The bright corner is where morning, noon and evening prayers are said. There are many variations on the bright corner. Ours is not to be taken as typical or normative, but it works for us. Our bright corner is in the East corner of our den. There is a Cross on the wall near the corner. To its left is an icon of the Theotokos. To its right is an icon of Christ. This is the same basic arrangement as the iconostasis at church. This immediately connects us to church. Next to the Theotokos is an icon of the Conception of the Theotokos showing Ss. Joachim and Ann embracing. My wife, Bethann, has St. Ann for her patron. To the right Christ is the Epitaphios, because St. Joseph of Arimathea is my patron and it was the Burial Service and Lamentation Matins that really converted everyone in our family. Around this central cluster are arranged, in no particular order, icons of the patron Saints of our children, grandchildren, godparents, parents, godchildren, a couple of good friends, nieces, great nieces & great nephews. Some icons do double or triple duty as multiple people share the same patron. We chose to do it this way so our bright corner forms a very visual, permanent prayer list. As we see each person’s patron Saint we are reminded to pray for him or her and ask for their Saint’s intercession as well.

A vigil lamp is hanging from the ceiling, in front of the Cross and the icons of Christ and the Theotokos. This is to honor them. It also calls us to prayer. Our lamp was made by Nick Papas. The icon of St. Nicholas is on our wall as it his his patron and one of Fr. Bonifaces’s patrons, as well.

What I just made, was the cabinet below the icons and lamp. It is made of no VOC melamine from recycled materials, no VOC wheatstraw board, locally harvested and milled poplar bead board and stone tile. This was my first attempt at stone tile installation. Some of the tiles are partly upended. This is to form a plate rail to hold festal icons and prayer cards. The back boards are engraved with daylilies. I took a photograph of one of our daylily blooms and my neighbor and I used his Shopbot to carve it into these boards. There are open spaces around the daylily medallions so we can use 12 Gospels ribbons to tie palms and willows to the icon corner during Great Week.

I chose the daylily motif, because it is especially meaningful to us. This is an excerpt from an entry that I wrote on shoutforjoy.net:

Daylilies are amazing. They put forth a beautiful bloom and it is gone in a day, only to be replaced the next day with another glorious bloom. Jesus told us to consider the lilies of the field in order to encourage us to have faith in God’s provision for us. This in turn is to encourage us to share what God blessed us with today with others, knowing that God will have new blessings for us tomorrow.

Daylily Detail

To be reminded of this as we say our daily prayers is encouraging.

On top of the icon corner are a candlestick, an incense burner, a prayer book, a box containing charcoal and matches. In the top compartment of the cabinet is a box of incense, a lighter, a New Testament, a Festal Menaion (hymns and prayers for the 12 major feasts), a service book and a supply of wicks for the oil lamp. We burn incense in our home as this also calls us to prayer. Incense is present in every prophetic vision of Heaven and was used in the Tabernacle and the Temple and has always been used in the Church. It is always associated with prayer. Using all of our senses in worship and prayer helps us to focus on eternal priorities.

The lower shelves of the cabinet holds other spiritual books and festal icons.

Of course, it does not matter how beautiful or well appointed a bright corner is, if no one stands before it to pray. Lord, teach us to pray!

copyrighted icon of St. Valentine available from www.comeandseeicons.com

Last Saturday morning, I received a phone call from Jabra Tannous in Cypress, Texas. He had gone on a double date to Valentine’s Day: the Movie on its opening night. There is a scene in the movie where a school teacher is telling the story of St. Valentine. Taped to the chalkboard behind her and with a second copy in her hand are prints of the icon to the left. Jabra said, “Oh no! Somebody owes Cranford money!”

Jabra recognized the icon from my business website for “Come and See” Icons, Books & Art. He assumed that permission was not obtained for this use, so he called me. He was correct, except that they owed Nick Papas money. Artwork belongs to the artist for his lifetime plus 70 years to his heirs and assigns. If one buys an original piece of art; one does not own any right to copy it or control over the copyright, unless that right is specifically purchased from the artist.

I immediately called Nick Papas to let him know about the use of his icon in the movie and he confirmed that he had not given permission. I tried to call Constantine Nasr, whom I got to know when we were in the House of Studies at the Antiochian Village ten years ago. He produces and directs documentary films, so I figured he would know about copyrights in Hollywood. His phone was out of order, so I got a busy signal. I continued to research the movie and found that the icon was on the website, as well. It’s in the classroom shot in the gallery. I called Constantine again on Monday morning. This time, he answered his phone. It had been repaired just five minutes before. As I described the situation to him, he kept saying, “Oh no!” and “This is not good!” and the like. He told me some stories of how other, similar copyright issues were resolved, and offered to call one of his colleagues who worked in Warner Bros. copyright clearance department.

On Tuesday, I received a call from Warner Bros. The negotiation began. I researched Warner Bros.’ and New Line’s case histories for resolving copyright violations; both for when they were the plaintiff and the defendant. Nick and Patty saw the movie on Thursday night. He called me from the lobby of the theater to tell me that his icon was right at eye level on the movie poster (by the second N). By the end of Friday afternoon, we had a signed copyright agreement with Warner Bros. / New Line whereby they agreed to pay Nick $5,000 for the use of his St. Valentine icon in connection with this movie.

