Greek and Russian Orthodox Icons

Greek and Russian Orthodoxy is one religion. There is no difference between the two dogmas and canons, but there are differences in church practice.

The Russian Orthodox icon is one of the highest universally recognized achievements of the human spirit.

Of course, the Russian icon comes from Byzantine icons. Greece rightly considers itself the successor of Byzantium, from which Russia accepted not only faith, but also book writing and culture.

For Orthodox, icons are of great importance. Turning to the icon with a prayer, an Orthodox person sees in it a kind of mediator between himself and God.

One of the most ancient is Greek icons, because it was in Greece that its own icon-painting tradition developed, which admired its refinement and spirituality.

There are a great many Orthodox icons ... They can be found in Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and some other countries. However, most of the ancient religious icons available today, in particular in the US market, are either Greek or Russian.

Russian and Greek religious icons have a common history and seem very similar, especially in the eyes of novice collectors. Despite this, these two types of Orthodox icons are still different. Let's highlight the main differences between Russian and Greek religious icons.

1. The inscriptions on Russian religious icons are made in a very old language, preceding the modern Cyrillic alphabet and known as Church Slavonic, while Greek is used in Greek Orthodox icons.
2. The Greek style of writing religious icons is more natural.
3. The Greeks use shining and bright, sharply contrasting colors, and Russian icon painters use restrained and muted colors. Most Russian Orthodox icons are actually painted in pastel colors. Some of them are made almost completely in one color. In addition, the main color of the large color field in Greek religious icons is opaque, while the main color of the same color field in Russian icons is transparent.

Thus, despite the fact that Russian and Greek Orthodox icons at first glance seem similar, in fact they are very different. The truth is that each icon is unique in its own way.