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The Mystical Language of Icons

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The Mystical Language of Icons is a straightforward and breathtakingly illustrated guide to Christian iconography throughout history. Full color photographs of iconographic artworks on almost every page are enhanced with an in-depth text that describes the history, meaning, and purpose of Christian icons; the techniques that religious painters used to create these works; specific nuances of individual motifs, gestures, and colors; Christian hymns, poems and prayers appropriate to individual artworks; and much more. Written by one of Europe's most well-known iconographers, The Mystical Language of Icons is a serious-minded text yet highly accessible to lay readers, historians, and anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of iconography as a form of Christian worship, expression and communication.

Iconographer, Solrunn Nes, has put together a lavishly beautiful and engaging book about Christina Icons largely in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. She discusses the painting (or writing) of icons, and one comes away with great respect for the spiritual engagement an iconographer must encounter to produce such a mystical piece of wok for the faithful.

She perfectly reminds the faithful, and educates the non-orthodox that an "icon is never complete in itself. It can never stand alone as an autonomous work of art, but refers to the spiritual dimensions." (p. 12) A brief history is provided. It is accurate, but not academic, which serves this books ministry well.

The book also presents some wonderful icons and their motifs. She shows mostly Greek and Russian icons, but also discuses theological ideas in relation to icons and Church teachings.

This is just a wonderful book which all Christians can benefit and every Orthodox believer should have at hand.

In a time when what usually passes for religious art in the West is deplorable, it is always a sign of hope to come across the relative few who genuinely represent the tradition and (not to overstate the case in the least) the universal and authoritative canon of authentic Christian theological aesthetics. As regards the iconographic arts in particular, the essence of that canon is best expressed in the words of the Seventh Ecumenical Council (A.D. 787), which stated:

The making of icons was not the creation of the painters, but an accepted institution and tradition within the universal Church. . . . The idea and tradition came from the fathers, not from the painters. Only the art belongs to the painter, whereas the form without doubt comes from the fathers, who founded the Church. (quoted in Nes, p. 13)

In other words, the common classical heritage of Christian art is embedded in an objective tradition, one which is conventional, canonical, dogmatic, didactic, and liturgical. The antithesis of true Christian iconography in the Church is therefore that which presumes to abandon the objective for the subjective, tradition based on God's revelation for social propaganda, dogma for mere sentiment, the canon for self-expression.

Drop into just about any Christian book or gift shop and one is likely to see prominently displayed "Precious Moments" angels, or those many ghastly "Jesus" pictures that I've come to think of (depending on which of the various scenes is depicted) as "Happy Jesus," "Malibu Jesus," and (when he is shown helping children play baseball, etc.) "Jesus the Friendly Ghost."

If one continues looking around, he might descry cards or books of the skillfully rendered "icons" of either Robert Lentz ("Bridge-Building Icons") or William Hart McNichols. Lentz and McNichols have adapted the Eastern iconographic style to serve their own religious sociopolitical agenda. As such, though technically impressive, their icons do not serve as vehicles of the tradition, but as propaganda and individual expression. For example, Lentz has produced such "icons" as those of "Hagios" Harvey Milk, and Christ as an AIDS victim. (Personally speaking, if pressed at gunpoint to make the choice, I would choose "Happy Jesus" for my bedroom wall over one of these slick propaganda-icons, which constitute a far graver offense.)

Solrunn Nes, whom I was privileged to meet at the last Orientale Lumen Conference in June 2001, is the author of a beautiful antidote to such stuff. Highly regarded as an iconographer of considerable skill in Europe (her work can be found in many places, including Aylesford Priory in England and Takvam Chapel in Arna), and especially in her native Norway where she is a lecturer at the University of Bergen, Miss Nes has produced a fine guide to iconography in her recently published The Mystical Language of Icons. The book is lavishly illustrated in full color throughout with Miss Nes's own icons, each in the style of one of the various schools with which she is most conversant. All are striking and luminous, and fully in accord with the objective canonical tradition. Her work reveals how one committed prayerfully to the latter can nonetheless produce art of obvious creativity.

