How to read icons correctly. How to read icons

On October 23, 787, the Ecumenical Council established the order of veneration of icons, which has survived to this day. Until the 16th century, even illiterate people were able to "read" icons

7 pictures via

1. BOTTOM UP
Icons should be read from the bottom up, as if rising from the earthly world to the heavenly. Saints are often depicted standing on the ground, but reaching for the sky - such was, metaphorically speaking, their life path. Sometimes at the bottom of the icon there are important attributes, details of the life of the saints, which are not evident if the image is not viewed sequentially. In ancient icons, even the board of the frame plays a role; it is the boundary between our world and the spiritual world represented in the icon. In the Syrian and Egyptian deserts, it was not so easy to get a tree, and even more so a linden - also a symbolic plant.

If you look closely at the ancient icons, the line between the frame and the image is usually written in color - most often red. This border is called “husk” (like a thin film in seeds that “husk”), it symbolizes the border between the lower and upper worlds, and it is red because this border, this transition, was given by blood ...

2. ATTENTION TO THE BACKGROUND
The background on the icon plays an important role, like everything else - they say that not a single millimeter of the icon is written meaninglessly, just like that. In the most ancient times of Christianity, the background of icons was painted in detail to show the reality of the events that took place on them. Later, a reminder of reality will become less important for the icon. Much more often now we meet a solid background: gold or white. These two colors are the "highest" in the Byzantine tradition. White is the color of paradise, and the icons that have it as a background clearly show the person standing in front of them that the action takes place in paradise. Golden color - the color of holiness and a special, immaterial radiance. In addition, gold does not change color, it is permanent and is associated with eternity. With gold tested in the furnace, Scripture compares the martyrs who suffered for Christ.

The icons of the saints sometimes depict the places of their life and deeds. So, for example, the Cathedral of the Kiev-Pechersk Saints is painted against the backdrop of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra; Mary of Egypt is depicted against the backdrop of the desert; Blessed Xenia - against the backdrop of St. Petersburg and the temple at the Smolensk cemetery. There is a well-known icon of John of Shanghai, it depicts a pavement and a taxi - that among which this saint lived.

3. SYMBOLIC COLORS
We have already talked about the white and gold colors on the icon. But other colors also have their own symbolic meaning, and it is probably interesting to know that there is a color that you will not find on canonical icons. This color is grey, a color obtained by mixing white and black. In the spiritual world, heaven and hell, holiness and sin, good and evil do not mix, and darkness cannot embrace light. Therefore, for icon painters who treat color as an image endowed with meaning and never choose color arbitrarily, “for beauty”, gray is not needed.

Red color has several meanings at once. It is the color of blood, the color of Christ's sacrifice. Therefore, the people depicted on the icon in red clothes are martyrs. The wings of the archangels-seraphs close to the throne of God shine with red heavenly fire. But red is also a symbol of the Resurrection, the victory of life over death. There are even icons with a red background - a sign of the triumph of eternal life. The red background always fills the icon with Easter sound.

Blue and blue colors correspond with the sky, other, eternal world and wisdom. This is the color of the Mother of God, who combined both the earthly and the heavenly. So by the blue domes you can always recognize the Mother of God Church.

4. DESCRIPTION OF ATTRIBUTES
Even the smallest attributes on icons give us "keys" to their understanding. "Russian Seven" has already touched on this topic, for example, in the material about the icon "Burning Bush". What are the most common attributes of saints on icons? Crosses in the hands of saints usually mean that this person was martyred for his faith.

Often what they are famous for is given into the hands of the saints on the icon. For example, on the palm of Sergius of Radonezh they write the monastery founded by him. Saint Panteleimon is holding a medicine box. Saints and evangelists on icons hold the Gospel. Reverends - a rosary, like Seraphim of Sarov, or scrolls with sayings or prayer, like Silouan of Athos.

Sometimes the attributes of saints are unexpected, amazing, and you can understand them only by knowing the life. For example, the holy Tsarevich Demetrius can be depicted on icons in a crown (although he was not crowned), often with nuts in his hand, with which he played before his death.

