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Lesson plan

Subject: Carpathian icon

Goals:

Main goals:

Student can determine the place and role of icons in the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Church,

understands the differences between the function of icons in the Eastern churches and the function of

religious images in the Catholic Church, distinguishes the Orthodox icons from the Carpathian icons,

knows the basic features of the Carpathian icon.

Operational goals:

Student:

knows and understands the origin of icons in the Byzantine Church,

knows the iconostasis structure in the Carpathian Orthodox Church, recognises the elements of

iconostasis and can assign them to the proper place of iconostasis,

understands concepts and terms: iconstasis, Deesis, Image of Edessa, prazdniki (dodekaorton),

royal doors, deacon doors, patronal icons, Christ Pantocrator, icon of the patron saint or feast

day to which the church is dedicated,

Recognises the basic motifs of Carpathian iconography in terms of the representation of saints:

Panagia Eleousa, Virgin Hodegetria, Our Lady of Pokrov, Saints Cosmas and Damian, Saint

Dmitri, Saint George, Saint Nicholas, Saint Onufry, Saint Parascheva of the Balkans,

Archangel Gabriel, Archangel Michael.

can demonstrate the changes of Carpathian iconography made under the influence of the

Catholic Church and Latin culture.

Methods:

Knowledge transfer - elements of lecture, teaching conversation,

Searching - work with popular science texts (individual and group work), making exercises

and tasks based on starting material and lesson course (work in pairs).

Exposing: presentation.

Means:

You Tube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1I2QZYv2iA, wall map of Europe during the

Crusade, atlases for the secondary school (gymnasiums),

Studies:

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Szczepkowski Andrzej, Ikona karpacka, przewodnik po wystawie, Sanok 2004, s.4., Ikony, edited by

Joanna Kułakowska-Lis, Olszanica 2008., Michniewski Magdalena and Artur, Duda Marta, Cerkwie

drewniane Karpat, Polska i Słowacja. Przewodnik, Pruszków 2013., Szczepkowski Andrzej, Ikona

karpacka, przewodnik po wystawie, Sanok 2004., Graphic materials prepared by teacher.

Lesson flow:

1. Introduction

1.1. Organisational activities

1.2. Lesson start with a fragment of a film Piękno ikon (Beauty of icons), that can be found on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1I2QZYv2iA - 2 min.

1.3. Introducing of the lesson subject and main goals.

1.4. A short talk with students about their past experiences with iconic art (students give examples of

temples and museums with icons of Eastern churches).

2. Explication.

2.1. Based on the wall map, for example Europe during the crusade, historical atlas for the secondary

school and a brief presentation of the Byzantine and Orthodox icons, we discuss in a form of a short

lecture the following issues:

a) the tradition and theology of the Byzantine icon, the religious disputes about the place of icons in

the Byzantine Church,

b) the place and role of icons in the Eastern Orthodox Church before and after the fall of

Constantinople.

2.2. Students work with popular science texts and graphic material. Based on the selected four

fragments of the Andrzej Szczepkowski's "The Carpathian Icon - exhibition guide, students become

acquainted with the issues of the Carpathian icon.

a) I group receives starting text of the publication (Appendix 1), the graphical views of the iconostasis

structure (Appendix 5) and the following question to the text:

When and under what circumstances did the icons appear on the northern side of the Carpathians, on

Polish territory?

a) II group receives a selected fragment of the publication (Appendix 2), the graphical views of the

iconostasis structure (Appendix 5) and the following question to the text:

Based on the text and the illustration describe the structure of the Carpathian iconostasis and its

changes in the 16th century.

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a) III group receives a selected fragment of the publication (Appendix 3), the graphical views of the

iconostasis structure (Appendix 5) and the following question to the text:

What causes and symptoms of the growing influence of the Roman tradition in the church icons in the

17th century can you see?

a) IV group receives a selected fragment of the publication (Appendix 4), the graphical views of the

iconostasis structure (Appendix 5) and the following question to the text:

What are the new features of the Carpathian iconostasis in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries?

Indicate examples of new artistic functions and motifs in iconostasis structure.

E) After 8 minutes the representatives chosen by groups orally answer the questions.

2.3. Work in pairs with iconographic material (appendix 6), exercises. Based on the received graphic

materials, students become acquainted with:

A) examples of the basic icons - particular elements of iconostasis (Image of Edessa, royal doors,

Christ Pantocrator, Deesis, Holy Trinity, the Blessed Virgin: Hodegetria, Platytera, Eleusa, Pokrov,

the Annunciation, the worship of the three wise men, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the

Transfiguration, the Archangel Michael), appendix 6a,

B) examples of Eastern Church saints (St. John the Baptist, Cosma and Damian, St. Nicolaus, St.