Miss Nes provides us with an informative introduction, the fruit of her many years of research and travel to the great centers and monasteries of Orthodoxy, detailing for the reader the technique of icon painting (or "writing," as some would say), and showing the steps with photographs. She cursorily provides the historical and theological background of Orthodox iconography, the range of motifs, and important insights into the use of form, perspective, attribute, and symbol.

The "meat" of the book, though, is page after page of her fine icons-those of Christ and the Theotokos, the feasts of the church year, the saints, and so forth-along with explanatory notes of the "mystical language" contained in each piece. As such, this book is both a crash course in the way the faith of the Fathers is conveyed through the art of the prayerful canonical painter, and a book for slow and absorbing devotional meditation.

Above all, Solrunn Nes, herself a Western European and convert to Roman Catholicism, nonetheless possesses a profound knowledge and love of Eastern Christianity, and can be recognized as a true representative of the tradition expressed preeminently at Nicea II. Two quotations from her book's introduction serve to show why this is so, and why she is an authentic iconographer (and why, incidentally, Lentz and McNichols are not):

The icon is a holy object, the form being merely a receptacle for the content. And the content is determined by the Holy Scriptures and the Traditions of the Church. That is why the work process is marked more by discipline than by [individualistic] inspiration. (p. 12)

. . . [T]he icon's motif is based on a historic event through which God has manifested himself. . . . However, in so far as the motif has a current interest over and above the historic event, a style is used which underlines its universality and timelessness. As an expression of divine revelation the icon is subject to neither the laws of nature nor the reason of man. The icon is thus no illusion of the physical, visible world, but a vision of the spiritual, invisible world. (p. 21)

Well, you won't get that with "Malibu Jesus" or "Saint Harvey Milk," but you will surely see it in Solrunn Nes. This book is unreservedly recommended.


Addison H. Hart is a contributing editor of *Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity*, in which this review first appeared.

I read "The Language of Icons" with the intention of learning more about the mode of religious art most characteristic of Eastern Christianity. The book far exceeded my expectations. I learned more about icons than I ever would have hoped. The reproductions of representative icons were beautiful and luminous. Moreover, the text was deeply spiritual and inspiring. The reader is drawn to meditate on the Christian message that the icons symbolize. There are books that are informative and books that are inspiring. This book manages to be both.

An excellent book for those interested in iconography.Set at a level for both the experianced writer, who wants to refresh their knowledge and yet also for the novice who would like to investigate this area.The explanations of the icons are wonderful,while the prayers from the eastern orthodox church illustrate the deep comtemplative spirit of this media.

The Norwegian icon writer, Solrunn Nes, has delivered a treasury of photographed icon reproductions from authorized motifs in this cloth-bound 7 X 9 1/2 inch (11.5 X 24 cm). The author produced both the icons, using egg tempura on wood, and English text. The book was published in the USA first by Eastern Christian Publications (2004), and the year following (2005) by William B. Eerdmans of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Photography by Sture Nepstad and cooperative design with Jan Ole Tveit reproduce 86 complete icons, not counting an additional five or six photographic segments of icons that appear in the first chapter: "The Icon - A Glimpse of the Divine" (pp. 7-21).

Embossed paper stock provides sufficient sheen to display matte tempura colors of the icons without glitz. Vibrant and accurate crimson reds, royal blues, and metallic golds unfold the mystical Paradise into which the soul's eye might enter.

There are two elements to this book that I like most. First, the book adheres to the living authority of the Church in icons, which signifies an equal footing that the "Eastern Church tradition" (p. 13) extends to sacred words and images. Thus, the importance of the holy icon has been established in several Ecumenical Councils, most notably the 7th Council (a succinct summary of Nicaea II appears on p. 15).