Or an amazing icon of the holy martyr (we read this from the cross in our hand) Christopher, instead of whose head there is depicted, surrounded by a halo, the head of ... a dog. This is an exaggerated episode from his life: the martyr Christopher prayed to God to take away his beauty in order to avoid temptations and make him terrible.

5. UNDERSTANDING THE FIGURES
The figures on the icons are also symbolic. So, for example, a square or rectangle, on which the saint's feet often stand, means human - our land and the fact that the action takes place in the world below. In figures with a large number of angles, this number is symbolic: a hexagon, introducing the theme of the six days of creation, an octagon with Eternity, and so on.

Circle - a figure without corners, which is perfect, symbolizes the fullness of being, and is often depicted on the icons of the creation of the earth. In addition, halos have the shape of a circle. And on the icon “Rejoices in You”, for example, the entire figure of the Mother of God is inscribed in a circle (mandorla) - a symbol of Divine glory. And then the outlines of the circle are repeated again and again - in the walls and domes of the temple, in the branches of the Garden of Eden, in the flight of mysterious, almost invisible heavenly forces at the very top of the icon.

6. PERSPECTIVE AND SIDES
Everyone who is interested in icons has heard about reverse perspective in icons. It is no secret that the reverse perspective emphasizes that it is not the person standing in front of the icon who is the center of the world, but the One who, as it were, looks at him from the icon. But what is rarely talked about in connection with the reverse perspective is the sides. After all, if an icon is painted “from a different point of view,” then its right (for us) side becomes left (for it) and vice versa. And the sides also have their own symbolism. The right side (from the point of view of internal organization, i.e. for us, the left) corresponds to the foreground (and present time), and the left side - to the back (and future time). This helps us to understand many icons, for example, the iconography of the Last Judgment, in which the righteous are presented to the left of the viewer, and the sinners to the right, and not vice versa.

The Holy Fathers called the icon the Gospel for the illiterate. However, the icon should not be taken as a simple illustration of the holy scripture. Many through it turn to God and patron saints. That is why a certain canon has developed - how to write icons correctly. Icon painters pay special attention to the depiction of faces and, of course, gestures, because they are of great importance and carry a certain meaning.

and that these gestures are perceived by many as symbols on icons. Today we will tell you exactly what the gestures of the saints symbolize.

Blessing Hand. The fingers of the right hand (right hand) are folded in the form of the letters I and X (Jesus Christ) - this is a blessing in the name of the Lord; the triple-fingered addition is also common - a blessing in the name of the Holy Trinity. With such a gesture, saints (that is, holy bishops, metropolitans and patriarchs) are depicted, as well as the reverend and righteous who had a holy order. For example, Saint John Chrysostom, who was the Archbishop of Constantinople; St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and others ... During their lifetime, they blessed many people with this gesture every day, and now from Heaven they bless everyone who turns to them with prayer.

. Righteous people are depicted with a characteristic gesture: an open palm facing the worshipers. A righteous man - a man of truth - is open to people, there is no guile in him, no evil thoughts or feelings. Such were, for example, the holy princes Boris and Gleb. As you know, they were offered to kill their traitor brother Svyatopolk, but they preferred to die themselves at the hands of a fratricide than to commit such a sin.

Recall that we previously .

gesture meaning, that the saint excelled highly in heartfelt prayer (there are three stages of prayer—oral, mental, and heartfelt, the latter being considered the most sublime). So sometimes they write the Monk Seraphim of Sarov. The Monk Basilisk of Siberia is also depicted, a recently glorified saint who lived in the 19th century, but succeeded in heartfelt prayer along with the ancient hermits (ascetics who consciously lived in loneliness and poverty).

. Some researchers interpret this as a gesture of accepting grace, others as a prayerful appeal to God. With such a gesture, for example, the righteous forefather Abraham, the mother of the Most Holy Theotokos, the righteous Anna, the martyr Anastasia the Roman, are depicted.

With such a gesture they write, for example, St. Mary of Egypt. Most likely, this is an image of a cross in the likeness of how we fold our hands when we approach Communion. With this gesture we confirm our belonging to Christ by accepting His Cross Sacrifice.

