How Is a Religious Icon Made?
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Image
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The word icon hails from the Greek eikon, which means "image." They are used in the Eastern Orthodox tradition as a response to three-dimensional depictions of pagan gods (though this tradition was never developed at Rome), and are normally paintings (although they can be other flat representations) that depict religious scenes, and are generally based on a limited visual vocabulary over which the artist has little control.
Themes and Material
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Most icons are painted on flat panels (as opposed to canvas for other types of painting) and depict a limited number of scenes, such as Jesus, the Virgin Mary, saints and the Crucifixion. The flat form of the icon is used to emphasize the holiness, rather than the earthly nature of those things depicted, and icons do not attempt to reproduce images realistically.
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Education
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The simplicity of form in iconography has been put to use in traditionally illiterate societies to educate the masses in religious teaching. The icon tells an entire story, usually entirely without words (with the exception of some highly symbolic inscriptions that became canonized).
Strictures and Symbology
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An icon-maker has traditionally been bound in several ways in the creation of icons. Many icons are made as copies of icons already thought to be especially holy. At different times and in different regions, the angle of faces, the placement of figures, and the colors used have all been tightly controlled as important elements in the educational and worship purpose of the icon. The need to control these elements is easy to understand in context, as icons are prayed before, usually in collection as is in a Russian "red corner" (for home use) or in an iconostasis at the front of the Orthodox chapel, and therefore, should represent accepted theological norms.
Acheiropoieta
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From the Greek for "not hand made," acheiropoieta are icons which always depict either Jesus or Mary, and are believed to have been made by forces other than human ingenuity. The Holy Mandylion is Eastern Orthodox Christianity's most famous example, and it has its own feast day, held in August; in the West, similar beliefs are held among Catholics about the shroud of Turin.
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