www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship Icons & Iconography Icon Corner

Peace be with you.

I'm interested in setting up an icon corner, how do I go about doing so?

monk

Begin with a corner...it helps. :rolleyes: . But it needn't be a corner...In fact, icons should be on the east wall of a room if possible, though due to construction issues, window placement, etc, this may NOT be possible. Consider your icons, number and size...If you have or are purchasing larger icons then perhaps arranging them on a wall with a vigil lamp and then a shelf (Light and Life, or Conciliar Press sell shelves made for this, as well as other sources) to hold such things as Holy Water, smaller icons, prayer ropes, or other blessed objects might work best. You indicate Orthodoxy...arrange icons similar to iconostasis in Church...relative to Christ and Panagia. As Greek Orthodoxy and Russian Orthodoxy have different traditions regarding placement of icons of patron saints vs. icon of St. John the Baptist, follow your tradition. If on the other hand you have many small icons, and do not wish to purchase larger ones, you may find a three tiered home iconostasis suits the purpose better. Matter of individual taste, really. As to vigil lamps, a speaker I once heard said that he found that the electric kind, while safer, undoubtably, meant every few months, he changed a light bulb. Once he switched to oil lamps, the daily maintenance required, replacing wick, filling reservoir, etc, meant more reflection, a daily offering, and forced him in front of iconostasis more often...and the light was different, more prayerful. You may consider these factors. And be certain you give yourself room to stand in front of it and pray, and make prostrations if such are included in your rule of prayer. Also, you will find there is really no such thing as an icon corner. They cannot be contained. They spill over wonderfully to nearly every room you own...I am not sure if that answers your question, but I hope it gets you started.

Dear Friends,

Yes, the whole house should be filled with icons!!

But one can begin with icons of Christ on the right hand side, and those of the Mother of God, especially her miraculous ones, on the left, with Saints all over the place . . .

The Entrance and Departure Bows are a good daily practice to undertake before the icons.

Other practices involve having a member of the family or community who celebrates a nameday to sit on a chair right in the corner of the icon-corner - the most sacred spot in the home or community.

One may decorate a particular icon whose feast it is with flowers or otherwise or else burn an extra candle before it.

One could have a traveller's icon on one's person too - don't leave home without it!

Alex

Daily Monk,

Please excuse my inquiries if they come off rude.

The picture in your profile of an elderly monk -- surely it is not you? It can be found both here: http://sacredsites.com/1st30/holy.html and here: http://www.sacredsites.com/images/dec2000/PatmosMonk.jpg and it says that this a picture of a monk from the island of Patmos.

Likewise, the picture in your postings of a young(er) monk -- is this you? It is a picture of a monk from the website for BBC news.

And, lastly (and humbly, please understand), I must admit to being a bit confused as to why an Orthodox monk doesn't know how to set up an icon corner.

I'm sure it it conjecture and misunderstanding on my part and, if so, I wish no offense.

Logos Teen

Dear brother monk, pay no attention to Teen...he's barely a catechumen, but considers himself the expert on all things ecclesiastical. Your questions are very welcome, please keep em coming! I for one can care less where your pictures come from...if my avatar were a saint, I doubt no one would think I were masquerading as a holy person. God bless you in your search for knowledge. Moe

Teen, at no point has monk declared himself a monk or indicated that either of those pictures are of himself. After all, no one thinks you are Christ just because that is your avatar. Neither has he indicated that he is an Orthodox Christian...if you would check his profile it merely states that he is a traditional Christian with an interest in Orthodoxy and that could be anything, even Methodist. Moe

I'm a cup of coffee!

No, really! You are what you eat (or drink), and I consume more coffee than anything else!

Good morning, everyone!

Tammy

It's elementary, my dear Watson, who I am!

I found the pictures I used to reflect my soul, not my real appearance; sorry if I mislead anyone that wasn�t my intention. My intention is to show how serious I am when it comes to knowing the Lord; I walk daily with Him in prayer� "Kyrie, Iisous Christos, Yios Theou, eleison imas."

Thank you, Monk. Your explanation clears things up. Once more, I apologize if I somehow offended you. Since your screenname was monk and you had pictures of monks on your avatar and profile, I guess I connected the [wrong] dots too quickly.

Naturally, of course, Moe pointed out my shortcomings for me.

I am happy that you are close with Christ, and your interest in setting up an icon corner is commendable.

Logos Teen

Dear Tammy:

So, you are a "Caffeinator"?

AmdG

Me too.

I agree with, Alex - my own way of doing things:

We have two icon corners in our house: one in the dining room that faces pseudo-east (a picture window prevents it from facing proper east and I wanted the corner in a place where I go to reflect) and one in the master bedroom which faces proper-east. Both have incense burners and oil lamps. I tend to put fresh or silk flowers on the one in the dining room, depending on the time of year.

The icons have kind of spilled out into every room and I think that's just fine. My husband, who is decidedly more of a statue guy than an icon guy, refers to our house as "St. Basil's," but he also tends to encourage the icon population. People often give us unique icons as gifts.

At our house, there is usually an icon of the Theotokos on the center of the mantel piece which is the first thing you'd really notice coming in the house. It's really gorgeous - my mother-in-law bought it and it's really a moving image. The icon artist had a real talent. On feast days, we may but a feast day appropriate icon there.

I do have the foldy-up kind of travelling icon. Probably indispensible for one who wants to be - or be like - a Monk! :-)

And I sneakily put a little icon corner in my office. One icon that I am rather fond of (it's a spiritual and occupationally thought provoking passage from Scripture for people in my line of work) - is the icon of the merciless official (Matthew 18:25-35).

No, just "caffeinated"!

I meant to post earlier regarding this -

We should applaud Daily Monk! Would that we ALL tried to be a daily monk in our spiritual life!

Daily Monk, I was making fun of Latin Trad, not you, with that crack about being a cup of coffee. My avatar at the time was a coffee cup, and if he was going to pick on you for using an avatar of a monk when you aren't one, he might as well pick on me for the coffee cup avatar.

Tammy

I understand.