The whole desert life of the Monk Mary was a feat of repentance, and not long before her blessed death, she partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, saying: “Now you forgive Your servant, Master, according to Your word in peace, as if my eyes have seen Your salvation…”.

Sometimes instead of gestures "says" a thing

A special role is played by the object in the hands of the saint - from it you can find out for what feat the saint was glorified or what service he carried on earth.
The cross in the hands symbolically indicates the martyrdom of the saint. The Apostle Peter holds in his hands the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. The great martyr healer Panteleimon holds in his hands a casket with medicines and a liar (a long narrow spoon). In the hands of the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as the prophet David, who wrote the Psalter, they always depict a style (a pointed stick for writing).

Saint Mary Magdalene, one of the myrrh-bearing women who came to the tomb of Christ to anoint His body with myrrh, is depicted holding a vessel in which she carried myrrh. And in the hand of St. Anastasia the Destroyer of Patterns is a vessel with oil, with which she came to the prisoners in dungeons.
Very often, the saints on the icons hold a book or a scroll in their hands. This is how the Old Testament prophets, apostles, saints, saints, righteous and new martyrs are depicted.

On October 23, 787, the Ecumenical Council established the order of veneration of icons, which has survived to this day.
Until the 16th century, even illiterate people were able to "read" icons.

1. BOTTOM UP

If you look closely at ancient icons, the line between the frame and the image is usually written in color - most often in red. This border is called “husk” (like a thin film in seeds that “husk”), it symbolizes the border between the lower and upper worlds, and it is red because this border, this transition, was given by blood ...

2. ATTENTION TO THE BACKGROUND

The icons of the saints sometimes depict the places of their life and deeds. So, for example, the Cathedral of the Kiev-Pechersk Saints is painted against the backdrop of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra; Mary of Egypt is depicted against the backdrop of the desert; Blessed Xenia - against the backdrop of St. Petersburg and the temple at the Smolensk cemetery. There is a well-known icon of St. John of Shanghai, it depicts a pavement and a taxi - that among which this saint lived.

3. SYMBOLIC COLORS

Red color has several meanings at once. It is the color of blood, the color of Christ's sacrifice. Therefore, the people depicted on the icon in red robes are martyrs. The wings of the archangels-seraphs close to the throne of God shine with red heavenly fire. But red is also a symbol of the Resurrection, the victory of life over death. There are even icons with a red background - a sign of the triumph of eternal life. The red background always fills the icon with Easter sound.

Blue and blue colors correspond with the sky, other, eternal world and wisdom. This is the color of the Mother of God, who combined both the earthly and the heavenly. So, by the blue domes you can always recognize the Mother of God Church.

4. DESCRIPTION OF ATTRIBUTES

5. UNDERSTANDING THE FIGURES

The figures on the icons are also symbolic. So, for example, a square or a rectangle, on which the saint's feet often stand, means human - our land and the fact that the action takes place in the world below. In figures with a large number of angles, this number is symbolic: a hexagon, introducing the theme of the six days of creation, an octagon with Eternity, and so on.

6. PERSPECTIVE AND SIDES

Everyone who is interested in icons has heard about reverse perspective in icons.
It is no secret that the reverse perspective emphasizes that it is not the person standing in front of the icon who is the center of the world, but the One Who, as it were, looks at him from the icon. But what is rarely talked about in connection with the reverse perspective is the sides.After all, if an icon is painted “from a different point of view,” then its right (for us) side becomes left (for it) and vice versa. And the sides also have their own symbolism.
The right side (from the point of view of internal organization, i.e., for us, the left) corresponds to the foreground (and present time), and the left side corresponds to the back (and future time). This helps us to understand many icons, for example, the iconography of the Last Judgment, in which the righteous are presented to the left of the viewer, and the sinners to the right, and not vice versa.

7. CENTER OF THE ICON

In the center of the icon, the most important thing is usually depicted - that, from the point of view of what (or Whom) it tells.
For example, the compositional center of the famous "Trinity" by Andrei Rublev is a bowl, which is blessed by the hands of angels. The entire movement of the prayer’s inner gaze takes place around this bowl (let us recall here the symbolism of the circle).
Often the picturesque center of the icon is the Gospel. The perspective of the icon, as it were, unfolds from him, the side edges of the book are written in bright colors.