Parascheva of the Balkans, St. Dmitri), Appendix 6b,

C) examples of the Orthodox Church Orthodoxization after the Brest Union (new forms of artistic

expression in iconographic painting, new themes of iconostasis: Pieta, Eucharistic Christ), 6c,

D) Practical exercises, solving example tasks in pairs (Appendix 7).

3. Summary:

3.1. Tasks solution presentation

4. Literature:

4.1. Bańkosz Robert, Cerkwie szlaku ikon, Krosno 2007.

4.2. Evdokimov Paul, Sztuka ikony, teologia piękna, Warszawa 2010.

4.3. Giemza Jarosław, Cerkwie i ikony Łemkowszczyzny, Rzeszów 2017.

4.4. Janocha Michał, Ikony w Polsce. Od średniowiecza do współczesności, Warszawa 2010.

4.5. Ikony, edited by Kułakowska-Lis Joanna, Olszanica 2008.

4.6. Michniewski Magdalena i Artur, Duda Marta, Cerkwie drewniane Karpat, Polska i Słowacja.

Przewodnik, Pruszków 2013.

4.7. Szczepkowski Andrzej, Ikona karpacka, przewodnik po wystawie, Sanok 2004.

4.8. Tradigo Alfredo, Ikony i święci prawosławni, Leksykon, historia, sztuka, ikonografia, Warszawa

2011.

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Appendixes:

1.

Text 1

Szczepkowski Andrzej, Ikona karpacka, przewodnik po wystawie, s. 4, Sanok 2004.

Presence in the Polish lands of iconic painting, which is a product of the culture of the Orthodox people

is an interesting phenomenon in the history of artistic culture. The harsh dispute that arose in the Christian

world (among other things, on the background of the cult of images), led to the split of the Church, which ended

in 1054 with the Eastern schism. There were two centres of civilization and religious culture: Rome and

Byzantium. Poland, under the influence of Rome, developed its art in the circle of Western culture, while the

neighbouring Kievan Rus', accepting Christianity from the East, was bound and subordinated to Byzantine

culture. Poland has encountered Orthodox art in the first half of the 14th century during the reign of King

Casimir the Great, who in 1340 incorporated to the Polish Crown territory land of Red Ruthenia. The

incorporated areas included following lands: Lvov, Przemysl, Sanok and Halice, which belonged to the orthodox

church structure. Empty mountain areas of the incorporated lands were developed by settling them with people

from the areas of present Romania, Wallachia and Moldova. It was a population of the Orthodox faith, and

therefore every location privilege under the Wallachian law guaranteed the settlers maintaining their faith by

holding religious rites in the Orthodox Church. The appearance of icons in the territory of the Carpathians can

be associated with the Wallachian settlement. The argument in favour of looking at the origin of icons in Poland

in this way is that the areas colonized by Wolohs closely coincide with the range of icons, which on the northern

side of the Carpathians appear only in the first half of the fifteenth century, during the period of settlement

movement increase. However, it should be borne in mind that Wallachia and Moldova were the main successors

of Byzantine art after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, and Romania was the only area that allowed to develop

it freely. Herein Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian artists from the countries occupied by the Turks found a shelter

and employment.

Questions to the text:

When and under what circumstances did the icons appear on the northern side of the Carpathians, on

Polish territory?

2.

It should be assumed that we owe Wallachian settlers the appearance of iconostasis in Poland.

All the oldest preserved icons are dated to the 15th century iconic images. Based on it, it can be said that in the

15th century Carpathian Orthodox Church an iconographic program based on Balkan iconostasis was

implemented. Iconostasis was placed on a log wall, separating the presbytery from the nave, where previously

the altar partition was necessary to be located. Their iconographic program inspired by a liturgy was taken over

from wall painting art. Icons hung in rows expressed the basic truths of faith and represent the most important

Christian concepts.

In the fifteenth century the iconstasis had three tiers. Its full iconographic program consisted of the

imperial gates with the representation of the Annunciation and the figures of the four evangelists, then on both

sides were the icons of Christ Pantocrator and Our Lady of Hodegetria, and later the Archangel Michael or St.

Parascheva of the Balkans. Over the imperial gate the Image of Edessa was hung, above as the second tier

Deesis icon, and the whole icnostasis was crowned by the icon of the Crucifixion. In the second half of the 16th

century, the iconostasis was subjected to changes resulting from the provisions of the Stuglavian Council, which

took place in 1551 in Moscow after the fall of Byzantium centre of the Orthodox Church. Preserved icons from

this period give us an idea of the form and iconography of the 16th century iconostasis. The Iconostasis expands,

enlarges the iconographic program with a new tier of Christmas icons (prazdniki) and introduces to Deesis full

composition of the apostles, ordering and unifying the prevailing then freedom in the selection of saints. The

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apostles placed in the statue icon of the Mother of God are raised to the Deesis tier, as the most suitable, next to

Mother Virgin and John the Baptist, the disciples chosen by Christ himself. Their presence profoundly

implements the content of Deesis as an idea of the Church built on the apostles as its foundation on the earth.

