Rublev Trinity Icon line drawing, and artist colouring

 Rublev Trinity Icon line drawing

William J - Email

Dear Father Donald,

Lovely to be drawn into the mind of the artist and into the mystery hidden in the painting!

I have found two 'versions' of the image (mesmerizing), and a 'pattern' to print (for colouration) in order to experience its creation - that I might perhaps discover in the recreation OF the image the mystery IN the image for myself.http://www.betsyporter.com/patterns.html

Painting it oneself causes one to follow every line, establish every colour, and realize every position.

That will be a joy! as indeed it is to share in your (nocturnal) meditations!

With ... ,

William

Dear William,

Thank you for the three Icon versions.

  And in particular, the line drawing has the challenging possibility.

Am I to think that you are yourself is ‘painting’ or creating as, “Painting it oneself causes one to follow every line, establish every colour, and realize every position”.

We will be excited by the creation.

In a different genre, Henri Nouwen shows his breaching of the Benedictine and the Byzantine spiritualities – a forceful insight. St. Benedict, calls us first of all to listen, the Byzantine fathers focus on gazing. See below.

Other amazing avenues. The tapestries in our Sacristy are in new situations.; the Leonardo Last Supper above Fr. Raymond’s collection of the our Liturgy Booklets,

  

and in the Sacristy id the tapestry of ‘the lord calming the waves  in Galilee.

Not surprising, I wondered about the tapestry of Rublev Trinity Icon, and the discovery is beautiful. See Link and pictures below. http://www.worldwidetapestries.com/tapestry/holy-trinity-icon.html

Granted to look further, and we find the McCrimmon Church posters of Rublev

mccrimmons.com  

Enough, William, for the moment.

Question: The previous BlogSpot is not broadcast yet.

I hear the drafts all together may seem entirely incoherent.

Looking forward to your praying with Icons.

Donald

Henri Nouwen – Behold the Beauty of the Lord,Praying With Icons, extract ...

“But I can still look at these images so intimately connected with the experience of love.

Acting, speaking and even reflective thinking may at times be too demanding, but we are forever seeing. When we dream, we see. When we stare in front of us, we see. When we close our eyes to rest, we see. We see trees, houses, roads and cars, seas and mountains, animals and people, places and faces, shapes and colours. We see clearly or vaguely, but always we find something to see.

But what do we really choose to see? It makes a great difference whether we see a flower or a snake, a gentle smile or menacing teeth, a dancing couple or a hostile crowd. We do have a choice. Just as we are responsible for what we eat, so we are responsible for what we see. It is easy to become a victim of the vast array of visual stimuli surrounding us. The "powers and principalities" control many of our daily images. Posters, billboards, television, videocassettes, movies and store windows continuously assault our eyes and inscribe their images upon our memories.

Still we do not have to be passive victims of a world that wants to entertain and distract us. We can make some decisions and choices. A spiritual life in the midst of our energy-draining society requires us to take conscious steps to safeguard that inner space where we can keep our eyes fixed on the beauty of the Lord.

Page 12

I offer these meditations on four Russian icons as such a step. By giving the icons long and prayerful attention-talking about them, reading about them, but mostly just gazing at them in silence-I have gradually come to know them by heart. I see them now whether they are physically present or not. I have memorized them as I have memorized the Our Father and the Hail Mary, and I pray with them wherever I go.

For you who will read these meditations it is important to gaze at the icons with complete attention and to pray with them. Gazing is probably the best word to touch the core of Eastern spirituality. Whereas St. Benedict, who has set the tone for the spirituality of the West, calls us first of all to listen, the Byzantine fathers focus on gazing. This is especially evident in the liturgical life of the Eastern Church. The words in this book come from my own gazing at these icons. They may or may not touch you. But if they help you only a little to start seeing these icons for yourself, my words will have fulfilled their purpose and may be forgotten. Then these icons will have become yours and they can guide you by day and by night, in good times and in bad, when you feel sad and when you feel joyful. They will begin to speak of the unique way in which God has chosen to love you.

Why icons? Would it not have been better to use more accessible paintings such as those by Michelangelo, Rembrandt or Marc Chagall? The great

Page 13

....”.

