Page 7 - PROOF!v2

ctually spell out - very clearly. It’s a whole language of that dates back to the early Church fathers.” Brother Claude Lane, OSB
Christ is the only person depicted with a halo that contains
a cruciform, or cross. Inside the three bars of the cross are the Greek letters denoting “I AM”; or, “The Existing One.” The cross itself is composed of three lines – a reference to the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).
The letters that appear above Christ’s head – IC to the left,
XC to the right – form a Christogram, an abbreviation of the name “Jesus Christ.” In Greek, Christ’s name can be written “IHCOYC XPICTOC”; the Christogram is thus derived from the rst and last letters of each word. The line that appears above each is a “titlo,” a Cyrillic symbol that denotes abbreviations of words of importance.
The angel is a heavenly being and dressed as one would expect a pure spirit to be dressed: in various shades of white.
The red garment proffered by the angel symbolizes the “Baptism of Blood” Christ must eventually endure outside the walls of Jerusalem.
Golden stripes on the robe denote royalty and divinity, for on Golgotha Christ will mount his royal throne, the cross, and receive kingship from his Father in Heaven.
4By retracing the drawings, the images are transferred to the gessoed wood.
5The lines on the board are then redrawn and sealed with sienna pigment. Lane calls this the “platonic form” of the world.
Photographs by Chad Ramsey
6After a coat of yellow ochre, Lane begins painting in thin washes of acrylic pigment to achieve luminosity. “That’s what icons
are about,” he says. “Heavenly light shining down on this reality.”
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