The Season of Lent & a Confession

The process on updating the database of images in the AIC Library had to be interrupted this past week in order to update the Welcome page for the start of the season of Lent. The seasonal graphic and links to the three episodes in the video series are now active.

I also wanted to remind readers/viewers of St. John Chrysostom’s advice to his parishioners at Constantinople in the late 4th C. that, in considering what sacrifice one might make for the season of Lent. He suggested that rather than abstaining from certain foods one might also consider restraining the tongue during the six weeks of Lent. His further comments described the tongue as a weapon just as powerful as a sword. From 381 to 398, Chrysostom was first a Deacon, then a Priest and, later, Bishop of Antioch. He was consecrated Bishop of Constantinople in 398. He died in exile in 407 after a dispute with the Empress Eudoxia. The image is mosaic at the Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, built under the patronage of the Emperor Justinian in the 6th C. The mosaic dates a later date.

In working on updating the complete index of images in the archives of the AIC, which now total almost 2500 images, I have discovered a few errors in photo credits in The Lives of the Saints video series. Here is the correct information about the images of St. Luke and St. Gabriel.

The 18th C. icon of St. Luke in Slide 297 in The Lives of the Saints, First Series was incorrectly credited to the Greek artist, Emmanuel Tzanes. The icon is actually not from Greece but from Russia. The image shows Luke with the Ox figure, consistent with the tradition of identifying the Evangelists associated with one of the four creatures desribed by Ezekiel. Wikimedia Commons identified the source as a private collection in the Netherlands.

In The Lives of the Saints – Second Series, focused on the non-1928 B.C.P. Saints, there were two icons of the Archangel Gabriel. The image in Slide 344 was incorrectly identified as being from Macedonia in the late 12th C. The image actually has a far more interesting history. It is not an icon but a fresco which was taken from Constantinople during the last years of before the collapse of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 A.D. It was painted in the late Byzantine style, characterized by pastel colors and a fluidity not previously seen, by Cyrus Emanuel Eugenicus. It was installed at the Cathedral Church of the Transfiguration of the Saviour, Tsalenjikha, Georgia. The image was used in this blog on 3/17/2017.

Best wishes and blessings for the Lenten Season. And, as always, thank you for your interest and support of the AIC ministry. Glory be to God for all things! Amen!