NOTES FROM LAST ISSUE

NOTES FROM LAST ISSUE

Last Issue's Cover Art: "The Hospitality of Sinners, and the Pride of Presumption" In this piece we have two opposing figures, one man on the city wall, and a man below travelling on a path.

To show their difference of place figuratively, we have one above, one below; one to the left, one to the right; one in the foreground, one in the background. They are also contrasted by one clothed in fine purple garments, one in tattered ascetical hair shirt, one within and above, one outside and beneath.

They each want to claim a portion of the scripture, but they do not share it. They want try to claim their stake at being correct. But blinded by their desire to be right, they do not see the mercy that is required of them.

The man in purple shows his wealth and belonging to a place, but his position is in a place of pride and dominance. Rather than using his wealth and place as a source of refuge and healing, he is fearful and protective, hoarding his wealth which was given to him by God.

The man on the path is wearing a hair shirt, showing that he is trying to live an ascetical life, but there is a tell that reveals him as shifty in character. Rather than the typical red shoes that we see an ascetic wearing in iconography, we see him wearing bright yellow, which is the color of danger and misfortune. His fault is his pride in thinking he knows better than others, and is therefore justified. He is, after all—to his thinking—a man of God. If the title of this piece had been The Hospitality of the Godly, and a Humble Guest, we would have seen the man in purple at the gates ready to welcome a stranger on the road, and the body language of the man on the road would have suggested humility and trustworthiness. Perhaps each holding a gift for the other, rather than wounding each other, and themselves, with swords and brazen coldness. Impaling themselves in their attempt to harm the stranger illustrates that a lack of love toward our neighbor always comes at the price the well-being of our own soul. —Abraham Fillar

Missing Credit Children's Coloring Icon of the Resurrection, Anna Souvorov, 2019. Parishioner of Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral, Manhattan, NY.