The Illuminating Icon

by Anthony Ugolnik

A revealing book by an American Christian of Russian descent who has a strong personal bond with many Christians in Russia. Anthony Ugolnik exposes the cultural and religious alienation between Russians and Americans, shows who the thousand-year-old Russian Orthodox tradition actively shapes the life of contemporary Russian Christians, and points out how Russian Orthodoxy can inform and enrich American Christianity.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Matt Sheffield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1989, much of this book feels prescient and I found myself amazed at how valuable his words are for 2017 and beyond. More likely than clairvoyance, however, is that the ancient way of Orthodoxy is less susceptible to the fog of our secular age and the mud of postmodernism. It, therefore, has a clearer vision of the nature of human beings and the present context we find ourselves in. With those two objects in sight Anthony Ugolnik offers in this book a beautiful way forward.

[Mr S Jarvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book, more due to seeing Christianity from a different perspective. Growing up in the west, we sometimes fail to realise how much our surroundings influence our thought patterns. This book helps to reveal some of that. Worth reading if you don’t understand icons and Orthodox Christianity.

[Andrew Weitzel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite not being among the target readership of a book like this, I liked it well enough. And also despite this being firmly a work of it's time (the Cold War), its themes remain relevant since we're back to being told to hate Russia again in the Current Year. The writing is good, and I learned a lot about how Christianity existed in the USSR (it seemingly did OK) and Orthodoxy in general.