Dear William, Something of a P.S. It was at the point of downloading your glorious 'water colour' creation, hit the Exit button. And it was late to open again. Attached now and cropped  or 'hue&saturation' view. Your water colour may actually prove to be better than the possible oil painting. Water colour by William Edited - hue & saturation  Added is ATTACHMENT of the Icon geometric interpretation.  http://thebyzantineanglocatholic.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/rublevs-sacred-geometry.html   Another clue - geometric. Yours ... Donald http://www.worldwidetapestries.com/tapestry/holy-trinity-icon.html Holy Trinity (Icon) Worldwide Tapestries

Tapestry of Rublev Trinity icon

This religious art tapestry "Holy Trinity (Icon)" shows the work of Andrei Rublev from 1410. This work of Rublev shows The Old Testament Trinity. The original is in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, Russia. He was considered one of the most influential artists of the medieval Russian period of Orthodox frescoes and icons. The old testament trinity refers to the appearance of three angels to Abraham at Mamre while he was in his tent in the heat of the day. He offered them food and to wash their feet. One of the three angels told Abraham that his wife Sarah would have a son. Sarah overheard what was said and was doubtful due to her age. The angel then declared that nothing is too hard for God. This religious art tapestry "Holy Trinity (Icon)" is lined and has a tunnel for easy hanging.

&&&&&&&&&&

McCrimmonds Church Posters

The Holy Trinity - Rublev icon. A superb reproduction of Rublev's image of the Holy Trinity, now available as a wall hanging banner or foamex board. Printed using a dye-sublimation process on a 100% polyester material with a natural feel that hangs well. Size: 52" x 37". Larger sizes are available.Order Ref: MB-BANHT455 £234.00. Foamex Boards £39.95 medium, £49.95 large.

    mccrimmons.com

Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe (Ep. ad Gallam viduam 3-5: CCL 91,198-199), ... do not have an undifferentiated sadness over the death of your husband

Attending the congregation of the Mass, a widow is grieving the recent death of her husband.      

The thoughts of St. Fulgentius in the Night Office, expressed well the prayer, 'not think of him (husband) as lost but as sent on ahead of you. You should not think of his youth as prematurely cut off but rather see him confirmed in an endless eternity. To the faithful souls it is said:  "Your youth shall be renewed like the eagle's."

 Augustin Press Edition 1999

TWO YEAR LECTIONARY

PATRISTIC VIGILS READINGS

ORDINARY TIME

WEEKS 1 to 17 : YEAR II

TUESDAY, SIXTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME, YEAR II

A READING FROM THE FIRST LETTER OF ST PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS

(A holy life and the hope of resurrection: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18)

  

Alternative Reading

From a letter by Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe (Ep. ad Gallam viduam 3-5:

CCL 91,198-199)

Sent on ahead of you

So, if we hold on to the true faith, if we harbor no doubts about the words of God, if we, with most certain hope, progress toward the future life, if we love God and neighbor worthily, if we do not await a vainglory from human beings but the true glory of the Christian name from God, we must not like the unbelievers have any sadness concerning the faithful departed and, to speak more precisely, our people who have fallen asleep. There must remain in our heart a distinction between a salutary and a harmful sadness

by which it comes about that a spirit, given over to eternal things, does not collapse because of the loss of temporal solace and assumes a salutary sadness concerning these things in which it considers that it did either something less or differently than it should have.

So Paul teaches that each type of sadness is different no less in deed than in word. Finally, he shows that in one there is progress toward salvation but in the other an ending in death, saying, "For godly sorrow produces a salutary repentance without regret but worldly sorrow produces death."

Therefore, do not have an undifferentiated sadness over the death of your husband beyond the way of the Christian faith. You should not think of him as lost but as sent on ahead of you. You should not think of his youth as prematurely cut off but rather see him confirmed in an endless eternity. To the faithful souls it is said:

"Your youth shall be renewed like the eagle's."  (Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe). 

Far be it from us, agreeing with the errors of the unbelievers, to think or to say that" A black day has carried off and plunged in bitter death" that young Christian man. For black day carries off those who, according to the saying of the Apostle John, "are in darkness and walk in darkness and do not know where they are going because the darkness has blinded their eyes." Black day has carried off those whom the true light itself vehemently rebukes:

"This is the verdict," he says, "that the light came into the world but people preferred darkness to light because their works were evil." Such are they who live in such a way that when they hear the voice of the Son of God, they are called forth, not to life, but to judgment, as the Lord says, "The hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation." And since neither a short nor a long life can avail these people, consequently in the book of Wisdom it is said of such people:

"Even if they live long, they will be held of no account and, finally, their old age will be without honor. If they die young, they will have no hope and no consolation on the day of judgment."

