Customer Reviews

Icons and Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church (A Guide to Imagery)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although I agree with most of the comments made by the others who have offered critiques, I don't believe this book deserves a 5 star rating. This book has a lot of beautiful icons, and I enjoyed learning about the meaning of the imagery. There is high value in the diverse collection of beautiful icons. The book had three flaws that disturbed my enjoyment of the book:

1) Icons are tied together by some general imagery. I am fairly ignorant with regards to icon imagery, but I know a little. For example, the use of the mandorla. A mandorla (round or almond shaped device behind an image) is used to mark something that can only be seen through the eyes of faith. The general meaning of colors like blue and red on the icons of Mary and Jesus, as well. A short guide explaining some of these general rules of imagery would have been a spectacular aid to those, like myself, who are woefully ignorant on the topic.

2) The author expresses some theology in language that is inaccurate and likely confusing for the non-Orthodox Christian reader. For example, he uses the word "worship" to describe the Orthodox veneration of icons. Icons are never worshipped. Worship is for God alone. For the reader seeking to understand the Mystery of Orthodox icons, this would be a devastating and confusing statement. Icons are venerated (greatly honored), never worshiped. The teaching is that this veneration passes to the person represented in the image.

3) The book was so small it was difficult to see some of the details in the imagery that the author was trying to illustrate.

Overall, a very interesting and educational book with a wealth of knowledge about iconography, however, it could have been much better.

I bought this book because I am interested in icons and wanted more than the few images that are usually featured in books about icons. Well, this volume has HUNDREDS, all arranged by saints and persons of the church. It's a great value for the price. The images are clear and colorful and printed on glossy paper. There is a minimum of words in this book, which I liked because I wanted the images, but there is enough explanation to understand the context and the creation of the image. The book is a small and chunky paperback, and I can predict that I might break the spine if I use the book overmuch, but I recommend this book anyway because of the wealth of images. I am very happy with this book.

Good things: For the price, this book has a way more bang for the buck than most icon books. Look at the number of pages, and each of them has an icon. The paper is very nice, glossy and heavy. The icons are explained in depth, with indications of the meaings of each part, and a short history of the icon.

Nitpicks: I wish the book were a little larger, but then again I say that about all icon books. Also, I seriously wish someone would include Ethopian and Coptic and other Church icons in some of these books, especially one this size and this thorough. There were tons of the standard Byzantine/Greek/Russian icons, some of them redundant, which could have had some Syrian/Ethopian/Coptic/Arabic etc icons in there too. But these nitpicks aren't reason to not buy the book, or even deduct a star.

When it comes to the Eastern Church's wealth of Icons, so many are near impossible for westerners to discover. Many were either hidden (and often lost) during the Communist rule of eastern europe, or many were destroyed by the powers that be during that era. Other Icons in the book come from Lebanon, Egypt (St. Catherine's monestary), and Greece, some dating back to the 6th century. So, for a complete overview of the Orthodox love of Icons, this book has a plethoria of icons not seen until now, and never in such a complete overview in one book. The only orthodox Icons not covered, are those from India, and Ethiopia, which are apparently outside the scope of the book. Some of these icons are beautiful beyond imagination. With each icon, all in FULL COLOR, and covering a single page, comes simple little remarks as to what the imagery represents in each Icon. Also, the book is divided into sections, with Icons of Christ, Mary, Saints that lived in towers, Saints who were martyrs, and so forth. This makes it easy to study the iconology of TYPES, and not a simple alphabetical approach, as in the western art book in this series does. (St. Ambrose, St. Boniface, etc.) I sadly have this warning to give however. I had a FIRST EDITION of this book. However, it was "Borrowed" from me against my will, and they refused to return it to me, and I had to replace it. I ended up with a SECOND EDITION of the book,and the color isnt right on the prints. THe red plates are supersaturated, and the black plates seem too saturated as well, on many of the pages. I so much enjoyed this book, that I bought the COMPANION BOOK in this GUIDE TO IMAGERY series. If you are interested in the artistic representation of religious figures, the book SAINTS IN ART does for the western religious art world, what this book does for the eastern religious art world. Both books are from Italy initially, and are printed by the PAUL GETTY MUSEUM in the USA. The big difference, is that the western art, is obviously well known to anyone with college level art history study, and access to big city museums. These icons are art not seen in other books until now, for the most part. My other beefs with this book, are as follows. Besides the problems with the color in the second edition, most of these pictures are just TOO SMALL to really examine properly. This book is about 6 inches by 8 inches, so the pictures are reduced too far, to see the smaller details, where many of the symbolic features of the Icon can be found. Also, when they show what the icon is about, they draw black lines thru the pictures. But the pluses outweigh the minuses, and its well worth the cost. I only hope, that if they go into a third printing, they will fix the color balance to the book. I can highly recommend this book without reservation.

I was very happily surprised by the depth of information in this book. Literally every major detail of every icon is explained. The reader will see elaborate icons rendered for the royal doors of churches, as well as the standard portrait-sized images.

The book offers a wealth of knowledge to the student of art as well as to those who want to know more about the spiritual significance of icons.

An enjoyable and edifying history.

This book on icons is probably the most useful book to have in a collection of books on icons. It has a good index, something that is frequently missing from books on icons. The information is concise, helpful and useful for expanding a person's knowledge of iconography. The color illustrations of historical icons helps with recognition of icons and is also useful for those who write (the preferred term) icons. Many books on icons are physically very large; this book is relatively small and easy to handle. I recommend this book highly.

I Purchased this for my husband. He is studying iconography and wanted to understand the symbolism in iconography better. This book has been extremely educational. It would be nice if it were larger though since there is a lot of detail.

This is a very comprehensive and beautiful work on the icons of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and includes Byzantine, Russian, and icons of other traditions. Each icon's significance in the life of Our Lord or church history is detailed. The description and symbolism of each icon is informative without being scholarly or overly long, and each has the Biblical quotation and reference as well as the particular feast day observed. The size is perfect for use in browsing a gallery, the quality of the paper and the color reproductions are excellent. The various types of icons are well represented, and arranged in a convenient fashion. Many of the icons shown have not found their way into any of the books I have previously read, making this a real treasure.

For a good review on Icons from the East . This is very useful in the understanding of the saints and the symbols.

This book is excellent. There are color illustrations on virtually every page. The symbolism is well-explained. This covers everything I need to know about Russian icons.