Christ looking at you
May 8th, 2007 ~ Orthodox perspective
I’ve always felt a little guilty that I didn’t like this icon, called “Christ of Sinai.” It’s obvious from its ubiquity that it is tremendously popular with Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike. But, … the thing with the eyes. What’s with that?
Years ago when I took a secular art class on Iconography, the professor had an explanation that I’ve never heard anywhere else: that the iconographer was simply trying to make sure that no matter where you were in church, Christ was looking at you. So one eye is directed straight ahead. The other looks to his left.
There’s nothing wrong with that practical explanation, and it may be the truth, but, as Frederica Mathewes-Green says in this short video, there’s more going on than that. I’ve never noticed it but she’s right — it’s not just the eyes that are different on one side of the face, it’s the whole expression. I like her explanation for the duality of the image better than the one my art professor gave. And I’ll try to like this icon more.
But I might have to cover up one side or the other to do it. Hey, I’ve got issues.
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May 8th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
I have the icon book she wrote and she speaks about this icon in detail. It is one of my favorite icons and I have had one for many years before I became Orthodox.
May 8th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
And isn’t the St. Peter icon from Sinai the same way?
May 9th, 2007 at 6:55 am
I don’t know. Worth checking into though :)
May 13th, 2007 at 8:06 am
My starets tells me that some icon writers make sure to include some slight imperfection in icons in order to indicate human imperfection.
If I cover up half the icon referred to, I don’t see any difference except for the eye thing.
Are there any icons that have Satan in them? I don’t mean in the sense of venerating Satan. But do any icons have Satan as a secondary image to show him in a bad light?
May 14th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Sorry I didn’t reply earlier. I was thinking this one over. Where to find the devil in an icon? Well, you’ve got him symbolically represented as a dragon in the icons where St. George is fighting a dragon, of course. And demons show up in icons like the one for St. John of the Ladder.
But I can’t think of anywhere where Satan is shown figuratively. I’d expect that’s in the interest of avoiding anything that looks like veneration, even if he’s not the main figure. If you wanted to check through a place that has a lot of icons (or ask them about it) you could try Come and See Icons - www.comeandseeicons.com. They’ve got an extensive gallery.