Online Orthodox Liturgy and Arts Journal Launched

I was very interested to learn of this newly founded enterprise this past Friday afternoon, the Orthodox Arts Journal.

Here is their official press release:

Renowned Orthodox church designer and liturgical artist Andrew Gould has founded a new website to promote the revival of the traditional liturgical arts in the Orthodox Church.

The Orthodox Arts Journal publishes articles and news for the promotion of traditional Orthodox liturgical arts. The Journal covers visual arts, music, liturgical ceremony and texts, and relevant art history and theory. The Journal presents these topics together to highlight the unified witness of the arts to the beauty of the Kingdom of God and to promulgate an understanding of how the arts work together in the worship of the Church. In the spirit of the revival of traditional Orthodox liturgical arts sparked by Photios Kontoglou and Leonid Ouspensky, the Journal publicizes excellence in contemporary liturgical arts, emphasizing fidelity to the Church’s tradition of beauty and craft.
 
Examples of the types of articles the Journal features are:
- Interviews with liturgical artists
- Essays on history and theory of liturgical arts
- Proposals and examples for the appropriate expression of artistic traditions today, particularly in the West
- News stories covering those instances in which the liturgical arts of the Church are executed with exceptional fidelity to the Tradition (i.e. new music or translations, cycles of iconography, hierarchical liturgies, festal celebrations, etc.) Exemplary contemporary works are shown alongside historical precedents to highlight this continuity.

The Orthodox Arts Journal is the first website of its kind specifically focused on the revival of the whole of traditional arts in the Orthodox Church, with a multiple-contributor format. It is following the example set by the New Liturgical Movement, a widely-read and successful website run by Shawn Tribe for the promotion of traditional Catholic liturgies and arts.

Contributing to the Journal thus far are:

Andrew Gould – Architecture and Minor Arts
Aidan Hart – Iconography and Minor Arts
Benedict Sheehan – Music
Christabel Anderson – Iconography and Illuminations
Hierodeacon Herman – Music
John Michael Boyer – Music (Byzantine Chant)
Jonathan Pageau – Iconography (Carving), Minor Arts, and Theory
Macrina Lewis – Music, Iconography Theory
Mary Lowell – Iconography and Education
Scott Patrick O’Rourke – News and Events
Fr. Stéphane Bigham – Iconography and Theory
Nicholas Kotar – Music and Culture
Vlad Morosan – Music

As an amusing aside, as I was reading this press release, I was thinking to myself how it sounded rather like it was an Eastern Orthodox parallel to the NLM in terms of its focus and interests -- only then to read the second last paragraph where the editor, Scott Patrick O’Rourke, specifically makes mention of the NLM. A delightful surprise to say the least.

At any rate, they look like they are off to a great start. The site is well designed and already they have a number of articles up. Three in particular caught my own attention:

The Recovery of the Arts by Jonathan Pageau

An Icon of the Kingdom of God: The Integrated Expression of all the Liturgical Arts by Andrew Gould

A ‘Small Entrance’ into Orthodox Christian Sacred Music: Part One -The Song of the Angels by Benedict Sheehan