Nes discusses icons according to their canonical status. Sacred icons are not art in a relative sense of meaning such as historical artifacts alone, without also conveying one through the portal of the icon by way of its adherence to sacred tradition. Moreover, Nes advances the view that holy icons profess how the Church blends testimonies of Holy Scripture, sacred traditions, and prayerful union with the Holy Trinity, saints, and angels.

Second, Nes's "Presentation of Icon Motifs" has been arranged with catechesis in mind. Nes presents Christ Pantocrator, "Ruler of all," as the first of 48 photographed Christ icons passim, and the first of six introductory motifs: Pantocrator, Triptych with Deesis, King and High Priest, Christ Emmanuel, Christ Enthroned, and the Mandylion. Four photographs of various Pantocrator icons she has written include two icons from the Cretan school as well as a third Greek variant written on driftwood, along with a fourth Serbian variant. In reference to catechesis, the author's text introduces Christ by explaining the meaning of symbols and colors.

For example, in discussing the Pantocrator, Nes identifies the two robes that Christ wears as symbols of his divine and human natures. By linking her description of symbols to the "energies" of Christ and selected passages from Hebrew (O.T.) and Christian (N.T.) Scriptures, Nes harmonizes what she writes in images and words according to the ancient tradition of icon writers, which included the Apostles John the Theologian and Thomas.

Catechesis begins with a total of six motifs devoted to Christ, followed by a single icon of the Holy Trinity from the Novgorod school (Russia, 12th-16th centuries). Her icon of the Holy Trinity bears the characteristic emerald green, fiery crimson, and majestic yellow colors of the Novgorod school, without also conveying an heretical inequality in images of the Persons of the Holy Trinity such as appeared in some medieval Novgorod icons.

Orthodox doctrine of the Holy Trinity corrected medieval heresies. In particular, an equality of Persons survives in the celebrated Holy Trinity icon by Andrei Rublev (15th century). Similar to Rublev, Nes deletes Abraham and Sarah from the icon's narrative. However, her icon differs from Rublev by adhering to colors of the Novgorod school and by adding a cross to the central figure's halo along with the Greek article "o = the" and the Greek verb 'to be' All features of relational communication remain intact in this icon.

Eight icon motifs are devoted to the Holy Mother of God, the Theotokos. In addition, the Blessed Theotokos appears as prominent in seven icons that represent motifs from the ministry of Christ. In all, the Theotokos displays varied parts of service to Christ in 15 of Nes's icons selected for this book. Perhaps space did not permit including in text the traditions and pious translations of icons such as "Our Lady of the Sign," "Mother of God Platytera," and "Mother of God Hodegetria." Nevertheless, Nes and her co-designer, Tveit, still provide room to explain colors and symbols in each icon and devote more space to photographs. If readers seek information about traditions and translations of the models for these motif examples written by Nes, which are miracle-working icons from Russia, Crete-Greece, Macedonia-Greece, and Serbia, they must look elsewhere.

Nes links the motifs of St. George and the Dragon (p.88) and the Prophet Daniel in the Lion's Den (p.89)--a link which emphasizes the Church's doctrine of a continuous thread of Patriarch/Matriarchs, Kings, Prophets, and Christian Martyrs that began witnessing Christ when time began. She concludes with icons and discussion of angels as well as important Christian saints that are common to every Orthodox Synaxarion.

One page each for reviews by noted Norwegian critics, an author biography, and significant texts pertaining to holy icons conclude the 112 pages of text. Christian education for children and adults will employ this text for age-related purposes. Children from age 5 or 6 up and adults can employ the icons for sketching beneath tracing (translucent) paper. The text can serve as an introductory text of icon motifs as well as advanced text for theological inquiry.

Excellent explanations of the symbolic meanings withen icons. I liked it.
Marguerite Culhane
Eagle River AK

Wonderful book. One those you can't put down. Great art. And i hope he does more on the subject. Just a great book. A+

A beautiful and helpful book. I'm glad I bought it. It is not a primer, but rather a middle school book.

This book is a visual anthology of traditional icons, though all are also the personal work of the author. The art work is beautifully presented, with devotional commentary to draw the viewer further into the picture.