How to read an icon? Until the 16th century, even illiterate people were able to "read" icons, and one icon sometimes replaced dozens of sermons. From the bottom up Icons should be read from the bottom up, as if rising from the earthly world to the heavenly. Saints are often depicted standing on the ground, but reaching for the sky - such was, metaphorically speaking, their life path. Sometimes at the bottom of the icon there are important attributes, details of the life of the saints, which are not evident if the image is not viewed sequentially. In ancient icons, even the board of the frame plays a role; it is the boundary between our world and the spiritual world represented in the icon. In the Syrian and Egyptian deserts, it was not so easy to get a tree, and even more so a linden - also a symbolic plant. If you look closely at the ancient icons, the line between the frame and the image is usually written in color - most often red. This border is called "husk" (like a thin film in seeds that "husk"), it symbolizes the border between the lower and upper worlds, and it is red because this border, this transition, was given by blood ... Attention to the background Background on The icon plays an important role, like everything else - they say that not a single millimeter of the icon is written meaninglessly, just like that. In the most ancient times of Christianity, the background of icons was painted in detail to show the reality of the events that took place on them. Later, a reminder of reality will become less important for the icon. Much more often now we meet a solid background: gold or white. These two colors are the "highest" in the Byzantine tradition. White is the color of paradise, and the icons that have it as a background clearly show the person standing in front of them that the action takes place in paradise. Golden color - the color of holiness and a special, immaterial radiance. In addition, gold does not change color, it is permanent and is associated with eternity. With gold tested in the furnace, Scripture compares the martyrs who suffered for Christ. The icons of the saints sometimes depict the places of their life and deeds. So, for example, the Cathedral of the Kiev-Pechersk Saints is painted against the backdrop of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra; Mary of Egypt is depicted against the backdrop of the desert; Blessed Xenia - against the backdrop of St. Petersburg and the temple at the Smolensk cemetery. There is a well-known icon of John of Shanghai, it depicts a pavement and a taxi - that among which this saint lived. Symbolic Colors We have already spoken about the white and gold colors on the icon. But other colors also have their own symbolic meaning, and it is probably interesting to know that there is a color that you will not find on canonical icons. This color is grey, a color obtained by mixing white and black. In the spiritual world, heaven and hell, holiness and sin, good and evil do not mix, and darkness cannot embrace light. Therefore, for icon painters who treat color as an image endowed with meaning, and who never choose color arbitrarily, "for beauty", gray is not needed. Red color has several meanings at once. It is the color of blood, the color of Christ's sacrifice. Therefore, the people depicted on the icon in red clothes are martyrs. The wings of the archangels-seraphs close to the throne of God shine with red heavenly fire. But red is also a symbol of the Resurrection, the victory of life over death. There are even icons with a red background - a sign of the triumph of eternal life. The red background always fills the icon with Easter sound. Blue and blue colors correspond with the sky, other, eternal world and wisdom. This is the color of the Mother of God, who combined both the earthly and the heavenly. So by the blue domes you can always recognize the Mother of God Church. Deciphering attributes Even the smallest attributes on icons give us "keys" to their understanding. "Russian Seven" has already touched on this topic, for example, in the article about the icon "Burning Bush". What are the most common attributes of saints on icons? Crosses in the hands of saints usually mean that this person was martyred for his faith. Often what they are famous for is given into the hands of the saints on the icon. For example, on the palm of Sergius of Radonezh they write the monastery founded by him. Saint Panteleimon is holding a medicine box. Saints and evangelists on icons hold the Gospel. Reverends - a rosary, like Seraphim of Sarov, or scrolls with sayings or prayer, like Silouan of Athos. Sometimes the attributes of saints are unexpected, amazing, and you can understand them only by knowing the life. For example, the holy Tsarevich Demetrius can be depicted on icons in a crown (although he was not crowned), often with nuts in his hand, with which he played before his death. Or an amazing icon of the holy martyr (we read this from the cross in hand) Christopher, instead of whose head there is depicted, surrounded by a halo, the head of ... a dog. This is an exaggerated episode from his life: the martyr Christopher prayed to God to take away his beauty in order to avoid temptations and make him terrible. Understanding figures Figures on icons are also symbolic. So, for example, a square or rectangle, on which the saint's feet often stand, means human - our land and the fact that the action takes place in the world below. In figures with a large number of angles, this number is symbolic: a hexagon, introducing the theme of the six days of creation, an octagon with Eternity, and so on. Circle - a figure without corners, which is perfect, symbolizes the fullness of being, and is often depicted on the icons of the creation of the earth. In addition, halos have the shape of a circle. And on the icon “Rejoices in You”, for example, the entire figure of the Mother of God is inscribed in a circle (mandorla) - a symbol of Divine glory. And then the outlines of the circle are repeated again and again - in the walls and domes of the temple, in the branches of the Garden of Eden, in the flight of mysterious, almost invisible heavenly forces at the very top of the icon. Perspective and Sides Everyone who is interested in icons has heard about reverse perspective in icons. It is no secret that the reverse perspective emphasizes that it is not the person standing in front of the icon who is the center of the world, but the One who, as it were, looks at him from the icon. But what is rarely talked about in connection with the reverse perspective is the sides. After all, if an icon is painted "from a different point of view", then its right (for us) side becomes left (for it) and vice versa. And the sides also have their own symbolism. The right side (from the point of view of internal organization, i.e. for us, the left) corresponds to the foreground (and present time), and the left side - to the back (and future time). This helps us to understand many icons, for example, the iconography of the Last Judgment, in which the righteous are presented to the left of the viewer, and the sinners to the right, and not vice versa. The center of the icon In the center of the icon, the most important thing is usually depicted - that, from the point of view of what (or Whom) it narrates. For example, the compositional center of the famous "Trinity" by Andrei Rublev is a bowl, which is blessed by the hands of angels. The entire movement of the prayer’s inner gaze takes place around this bowl (let us recall here the symbolism of the circle). Often the picturesque center of the icon is the Gospel. The perspective of the icon, as it were, unfolds from him, the side edges of the book are written in bright colors. "We see the cover of the Gospel, but the bright edges growing in depth show how incomparably more important is what lies behind this cover," writes one of the researchers.

