Photo taken today. A few things left to do: Hair, beards, names, fix halos, and add borders.
On this the 14th day of the present moth we commemorate the holy and blessed Fathers who came together for the second time in Nicaea, during the reign of the pious and Christ-loving Sovereigns Constantine and Irene, against those who impiously, ignorantly and foolishly asserted that the Church of God worshippeth idols, and rejected the august and holy icons.
As I read the above during Matins this morning I thought, “I should post something about this”. And since I’m almost finished my icons of the four holy Hierarchs (Sts. Athanasius, Gregory, Basil and John Chrysostom) I thought I would add some photos of them along the way. I started them in August, 2017 but took about a six month hiatus. Once finished they will be hung above the altar on the back wall of the domestic chapel of St. Nektarios once they’re finished.
Oikos for the Holy Fathers of the 7th Ecumenical Council:
The All-compassionate God, ever wishing to arouse us to perfect recollection of His becoming man, hath delivered this precept unto men, namely, that His venerable form should be depicted through the painting of icons; so that beholding it with our eyes, we might believe what we have heard by word, and might clearly know the accomplishments and names, the appearances and the contests of the saints, and might also know Christ, the Crown-bestower, who granteth crowns unto the holy athletes and martyrs, through whom now the Church yet more manifesly holdeth fast the true Faith and doth venerate the icon of Christ’s incarnation.
May God make us worthy to also “hold fast the faith” and continue to follow the Holy Fathers whose memories we revere in both holy writings and paintings!
Yesterday: Just getting started on St. Basil’s face.
matushka constantina
lessons from a monastery 
exciting to see these forming into beautiful icons! 🙂
Beautiful icons.