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The icons are beautiful, Alex. The essay by your friend reminds me of the religious writings of the man who was probably the preeminent Greek icon writer of the 20th century, Photis Kontoglou. When your friend says that "Icons are the Jesus Prayer in paint", he points out a fundamental fact about icons which is often overlooked; not only do we prayer before the icons and either worship or venerate the subject of the icon, but also the icons themselves are prayers as is the process of writing them. Every good icon, even some very primitive ones, demonstrate the depth of the faith of the writer. And because they are indeed prayers, inspired by the Holy Spirit, they should never be used, as I have seen them, as mere decorative works of art.

(Continuing Orthodox Ed. FK!)