Until the 16th century, even illiterate people were able to “read” icons, and one icon sometimes replaced dozens of sermons.

Down up

Icons should be read from the bottom up, as if rising from the earthly world to the heavenly. Saints are often depicted standing on the ground, but reaching for the sky - such was, metaphorically speaking, their life path. Sometimes at the bottom of the icon there are important attributes, details of the life of the saints, which are not evident if the image is not viewed sequentially. In ancient icons, even the board of the frame plays a role; it is the boundary between our world and the spiritual world represented in the icon. In the Syrian and Egyptian deserts, it was not so easy to get a tree, and even more so a linden - also a symbolic plant.
If you look closely at the ancient icons, the line between the frame and the image is usually written in color - most often red. This border is called “husk” (like a thin film in seeds that “husk”), it symbolizes the border between the lower and upper worlds, and it is red because this border, this transition, was given by blood ...

Attention to the background

The background on the icon plays an important role, like everything else - they say that not a single millimeter of the icon is written meaninglessly, just like that. In the most ancient times of Christianity, the background of icons was painted in detail to show the reality of the events that took place on them. Later, a reminder of reality will become less important for the icon. Much more often now we meet a solid background: gold or white. These two colors are the "highest" in the Byzantine tradition. White is the color of paradise, and the icons that have it as a background clearly show the person standing in front of them that the action takes place in paradise. Golden color - the color of holiness and a special, immaterial radiance. In addition, gold does not change color, it is permanent and is associated with eternity. With gold tested in the furnace, Scripture compares the martyrs who suffered for Christ.
The icons of the saints sometimes depict the places of their life and deeds. So, for example, the Cathedral of the Kiev-Pechersk Saints is painted against the backdrop of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra; Mary of Egypt is depicted against the backdrop of the desert; Blessed Xenia - against the backdrop of St. Petersburg and the temple at the Smolensk cemetery. There is a well-known icon of John of Shanghai, it depicts a pavement and a taxi - that among which this saint lived.

