Icon of the Mother of God "Hodegetria". The first image painted by Abbess Eusevia with her sisters in Chelyabinsk

Continuing the traditions of the pre-revolutionary monastery, the sisters opened an icon-painting workshop and began reviving canonical icon painting.

Icons are painted according to ancient church canons and technologies used by icon painters of the school of Andrei Rublev.

The icon, painted according to the ancient canon, is full of extraordinary, unearthly silence. Everything fussy, passionate, sensual is alien to her. The icon, as it were, communicates its prayerful state to believers, and thereby contributes to the creation of a prayerful mood. Such an icon is called “theology in colors” because there is nothing random in it, every element has a spiritual meaning. After all, an icon is, first of all, a meeting, a meeting with God.

Icon painting training

For several years, the nuns underwent an internship at the icon painting school of the Moscow Theological Academy at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Some sisters did not know how to draw before coming to the monastery, and with the blessing of the abbess they study icon painting at the monastery from the older sisters.

The drawing on the icon board begins with lines. The sisters learn to draw according to “traces” so that the lines on the icon are beautiful and confident. Tracing is a contour drawing of an image.

So that the icon is as close as possible to the original of the 15th century. As a visual example, the sisters use copies of fragments from ancient icons that are stored in the Hermitage and the Treryakov Gallery.

Icon “Nativity of Christ”, next to it is a copy of a fragment from the icon of disciple Andrei Rublev

For centuries, icon painters learned from each other, drawing the contours of the image

Icon of the Apostle John the Theologian

Icon writing technology

For the production of icons, only natural materials are used so that the new icon, like ancient examples, will last for several hundred years.

In Rus', boards for icons were made from linden, since this wood easily tolerates fluctuations in humidity and temperature and does not emit resin. The board is dried, then pavolok is glued on and covered with natural gesso.

The paints are made from natural, hand-ground minerals and semi-precious stones (lapis lazuli, malachite, cinnabar, ocher, etc.) with the addition of egg yolk. The background and some elements of the icon are decorated with gold leaf. The finished icon is covered with a protective layer of drying oil.

Not everyone knows, but not always only monks work in icon-painting workshops. This is especially true of the capital's monasteries. Often, along with the monks, invited icon painters also work hand in hand. And there are monasteries where there are no icon painters at all. Those. all masters are invited. The G approach allows you to improve the quality of manufactured icons, with a certain optimization of the process. Let's say more. Everything that benefits the monastery, icon painting and the customer has the right to exist.

For example, there are monasteries that do not have their own workshops at all. Nevertheless, all orders for painting icons are being fulfilled. They are simply carried out at the production facilities, so to speak, of other icon-painting workshops.

We accept orders for painting icons from monasteries, churches and individuals

You can contact us by telephone or e-mail, which are listed in the section

So, speaking specifically about our masters, we work both in our own squares and in the squares of various monasteries. In some places these are one-time jobs, in others they are ongoing collaborations. Since the working experience of our icon painters is approaching 25 years, it would not be crooked if we say that at different times we collaborated with almost all major

• Monastic icon-painting workshops
• Private workshops
• Group artels of icon painters

Currently, we cooperate particularly fruitfully and on an ongoing basis with the Novodevichy Convent.

Ordering icons at the monastery

From the above, you can glean the following information. All the same, it is not so important where exactly you order the icon. More importantly, who exactly will fulfill the order. Ideally, experienced and regular customers operate not with a place (Novospassky Monastery, Danilovsky or Simonovsky), but with the personality of the master. Those. a specific icon painter or artel who will carry out the order.

This is what allows the customer to most clearly understand what exactly and in what time frame he will receive. It's no secret that despite a certain unification (drawing, canons), a true master has his own signature style. This does not always appear clearly, but it is always visible to those who understand it. A knowledgeable person will almost instantly recognize the hand of a particular master who painted this or that icon.
There is another aspect. The smaller the chain between the customer and the contractor,

• The better the master understands the task
• The faster the work is done (writing the image)
• And the lower the final price

Even in such a matter as painting icons, the same business laws apply. The fewer intermediaries, the cheaper the product.
It is clear that monasteries act as a kind of guarantor of quality, but you should not think that if you order an icon from a monastery, it will acquire some special spirituality. The quality of an icon is determined by the skill of the icon painter and his sincerity, prayerful attitude and labor costs.
Let's say more. It happened more than once that icons ordered from famous monasteries later had to be corrected. And sometimes scammers even get involved. So one person wanted the icon to be painted by Athonite monks. The project was not cheap, and the monks even came to Russia a couple of times. The campaigns were carried out for almost a year, but as a result, expectations were not met. The large temple icon was made at a very low level, did not correspond to the agreements reached and had significant shortcomings. Subsequently, local icon painters had to seriously work on it. By the way, there are still questions for the Greek side (that never received answers). For example, what kind of monks painted the icon, from which monastery, and were they even monks...

