The Archaeology of Faith

The Archaeology of Faith

I’ve long been interested in the iconography of the Orthodox world, as well as the iconography of the Medieval West and the Renaissance. I find great satisfaction in painting copies of images from these periods.

One of the areas of iconography that fascinates me is from the first millennium of the Christian church. This was a time of transition, with the church developing underground before the time of Constantine, only to be legalized in the early fourth century and to experience tremendous growth, to the development of the Greek and Latin traditions that eventually led to the split between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox worlds in the eleventh century.

Mary and the baby Jesus, ca. 500-650 AD.
Copy of an original at the Monastery of St. Catherine at Mt. Sinai.

For iconography, a great deal of transition happened as well. The earliest icons date from the early sixth century, and many are found at the Monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai. This remote monastery is the oldest continually occupied monastery in the world, dating back to the fourth century. It was patronized in the sixth century by the Roman emperor Justinian, who built the main church (which is still standing) and who also built the original walls around the monastery for protection. It is believed by some that Justinian also donated three of the monastery’s oldest icons, which date from the time of his reign.

For two periods during the eighth and ninth centuries the Byzantine emperors at the time banned religious images, and ordered their destruction. Relatively few have survived, and those that have survived display a range of styles very distinct from Byzantine icons as we know them today. Mt. Sinai has a wonderful collection of icons from before the periods of iconoclasm, and since the monastery was outside of the bounds of the Byzantine empire during that time, it is widely believed that icon painting continued there uninterrupted.

Protestants have had a difficult time with religious imagery, especially that of Mary. For us, Mary is trotted out at Christmas and she is put away until the next December. Obviously, that isn’t true for a significant part of the Christian church. For much of the church Mary is in the background of the Christian faith.

Copy of an icon of Mary and the baby Jesus,
ca. 550 AD. Original at the Monastery of St. Catherine at Mt. Sinai.

When I look at a photograph of an ancient icon that has seen the wear and tear, I want to see what it looked like to the people who first used it. With the exception of a few large icons, most of the icons from this period are fairly small, suggesting that they were used for private devotion.

Obviously, a museum (or monastery, in the case of Mt. Sinai) is not going to repaint an ancient icon to look like it did when it was new, so in order to see an image as it was when new, I need to make a copy. This is a fascinating process for me. I start with a digital image, make a panel the size that I need, make a grid on the panel and transfer the image by hand, then paint the copy. Often a portion of the original icon is missing and I have to reconstruct that, which sometimes involves a bit of conjecture.

Icon of Christ blessing, ca 550 AD.
Original at the Monastery of St. Catherine
at Mt. Sinai

With the finished product, I can contemplate it and learn about how the original owner(s) understood the subject. An image can say a great deal about the beliefs of the people who first viewed the image.

It is important with these images to remember that they were not painted just for decoration. For those Christians who use icons liturgically or for private devotion an icon is a window into the reality portrayed by the image. It functions in a similar manner to icons on a computer screen on a phone. By selecting the icon you enter into the world of that image.

I love to learn from artists from the past about what they did and how they did it. This is the archaeology of the Christian faith. We do not just live in the present, but the saints of the past are still with us, and the images they used in worship are still with us. We owe it to them to understand who they were and what they believed, even if we do not share all of those beliefs with them. Their witness to their own faith is the foundation of our own.