It was a fun negotiation. I probably did leave some money on the table, but the point wasn’t to be nasty or to make a killing. It was basically found money for Nick, but we did want it to cost the studio enough to send a message to their set decorating people to be more careful. Five or ten minutes on Google would have let them know that this was not in public domain. Warner Bros. was very willing to do what they needed to do to correct this oversight quickly. Nick said I missed my calling; that I should be a lawyer. I replied, ” No thanks. I like sleeping at night.”

In the Orthodox Church, the main commemoration for St. Valentine is July 6, as that is the date of his martyrdom. However, there is ancient precedent for a February 14 commemoration. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius set February 14th to honor St. Valentine to counter the pagan “love” festival that Valentine had originally interfered with. St. Valentine was a priest near Rome. Feb. 15 was the pagan feast of Lupercalla. On the eve of the feast, the young men of the village were allowed to take any of the young maids for the night. To protect the young people from this promiscuity, Fr. Valentine held an all night vigil in the church for all the young people that night. This so enraged the local, pagan authorities that they sought for a way to eliminate this troublesome priest. Emperor Claudius Flavius banned marriages of any young men, because he felt that married men did not make good soldiers. Fr. Valentine continued to conduct marriages secretly. This was found out and brought to the attention of the emperor. Claudius valued Fr. Valentine as an intelligent man and a respected leader in the community. He had General Asterius try to persuade him to become a pagan. What happened instead was that Fr. Valentine healed Asterius’ daughter of blindness, and he and his whole family converted to Christianity, being baptized by St. Valentine. They were all martyred together on July 6, 269.

March 17th
Troparion (Tone 3)
O holy hierarch, Patrick, wonderworker, equal to the Apostles and illuminator of the Irish people, pray to the merciful God that He will pardon our transgressions.

Patrick was British by birth, born about 373, the son of a deacon and the grandson of a priest. His first trip to Ireland was as a slave, having been kidnapped by Irish pirates. He managed to run away and eventually made his way back to England. He was then sent as bishop to Ireland around 435, setting up his see in Armagh. He had sincere simplicity and deep pastoral care and worked tirelessly to abolish paganism. He is often depicted with a shamrock which he used to explain the Trinity. His scroll reads: “I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity.” This is taken from his “Breastplate”, a prayer that he wrote and used for protection on his jouneys.

This is by the hand of Nicholas Papas. It is from St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral, Oakland, PA.

www.comeandseeicons.com

August 6th
Troparion (Tone 7)

Like at His Baptism, all three Persons of the Trinity were revealed. The voice of the Father spoke to the disciples saying “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.” The Holy Spirit appeared as the dazzling Uncreated Light. Christ is shown on top of the mountain surrounded by a huge sun-like design representing the Uncreated and Great Light. Moses, to Christ’s left, is holding the Law showing that Jesus is the Christ, the fulfillment of the Law. Elijah, to Christ’s right, is supplicating God. Below the disciples, Peter, James and John fall to the ground in amazement. They too will be transfigured by God and granted to gaze upon the Light of all. This should be our hope as well.  

God used earthly things to reveal the Trinity to us, thus reminding us that the earth is still holy.  Despite man’s corruption, the earth remains as good as the day He created it.  We must remember that and care for the earth, preserving the earth and the air that contains the light. 

This Icon is by the hand of Nicholas Papas. It is from St. Philip’s Antiochian Orthodox Church in Souderton, PA.

Mounted prints are available from www.comeandseeicons.com.

St. Joseph of Arimathea

July 31st 
Troparion
The Noble Joseph having taken your Most Pure Body down from the Cross, wrapped it in a clean shroud and anointed it with fragrant spices and laid it in a new tomb. 
But on the third day You arose, O Lord, granting the world great mercy.

Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin (the ruling council of the Jews). He was a secret believer after visiting Jesus by night with Nicodemus. (John 3) The two of them removed Christ’s body from the Cross and laid it in Joseph’s new tomb. (Matt. 27:57; John 19:38) For this public act of faith, the Jews fettered him and put him in prison. The resurrected Lord appeared to him there to confirm and encourage his faith. The Jews released Joseph, but banished him from Judea, driving him out. St. Joseph travelled to the ends of the earth to preach the Gospel. He spent some time with Apostle Philip in Europe, then he went to England. There, he was exiled to an island, where he fell asleep in the Lord after a long and fruitful ministry. He is depicted here with the burial cloth or epitaphios draped over his shoulder and arm.

St. Joseph is my patron saint. It was at Lamentations Matins of Great Friday that each myself, my wife and our four daughters each were drawn to the Holy Orthodox Church. It was over the course of several years, but particularly that service. I dare you to come and see if you don’t become Orthodox.

This icon is by the hand of Ilya Baladvadzhe. It belongs to C. Joseph Coulter, the owner of “Come and See” Icons, Books & Art and this blog. The inscription is in Georgian. 

Copyrighted icon courtesy of “Come and See” Icons, Books & Art, www.comeandseeicons.com.