Sendler, Egon Byzantine Icons of the Theotokos Translated from French by Mariuca & Adrian Alexandrescu After defining the Icon in generic terms – theological, esthetical and technical – in a previous work (The icon: Image of the Invisible, issued by Sophia Publishing House), in the present book Egon Sendler focuses on Byzantine Marian iconography, and investigates its biblical, patristic and liturgical grounds, emphasizing its highlights and endeavouring to provide a systematic presentation of its evolution, over the span of two millennia. In the first part, the author presents the so-called festal Marian icons, which depict the feasts celebrating the main events in the Holy Virgin’s life, as well as the rich spiritual significance attached by the Byzantine theological thought – in either the dogmatic, hymnographic or homiletic register – to the original historical and biblical core, a significance faithfully rendered by the iconography of the respective feasts. In the second part, Egon Sendler singles out the most representative iconographic types, out of the impressive typology of the countless icons dedicated to the Theotokos. He mainly explores the great Byzantine tradition, as well as the subsequent forms it generated in Eastern iconography, especially the Russian one, and its influence on the Occident. In such a perspective, the Holy Virgin’s icons appear to us not only radiant with gold and colours, but also illuminated from within by the splendour of their mysterious spiritual meaning, which provides them with both substance and form. Format: 17 x 24 cm, 269 p. + 24 colpr plates ISBN: 978-973-136-069-0 “Spiritual Guidance in the World of Ico «« back