Pavel florensky book table is located in our church basement and offers a wide variety of books, recordings, and icons, from various publishers. Tumblr is a place to express yourself, discover yourself, and bond over the stuff you love. Yesterday, my florensky class was dedicated to florenskys views on painting, particularly to byzantine and old russian icons. Clemena antonova this book considers a movement within russian religious philosophy known as full unity vseedinstvo, with a focus on one of its main representatives, pavel florensky 18821937. Three orthodox icons, the painting of which is described in pavel florensky s iconostasis. Thanks go to polymathicus for recommending this essential text. Reverse perspective in christian iconography the peacock. Pavel florensky states why icons are singular and vital to the life of the church. Florensky s theory of the icon if my experience running an iconography camp in the summer, and regularly being asked to give lectures on eastern christian iconography, are reliable indicators, then interest in byzantine iconography remains high today on the part of western christians, as it has for well over a decade now. Pavel florensky russian orthodox theologian, priest, philosopher, mathematician.
Essentially, florenskys lecture was related to the study of icons within the. In doing so, fr pavel also sketched a new history of both western religious art and the orthodox icon. To bring some clarity to the strangeness of this statement we might look to fr. I think your best bet is not to think of these as ikons properly understood as something like windows into heaven pavel florensky s iconostasis is a beautiful work on the theology of the ikon i would highly recommend so much as devotional images, to help you focus your attention on higher things and aid you in prayer.
The iconostasis of the title is a wall separating the altar from the worshippers in eastern orthodox churches. My favorite definition is one that pavel florensky wrote. One of the things i find most interesting about florensky s iconostasis is his notion of windows. This action was often attributed to the russian orthodox church abroad. And his writing inspired me to think differently about stained glass. It took time to see what he meant and to see that it was true. The first time i read the statement i was brought up short. Pavel florensky in his wonderful book iconostasis, says that rublevs icon of the holy trinity exists, therefore god exists. Pavel florensky 18821937, russian priest and polymath, theologian and mystic, sometimes styled the leonardo da vinci of russia for the breadth of his intellectual accomplishments, left a great part of his writings for later generations to discover and publish after his secret execution in a soviet forced labor camp in 1937. The seraphimdiveyevo tenderness icon of the mother of.
Childrens books, the works of the church fathers, and introductory material on orthodoxy are available for purchase. For him, this wall of icons is not a barrier but an. In his book the pillar and ground of the truth father pavel florensky wrote. For florensky the services of the orthodox church are the way to this sort of mystical ascent. The icon exists as the visible manifestation of the metaphysical essence of what it depicts. Its where your interests connect you with your people. In creating a work of art, the psyche or soul of the artist ascends from the earthly realm into the heavenly. Paul florensky i was just rereading the excellent book salt of the earth, an encounter with a holy russian elder.
The volume also sketches an alternative history of both western religious. Pavel florensky s theory of the icon routledge focus on religion 9780367206826. I dont agree that all postreinassance art is vain and more interested in lies, but he has a point. Pavel aleksandrovich florensky was a trained theologian, mathematician, geologist, engineer, and philosopher in russia during the early 20th century whose intellectual pursuits included defending the mystic and mathematical imiaslavie nameworship movement, and delineating one of the clearest expressions of icon theology in russian orthodoxy his extensive and widereaching oeuvre. Pavel aleksandrovich florensky was born on january 21, 1882 january 9 according to the julian calendar in yevlakh, elisabethpol governorate, into the family of a railroad engineer, aleksandr florensky, in the town of yevlakh in elisabethpol governorate in presentday western azerbaijan. Mutual insights into the perception of space kirill sokolov and avril pyman he following documentary publication is something of a curiosity. Born in 1882, fr pavel florensky was a brilliant philosopher, theologian, scientist.
According to the russian mathematician and polymath father pavel florensky 1882 1937, an extraordinary personality that worked on anything from theology and art to physics and mathematics, the painter possesses two viewpoints his eyes and is equipped with a mental mechanism to create a. Pavel florensky as perhaps the most remarkable person devoured by the gulag. The wall that separates two worlds in an iconostasis. The tenderness icon is remarkable since theotokos is depicted on it without a child or even before his conception at the moment of the archangels greeting, when she is the everpure vessel of the holy spirit. On 26 february 1933 he was arrested again, on suspicion of engaging in a conspiracy with pavel gidiulianov, a professor of canon law who was a complete stranger to florensky, to overthrow the state and install, with nazi assistance, a. Pavel florensky iconostasis pdf 31 by diemaveacne issuu. The relationship between the avantgarde and the icon is of great importance for the discussion of the semiotics of russian culture and the spiritual tradition in russian art. Synopsis translated into english, this is pavel florensky s final theological work.