Symbolic colors

We have already talked about the white and gold colors on the icon. But other colors also have their own symbolic meaning, and it is probably interesting to know that there is a color that you will not find on canonical icons. This color is grey, a color obtained by mixing white and black. In the spiritual world, heaven and hell, holiness and sin, good and evil do not mix, and darkness cannot embrace light. Therefore, for icon painters who treat color as an image endowed with meaning and never choose color arbitrarily, “for beauty”, gray is not needed.
Red color has several meanings at once. It is the color of blood, the color of Christ's sacrifice. Therefore, the people depicted on the icon in red clothes are martyrs. The wings of the archangels-seraphs close to the throne of God shine with red heavenly fire. But red is also a symbol of the Resurrection, the victory of life over death. There are even icons with a red background - a sign of the triumph of eternal life. The red background always fills the icon with Easter sound.
Blue and blue colors correspond with the sky, other, eternal world and wisdom. This is the color of the Mother of God, who combined both the earthly and the heavenly. So by the blue domes you can always recognize the Mother of God Church.

Attribute interpretation

Even the smallest attributes on icons give us "keys" to their understanding. What are the most common attributes of saints on icons? Crosses in the hands of saints usually mean that this person was martyred for his faith.
Often what they are famous for is given into the hands of the saints on the icon. For example, on the palm of Sergius of Radonezh they write the monastery founded by him. Saint Panteleimon is holding a medicine box. Saints and evangelists on icons hold the Gospel. Reverends - a rosary, like Seraphim of Sarov, or scrolls with sayings or prayer, like Silouan of Athos.
Sometimes the attributes of saints are unexpected, amazing, and you can understand them only by knowing the life.
For example, the holy Tsarevich Demetrius can be depicted on icons in a crown (although he was not crowned), often with nuts in his hand, with which he played before his death.
Or an amazing icon of the holy martyr (we read this from the cross in hand) Christopher, instead of whose head there is depicted, surrounded by a halo, the head of ... a dog. This is an exaggerated episode from his life: the martyr Christopher prayed to God to take away his beauty in order to avoid temptations and make him terrible.

Understanding Shapes

The figures on the icons are also symbolic. So, for example, a square or rectangle, on which the saint's feet often stand, means human - our land and the fact that the action takes place in the world below. In figures with a large number of angles, this number is symbolic: a hexagon, introducing the theme of the six days of creation, an octagon with Eternity, and so on.
Circle - a figure without corners, which is perfect, symbolizes the fullness of being, and is often depicted on the icons of the creation of the earth. In addition, halos have the shape of a circle. And on the icon “Rejoices in You”, for example, the entire figure of the Mother of God is inscribed in a circle (mandorla) - a symbol of Divine glory. And then the outlines of the circle are repeated again and again - in the walls and domes of the temple, in the branches of the Garden of Eden, in the flight of mysterious, almost invisible heavenly forces at the very top of the icon.

Perspective and sides

Everyone who is interested in icons has heard about reverse perspective in icons. It is no secret that the reverse perspective emphasizes that it is not the person standing in front of the icon who is the center of the world, but the One who, as it were, looks at him from the icon. But what is rarely talked about in connection with the reverse perspective is the sides. After all, if an icon is painted “from a different point of view,” then its right (for us) side becomes left (for it) and vice versa. And the sides also have their own symbolism. The right side (from the point of view of internal organization, i.e. for us, the left) corresponds to the foreground (and present time), and the left side - to the back (and future time). This helps us to understand many icons, for example, the iconography of the Last Judgment, in which the righteous are presented to the left of the viewer, and the sinners to the right, and not vice versa.

Icon center

In the center of the icon, the most important thing is usually depicted - that, from the point of view of what (or Whom) it narrates. For example, the compositional center of the famous "Trinity" by Andrei Rublev is a bowl, which is blessed by the hands of angels. The entire movement of the prayer’s inner gaze takes place around this bowl (let us recall here the symbolism of the circle).
Often the picturesque center of the icon is the Gospel. The perspective of the icon, as it were, unfolds from him, the side edges of the book are written in bright colors. “We see the cover of the Gospel, but the bright edges growing in depth show how incomparably more important is what lies behind this cover,” writes one of the researchers.