They are equipped with scrolls and books, attributes of the disciples sent to preach the Gospel.

The appearance at the end of the sixteenth century in the crown of the iconostasis of silhouette shaped

crosses and figures from the cross (Mother Virgin and St. John) in the place of the icon of the Crucifixion is also

new. The iconostasis took on a more monumental form of the wall filled tightly with the images.

Questions to the text:

Based on the text and the illustration describe the structure of the Carpathian iconostasis and its

changes in the 16th century.

3.

The iconostasis was subjected to more radical changes in the seventeenth century, which was a

breakthrough in the life of the Eastern Church in Poland. Still undertaken in the 14th century attempts of

religious union formation were concluded in 1596 with a church union in Brest on the Bug River (Brest union).

Its consequence was the creation of a new religion, a new Greek Catholic church, whose formation in the

Rzeczpospolita lasted throughout the seventeenth century. Such significant changes in the life of the Eastern

Church affected also the art that was always closely linked with the Orthodox Church. The approach of the

orthodox church to the Catholic Church and the art in it, as well as direct contact with the renaissance style,

caused radical changes in the interpretation of the icon and consequently its painting. The icons of the 17th

century reveal surprising new features, origin of which should be seen in independence from the Byzantine

tradition and subordination to the needs of the local church. The newly formed Greek Catholic Church needed

icons created in a new spirit, so theologians and artists faced very difficult task of creating an icon that would

reconcile the religious and artistic traditions of the East and West. This meant the need to reconcile the eastern

conception of the icon with Western vision. The effect of these efforts, visible in the 17th century iconic

painting, allows to say that in the area of the eastern lands of the former Rzeczpospolita, at the crossroads of

two cultures, there was an art combining the heritage of Byzantine culture with Western sacred art. Under the

influence of the Western art, the icon undergoes ideological, iconographic and formal transformations.

Renaissance, (...) reaching the Russian lands of the Rzeczpospolita changed the icon perception. It

broke the Byzantine sense of form, and his realism hit the abstract, idealistic values of the icon, depriving it of

the essential meaning of the presence theology (the constant presence of the saint in the icon) and thus

approaching the level of the religious image.

4.

According to the findings of the Brest Union, the followers of the Greek Catholic Church have

preserved the eastern form of the liturgy in their religious practices. In this way they also kept an iconostasis,

which was an inseparable part of it. The iconostasis, which is now evidently deviating from the earlier forms,

departs from the symbolic program for didactic functions and formally from the Byzantine canon and take on

elements of subsequent historical styles (renaissance, baroque, classicism). The content and form of the 17th

century iconostasis seems to be an expression of the desire to reconcile two hitherto opposing philosophies and

artistic directions: idealism and realism. The new iconostasis, aimed on fulfilling educational functions, had to

give up the theologically complex symbolic program, too difficult and often incomprehensible to the local

audience. It was aimed on bringing the Gospel closer, but not with the difficult, ideological-dogmatic language

of the great Orthodox theologians, but in a simple and understandable way, because it was often the only

available source of religious knowledge Iconostas in his didactic program expressed the basic truths of faith and

taught the story of salvation, which was uttered in the extensive iconographic program contained in the images

on the wall of the 5-tier iconostasis. On the central vertical axis, the main ideas of Christianity were emphasised:

The Incarnation of God (the Annunciation on the imperial gate), Redemption (Cross in the crown of the

iconostasis with the image of Christ crucified), Glory of Christ (Deesis icon). In the horizontal layout five tiers:

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predelle, patronal icons, festive icons (prazdniki), apostles, prophets. The iconostasis receives the second deaconl

doors, making its architecture symmetrical. It is thought to be a spatial, three-dimensional wall composed of

horizontal tiers, with horizontal and vertical architectural divisions defined by beams, cornices, pilasters and

columns. Icons are embedded within the framework of an architectural type, developed during the Italian

Renaissance. The frame, together with its sculpture decoration, caused the most important formal change of

iconostasis - the transformation of a flat, purely painted picture wall into a three-dimensional set, which is a

synthesis of painting, sculpture and architecture. In iconographic solutions, the elements of Byzantine origin with

the West are merged. A number of traditional themes receive new western interpretation, as well as brand new

themes. The influence of the Western art is primarily reflected in the realistic tendencies of compositional

solutions. The faces of the saints, their poses, gestures, their robes, as well as the background and the

arrangement are subjected to changes.

