World-renowned iconographers were in Mount Pleasant this week to teach a 10-day workshop on Icon Painting at Holy Ascension Church in I'On. Anton and Ekaterina Daineko were here teaching the course and painting daily with a class of 10 students who traveled from around the country to participate under their tutelage.

Over the course of the class, the students completed a gilded icon of St. Nicholas.

The two artists are a married couple from Minsk, Belarus. Last summer they hosted a class in Vermont that Mount Pleasant resident and Holy Ascension parishioner Dee Rhodes attended, and she extended an invitation for the couple to travel to Charleston to present their class here.

Their journey to becoming Master Iconographers was intense and competitive. While studying at the same State Academy of Art, the couple did not even meet until a trip to Moscow. Anton was already seen as a virtuoso and one of the best drawing students, working with a stipend from the president. They discovered common interests, which included iconography, and their relationship grew, eventually getting married in 1999 and forming a close working partnership.

They have worked together for 20 years, the first 10 in the icon studio at the newly built St. Elizabeth Convent in Minsk, the last 10 years on their own.

The fall of the Soviet Union left a huge empty desert, making it difficult to find books or material on iconography, though icons could still be found in museums. And while the artistic passion came naturally, the skill was perfected over hours and days and months of practice.

Ekaterina said, "I am honored to be teaching in such an authentic orthodox place as Holy Ascension."

A sampling of the works of master iconographer Anton Daineko.

And while 10 full days of study is rigorous, it is essential to show participants each and every step as thoroughly as possible.

"It's essentially an initial overview and why each step is necessary,"Ekaterina said.

"Anton and Ekaterina come to teach iconography (the painting of Holy Images) at Holy Ascension to continue the living tradition of the Christian belief in the Incarnation that God became man, took flesh, and come to save the world," said Father John Parker, of Holy Ascension."In John 3:16, that famous verse, we remember, 'for God so loved the world, that He gave his only-begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life.' When St. John says 'world', he could have said, 'ecumene,' meaning the inhabitants - people of the world. But he said instead, 'God so loved the kosmos' - the whole created universe, that He sent His Son. The incarnation of God in the flesh - the birth and life of Jesus - is the supreme act of God to save all of creation," he said.

"The Icon is one portion of that act. First it is an image of Jesus, who, according to the Bible, is 'the image of the invisible God.' But the act of making an icon redeems fallen creation: trees from the fallen world are made into a board. Gauze made from plants is glued with rabbit-skin glue to that board and covered with plaster ground from stones. Paints are made by grinding stone into pigments, and mixed with egg yolks for egg-tempera. And the image is painted from dark to light, to show the saving of the world from darkness by Jesus, the light of the world."

It takes a minimum of a month to create the icon board, which is considered an art in and of itself. They are handmade and any flaw can ruin an icon.

The ancient technology of grinding the stone and mineral and adding egg yolk as a mediumfor color is a preservation technique that will allow the icon to last for several hundred years. It takes several months to complete the icon.

It is an intricate process that brings forth the faith of the Orthodox religion through this traditional art form. And as Jonathan Pageau of the Orthodox Arts Journal wrote in July 2016 about the couple, "their imagery remains firmly grounded in iconographic principles and canon."

"It is hard to express. You cannot describe the art in words and what you are feeling when you are doing it because words are not enough,"Ekaterina said. "The image of God is one's own vision."

However, with an Icon there are limitations because they are used with the purpose of Orthodox worship. There is a responsibility to create with meaningful purpose and spiritual reverence.

With an Icon there are limitations because they are used with the purpose of Orthodox worship. There is a responsibility to create with meaningful purpose and spiritual reverence.

Some ask: Arent icons idols? Father Parker responded this way, "Christian worship is, from Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4, through early church history, and to the present day, a participation in the eternal worship of God in Heaven.

"From the very early centuries, churches were adorned with frescos and panel icons depicting Jesus, his mother, and the saints to give visual word to that reality described in the letter to the Hebrews, 'since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run, therefore, the race set before us.' Anton and Ekaterina teach an ancient art that contributes directly to the beauty of the worship of God, a portion of heaven that we experience on Earth."

"One of the gifts that God has given to us at Holy Ascension, is an array of very talented artists and craftsmen - those who have designed and built and adorned our church to be a meeting of heaven and Earth. This master class was an opportunity to share that gift."

Visit the Dainekos'website, ikona-skiniya.com to learn more about them and their work. For more information on future workshops, contact Dee Rhodes at deerhodes@me.com.

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Master icon painters share their unique craft at Holy Ascension - Moultrie News