Flat Thomas Visits the Iconographers
![DSCN0108[2]](http://www.blessedisthekingdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/DSCN01082-300x225.jpg "DSCN0108[2]")
Flat Thomas accompanied me to visit the icon studio today and made some new friends. It was good to have a travelling companion as well as to see some familiar Texan faces.
Today I began the process of writing a new icon of the Archangel Gabriel. The first steps are to trace and etch the pattern onto the blank gessoed board and then to create the halo. Creating the halo is one of my favorite parts of the process as it recalls God’s breathing life into Adam. Red clay reminds us of the Hebrew play on words found in Genesis. The words Adam, Adom and Adama have the respective meanings of man, red and earth. It is a good reminder that we are dust and to dust we shall return.
![DSCN0104[1]](http://www.blessedisthekingdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/DSCN01041-225x300.jpg "DSCN0104[1]")
Today our teacher taught us another meaning when she spoke of the need for the clay to be purified and refined prior to being fired with gold. We can relate the same process of refinement to our own lives. As Christians we cleanse not only the outside of our bodies, but through fasting, we purify the inside as well. We can also limit our senses by fasting from looking at impure images, saying unkind words or listening to unclean speech.
In the same way that correct preparation of the clay is essential for the best application of the gold in an icon’s halo, our own spritual preparation is vital to providing an environment for God to enter more easily.
I am looking forward to the rest of this week of prayer and learning!
Related Posts:
About The Author
Comments