Responsory      Ps 41:1; Gal 6:2

Blessed are those who are concerned for the poor and the weak;

+ the Lord will save them in time of trouble 

Rublev's Icon of the Trinity

On Friday, 14 February 2014, 22:17, Donald ... wrote:

 Dear William, 

Late evening, and simply sent some drafting from the Rublev Trinity pasture.

God bless.

Donald  

 

Google surfing - About 218,000 results  (0.27 seconds)

Knowing the mass of the Rublev ‘Trinity’ resources or Websites, we can only dip into the digital ocean.

1. English Anglican Ann Persson is the author of The Circle of Love:  Praying with Rublev's Icon of the Trinity 
Ann Persson’s lecture at St. Paul’s retells of her experience of viewing the Rublev Icon in Russia. She learned to know a Icon maker, a Sister in Oxford. And they both made the ‘pilgrimage’ to Rublev in Moscow.  Some reflections echo Henri Nouwen

 

2. Enjoy the Hospitality of the Trinity (with Rublev’s Icon)    

 Bill Gaultiere    www.soulshepherds.org

Henri Nouwen’s Meditation on Rublev’s Icon

What a joy it is for us to be drawn into this circle of divine love portrayed in Rublev’s icon!  In the words of Henri Nouwen:

The more we look at this holy image with the eyes of faith, the more we come to realize that it is painted not as a lovely decoration for a convent church, nor as a helpful explanation of a difficult doctrine, but as a holy place to enter and stay within.

As we place ourselves in front of the icon in prayer, we come to experience a gentle invitation to participate in the intimate conversation that is taking place among the three divine angels and to join them around the table.  The movement from the Father toward the Son and the movement of both Son and Spirit toward the Father become a movement in which the one who prays is lifted up and held secure…

 

... We come to see with our inner eyes that all engagements in this world can bear fruit only when they take place within this divine circle… the house of perfect love (Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons, p. 20-22).

Praying to the Lord before Rublev’s icon painting can help us to join Abraham in hosting the Lord in our hearts.  As we do we discover that the Father, Son, and Spirit were already inviting us to join in their circle of love! “We love because He first loved us”  (1 John 4:19).

When we participate in “The Hospitality of Abraham” to the Lord we discover that really we are responding to “The Hospitality of the Trinity.”

 3. Finding this reference to Henri Nouwen, after lunch I checked the library shelf. There is the well copy of ‘Behold The Beauty of the Lord – Praying with Icons’, right into our lectio alley.  

 

4. 4. Natan Duffy Dogmatic Enigmatics   

 http://nateduffy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-rublev-trinity-icon.html

On the Bunge book:

Extract – last paragraph

In The Art of the Icon: A Theology of Beauty, Paul Evdokimov reads the Rublev Trinity in an extremely bizarre manner, completely out of sync with everything I had come to understand about it and seemingly contradicting some of these these obvious facts about the icon, especially in the context of the iconographical tradition. Specifically, Evdokimov identifies the central angel as the Father, rendering his reading quite incoherent, from my perspective. Which is not to disparage that text as a whole, as it is quite profound, but Bunge's The Rublev Trinity provides a richer and more accurate reading of this particular icon, substantiated by tracing the tradition that lead up to its production.

Posted by Nathan Duffy 

4.Next we investigate into the above interpretation. and the Dogmatic Enigmatics

              Sancta Maria Abbey: http://www.nunraw.com.uk (Website)    

Blogspot :http://www.nunraw.blogspot.co.uk |

domdonald.org.uk 

On Thursday, 13 February 2014, 8:18, William  ... wrote:

Dear Father Donald,

I love that icon, and Wiki offers an interesting comment on its composition:

"The only work authenticated as entirely his [Rublev] is the icon of the Trinity, ca. 1410, currently in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. It is based on an earlier icon known as the "Hospitality of Abraham" (illustrating Genesis 18). Rublev removed the figures of Abraham and Sarah from the scene, and through a subtle use of composition and symbolism changed the subject to focus on the Mystery of the Trinity. In Rublev's art two traditions are combined: the highest asceticism and the classic harmony of Byzantine mannerism. The characters of his paintings are always peaceful and calm. After some time his art came to be perceived as the ideal of Church painting and of Orthodox iconography."

I wonder what else you will discover!

In the love of Our Lord,

William

From: Fr Donald ...
To: William.....
Sent: Thursday, 13 February 2014, 5:42
Subject: [Dom Donald's Blog] Vigils Doxology

Night Office 

Rublev icon, TRINITY

Doxology of Hymn of Thursday B Glory be to God, 
Father, Son and Dove, 
Three and One in Love, 
now and evermore. 

