The Icon Museum and Study Center

?? Exciting news for icon enthusiasts! We are thrilled to announce a reciprocal membership program between the Ikonen-Museum Recklinghausen, Germany, and the Icon Museum and Study Center in Clinton, MA. This partnership offers members exclusive access to two of the most comprehensive collections of icons and Eastern Christian art in the Western world. ?? Ikonen-Museum EIKON members can now visit our Icon Museum for FREE, and vice versa. This is a unique opportunity to explore a vibrant cultural heritage like never before!

Providing the service for Lent, this Lenten Triodion opens on the right page with the story of the Pharisee and Publican from the Gospels. Pharisee is a symbol of self-righteousness, whereas the publican (tax collector) represents humility. The left page displays Christ surrounded by prophets, military saints, the apostles Peter and Paul, and Antonii and Feodosii, the founders of the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves. The prayer below is a hymn, or troparion, associated with miraculous Byzantine icons of Christ. It begins with the words, “We venerate your ever-pure image …” referring to the icon of Christ at the center of the composition. Such woodblocks speak to the intimate relationship between printing and icon painting in early modernity. Woodblocks as a medium could be used decades after their production. This Triodion, issued by the L’viv Stauropegion Brotherhood in 1664, combines prefatory images of the Dormition by Il’ia, whose earliest books date to the late 1630s, as well as recent prints by Vasilii Ushakevich, who was active from the 1660s. This 17th-century service book is on view in the Printing Icon: Medieval Image, Modern Process exhibition. Be sure to visit the exhibition before it leaves on March 30. Image: Lenten Triodion, Print shop of the L’viv Stauropegion Brotherhood, 1664, Private Collection

Plan an enriching excursion for your group to the Icon Museum and Study Center today! Tours are available from 10 AM to 4 PM, Thursday through Sunday (other days available by request). These 45-minute museum educator-guided highlight tours are suitable for all ages and can be customized to fit specific interests. Our tours encourage participation through conversation and inquiry while providing valuable context and insights about the icons and artwork on display. Please note that tours must be scheduled at least two weeks in advance. To learn more about scheduling a group tour, please visit the link below. We look forward to welcoming your group to the galleries soon! https://lnkd.in/exZtmDrt

The Icon Museum and Study Center (IM+SC) is offering two paid, on-site research internships for six weeks during the summer of 2025. These internships are open to advanced undergraduate and graduate students at the MA and PhD levels. Interns will work at the Study Center and focus on enhancing their knowledge of the icon collection and Eastern Christian art. Applications are due March 31. https://lnkd.in/e72SUPNR

Commemorated today is one of the Twelve Great Feasts, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. For those following the old calendar, this feast is observed on February 15. This event took place forty days after the birth of Jesus. According to the law of Moses, a woman could not enter the temple of God for forty days after giving birth to a male child. After this period of time, the mother came to the temple to offer a purification sacrifice to God. The Mother of God and Joseph presented the infant Jesus to Simeon, the God-receiver. Upon holding the infant Jesus in his arms, Simeon recognized him as the Savior, fulfilling the promise made to him by God that he would see the Messiah before his death. Anna the Prophetess, who had cared for the Mother of God throughout her childhood, was also present at the temple when Simeon met the infant Jesus. In the icon, the Mother of God has just handed Jesus to Simeon, while Joseph holds two turtle doves, which were offered as a traditional sacrifice. Anna is positioned behind Simeon. Image: The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, Mid-16th Century, Russia

This partnership marks a major step toward sharing the academic resources of our institutions, providing unparalleled access to emerging scholars in our region and beyond.

Devised in the early sixteenth century, this image type perplexed viewers from the moment of its creation. It depicts a crucified seraph with God the Father wielding a sword. Based on the liturgy of St. Basil, this icon type would be banned in later centuries. However, it continued to circulate among Old Believers. Such prints were made by tracing an old icon and printing the lines on a moistened sheet of paper. Executed in delicate lines of black ink and ochre, this print was made in 1884 by V. P. Abramov, a student of the master Gavriil Frolov in the village of Tiheda, Estonia. Abramov's interest in printing medieval images reveals the historical worldview of Old Believers. Old Believers documented hundreds of medieval images, fascinated by the aura of an otherwise forgotten past. Without their efforts, many rare icons would otherwise be unknown. This fascinating traced image is on loan from the Hilandar Research Library and is on view in "Printing Icons: Modern Process, Medieval Image" on view through March 30. Image: Crucified Seraph, V. P. Abramov, 1884, proris with added cinnabar

For Byzantine intellectuals, geometry could explain earthly and heavenly phenomena. Some theologians even thought it could elucidate the essence of God. Between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries, Greek writers diagrammed the Trinity, developing abstract drawings to articulate the three persons of divinity. In an article just published in the 2024 issue of Dumbarton Oaks Papers, David Jenkins and I edit and translate one of the most complex cycles of Trinitarian diagrams in the Byzantine world. Written by Theophanes of Nicaea in the 14th century, the text develops an argument grounded in the format of concentric circles. Theophanes explores geometric paradoxes to try to unlock the mystery of an infinite Creator. The article relates Theophanes’ reflections on circles to the design of illuminated manuscripts, murals and mosaics, drawing parallels with Western medieval mysticism. The article is available open access on the journal’s homepage https://lnkd.in/gpByWy2J. #ByzantineStudies #HellenicStudies #DumbartonOaks #Icons #ByzantineTheology #Mysticism The Icon Museum and Study Center

We are thrilled to announce that The Icon Museum and Study Center acquired a significant icon representing St Nicholas. We are deeply grateful to Lynette Hull and Brandon Hull, who very generously supported this important new acquisition. The icon, a masterpiece of nineteenth-century Old Believers painting, offers a visual narrative of the saint's life, from his birth to his miraculous deeds and posthumous veneration. St Nicholas, a beloved figure in the Eastern Christian world, is known for his wisdom, generosity, and miraculous powers. The acquisition is part of the Museum's strategic efforts to acquire works that expand research on the diversity of religious traditions within the Orthodox church.