Ready-made monastery icons

There is one significant difference between Monastic and Private icon painting workshops. Monastic icon painters can afford to work in what is called “warehouse.” This is understandable. A large number of people pass through the monastery. These are our own parishioners and pilgrims. Accordingly, it is quite possible to sell ready-made icons in the icon shop of the monastery. And if you keep statistics and records, then you can with a high degree of probability predict the demand for certain icons.

A private workshop or a small church cannot afford this. Icon painting requires investment. Both material - for paints, boards, brushes, and physical - the direct work of the icon painter. And having painted several icons, such a workshop will simply exhaust its resources. Both human and material. And since sales are difficult for a private workshop, painted icons can simply sit for months without being sold.
Hence the conclusion: If you want to buy a ready-made icon, then doing it in a monastery will be easier and more correct. True, the price will be higher. And the image itself will be written without taking into account your individual wishes. But it is more correct to order an icon by directly communicating with the master who will paint it.

Icon shops at monasteries and churches

It would be naive to think that all icons and church utensils sold in monasteries or churches were produced in the icon-painting workshops of these monasteries. Of course not. If the monastery has its own icon painters, then first of all they cover their own needs and secondly some icons go on sale. In the vast majority of cases, the following scheme applies:

• A certain company orders a range of products abroad or in Russia. Icons, icon cases, clouds, etc.
• Smaller entrepreneurs then buy goods from this supplier at wholesale prices.
• It is they who, having included their profit in the price, distribute icons and utensils to the Monastery shops and shops at churches.
• Monastery shops and temple shops also add their profit to the current value and display the goods in the window.

So, the buyer who decided to purchase an icon, pay three markups for it. The story of ordering icons from monastery workshops is no exception. If the icon is not painted by its own masters (and in most cases this is the case), then additional profit will be included in the price of the icon. Those. The icon painter will receive something, and the monastery will receive something, for accepting the order to paint the icon.

It is this fact that once again leads us to a simple and clear thought, which was already sounded above: The most optimal way is to order icons directly from the master who will paint them. And the set goal (as well as control over execution) will be clearer, and the price will be more optimal.

In conclusion, I would like to add that we in no way belittle or discourage people from communicating with the Monastic icon-painting workshops. For many, this path looks more attractive, because the monastery has its own aura or something in the general history of the creation of the icon. However, there are people who prefer closer communication with the order executors, and they wouldn’t mind saving money.

You can buy and order icons in the church shop of the Danilov Monastery and order them in the online store.

ICONS FROM THE MANUFACTURER FOR WHOLESALE AND RETAIL SALE. DELIVERY TO THE REGIONS.

Icons of our own production on a wooden board or MDF, for gilding. The combination of the traditional style of icon painting and modern technologies allows us to convey the entire richness of the color palette of the icon, to draw all the details of the faces and vestments, and the details of the image. The use of gilding saturates the icon with radiance and light, most fully corresponding to the image of the non-evening Light and God's glory. Special inks used in UV printing technology, as well as effective methods for fixing the image, guarantee its durability, freshness and purity of the inks. The front side of the icon is varnished twice, the reverse side is finished with valuable wood veneer.

Icon sizes from 7 x 9 cm to 30x40 cm

Copies of ancient icons to order. Collection of ancient icons for copying.

Dear customers! Since the range of icons from the Danilov Workshops is very wide, not all icons are ready for shipment from the warehouse. You may need to produce icons to your order with a production time of 10-15 days. The manager will inform you about the availability and readiness of the order.

THERE IS A FLEXIBLE SYSTEM OF DISCOUNTS, WE ALSO PRODUCE TO ORDER, IN A SHORT TIME, AN ICON OF ANY SIZE AND ACCORDING TO YOUR DESIGN.

Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, 17th century, Novodevichy Monastery

About attitude towards icon painting on Mount Athos says the letter from the Iversky Monastery, which accompanied a copy of the Iverskaya miraculous icon of the Mother of God to Moscow: “ How I came to our monastery (Abbot Pachomius), having gathered all my brethren, 365 brothers, performed a great prayer service from evening until daylight and blessed the water from St. with relics and holy water they poured over the holy miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of old Portaitskaya and collected that holy water into a great basin and having collected the packs they poured over the new deck, which they made all from the cypress tree, and again collected that holy water into the basin and then served the divine and holy liturgy with with great boldness and after the holy liturgy they gave that holy water and holy relics to the venerable icon priest and spiritual father, Mr. Iamblichus Romanov, so that he, mixing the holy water and holy relics with paints, could paint a holy and sacred icon" The letter further describes that the icon painter ate food only on Saturday and Sunday, and “ the brethren performed all-night prayers twice a week and liturgy all days».

