Why is it an Icon writing and not Icon painting?

Discerning and describing the difference between a religious painting and an Icon is the heart of the matter. When you think of beautiful religious paintings, like Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, or Raphael’s Madonnas, or Da Vinci’s Madonna of the rocks, or countless other beautiful religious paintings- what are the differences between them and an Icon? And why does it matter?

Icons are images that contain Spiritual power and grace. They do this by the combination of prayers, Traditions of the Church, sacred geometric composition, Scriptural narratives and the intention of the Iconographer to convey the Saints in the light of the Holy Spirit operating within them.

Icons are meant to be Scripture in visual form. In that Scriptural passage is a clarification of the difference between an Icon and a religious painting – the religious painting has more of the artist’s personal interpretation and is less strictly following the Word of God. Michelangelo’s painting style is called “mannerism” and is emotive and expressive of more than just the Scriptural scenes depicted. This development from the Renaissance onward, has contributed to the marginalization of God’s Sovereignty in the contemporary world and culture. THAT is why we make emphasis on “writing”, rather than “painting” so that we can bring forward, through the Icon, a more God-centric perspective, from an earlier time and attempt to become disentangled from the Humanism that we have unconsciously absorbed from our culture.

Here are some images of Fr. Richard Raiser of the Archdiocese of Omaha with the Saint Bridget of Sweden married life Icon writing.