Abstract: The 9th edition of the annual National Conference of the Commission for Church Painting of the Romanian Patriarchate was held on 14th-15th November 2022, in the Aula Magna “Teoctist the Patriarch” of the Patriarchal Palace, under the theme: “Hesychastic Light in Church Art. The Glory of Christ on Mount Tabor and the halo of the saints”. The event brought together church painters, restorers, sculptors, stained glass artists, architects, art historians and other specialists in the field of sacred art. The conference was opened by Patriarch Daniel with a lecture entitled “The glory of the Kingdom of Heaven is the prophetic vision of the Orthodox iconography”.
A noua ediție a Conferinței Naționale anuale a Comisiei de Pictură Bisericească a Patriarhiei Române s-a desfășurat în perioada 14-15 noiembrie 2022, în Aula Magna „Teoctist Patriarhul” a Palatului Patriarhiei, sub tematica: „Lumina isihastă în arta bisericească. Slava lui Hristos pe Muntele Tabor și aureola sfinților”. Evenimentul a reunit pictori bisericești, restauratori, sculptori, vitraliști, arhitecți, istorici de artă și alți specialiști în domeniul artei sacre. Conferința a fost deschisă de Părintele Patriarh Daniel cu un cuvânt intitulat „Slava Împărăţiei Cerurilor este vederea profetică a iconografiei ortodoxe”.
Cuvinte-cheie: Comisia de Pictură Bisericească, arta bisericească, lumina isihastă, îndrumător
iconografic, restaurarea patrimoniului bisericesc
Summary: Patriarch Daniel spoke at the opening session of the National Conference “Dogmatic Unity and National Specificity in Church Painting”, 9th edition, 2022, which will be held at the Palace of Parliament in Bucharest on 14th-15th November 2022. The current edition continues the work on the iconographic guidelines for Church painters and altar servers and the norms for the restoration of Church heritage in worship, projects of the Commission for Church painting. “The Orthodox icon is a permanent call to prayer and ecclesial communion. It is placed in the church to bring us face to face with God and His saints in prayer”, the Patriarch of Romania stressed. The Patriarch of Romania also delivered speeches during the inaugural session, in one of which he underlined the importance of the golden background of the icon and its symbolism linked to the hesychastic light and the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven. His Beatitude’s opening address was followed by addresses by acad. Mircea Dumitru, vice-president of the Romanian Academy, Florinel Frunză, director with attributions of state secretary for religious affairs, and Valeria Oana Zaharia, interim manager of the National Heritage Institute. The opening session of the meeting ended with the launch of the volume Unified norms and guidelines in iconography and restoration of Church heritage, presented by Father Silviu Tudose, assistant professor at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology “Justinian Patriarch” of the University of Bucharest. The proceedings continued in the second part of the day with the section dedicated to Church painting, in which presentations were scheduled by Father Silviu Tudose, nun Atanasia Văetiși and Associate Professor Mihai Coman. The other two sections of the conference had themes related to restoration and Church architecture. The conference was held in three sections: Church Painting, with the theme “Tradition and renewal in Church painting”; Restoration, with the theme “Restoration of Religious Heritage: debates, norms, liturgical dimension”; Architecture, with the theme “The Orthodox Place of Worship – place of encounter between theology and art”. New in respect to previous editions of the conference is that each session included thematic debates with invited specialists.
Emilian Apostolescu – redactor în cadrul departamentului „Actualitatea religioasă” al
Ziarului Lumina; e-mail: aemilian95@yahoo.com