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Summer holidays abroad often provide – amongst other things - an opportunity to encounter religious and cultural traditions different from one’s own. This is the Orthodox monastery at Voroneþ, one of a number of Romanian monasteries that I’ve been able to visit in recent days.

Vorovet monastery
[image by Melanie J Wright © copyright Melanie J Wright]

The richly painted frescoes have received international recognition in the form of UNESCO World Heritage Site status. To travelers from England, they are particularly striking: the typical parish church here is much plainer, reflecting a Protestant (especially Puritan) Christian criticism of images and ornaments as obstacles to true spirituality. Voroneþ is a visible reminder of the quite different attitudes towards visual culture that characterize Orthodox Christianity. For Orthodox Christians, there is a strong and positive relationship between the spiritual and material realms: the beauty of these frescoes enhances, rather than detracts from, their ability to instruct and elevate. Jesus, Mary, and the Saints are depicted gazing out from the picture, inviting us into a prayerful relationship.

An icon corner.
[image by Melanie J Wright © copyright Melanie J Wright]

Orthodox Christians don’t worship images themselves, but rather the subjects they depict. This is why frescoes and other religious images or icons are two-dimensional - the flatness serves as a reminder that it is a representation, minimizing the potential for idolatrous worship of the image itself. This is also one reason for the many other rules and conventions that govern the painting of frescoes and, to an even greater extent, the painting of icons, like the ones in this Icon Corner in a Romanian Orthodox home.

Detail of the icon.
[image by Melanie J Wright © copyright Melanie J Wright]

From a religious studies perspective, visual culture like this provides an important avenue into understanding a particular kind of religiosity. No study of Orthodox Christian devotion can ignore its iconographical tradition. Images also offer - despite the seemingly ‘timeless’ quality of some religious art - important keys to the political and other factors that influence religious expression. Tradition has it that this monastery was built in 1488 by the Moldavian Prince Stephen the Great, who had defeated the Ottoman Turks after taking advice from a Voronet monk, Daniel the Hermit. Amidst the frescoes, the earthly triumph of the Christian Prince is recapitulated on the visual-spiritual plane. In this image-detail from the west wall, Moses preaches to Turks and Jews, who are shown amongst the ranks of sinners awaiting their fate at the Last Judgement.

Taking it further

Orthodox Christianity, and the material and visual culture dimensions of a range of religious traditions, are explored in the Open University course Introducing Religions

Discover more on religion from Open2