‘I worship God through my painting’ Romanian iconographer installs yearlong project in Sarasota church
Photos, video and text by Jim DeLa
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ucked above an archway leading to the altar at the Church of the Redeemer in Sarasota, an image of Christ looks down, flanked by angels and more symbolism than one can take in with a single glance. Artist and Romanian Orthodox Sister Eliseea Papacioc was in Sarasota recently to install the commissioned five-foot by 30-foot icon, which she painted on three large pieces of canvas that took a year to create. Sister Eliseea Papacioc positions a section of canvas before gluing it to the archway.
The icon’s symbols span the history of creation. “We have the present, the New Testament [Jesus in the center]; the past, the Old Testament, with the Star of David; and the future, the apocalypse, which are these angels and the promise of eternal life,” she explained. “All the universe is here.” Papacioc travels to the U.S. about once a year, to display her work and lecture at Episcopal and Roman Catholic churches and colleges. The Rev. Fredrick Robinson, rector at Church of the Redeemer, said they asked her to do the icon when she was in Sarasota last year. Robinson praised her work, which has been displayed at the Smithsonian, the National Gallery of Art and the Vatican, he said. That the finished artwork blends so well with the church is no accident. “She took pictures of the whole church and incorporated exact colors. The design is very much a unified whole with everything else in the room, which
Inspiration Preview video: Sister Eliseea Papacioc talks about the spiritual and creative process behind her creation.
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(Click on the frame to play video) See the entire video in high definition here.
is part of the reason it works so beautifully,” Fr. Robinson said. Papacioc is modest about her work, giving all credit to God. “I ask Him to help me because without Him I can’t draw a line,” she said. “I never sign
my work because I consider that God paints this through my hands. “I love God very much, and this is my expression to live with Him every day. I want [people] to glorify God when they see this image,” she said.
The four evangelists are portrayed as mythical beasts to symbolize what Papacioc calls the four temperments of the human being: choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic and sanguine. They surround the image of Jesus to represent his humanness. There is a pelican representing the atonement and the Redeemer.
The words “Holy, Holy, Holy� ring the circular image of Christ in four languages representing Judaism (Hebrew), the Orthodox Church (Greek), the Anglican Church (English) and the Roman Catholic Church (Latin).
The background of a large part of the icon is a scarlet and gold swirl resembling a grapevine that is coming from the wound Christ received on the cross. The grapevine symbolizes wine, or God’s sacrificial blood. “He is giving his blood for us,” she explained. The icon is a memorial for longtime parishioners George and Mary Ann Bloodworth.
l The Church of the Redeemer is at 222 S. Palm Ave., in downtown Sarasota. See the two videos in high definition at www.youtube.com/jimdela.
Symbolism Preview video: Sister Eliseea Papacioc explains some of the symbolism in her icon.
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(Click on the frame to play video) See the entire video in high definition here.