St Vladimir's Seminary (SVOTS) is a community of Orthodox Christians studying, praying and living together as we prepare for service to Christ and His Church. Throughout our more than 80-year history, we’ve always emphasized academic excellence, and the need for a solid, spiritual foundation that enlightens academic knowledge with the Wisdom of the Spirit.
Our 12-acre Crestwood campus is just a thirty-minute train ride away from Grand Central Station, right at the heart of New York City’s rich cultural and educational resources. Our on-campus apartments offer housing options for singles, married students, and those with families. Our student body is made up of seminarians from many Orthodox Christian jurisdictions; male and female, Orthodox Christian and Oriental Orthodox. We are accredited by the ATS, and offer ThM, MDiv, and MA degrees.
The moralism that accompanies some of this analysis by that I mean references to modern art is off-putting only because it is so typical of this kind of analysis.
I’m a Mexican Catholic artist. Our tradition here in my country is almost the opposite from our Orthodox brothers and sisters in terms of our approach to sacred spaces and art, (we tend towards a more folk and sentimental vision of the sacred). While I have a profound love for my cultural roots, I can’t help admiring Orthodox Christians’ conscientious preservation of tradition and intellectuality in their art and liturgy. This video here is literally what I have been itching for in regards to my vocation and these men here are what I wish to be in life. Thank you so so much for this. (Also, I owe Jonathan Pageau the discovery of my vocation. God bless him)
No age is too old. If you feel God is calling you, talk to some priests you know to get their advice, then begin trying to follow where God is leading you
This video literally brought me to tears. Especially this part: "Ask yourself what you want and ask what God wants. Because if you love God you do what He wants. You want to please your Master. You want to please the target of your affection". Maranatha!
An interesting thing here is that western rennaissance artists and those after until the 19th century didnt use the likeness of their models, but idealized forms. Likness only shows up in portraiture and in many artists of that period not very well. Perhaps only a few possessed such a keen eye such as Holbein and many northern artists. Though what confusingly gets considered as a likeness in western art is the naturalness of form which is idealized into a person that is a non specific human (not sure of a specific term for this) one that did not look like the model itself. The model functioned to understand how the abstract elements functions under light, that is color, form, shape, etc.. the artists changed anything that was considered not ideal to type like an iconographer. Changing elements to meet criteria, like modern icons of saints we have actual photographs of the paintings are reductive and stylize or idealize natural forms into the post 1950s byzantine style, western artists were doing the same thing but idealizing nevertheless remaining away from the models likeness.
I appreciate the exhortation to look for opportunities to serve God, and ask what God wants... seek to please your Master, the target of your affection.
14:04 the black patinated iron chandeliers are great! 20:45 Andrew Gould hit the nail on its head: the kitsch of contemporary catholic art is beyond belief, and so is the sentimentality and bad taste of a lot of evangelical music. I would add to that the Jehovah Witnesses magazines, with their illustrations. And the horrid intellectualisation of atonal music and a lot of contemporary "art". The polarisation of everyone revealed through their taste. I only disagree that this divide can be bridged by orthodox art. From my experience, it doesn't bridge between polar opposites.
Thank you Fr. Elias! I fine myself in a similar predicament as the first person who asked the question about being married to a non-Christian. Are you able to direct me to the research you found on forgiveness in spousal conflict from a mental health/science perspective?
Thank you for your comment! The bibliography Fr Elias referred to in his talk is available on our website; click on the link to read his final project dissertation: www.svots.edu/headlines/dmin-graduate-introduces-marriage-enrichment-program-orthodox-christians
I put up a comment but I acted like a coward and removed it. I don't want to be a coward so here it is again even more explicit than before. Andrew Gould is openly proclaiming perrenial philososophy in this panel. This same philosophical position was adopted by Rome in Vatican 2. We don't need innovation in the Church. I see this as a Trojan horse. It starts by innovation of icons, then liturgy follows, then ecclesiology, then the faith itself is swept away to make way for the universal religion of Antichrist. A Christ who is the brother of man. The Christ of the Doobie Brothers' "Jesus is just alright". I oppose this ideology. It is a distortion of the faith of the Apostles.
I understand your position, but they do discuss this constant play between petrification and innovation concerning the art of the church in this recording. I would recommend Jonathan Pageau's video "Sacred Art in Secular Terms" because in the beginning of the lecture he discusses current liturgical artists across Orthodox countries and how they are working with this play. If you want to better understand Andrew Gould's thoughts on the topic, St. Vladimir's Seminary has a podcast called Luminous where they discuss Sacred Art and Andrew Gould came on as a guest a few months ago. I think it should be stated that Andrew Gould isn't advocating innovation for innovation's sake and it's rather ridiculous to lump his work into the same category as the hippie Jesus of modern evangelical circles or the radical innovation of Vatican II.
I'm not through this yet, but it is excellent. Makes me so happy to be Orthodox, and I'm incredibly excited about how American/North American Orthodoxy and iconography and art is going to be created. Faithful innovation, not a dogmatic traditionalism.
A pillar of the faithfull, a lion of the Devine, a tireless missionary of the truth. Good job he left us with plenty to read. We all hope to meet you again, Callisto the most.❤ George Crete.
Вы молодцы! Я восхищаюсь вашими трудами и сообществом! Желаю вам помощи Божией в трудах и в жизни, а также встретить Пасху со счастьем и полнотой! Слава Богу!
