Articles

Byzantine Icons Nowadays

Although Christian art was coined politically and culturally around the Byzantine Empire, it is an art that doesn't belong to a definite time or culture. Christian art stands for a church art expressing church life and faith. In consequence, Christian art goes beyond time, country and secular culture.

The Byzantine Empire declined more than half century ago, but the Byzantine Icon and the Iconic stile still remains alive, especially nowadays where art and man image representation is on crisis.   

The icon reminds us that the real man image resembles our Lord's Jesus Christ human and divine reality. The Icons and the iconic art symbolism show not only the divinity and humanity of Christ, but also the divinity of the Saints and the future of man and Cosmos sharing the divine life.

The icon and the iconic stile, also known as Byzantine stile, is the only Christian art developed before the Orthodox and Catholic churches became two, in consequence, it belongs to both churches.

In the Orthodox world the Byzantine Icon is rediscovered moving apart a decadent stile. In the Roman Catholic world, after centuries of secular art, we can see nowadays a great interest to revive this ecclesiastic theological art widespread in the east and west during the XII century.