Paris. Photo Credit:
Resource, N.Y. Art Resource, N.Y.
13.4 The Apostle Thomas, mid.
14.7 Pablo Picasso, Seated Bather,
14th century, Holy Metropolis of
early 1930s, The Museum of Modern
Thessaloniki, Greece. Photo Credit:
Art, New York, N.Y., U.S.A., © 2012
C.A. Tsakiridou
Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights
Society (ARS), N.Y. Photo Credit: Art
14 Theophany and Modernism Resource, N.Y., Digital Image, © The
Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by
14.1 Camille Pissarro, Apple Harvest SCALA/Art Resource, N.Y.
(Cueillette des pommes), 1888, Oil on
canvas, 24 × 29 ⅛ in. (60.96 × 73.98 14.8 Marc Chagall, A Wheatfield
cm). Framed dimensions: 33 ½ × 38 ¾ on a Summer’s Afternoon, Study for
in. (85.09 × 98.425 × 10.16 cm), Dallas backdrop for Scene III of the ballet
Museum of Art, Munger Fund, Dallas, Aleko, 1942, The Museum of Modern
Tex., U.S.A. Art, New York, N.Y., U.S.A., © 2012