St. Demetrius, 14th century, Vatopedi monastery, by Manouil Panselinos

On Holy Mount Athos there is a rich collection of Byzantine and post-Byzantine icon paintings. From these works one can trace the history of handwritten icons on Mount Athos and Greece. The most ancient works date back to the 11th century, these are icons of the five martyrs of Sebaste and St. Panteleimon in the Great Lavra Monastery, mosaics “Annunciation” and “Deesis” in the Temple of Vatopedi Monastery. From the 12th century, mosaic icons of St. George and St. Demetrius have been preserved in the Xenophon Monastery, the Mother of God Hodegetria in Hilandar, the icon of St. Nicholas in Stavronikita.
In the XIII-XIV centuries. Icons of the Macedonian school with its center in Thessaloniki became widespread. They are distinguished by realism in painting images and the desire to reflect their experiences and inner world. More attention was paid to the composition of the background; landscapes appeared as the background of icons. The leading icon painter of the Macedonian school was Manuel Panselinos, whose brushes are attributed to frescoes in the Protata Cathedral, the monasteries of Vatopedi, Pantokrator, and the Great Lavra. Many frescoes and icons of the Macedonian school are located in Hilandar and other monasteries of Athos.

Savior Pantocrator, XIII century, Hilandar Monastery

After the fall of Constantinople, the icon became the subject of self-identification of Orthodox Greeks in the Ottoman Empire and one of the means of strengthening them in the faith. Icon painting became a forbidden art; many Greeks suffered martyrdom with icons in their hands. But Holy Mount Athos remained a monastic republic even under the Ottomans, living according to Byzantine rules. Even before the fall of Constantinople, the Athonite monks received a safe conduct from Murad II. In the context of the ban on Orthodoxy in the Ottoman Empire, Athonite monks preserved the traditions of icon painting and continued painting the Athonite monasteries. Separate orders for handwritten icons came from Moscow, which by that time had proclaimed itself the third Rome. So in 1647, on Mount Athos, by order of the then Archimandrite of the Novospassky Monastery Nikon, the future patriarch, a copy of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God was painted. This icon is now in the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow.

The center of icon painting in the 15th-17th centuries was Crete, where many artists fled to the protection of the Venetians in 1453. In the early period, the Cretan school was characterized by an ascetic and strict style of iconography and nobility of faces. The leading icon painter of this trend was Theophanes Strilitsas from Heraklion, who painted the Temple of the Great Lavra, as well as the Stavronikita Monastery in the 30s of the 16th century. Other famous icon painters of the Cretan school: Michael Damaskinos, Euphrosinos, and Theophanis painted the monasteries of Stavronikita, Dionysiatus, and the Great Lavra. Subsequently, the artists of the Cretan school were greatly influenced by the culture of the Renaissance. In numerous icon-painting workshops in Crete, up to a thousand icons were painted a year on orders not only from Orthodox monasteries and the Greek diaspora in the Mediterranean, but also from Catholic monasteries and communities in Italy. At the same time, the style of icons for Orthodox and Catholics was very different. Cretan icon painters began to sign their icons, following the example of Renaissance artists. Art historians count more than 80 artists of the Cretan school, among them Domenikos Theotokopoulos, who became known in Spain under the name El Greco - “The Greek”.

