Last Sunday, the wall behind the altar at St. Andrew Antiochian Orthodox Church in Pensacola was bare.
All week, the Rev. Anthony Salzman, a visiting priest and noted creator of Orthodox icons, has been at the church on W Street installing a series of Christian icons behind the church altar.
The icons seem to spring to life from the now color-filled east wall — especially the large icon of the Virgin Mary with a young Jesus on her lap. To their sides, the angels Gabriel and Michael bow in adoration, while depictions of Moses, Elijah and two bishops of the Orthodox church — St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil — complete the series.
Salzman said the icon of Mary with the young Jesus is called "Platytera,'' or "She Who is More Spacious Than the Heavens," because "the creator was contained in the Virgin Mary, so therefore she is more expansive than the universe."
Byzantine iconography is a time-honored tradition of the Orthodox Church and faithful believe St. Luke the Evangelist was the first iconographer. Icons are not just works of art for believers, "but vehicles of worship and faith," Salzman said. "That goes with the theology of the church — when you enter the church you're leaving time and space and entering eternity, the Kingdom of God."
Salzman said that worshippers don't just view icons, they "interact" with them.
Unlike most traditional art, iconography utilizes reverse perspective, wherein the picture seems to (wrap around the viewer rather than recede back into space). This allows the person viewing the icon to become a focal point in that it appears the image is coming out toward the viewer.
Salzman created the icons on panel rolls in his Athens, Ga. studio. He began the work in April. He brought the panels to Pensacola on Sunday night and has been affixing them to the wall ever since, touching up spots along the way.
The icons are made using acrylic paints and gold leaf.
Salzman studied Byzantine Iconography and Byzantine Art History in Greece. He is the presiding priest at St. Philothea Greek Orthodox Church in Athens.
"We wanted to have as much artistic representation of our faith as possible," Bleam said. "It inspires us in that we realize that there is more to the material world than we are cognizant of."
Bleam said the altar icons are just the first stage of iconography that will go up at the church. Eventually, religious icons will fill much of the church, including the dome in the middle of the church.
"The icons teach us,'' Bleam said. "They call us to worship and to glorify God.''
Church members have not seen the full iconography that Salzman has installed, though a few have seen bits and pieces during the week.
"What I've seen is just beautiful,'' said church member Dorothy Tampary. "I can't wait to see the complete work. I just know that when most of our parishioners walk in and see it for the first time, they're going to be very impressed.''


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