L. P. Skeen on sun 16 feb 03
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carla Flati"
was the equivalent of idol worship. He went on (in what I believe was a
totally subjective
> opinion) to state that therefore, Catholics with all their majestic
> paintings and sculpture were actually doomed to hell because all of our
> churches contain nothing but idol worship.
Carla,
Apparently the Russian Orthodox is not the only religion that believes this
way. I have a 12yo student who is blind. At Christmas, she was making
nativity (sp?) pieces for various relatives. At some point, she mentioned
that her grandma, for whom she was making one of the nativities(sp?) already
HAS one, but it's not a "good" one. I asked what was wrong with grandma's
nativity. Student said that it has a baby Jesus in it, and that's BAD,
because nobody is supposed to have statues of Jesus. (Her parents are
Presbyterian.) I just let that one slide RIGHT on by..........
L
Carla Flati on sun 16 feb 03
I hope someone in the Russian Orthodox faith has been following this because
I took an unplanned and completely disturbing tour of a very old Russian
Orthodox church last year and still can't quite figure out the priest's
remarks on idol worship and Catholicism. There were absolutely no
sculptures in the church. The walls were completely covered with paintings
but they were all one dimensional icon type paintings. The priest explained
that it was a sin to paint in dimension, and sculpture was the equivalent of
idol worship. He went on (in what I believe was a totally subjective
opinion) to state that therefore, Catholics with all their majestic
paintings and sculpture were actually doomed to hell because all of our
churches contain nothing but idol worship. Michaelangelo was the devil
incarnate! I know this is hard to believe, but I never argued with the man.
I figured I was in his house and I better keep quiet, but as a Catholic, I
was really disturbed and totally confused when I left that church. Shortly
after this tour, I went to the wedding of a very dear friend. She (a
Catholic) was married in Greek Orthodox church. When I walked in, I almost
screamed. All of their paintings were one dimensional! Just like the
Russian Orthodox church. There were no sculptures there either. I'm
thinking this is all related to this Deuteronomy thing that's being
discussed.
This is really disturbing to me because as a child, the only things that
kept me awake and interested when our Mass was in Latin were the beautiful
sculptures, mosaics and paintings that were displayed all over our church.
To tell you the truth, when I was really young (4, 5 and 6 years old) the
crucifix over the altar used to scare me to death! I would sit there and
think " Poor Jesus is up there with nails in his arms and feet and a big
cut in his side. Why doesn't someone take him down?" I still go to the
same church and those same sculptures, mosaics and paintings still keep me
alive during Mass. I've come to realize that the crucifix that used to scare
me to death is actually THE most beautiful sculptural crucifix I've seen to
date and I've been in quite a few Catholic churches over the years. It
really is a work of art. The sad thing is that nobody at my parish is able
to tell me the name of the artist. I'm determined to find out.
Anyway, I'm very curious about this idol worship thing. Is this the general
consensus of the Orthodox religions, Christian or Jewish? Anything beyond
one dimensional representation is sinful? I don't want to clog the list
with religious discussion, but I'd love to hear any opinions off list.
Carla
Getting snowed in in Aliquippa, PA
Joan Ashworth on mon 17 feb 03
I would love to respond to your mail privately, but have no address.
I gather many of the original statues in Catholic churches were simply
reminders of their beliefs to the vast majority who were illiterate.
Joan
in Durban
Lily Krakowski on mon 17 feb 03
Whoops! Just for the record: The Orthodox Churches of Christianity are
called Orthodox. That is part of their name. They are distinct churches,
denominations.
Orthodox Jews, are not part of a separate "church"--they are Jews--we all
are Jews, and are so from birth--but called Orthodox because of their very
detailed and specific adherence to religious observances. The other Jewish
subdivisions are the Reform--who are more attached to ethics than to
observances, the Conservative, who observe a great many things, but in a
more relaxed fashion than the Orthodox, and the Reconstructionists who put a
creative face on observance--insisting it must have personal meaning to have
meaning at all.
Carla Flati writes:
> I hope someone in the Russian Orthodox faith has been following this because
> I took an unplanned and completely disturbing tour of a very old Russian
> Orthodox church last year and still can't quite figure out the priest's
> remarks on idol worship and Catholicism. There were absolutely no
> sculptures in the church. The walls were completely covered with paintings
> but they were all one dimensional icon type paintings. The priest explained
> that it was a sin to paint in dimension, and sculpture was the equivalent of
> idol worship. He went on (in what I believe was a totally subjective
> opinion) to state that therefore, Catholics with all their majestic
> paintings and sculpture were actually doomed to hell because all of our
> churches contain nothing but idol worship. Michaelangelo was the devil
> incarnate! I know this is hard to believe, but I never argued with the man.
> I figured I was in his house and I better keep quiet, but as a Catholic, I
> was really disturbed and totally confused when I left that church. Shortly
> after this tour, I went to the wedding of a very dear friend. She (a
> Catholic) was married in Greek Orthodox church. When I walked in, I almost
> screamed. All of their paintings were one dimensional! Just like the
> Russian Orthodox church. There were no sculptures there either. I'm
> thinking this is all related to this Deuteronomy thing that's being
> discussed.
>
> This is really disturbing to me because as a child, the only things that
> kept me awake and interested when our Mass was in Latin were the beautiful
> sculptures, mosaics and paintings that were displayed all over our church.
> To tell you the truth, when I was really young (4, 5 and 6 years old) the
> crucifix over the altar used to scare me to death! I would sit there and
> think " Poor Jesus is up there with nails in his arms and feet and a big
> cut in his side. Why doesn't someone take him down?" I still go to the
> same church and those same sculptures, mosaics and paintings still keep me
> alive during Mass. I've come to realize that the crucifix that used to scare
> me to death is actually THE most beautiful sculptural crucifix I've seen to
> date and I've been in quite a few Catholic churches over the years. It
> really is a work of art. The sad thing is that nobody at my parish is able
> to tell me the name of the artist. I'm determined to find out.
>
> Anyway, I'm very curious about this idol worship thing. Is this the general
> consensus of the Orthodox religions, Christian or Jewish? Anything beyond
> one dimensional representation is sinful? I don't want to clog the list
> with religious discussion, but I'd love to hear any opinions off list.
>
> Carla
> Getting snowed in in Aliquippa, PA
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
Lili Krakowski
P.O. Box #1
Constableville, N.Y.
(315) 942-5916/ 397-2389
Be of good courage....
| |
|