In the 18th century, two trends appeared in Greek icon painting - a return to the traditions of Byzantium and the emergence of a school of masters from Epirus (Ioannina and Kastoria). Byzantine traditions on Athos were revived by the monk Dionysius from Fournos, who lived in one of the cells in Kareas. He painted many frescoes and icons that can now be found in the monasteries of Caracalla, Vatopedi and museums in Greece. Dionysius left behind many students and followers. The works of artists from Epirus were characterized by a strong influence of folk motifs and the inclusion of Baroque elements in their work. But by the end of the 18th century they were supplanted by a more traditional school of master icon painters from Galatista in Chalkidiki. In the 19th century, Greece, with the help of fraternal Russia, freed itself from the Ottoman yoke. The Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery was revived on Athos, and numerous Russian monasteries appeared. Thousands of Russian monks connected their lives with Athos. Among them were dozens of talented icon painters. The icon-painting workshops of the St. Panteleimon Monastery, St. Andrew's Skete and Belozerka Skete painted icons in the recognizable style of academic writing. Even now, in almost every Russian church you can find highly revered Athos icons. After the revolution, monasteries and monasteries lost contact with their homeland and gradually fell into disrepair. The traditions of icon painting were preserved only in the Belozerka monastery. Now it is called Burazeri, Greek monks live there and it belongs to the Hilandar monastery. With the passing of Russian masters and the replenishment of the brethren at the expense of the Greeks, the monastery became one of the centers of Greek icon painting. In the 19th-20th centuries, the direction of folk icons appeared, where the influence of Balkan folklore motifs was strong. They are painted by folk artists and are still popular in rural areas of Thrace and Macedonia. Many icons located on Mount Athos became famous for their miracles. The most famous of them are “It Is Worthy” in the Protata Temple in the capital of Athos Kareas, the “Goalkeeper” icon in the chapel of the Iveron Monastery, the “Three-Handed” icon in the Hilandar Monastery, the “Quick to Hear” icon in the Dokhiar Monastery, the “Gerontissa” icon in the Pantokrator Monastery, the icon “Ktitorissa” and “Consolation and Consolation” in the Vatopedi monastery, the icon “Kukuzelissa” in the Great Lavra, the icons “Glykofilussa” in the Philotheus monastery and “Hodegetria” in the Kostamonitou monastery. Modern greek icons very diverse. Visitors to Greece most often see icons written in cursive in souvenir shops. But the traditions of Byzantine icon painting have been preserved in Athos and many other monasteries in Greece, where, like many centuries ago, icons are painted with prayer and reverence. As in the old days, many Russian churches order copies of famous miraculous icons from Mount Athos. . This gives them the opportunity to create more accessible works using paints on gilded gesso, getting as close as possible to the centuries-old canons of icon painting.

Icon of the Mother of God “Hodegetria”, 16th century, Iveron Monastery, author Theophanis of Crete Icon of the Annunciation, 16th century, Stavronikita Monastery, author Theophanis of Crete Icon of the Mother of God “Paraklisis”, 18th century, Pantokrator Monastery, author Michael of Thessaloniki

The shrines of Athos are inaccessible to many in Russia, and women are prohibited from entering the Holy Mountain. Therefore, as part of the Year of Greece in Russia, an exhibition is planned “Treasures of Athos. Masterpieces and shrines from the monasteries of Holy Mount Athos".

Today the monastery is being revived, and with the blessing of the abbot of the monastery, Abbot Boris (Tulupov), an icon-painting workshop has been organized. Now this obedience is carried out by monastics with artistic education who studied at the famous icon painting school at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

The main direction of the workshop was initially the revival of canonical icon painting. In their choice, the brothers proceeded from the fact that the icon of canonical writing contributes more than others to creating a prayerful mood. This is inherent in the very method of canonical representation - deeply symbolic. The highest beauty cannot be adequately conveyed using ordinary artistic means, so it is necessary to resort to the symbolism developed by the Church over the centuries. When we look at an icon of canonical writing, where every detail has a certain spiritual meaning, then, even without knowing the exact meaning of all the symbols, we are imbued with the feeling that the depicted Persons and Events are “not of this world.” Of course, this only happens when the icons are painted in strict compliance with all canons and at the same time imbued with a living feeling. The brothers chose Byzantine icons of the 13th–14th centuries (Palaeologus period) and Old Russian icons of the 14th–15th centuries (The Circle of Andrei Rublev), which fully contain both strict canonicity and sublime emotionality, as role models.

The icon painting workshop strives to observe not only the ancient canons of icon painting, but also the ancient technologies for making icons. Icon boards are made from a specific tree (linden) that has been naturally dried for a year. For painting primers, natural glues of animal origin or a gelatin substitute are used. The paints are made from an egg emulsion of hand-ground minerals. For example, to obtain all shades of blue, lapis lazuli is used, which has been used by craftsmen since ancient times. Red paint is cinnabar, yellow is orpiment, green is malachite, glauconite, etc.

The brothers mainly paint icons for monastery churches, but entire iconostases are also created for monastery farmsteads. In addition to icon painting, the workshop carries out various artistic works: iconostases, marble thrones, items of temple and monastery utensils based on Byzantine models, sketches for embroidery, etc. are designed.

Those who work in the icon-painting workshop must live a pure spiritual life, because only in this way will they be able to convey, with the help of divine Grace and through line and color, the scenes of the incarnate economy of Christ, the images of the Mother of God and the saints of our Church.

Icons serve as intermediaries between the person depicted and those praying. This is how certain bonds and connections are strengthened. The honor given to the icon goes back to the prototype, as St. Basil the Great says, but the icon also conveys the divine state of the prototype - the grace of the prototype is found in it.

Before painting the image of any saint, or Savior, or Mother of God, the brothers ask for prayerful help in this matter, try to read the life of the saint of God whom they depict. According to the icon painter, sometimes it is even a little scary to start work, because you feel a special reverence, because you know that people will look at this icon and, contemplating it, their minds will rise to God.

View the works of the icon painting workshop, as well as the paintings of the monastery church