the Pantocrator icon

Studia Theologica No. II (XVI) / 2023 Theological and Iconographic Meanings in the Erminia of the Polovragi Monastery’s Paintings Lecturer, Dr Ioniță Apostolache

The iconography of the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God at Polovragi Monastery, a masterpiece of the Brâncoveanu School completed in 1703 by the icon painters Andrei, Simeon, Istrate and Hranit, is analysed in detail in relation to the Byzantine iconographic tradition and the three thematic cycles — dogmatic, liturgical and festive — illustrating features such as the cycle of the life of Patriarch Joseph, the Sundays of the Pentecostarion and the scene of the Massacre of the Innocents, which are characteristic of the school of the painter Constantinos.

Studia Theologica No. I (XV) / 2023 God’s Providence, or On the Sustaining and Governing of the World through Love His Eminence Varsanufie

Divine providence, understood as God’s all-encompassing love and care for creation, is examined in relation to the freedom of rational beings, to sin, suffering and the deification of humankind, drawing upon the works of Saint John of Damascus, Saint Maximus the Confessor, Saint Justin Popovich and Thomas Spidlik, culminating in the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist.

Studia Humanitatis No. I (XV) / 2023 The Aesthetics of Beauty. Notes on the Byzantine Icon: Theology and Art The Nun Atanasia Văetiși

The Byzantine icon is analysed from the perspectives of theology, history and aesthetics, beginning with the iconoclastic controversy of the 8th–9th centuries and the dogmatic arguments put forward by Patriarch Germanus I, Saint John of Damascus, Theodore the Studite and Nicephorus of Constantinople. The iconographic canon, the iconographic programme of the church and the stylistic features of Byzantine art—understood as an image of reality transfigured by grace—are described.

Studia Theologica No. I (X) / 2020 The Face of Mercy and Justice Bogdan Tătaru-Cazaban

The icon of Christ Pantocrator from St Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai is analysed through the lens of the asymmetry of the painted figure, drawing on the interpretation of Father Maximos Constas, who rejects the Chalcedonian reading and proposes that the visual polarity illustrates the relationship between mercy and judgement at the Second Coming, a theme complemented by Augustine’s reflection on the beauty of Christ in his Commentary on Psalm 44.

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