Icons: a Way of Truly Seeing
Icons: a Way of Truly Seeing

Saturday 3 February 10.30 am – 4 pm

Open Study Day with Joanna Tulloch,

Andrew Williams, and Revd Dr Dobromir Dimitrov

Free tea and coffee are available at Study Days from 10 am and in the lunch break 1-2 pm. Bring packed lunch, or find food nearby in North Parade. If you are willing to help serve coffee you will have a free place – please leave a message on 01865 310341 or email Asst Director of Studies Claire MacLeod claire.macleod@theology.ox.ac.uk It will be appreciated if you can send a Newsletter Subscription, for costs and postage, suggested gift £5 pa. Send cash, or cheque to ‘St Theosevia Trust’, to: Newsletter, St Theosevia House, 2 Canterbury Rd, OX2 6LU. For bank details please ask Claire.

For the Oxford Centre for Spiritual Growth (OCSG), see www.ocsg.uk.net or contact Ben Simpson at info@ocsg.uk.net

Saturday 3 February 10.30 am – 4 pm

Icons: a Way of Truly Seeing

Icons of Mary

Joanna Tulloch became interested in icons from her first encounter with Rublev’s Trinity when still a schoolgirl, in 1970’s Moscow. She painted her first icon in Russia in 2005, of Mary as the Mother of God of the Deesis. After an explanation of the Deesis and iconostasis, there follow examples of the many poses of Mary and scenes from her life that feature in festival icons.

Joanna is a Methodist Local Preacher, poet, artist, and amateur iconographer. She was a librarian in the Taylorian and then an editor of the OED. Now retired, she has published several books of poetry and painted about 40 icons. She lives in Oxford with her husband George and has a daughter and two grandchildren

From Object to Icon: how do we perceive each other?

Andrew Williams writes: St Mary of Egypt’s Life falls into two parts. The turning point is the moment of encounter when she turns her “bodily and spiritual eyes” on the icon of the Mother of God. Andrew’s book From Object to Icon. The Struggle for Spiritual Vision in a Pornographic World (2023) builds on this particular experience of repentance to draw out the contrast between a pornographic and an iconographic way of looking at the world and each other: between objectification and veneration. What can the experience of venerating icons teach us about the way we view others and interact with them, and about the way we present ourselves as an image for the eyes of others? Is there a sense in which we can see spiritually, and how might this differ from seeing physically?

Andrew has a MDiv in Theology/Ministry from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Boston, USA, an MSc in Counselling Psychology from Keele, and an MA(Oxon) in Music. He is now a healthcare chaplain working across mental health, acute, and palliative contexts, and is the course lead for the Post-Graduate Certificate in Psychospiritual Care run by Oxford Health and Oxford Brookes. He

How to Write Eternity? Making an Orthodox Icon

We welcome Revd Dr Dobromir Dimitrov, Bulgarian Orthodox priest, theologian and iconographer, back to Oxford where he was an OTEP Scholar 2014-2016, to speak and show practically how an icon is made.
Date: 3 February 2024, 10:30 (Saturday, 3rd week, Hilary 2024)
Venue: 2 Canterbury Rd., OX26LU, Oxford
Speakers: Joanna Tulloch, Andrew Williams, Revd Dr Dobromir Dimitrov
Organiser: Rev Liz Carmichael (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: claire.macleod@theology.ox.ac.uk
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Public
Editor: Claire MacLeod