Ideological, iconographic and formal changes can be observed in almost every theme, since all the icons

that are now being created are the expression of a new theological and artistic concept.

In the 18th century, the iconostasis was a continuation of the form and program established in the 17th

century. It is only stylishly updated by the introduction of baroque ornamental elements. Expanded construction,

deepened art, enriched ornamentation have begun to dominate over painting itself.

App. 5.

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Iconostasis scheme

source: Szczepkowski Andrzej, Op.cit, ss.9-10.

source: Michniewski Magdalena i Artur, Duda Marta, Cerkwie drewniane Karpat, Polska i Słowacja.

Przewodnik, Pruszków 2013, s. 57.

App. 7. Example of tasks:

Task 1

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Name following icons:

1. Christ Pantocrator

2. Image of Edessa

3. St. Parascheva of the Balkans

4. Eucharistic Christ

5. Mother Virgin Hodegetria

6. St. Nicolaus

................................................

.................................................... ....................................

........................................................... .................................................... .................................

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Task 2.

Fit iconostasis elements to the schema:

Deacon doors

Royal doors

The Last Supper

Mother Virgin

Christ

Icon of the patron saint or feast day to which the church is dedicated

Christ Pantocrator on the throne

Apostles

Prazdniki - feast of the liturgical year

Patriarchs and prophets

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Task 3.

Solve a crossword.

Task 5. Solve a crossword

P I E T A

G A L A K T O T R O F U S A

W Ł O D Z

I M I E R Z

P R A Z D N I K I

G E D E O N

D E E S I S

G O L G O T A

A A R O N

J E S S E G O

1. Iconic representation in witch the Mother of God holds the dead body of Christ on her knees

and mourning his death.

2. The iconographic motif of Mother nourishing the Child.

3. St. .......................... The Great - ruler of Kievan Rus, in 988 he was baptised by the Byzantine

Rite.

4. Festive icons, dedicated to the twelve main feasts of the Eastern Church.

5. One of the most outstanding so-called judges. His forty years of rule in the country was a time

of justice and peace (his name in Hebrew means sword).

6. Presentation of the Christ on the throne, with Mary on his right hand and John the Baptist on

the left.

7. Hill, place of crucifixion of Christ.

8. Prophet. After establishing Sinaitic Covenant he became a priest of the Chosen People.

9. Tree of ...................... - The symbolic designation of the genealogical tree of Jesus Christ.

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Task 4.

Fit icons to their names.

1. Our Lady of Łopienka - Polańczyk

2. Our Lady of Bełz - Ustrzyki Dolne

3. Our Lady of Kalwaria - Kalwaria Pacławska

4. Our Lady of Murkowo - Krosno

5. Our Lady of Stara Wieś - Stara Wieś

6. Our Lady of Rudecko (Bieszczady) - Jasień

............................................... ..................................................... .................................

............................................ ..................................................

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.............................................

Task 5.

Solve a crossword with password

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

1. Monogram, a symbol of Jesus Christ in form of acronym.

2. Gate - also called the Royal Gate or the Holy Gate.

3. Durable case, with a cross sewn on the outside, used to carry the daronosica.

4. The sacred image created in the circle of Byzantine culture, representing the figures of the

saints , scenes from their lives, biblical scenes or liturgical-symbolic scenes, characteristic of

the Eastern Christian churches.

5. Public form of religious cult, concerning the whole of the ritualised, collective and strictly

defined sacred activities determined by thepriests of given religion.

6. The altar table, set in the centre of the altar room, covered with linen or silk tablecloth.

7. The term used for the larger (and of special importance) male monasteries in the

Orthodox Church and in the Eastern Catholic churches, also in the form of gathered around

the church group of hermitages of monks-ascets that do not lead a common religious life.

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Task 6.

Fit icons to their names

1. Mother Virgin Hodegetria

2. Mother Virgin Eleusa

3. Mother Virgin Platytera

4. Mother Virgin Pokrov

........................................................ ................................................

........................................................ ................................................

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Task 7.

Find passwords in the table:

N J P A L W I N Z L P S

I K O N O S T A S B O C

R C O Ó I D E K Ż E W H

D L S S O B O R B P R Z

C Z E N A N D Y L I O N

K E L G R Z E C T E T Ż

D M U A P W C C E T A U

U B C Ó Ż N E E P A R G

Z P A N T O K R A T C F

Z R P I S I S K T Ż M K

E O A K O J P I R Ł A H

Z R N O B K R E O Y N F

I O W N E M C W N U I H

O K I P R Y D G R Ó O Z

G T Ó N A W A P R O Ł Y

(Deesis, iconostasis, Pieta, Image of Edessa, Panstoctaror, Church, doors, prophet, patron, nave).