This is proving to be a relaxed and fruitful Saturday. It is overcast and a bit cold today and is raining so that means mostly staying inside, doing some work.
The usual prayers for the reposed were read when I got up and began to function. Not only were the prayers read for those who requested the “40 day prayers” but those who are on the lists which have been given to me over the passed year.
Following the prayers, it was then time for a snack and large glass of Inka so I did make the trip to the kitchen where Andy was having tea. We talked for a short while and then I returned to do a little more work, varnishing an icon.
By late afternoon it was time to prepare for the reading of Vespers in the large church. Kirill joined me for the prayers. After the completion of Vespers, we had tea in the kitchen and a chat.
The ending of the day was a relaxing sit down, with a book on the subject of paints and their use, which I am reading to see if this is of any help in the area of icon creation. As well, I am reading some serious books on iconography and the traditional techniques because iconography is a specialised form of painting which is as much “theology in paint” as it is art. Anyone who takes iconography seriously will also try to learn as much about the meaning, the proper theology of icons and the techniques of creation, as they can. It is sad that most Orthodox people have no understanding of icons and often accept religious art which has no relationship with proper iconography, and I am including a lot of priests in this group of Orthodox people.
Well, let me get off my soap box and sign off on the diary for today.