Ben the icon woodcarvers blog just another wordpress. Iconostasis pavel florensky, donald sheehan, olga andrejev on. The workshop lasted 6 days, and each day started with a lecture by the instructor. They preserve the tradition and the authentic zeal for truth of the church. True icons are windows into heaven and are the fulfillment of the purpose of art. During the last decades of the twentieth century statements had appeared noting a recognition of fr.
Two weeks ago i participated in an egg tempera iconpainting workshop led by an instructor from the prosopon school of iconology in new york. He begins with a discussion of the iconostasis the wall of icons that separates the altar from the nave in an orthodox church. Often referred to as the russian leonardo, florensky was an important figure of the russian religious renaissance around the beginning of the twentieth century. Pavel florensky was a russian polymath who wrote reverse.
If the icon is both a window into the mystical experience of the painter and a. The introduction gives a short overview of the life and martyrdom of st florensky that i found very moving. One might mean by the iconostasis the boards or the bricks or the stones. His father, a railroad engineer, was from a family of russian orthodox priests and his mother was from armenian nobility. The icon of jesus may not look like the man jesus two thousand years ago, but it represents some quality of jesus, or his mother, or his followers, and so becomes an open window through which we can be given a new glimpse of the love of god. In this context, the term russian covers the russian federation, soviet union, russian empire, tsardom of russia and grand duchy of moscow, including ethnic russians and people of other ethnicities living in russia. This book considers a movement within russian religious philosophy known as full unity vseedinstvo, with a focus on one of its main representatives, pavel florensky 18821937. For florensky, an icon is a map of a perceived reality.
Thanks go to polymathicus for recommending this essential text archangel gabriel icon, 16th century. Perhaps the most remarkable person devoured by the gulag is how alexandr solzhenitsyn described pavel florensky, a russian orthodox mathematician, scientist, linguist, art historian, philosopher, theologian, and priest who was martyred during the bolshevik purges of the 1930s. During the centuries of the mongol yoke, the influence of shamanism and other magical practices reached the courts. Volume 1, 2015 editors greeting raoul smith as the only museum in the united states dedicated to the collection and exhibition of icons, the museum of russian icons in clinton, massachusetts, established the center for icon studies in 2012 to support research in iconology and iconography. Florensky was a russian educator and philosopher who wrote about orthodox spirituality and the icon. I was attending my first icon writing workshop at st. Some considerations for modern christian culture ermolaev, natalia, ed. Yesterday, my florensky class was dedicated to florensky s views on painting, particularly to byzantine and old russian icons.
Through a critique of reverse perspective, explicated most vigorously by pavel florensky 18821937, antonova expounds how observer and icon shared an intimate relationship in real time and space through what should be considered embodied viewing. Principles in the training of future iconographers pt. In 1922, the mathematician, phys icist and philosopher pavel florensky concluded his book. The workshop lasted 6 days, and each day started with a lecture by the. To this end go ahead and have your priest bless them. Rather, they are windows to heaventhey inspire and uplift us and draw us into a deeper communion with god.
Mary of the pines retreat center and was reading iconostasis by pavel florensky. Composed in 1922, it explores in highly original terms the significance of the icon. Pavel florensky, as an introduction to the aesthetic and spiritual theory operative in icons. From this perspective, the icon and the avantgarde image are diametrically opposite sign systems. Human perception of stained glass andrew cary youngs blog.
An icon is not an artwork, a selfenclosed piece of art. In actuality, the iconostasis is a boundary between the visible and invisible worlds, and it functions as a boundary by being an obstacle to our seeing the altar, thereby making it. Rather, in life and in image, this was the undisclosing of living icons and what we might call a virtual iconostasis that runs endlessly and continuously through our experience of the world. The icon as proof of gods existence glory to god for. Adam drozdek florenskys proof of the existence of god bazhum. In the 1920s the notion was taken up by the russian writer pavel florensky. Pavel florensky was a russian priest who was martyred by the communists. After the intercession of ekaterina peshkova wife of maxim gorky, florensky was allowed to return to moscow. Beauty and the beautiful in eastern christian culture. With the aid of mystically potent icons windows on another world as they were called by father pavel florensky, an important figure of the silver agethis native paganism helped the spread of orthodoxy within russia. Composed in 1922, it explores the significance of the icon. Pavel florensky wrote an article in his imaginary values in geometry in which he attempted to use the general theory of relativity to show that considering the relativity of motion, one could develop a perfectly coherent mathematical model in which the earth is the reference of motion. 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.
Pavel alexandrovich florensky was born on january 21, 1882, in the town of yevlakh in what is now western azerbaijan. Full restitution and recognition of florensky s lecture came with the 199. This list also includes those who were born in russia but later emigrated, and those who were born elsewhere but immigrated to the country and. It is here that florensky starts to talk about icons. Pavel florensky states why icons are singular and vital to the. Three orthodox icons, the painting of which is described in pavel florenskys iconostasis.
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