EDITORIAL
This is the third and final part of the three-part series dedicated to Orthodox Iconography.
This volume begins with Steven Bigham’s article entitled ‘Why Were St Gregory Palamas and the Palamites Accused of Iconoclasm?’, where the author offers a learned examination of the anti-icon accusations associated with Palamism. Igumen Siluan Justiniano’s article, under the title ‘Iconological Paragraphs’, offers a beautiful theoretical exploration of the icon from the painter’s perspective. As he states, he treats the icon as a creative act, in light of its aesthetic implications, contemporary challenges, possibilities, and ambiguities. Archimandrite Jack Khalil offers us a careful Biblical and linguistic approach of John Damascus’ ‘Treatise of Icons’. As the author explains, the aim of this study is to try to examine some aspects of the exegetical approach that St John Damascus applied to the biblical data, which enabled him to develop the theological defense of honoring divine icons. Finally, Prof. Iliana Zarra, in her long and informed paper, studies a group of 19th century portable icons, from the point of view of a Historian of Modern Greek Art.
I would like to express my deepest thanks to all those who contributed to this volume, as well as, once more, to all who contributed, in many ways, to the creation of the Orthodox Iconography series.
– Fr Nikolaos Loudovikos, Senior Editor