Saint Michael the Archangel
Today I began the daunting task of writing my first icon. Icons are unique in that they mirror the Christian life and the history of God’s love for His people. It was beauty that first drew me to icons, but over time I have learned that they are also carriers of theology. Today I began to learn that the process of creating them is every bit as full of theological meaning and significance. I hope to capture some highlights of this first attempt at writing an icon as the week continues and share them with you here.
We began our day by sketching the basic image onto the gessoed board. The board itself represents the whole of creation which began as a blank white slate that contains the promise of all that was, is and will be in the cosmos. By putting the image of St. Michael the Archangel onto the board, we named our creation, giving it form, choosing to represent this specific person who is part of our Christian history.
Once the sketch of St. Michael had taken shape, we went back over each and every line with a metal stylus, in order to engrave or etch the image into the board. Our teacher explained that this etching represents the firm beliefs of our faith in that our beliefs and practices as Christians should be engraved on our own souls so they can form everything we do.
The remainder of our time today was spent on creating and gilding the halo for our icons. This was the most intriguing part of the day for me. The halo is first created with a red clay mixture that represents the earth and the material world. You might say it represents human nature. Once the clay had dried, we next learned the process for gilding the halo with gold. The gold represents the divine nature or the spiritual dimension of our world. In order for the gold to adhere to the clay halo it needs both moisture and heat. These are provided by the iconographer who breathes into the clay and then quickly presses the gold into the clay. As I spent the afternoon breathing the clay halo to life, I could not help but be reminded that it was God Himself who first formed man from the earth and then breathed the divine life into him. In the process of creating these divine images, now it is man who is breathing life into clay in order to represent the divine.
This day was an excellent beginning to learning a new way of prayer. I am looking forward to tomorrow!
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