New Things and Old

New Things and Old Commentary by Jane Heath Cite Share Show Bible Passage Orthodox icon writing is known for emphasis on tradition. The spiritual practice focuses on learning by copying from a master, not as an exercise in purely technical prowess, but with the humility to learn by careful imitation and the depth to discover a fresh, personal participation in relationship to the saint portrayed, and to God who is known through the face of the saint. Given such emphasis on tradition, what is an icon writer to do if there is no prior model for the saint portrayed? This dilemma has shaped the relatively new tradition of icon writing at Mull Monastery. Fr. Serafim Aldea has taken numerous commissions for icons of little-known saints. He describes the artistic process of (we might say) bringing out ‘new things and old’ from the treasure of Orthodox iconographic tradition. It is a process of prayer which begins by discerning why the saint has called a particular person into a relationship, and praying for a vision that best encapsulates what that person is being drawn into (Mull Monastery 2017). Spiritually, the icon presents the face of a saint whom the devotee already knew but yearns to see more fully, and by whom they are already known, such that they have only to pay attention to get to know the saint better in return. Artistically, these icons open up a new path within established tradition. Featured here is St Thaney, Protector of the Abused, whose story models ‘new things from old’ in another way, for she was mother of Saint Mungo by rape (Mull Monastery 2018). So innocent was she, according to the legend, that she did not even recognize the abuse of her rapist. We see her here in the darkness of her lonely pregnancy, rejected by her family, sailing for refuge; but from her story we know that the beautiful life of a new saint will come from her belly, nurtured by her own saintly love. The meaning of Jesus’s words to his disciples about bringing out ‘both new things and old’ is underdetermined within Matthew’s Gospel (Allison and Davies 2004: 447–48), but art and prayer offer one way to develop reflection upon them. References Davies, W. D. and Allison, Dale C. 2004. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew. Volume II: Matthew 8–18 (London: T&T Clark) Mull Monastery. 2017. ‘St Morwenna and her Treasure’, available at https://icons.mullmonastery.com/st-morwenna-and-her-treasure/ [accessed 10 February 2025] ______. 2018. ‘St Thaney–Protector of the Abused’, available at https://icons.mullmonastery.com/st-thaney-protector-of-the-abused/ [accessed 10 February 2025]