Theotokos and Child Between Saints Theodore and George Ap Art History

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One of the fabled things about the Religious Worlds of New York NEH Summer Establish is that each participant likewise had the opportunity to create a lesson plan fit for their teaching curriculum. This meant that not only did I get 3 weeks of incredible bookish information on the study of religious diversity just they are also giving me fourth dimension to develop lessons for my own classroom; information technology's a win-win!
At the time, I was teaching AP Art History so I fabricated my Curriculum Development project on the Virgin (Theotokos) and Kid between Saints Theodore and George because I felt that this image could be actually enhanced with a site-visit to a local Orthodox Church. Now that I teach AP World History, this image and site visit are actually notwithstanding pretty useful in didactics the Great Schism of 1054 betwixt the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

R ead more: Bringing History to Life with Site-Visits

Feel gratuitous to access a bunch of nifty lessons plans correct off of the Religious Worlds of New York website but I am making my projection available right here on the blog.

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Veneration of the Virgin: The Fine art of Icons in Greek Orthodox Theology

Goals
Studens will exist able to…

1. Draw the stylistic abstention of naturalism in religious discipline matter in Byzantine Orthodox icons.
2. Clarify how Orthodox icons could facilitate a connection with the divine through their iconography and role for believers.

Ready
This lesson serves every bit an introduction to Christian religious imagery in various cultures and time periods (Byzantine, Western Medieval, Renaissance, New Spain, etc.). Therefore, students do not already accept a groundwork in iconography, narrative, formal qualities, or function of Christian artwork. This lesson tin can also become a platform to compare and dissimilarity other images of the Virgin Mary later in the form.
As in any AP course, students are expected to have already completed introductory reading before class begins. The piece of work expected of students earlier reporting to class for this lesson includes:

• Gardner's Art Through the Ages: A Global View, 15^th edition, pages pgs. 270-272 (Icons, Art and Society: Icons and Iconoclasm, & Iconoclasm)
• Khan Academy: Virgin (Theotokos) and Child betwixt Saints Theodore and George

Execution
Part I
The get-go part of this lesson is an in-class discussion on Byzantine icons, specifically using the Virgin (Theotokos) and Child between Saints Theodore and George. The discussion is easily structured around the AP Art History structure of form, function, content, and context. See the points below for the chief items to consider for an in grade discussion.

Form

• The image of the Virgin seen here in Virgin (Theotokos) and Child between Saints Theodore and George is based on the Virgin Hodegetria ("the guide") in which the Virgin holds the Christ Kid in her left arm and points to him with her right. The original image was attributed to the evangelist St. Luke.
• Theotokos means "God bearer" and so it serves as a full general championship for the Virgin Mary.
• Most (if not all) icons are based on this formulaic style in which naturalization of the figures is avoided. However, this painting shows some elements of the naturalism used in Ancient Rome, such as the sense of depth (albeit shallow) and facial modeling with shadowing.
• This icon is an encaustic painting, which is a technique that uses wax equally a medium to comport the colour.

Function

• Icons are seen every bit the "touchstone of [the] Orthodox experience" (The Orthodox Church building, pg. 354) in which believers volition bear upon and pray before the image. The human activity of touching can exist typically seen with wear along the edges of icons or the hands of the saints.
• The function of an icon is to connect the believer with God, through the saints or the Virgin; this is an human action of veneration, not worship of the saints. Two Greek words to include here may exist proskynesis ("bowing in reverence") and douleia ("reverence"), while English typically does not distinguish betwixt reverence, worship, and veneration.
• When the believer approaches the icon it is a way of evoking "the presence of the Lord (or Virgin or saint it depicts)" (The Orthodox Church, pg. 354-356). The actions of the laic, charge the paradigm with this spiritual quality.

Content

• The principal figure depicted hither is the Virgin Mary who is seen as the mediator between flesh and God. Every bit the immaculate ("born without sin") Female parent of God, she is widely venerated. Her role as mediator is reinforced by showing her holding her son, Jesus.
• Side by side to the Virgin Mary are the saints Theodore and George, 2 warrior saints. Above these two saints are angels looking up at the easily of God, coming in through the superlative of the painting.

