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I wanted to suggest a place to get icons not listed by the original post.
I was recommended by an Antiochian priest to go to St. Elizabeth Convent.
Since I haven't yet been able to post links yet due to the few posts I have made since starting. I'll give the shortened version: conventofsaintelizabeth.org
I got a quote for a hand-painted icon, their price seems reasonable. I have seen first hand the artwork in the Antiochian Orthodox parish produced by this convent, it is first rate.
I had a few questions in my post which were not addressed.
I am not encouraging Orthodox or Catholics to purchase the Monastic Icons.
The charge that they are dangerous, other than that they are blessed in an non-Christian form, which I find difficult to substantiate, is at worst hearsay and at best plausible. One could say it is blessed in a non-Orthodox form for certain, and if there are Catholic iconographers, the same applies that it is non-Catholic form. The main question is regarding them specifically is:
Is there anything within their "artwork" that is heretical?
They may be officially without valid sacraments, they may be doctrinally worse than Oriental Orthodox--being far worse than the charge of Nestorianism. The point in question is in terms of specific danger in the use of their artwork, or if the artwork is blessed by an unsuspecting Catholic elder or Priest (considering if you are a Catholic) or laid on the Altar for forty days by an Orthodox priest (which I doubt would be possible, but I am not ruling out its possibility considering perhaps other companies that make "icon" prints without official iconographers) what really is the danger?
Consider this for a moment... in a practical matter. I own three of their icons. Someone donated these icons to me. I have St. Patrick, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Joan of Arc. If they are dangerous, these specific "artworks," then I need to throw them away. Let's be very practical about this, since I have a real genuine concern owning three of them.
You need to burn them. What they do is at best sacrilege and at worst it is a direct mockery and insult to Christ.
Considering the baptizing the culture, accepting the good and rejecting the bad, I should think St. Nicholas of Japan's example would not be found to burn everything Japanese, especially if a Japanese artist would out of mutual respect attempt to draw a painting of Christ, regardless if they were themselves Shin Buddhists. I do not see any precidence to burn such artwork if there is nothing inherint in it that is unsound. Perhaps my considering it artwork and not an icon would be best rather than burning it. I just don't want people to become so uptight and react in ways not consistent with a Christian ethos. I should not want to become like the Taliban who destroys Hindu statues simply because they disagree with Hinduism; this is a much lesser case in which the artwork is depicting Christ and not the gods of Vishnu, Braham, and other deities. It is unwise to purchase from them due to their claims not being true. This I concur and agree with you.
I recently received my icon of St. Patrick from them, which is quite beautiful, but I don't have enough posts yet to show it here.
It is sitting in the altar at our Church for just a bit longer.
Another good site is uncutmountainsupply.com
Their "icon" of St. Patrick is inaccurate. They show him being a Western Bishop wearing a miter. St. Patrick was not a western bishop. He served in Ireland a full 600 years before it became under the control of Rome. Further, the miter was not worn by western bishops until about the year 1000 ad.
See, it is educational for others to see. I am not sure how that doctrinally changes things. They also make an icon of Francis of Assisi, Joan of Arc... . I don't think it warrants burning, no Eastern or Oriental Orthodox is going to purchase the image of saints of the Roman Catholics. Now if the Orientals made an icon of Christ that doctrinally speaks of his nature inconsistent with Eastern Orthodoxy, do you not think this would be dangerous also? Yet there are concessions for Oriental Orthodox to partake communion in the Eastern Orthodox Church when there exists no Oriental Orthodox priests and permission is granted by an Eastern Orthodox bishop. Are you going to condemn the bishops that allow Oriental Orthodox to partake of the Eucharist? There has to be some restraint on your part in being so quick to violent protest for everything not Eastern Orthodox. This is why I mentioned St. Nicholas of Japan's example. A man who went out and studied the culture, who saved his own life by understanding the Japanese ethos and getting a samurai bent on killing him to listen to what he preached. Not all things are destructive, in fact, you explaining about their differences in the artwork of St. Patrick they depict is an opportunity to witness.
Sometimes people are so used to seeing a dollar bill and going to market and purchasing goods, that on the occasion that counterfeit dollar bills circulate, nobody takes a closer look since they rarely encounter the falsehood.
You have only given one example of the artwork that is inconsistent with the historical reality with St. Patrick, and this is only a piece of clothing. If an artwork paints Christ's face as white and not olive skin, is this not also a fabrication? Perhaps Christ's beard is squarish and not pointed when he was alive? Perhaps he was completely naked without even a piece of cloth covering his private hanging on the cross, yet these things are very minor. Even the cross of Christ has taken different shapes. Is the Russian Crucifix more right than the Celtic Cross, is the Coptic Orthodox cross more wrong than the Russian? I am sure Christ hung on only one cross and its depiction by artists and iconographers are different over time and cultures with some slight variations to teach the cultures under mission.
I am presently on a journey toward Eastern Orthodoxy, I find that an evangelistic opportunity is being missed here by yourself by an blind insistence without instruction which does not seek to educate a potential convert or even an ill-instructed Orthodox Christian.
I have a question-
What is the difference between Russian and Greek Style icons?
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