Christ Church Brunswick

Icons

In Orthodox theology an icon is an image depicting the in-dwelling grace of God in the world. It retains something of the sanctity of the people and action depicted, and sanctifies the space around it by its presence. Looking at or praying before an icon enables us to participate in the drama portrayed.

The things that are depicted in the icon of the Last Supper are a result of a theological, doctrinal, and iconographic development of fourteen hundred years. Each element has symbolic significance in light of the Gospel and the liturgy of the Eastern Church.

In this icon of the Last Supper, Christ and the Twelve Apostles, including Judas, are seated around the table in the upper room. All except Judas have a halo, or nimbus, to represent the grace of God which shines forth from them. Laid on the table are the bread and wine for their meal. The five loaves also remind us of the earlier meal shared with Christ when he multiplied the loaves and fishes, and of the feast we hope to share at the end of time. The larger cup before Christ which he is blessing is the chalice. Judas’ gesture of leaning over, as if to dip his fingers in the bowl before him, refers to Christ’s words (Matthew 26:23) when He told the apostles that one of them would betray Him. John, the closest to Jesus, looks at Judas with horror. Christ holds in his hands a scroll, symbolising the Old Testament prophecies which tell of his life and passion.

The buildings in the background, one open, is a device to show that the participants are inside. The red cloth which unites them symbolises the Divine Presence. From the ninth century, a lamp or candle was shown on the table to indicate the time and place of the Supper. The two candles are in our space – in front of, and below, the icon. This shows that the sacrifice before us is happening now (each day at our altar), each moment around the world, and eternally amongst the Communion of Saints.

These are only a few of the symbolic and scriptural references portrayed in the icon. Michael Galovic also makes these points:

• The blackness of the apertures of the doors and windows stands for the darkness of ignorance before the light of revelation (or primaeval chaos before the revelation).
• The white cloth is the key, the doorway in the painting leading to our Lord. The whiteness of the cloth alludes to the shroud in which Christ was laid in the tomb, thus making the link between the Last Supper and the Crucifixion.

Sources:

L Ouspensky,

The Meaning of Icons, Crestwood, NY, 1982;

The Theology of the Icon, Crestwood, NY, 1978.

Constantine Kalokgris, The Essence of Orthodox Iconography, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, NY.

K Weitzman, The Icon, London, 1978.

G Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art, London, 1971, Vol 2.

St Luke is seated at an easel bearing the image of the Virgin and Child (in an interior indicated by the drapery which furls between Christ Church and a nearby house). St Luke, the beloved physician and companion of St Paul and the evangelist who gives particular emphasis to the birth of Christ (some scholars believe the Virgin herself was the principal authority for the birth stories), is particularly appropriate to be placed closest to the Lady Chapel, where intercessions are made daily for the sick. He is believed to have painted the first picture of the Virgin and Child and this image (the Virgin Hodegetria) is shown here, while the desk bears the painter’s brushes, palette, pigments, water jar, penknife and scriber. On a lectern beside the desk, supported by a fish, which is an ancient symbol of Christ the Saviour, rests a copy of St Luke’s gospel, beginning “Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us”. The inscription above identifies the subject as St Luke the Evangelist. St Luke may perhaps be thought of as a type of the divine word revealed in human form, and in all things visible and created.

St John stands in a rocky landscape on the island of Patmos, the scene of his revelation. At his feet, in front of a dark cavern, crouches the disciple Prochorus, writing in a book that shows the opening words of St John’s gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God ...”. From the sky, the hand of God reaches down, the Hand of the Living God. The inscription identifies the subject as St John the Theologian. By contrast to the other evangelists, St John may perhaps be seen as the type of direct, ecstatic revelation.

St Mark, the first of the gospel writers and the disciple of St Peter, is shown in an interior (the buildings are a stylised representation of Christ Church) with a symbolic curtain stretched between the roofs). He is seated at a writing desk, with writing implements (pencils, pencil sharpener, penknife, ink and brushes), and holds a tablet which shows the first words of his gospel: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; as it is written in the prophet Isaiah, Behold ...”. The same text appears resting on a lectern in the form of a lion, the apocalyptic beast which is used as the symbol of St Mark. The inscription above identifies the subject as St Mark the Evangelist. St Mark may perhaps be seen as a type of the divine word revealed through the intellect and contemplation, and transmitted through the written word.

The paintings are in tempera on prepared cedar panels, with some gold leaf. They were designed, prepared and painted in Brunswick (the last panel being finished in Sydney) by a local resident, Nicholas Draffin. Installation was carried out by T. McCarthy and Co. Pty Ltd, who also stained the pulpit to match other woodwork in the church.

The panels are in memory of Daisy Everest Upton (1882-1963), herself a painter and author of devotional works. She had a long association with Christ Church and Trinity College at The University of Melbourne, and is the principal benefactress of the parish.

Christ Church is largely an English interpretation of the early western tradition of Christian architecture particularly as found in rural Italy. The panels, although in sympathy with the church, derive from the ancient traditions of the Church in the east, and from later Byzantine and Orthodox churches. In a fully developed Byzantine church such panels would form part of a large screen (iconostasis) of images of Christ and events in his life and of saints, patriarchs and prophets, separating the nave of the church building from the sanctuary and altar and symbolically representing the separation of the Church militant on Earth from the Heavenly Jerusalem.

The style of the paintings may, at first, seem rather foreign. They are realistic, but not in the way in which European painters usually show reality. Their concern is with a spiritual reality, as revealed within the Church from the earliest times. The appearance of the saints follows ancient and authentic likenesses; they are not romanticised. The paintings do not have the enclosed, box-like perspective developed during the Renaissance; instead, the setting opens out in front of the observer to reveal another world beyond. At the same time, the evangelists do not exist in some unreal, imaginary world – the interiors in which they write and paint are framed by buildings which can be recognised as aspects of the church for which the panels were painted.

In Christ Church, the function of the pulpit as the place from which the Word of God is declared is emphasised by the likenesses of the evangelists, the followers of Christ who first set down the Word of God in written form. One evangelist, St Matthew, is already shown in a stained glass window overlooking the pulpit, and so his likeness has not been repeated in the panels. The inscriptions on the panels are in Greek, the language of the New Testament.

It is hoped that those who visit Christ Church Brunswick may be drawn closer to these divinely inspired men and read their works; that through reading and contemplation they may come closer to the Lord, through his revelation of himself in this world they may come ever closer to his eternal presence in this world, and at last they may come to see him face to face.