Context

• This particular icon, Virgin (Theotokos) and Child betwixt Saints Theodore and George, like many made in the 6^th or vii^th century, was especially at hazard of the waves of iconoclasm ("breaking of images," destruction of religious imagery) during the years 726–787 CE and 815–843 CE. Very few early on Byzantine icons survived these Iconoclastic periods; notable exceptions were the icons preserved at the Monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai, Arab republic of egypt ("Icons and Iconoclasm").

Part Two
If field trips are allowed in your schoolhouse, the ideal would be to have students attend a field trip to a local Orthodox Church building (Greek, Russian, Armenian, etc.) after the in-class give-and-take of the icon art. For schools that restrict field trips, an afterschool or weekend trip is recommended to complete this portion. In my customs, the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Orlando is the site visit location.
During the site visit students will focus on the creation, display, and office of religious icons in their religious settings. An interview with an icon artist volition allow students to understand not only the brandish and utilise of art but the unique rules for creating icons (remembering their strict stylization instead of naturalism).  The following questions may exist used to structure pupil observations, questions and interactions with practitioners:

• What is the training like for an Orthodox icon artist?
• Describe the procedure of creating an icon.
• Why do icons follow specific rules for depicting the man course?
• What drew you to create icons over, or in improver to, other forms of creative expression?
• How practice you interact with an icon as a laic?
• How are icons kept/preserved when not in use past the congregation?
• Are sure icons used at specific times of the year/week?
• Why are certain saints chosen for icons?
• What are some of the symbols behind saint iconography?

In addition to the icons themselves, students should as well note how they are displayed in the larger infinite of the church building. Ideally students will exist able to nourish a service in which icons are actively venerated by practitioners, but if that is non possible, an interview with an icon creative person or priest is acceptable.

Debrief
When both the lesson and site-visit are complete, information technology is expected to do a curt in-grade debrief of the students' reactions to the icons in the Orthodox tradition. This is especially of import for students who come up from a religious tradition that has less ostentation religious decor or strictly forbids religious figural art (some Protestant traditions or Islam, for example). The key point to brand when debriefing with students is to note that the use of icons is an human activity of veneration, non worship, of the physical object. Idolatry is detested in Orthodox theology as it is in Protestant Christianity, but the uninformed viewer may come across icon veneration as idolatry.
Cess
The essay below is the ideal way to appraise student's understanding of the form, office, and religious context of this Byzantine icon.  (**Disclaimer, this essay is my own creation and is no style intended to resemble an essay in the past or future created by College Board for the AP Fine art History examination.)

The work shown is the Virgin (Theotokos) and Child betwixt Saints Theodore and George.

Identify the culture in which the work was made.

Explain the purpose of an icon's restricted form.

Analyze the office of icons and the theological understanding of icons in their original religious tradition.

Resources

• Allen, William. "Virgin (Theotokos) and Child between Saints Theodore and George."Khan Academy. Accessed July  2017.             https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/medieval-       earth/byzantine1/constantinople-eastward/a/virgin-theotokos-and-kid-between-saints- theodore-and-george.
• Brooks, Sarah. "Byzantium (ca. 330–1453)." The Metropolitan Museum of Fine art. Final         revised October 2009. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/byza/hd_byza.htm.
• Brooks, Sarah. "Icons and Iconoclasm in Byzantium." The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Concluding revised August 2009. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/icon/hd_icon.htm.
• Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters. "The Cult of the Virgin Mary in the            Middle Ages." The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Published October 2001.        http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/virg/hd_virg.htm.
• Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner'due south Art Through the Ages: A Global View. Boston: Cengage          Learner, 2016.
• McGuckin, John Anthony. The Orthodox Church building: An Introduction to its History, Doctrine, and Spiritual Culture. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2008, pgs. 354-363.

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