I had forgotten where the  Icon in the monastery. 

Yesterday there it was on one of the pillars in the cloister. opposite the Pieta alcove.   Above is the photo taken there. And there must be some commentary crying out for, e.g., the nearest YouTube:  

  http://blueeyedennis-siempre.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/solemnity-of-holy-trinity-2012.html   -- Posted By Fr Donald to Dom Donald's Blog on 2/13/2014 05:42:00 am

Fr. Charles Dumont ocso - the Reading before Compline in community Chapter

At the Reading before Compline in community Chapter continues the Biography of  Fr. Charles Dumont ocso.
I am enjoying the 'life' of Fr. Charles immensely.
A couple of  quotations in the most recent pages, above.

During the winter of 1982-1983 Fr. Charles continued to go to Soleilmont regularly for confessions and a talk or two to the community, and from time to time went for ministry to La Paix in Chimay or to the Bernardine nuns in Charleville, but otherwise his activity was limited by a recurrence of his illness. On April 13 he underwent surgery at Saint Luke Hospital. Before long, however, it became evident that this last operation had not had the desired result. The two specialists who had been treating him decided that a radical operation was necessary. So it was that in the middle of August he was operated on for a definitive ablation of the ileum.

When this eight-hour operation was all over and he was coming to the first thing he heard was a nurse's voice urging him to "Breathe! Breathe!" After having successfully gone through this extreme ordeal, the doctors did not want to lose Fr. Charles simply because it didn't occur to him to breathe! But let the pa­tient tell his story:

After the operation, while I was still under the effects of the anaesthesia I felt so happy that I refused to make the effort that the nurse was asking of me, that is, to breathe! Finally she said: "If you don't breathe, you are going to die" ... I was praying to the Blessed Virgin, with the Hail

Mary in Greek!: χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη Μαρία,. I hadn't recited it in the original for more than twenty years. But there was the word "fruit" -καρπὸς- that I couldn't think of. And when I decided to breathe and to live, to the surprise of the nurse and doctor I cried out triumphantly: καρπὸς;!, which I had to explain. I believe that the Blessed Virgin was somehow present (Sept. '83).       [pp. 96-97]  (Luk 1:42)

from page 101

For him, Saint Bernard’s Sermons on the Song of Songs were the key to the whole Cistercian genius, and he would have liked to have seen the General Chapter take more interest in the Cistercian Fathers' teaching.

Even if Fr. Charles was at last freed of his most important health problem, he continued to be plagued by other ills. The next year he underwent two operations: one in July for kidney stones and the other, in October, for prostate problems. Between the two operations he went to Caldey to rest. Like most monas­teries, Caldey had changed considerably during the post-Vatican II period. Perched high on a cliff one day, he thought back over the years when he taught the juniors on Caldey Island, and wrote:

"Here I find nothing of the life I knew in the '50s. Only the sea and the rocks are the same. Since then, generations of sea gulls have come and gone. And what remains of the young monk of those days? Maybe a little of this desire for the absolute and eternity which I sometimes go to find at the edge of the waves" (5.26.86).

When Father Charles got back to Scourmont he learned that the book Prieres aux quaire temps had just come off the press."

Note 29. More than ten years later, Fr. Charles saw a letter in The Tablet by a British lady who had had an analogous experience during which she felt the Blessed Virgin's presence. Fr. Charles wrote to her and they compared notes, so to speak.

  

http://nunraw.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/charles-dumont-scourmont-abbey.html

Scourmont Abbey:
see the Abbot's Chapter and Homily word, http://www.scourmont.be/Armand/arm-fra.htm

Writings of Fr. Charles. 
Here are three of his more recent publications:

Charles Dumont Monk-Poet
A Spiritual Biography

Elizabeth Connor OCSO; Foreword by Mark A. Scott OCSO
Introduced to the spiritual theology of the twelfth-century Cistercian Fathers when he entered the abbey of Scourmont, Belgium, Charles Dumont shared his ever deepening knowledge as editor of the Order's French-language journal,Collectanea Cisterciensia, in articles and translations of texts, and in lectures in Europe and North and South America. He has also written and published poetry, combining his love of language with his love of the Fathers and their language.

Elizabeth Connor earned an M.A. in Classics at the John Hopkins University before entering the Abbaye de Notre-Dame du Bon Conseil in Québec, where she has served as formation director and prioress.
ISBN: 978-0-87907-040-3