A great man is one who collects knowledge the way a bee collects honey and uses it to help people overcome the difficulties they endure - hunger, ignorance and disease!
- Nikola Tesla

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.
- Franklin Roosevelt

While their territory has been devastated and their homes despoiled, the spirit of the Serbian people has not been broken.
- Woodrow Wilson

Sailors of the Sky

A conversation with Fr. Stamatis Skliris and Fr. Marko Rupnik on contemporary Christian art

In these timely conversations led by Fr. Radovan Bigovic, many issues are introduced that enable the contemporary reader to deepen and expand his or her understanding of the role of art in the life of the Church. Here we find answers to questions on the crisis of contemporary ecclesiastical art in West and East; the impact of Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract painting on contemporary ecclesiastical painting; and a consideration of the main distrinction between iconography and secular painting. The dialogue, while resolving some doubts about the difference between iconography, religious painting, and painting in general, reconciles the requirement to obey inconographic canons with the freedom essential to artistic creativity, demonstrating that obedience to the canons is not a threat to the vitatlity of iconography. Both artists illumine the role of prayer and ascetisicm in the art of iconography. They also mention curcial differences between iconography in the Orthodox Church and in Roman Catholicism. How important thse distinctions are when exploring the relationship between contemporary theology and art! In a time when postmodern "metaphysics' revitalizes every concept, these masters still believe that, to some extent, Post-Modernism adds to the revitatiztion of Christian art, stimulating questions about "artistic inspiration" and the essential asethetic categories of Christian painting. Their exceptionally wide, yet nonetheless deep, expertise assists their not-so-everday connections between theology, ar, and modern issues concerning society: "society" taken in its broader meaning as "civilization." Finally, the entire artistic project of Stamatis and Rupnik has important ecumenical implications that aswer a genuine longing for unity in the Christian word.

The text of this 94-page soft-bound book has been translated from the Serbian by Ivana Jakovljevic, Fr. Gregory Edwards, and Andrijana Krstic. Published by Sebastian Press, Western American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Contemporary Christian Thought Series, number 7, First Edition, ISBN: 978-0-9719505-8-0


SA

 

People Directory

Jelena Stupljanin

While in high school, Jelena ended up in a drama studio where she was trained and tutored by the late legendary acting professor Milenko Maricic. Then, a year later she was accepted at the prestigious National Academy of Dramatic Arts of Serbia, after auditioning with nearly 1000 candidates, in the class of the renown professor Gordana Maric. She completed the four years endeavor ahead of time with excellence and an award 'Branivoj Djordjevic' for best student in diction.

.
Read more ...

Publishing

Emmanuel

The Only Begotten and Firstborn among Many Brethren

by Bishop Athanasius Yevtich

In Emmanuel, the second anthology of Bishop Athanasius' articles to appear in English, His Grace explores themes of Orthodox Christology, Soteriology, Ecclesiology, and Gnoseology. How can we know Who God is? How can we know who we are, as human persons created in His image and likeness? How can we become one with Him? Bishop Athanasius examines these and other foundational questions in depth in this volume, drawing from a wealth of Scriptural and patristic sources. In discussing diverse theological subjects, he always returns to his overarching theme: the communion that man can have with God through Jesus Christ the God-man, within Christ's Church and above all in the Holy Eucharist. His exquisite and unique way of engaging the reader in mutual dialogue, with the living Eucharistic experience permeating his every thought, instills in the reader a burning desire for that communion.

Soft-bound
Contemporary Christian Thought Series, No. 3 - First Edition
229 pages
ISBN 978-0-9719505-4-2