I have spent the last week at Launde Abbey alongside a group of Icon painters, including Pam, my wife. They have been creating ikons under the expert instruction of Peter Murphy. Early in the week, Peter expressed some thoughts about the provenance of, and theology behind the gold iconographers use. Some of his ideas resonated strongly with my enthusiasm to weave faith and science themes together, and resulted in the poem which follows this photo of the dramatic Ikon of John the Baptist which Pam produced (with Peter’s very helpful and skilful interventions).
Reflection on the Gold of an
Icon.
I know not the breadth of the icon,
Though I’m seized by its radiant gold.
See! A hallmark of heaven’s bright image,
Lasting joy for the eye to behold.
Gold can sometime be washed into rivers,
Though it’s mined from the deep veins of
earth,
And because of its lustre and scarceness
Is the metal of mightiest worth.
It was forged in the heat of a starburst,
Which drove atoms to newly align;
With light elements forced into richness,
Then entombed as the earth grew benign.
Prayerful artists of sanctity realized,
They could draw on this gift of the mine,
To betoken the aura of heaven,
Where earth's gently brushed by the divine.
Where earth's gently brushed by the divine.
