A Face to Face Encounter: The God-Humanity relationship as reflected in the icons of the Eastern Christian (Orthodox) Church

This paper explores the theory of participation expressed by, among others, Ss. Athanasius (c. 295-373), Basil the Great (c. 330-379), Maximus the Confessor (c.580-662) and, in the twentieth century, the theologian Dumitru Staniloae (1903-1993). It presents one way in which participation happens, and states that the fact that God works in the world through His energies carried out by the Holy Spirit makes possible a 'face to face encounter' between Him and humankind. One way in which this process is concretised in Eastern Orthodox Christianity is through the practice of honouring icons. The text explains the 'devices' active in the respective liturgical art during this God-humankind encounter. Among these are the model of Trinitarian love and a compositional technique that produces in the viewer 'simultaneity of seeing'.