The Art of Seeing: Paradox and Perception in Orthodox Iconography

by Maximos Nicholas Constas, Maxim Vasiljevic (Preface)

Fr Maximos’ careful consideration of iconography helps us adequately assume the complex aesthetics of Byzantine iconography and hagiography, and opens up pathways into a new ecclesial synthesis of ontology, semiotics, phenomenology, and aesthetics

Genres: Christianity, Theology

360 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 30, 2014

Reviews

[Nathan Duffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fr. Maximos has produced a magnificent contemporary book of Orthodox theology here. Steeped in -- and obedient to -- the Church's traditions of theological, aesthetic reflection, he reads various icons and icon types while bringing his own knowledge to bear on them. He also folds his reflections on specific pieces into a larger structure of symbolic meaning, according to the fathers, illuminating depths. Beautifully written and keenly insightful, this book is not to be missed.

[Katie Newberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Far from being a spontaneous or ‘natural’ response (although it may begin as such), such attention requires continual effort, will likely be the fruit of many failed attempts, and thus has a distinctive moral component. It includes a certain degree of commitment, of patience, of time, a waiting on the object that is before us, a humble obedience to it, for there is a sense in which it offers itself to me only as much as I renounce my own ability to grasp and comprehend it. Attention in this sense is a refusal to pander to the self, to the desire to cling to a particular thought, idea, or way of looking at things - simply because it is ‘my’ way of looking at things - and this is an act of self-denial, of continuous self surrender, which at the same time is a progressive entrance into the mystery of that which makes itself present to me.”

[Randall Herman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liturgical Spirituality

The author examines specific icons, and addresses the implications for worship life of their very presence. Fr. Constas shows a deep command of the theology of icons and of worship. Recommended for those interested in icons and their impact on our spiritual life.