My iconography teacher preparing to put gold leaf on my icon of St. Nektarios.
(An excerpt from my Master’s thesis)
If one does not live piously he should not presume to paint holy icons. For not only does the Stoglav council commend the iconographer to a life of piety, but gives the warning that those who neglect to lead such a life will have the honor of painting holy icons taken from them:
If any of these same master painters or any of their students takes to living not according to canonical commandment, in drunkenness and impurity, or in any sort of impropriety, the prelates shall place such persons under interdiction, and thenceforth they shall be excluded from icon production and ordered not to involve themselves in it, fearing the spoken words: “He is cursed who performs God’s work negligently.” [Jeremiah 48:10][1]
Whether this particular canon was merely applied locally in 16th Russia or universally (which would be the ideal) the underlying sentiment remains the same: A pious life befits one who transmits either his own spiritual vision or that of others.
[1] Stoglav council, Chapter 43.
matushka constantina
lessons from a monastery 
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