Iconsmyst Origins

I think the other reviewers have definitely given great reviews of this book by Dick Temple. There is not much more I can add than to say this is one of the most special books I have ever read. It is a must read by anyone interested in Icons and in exploring their own spiritual journey to God. This book may change your life! The book is very readible and easy to follow for the lay-person like myself who is neither a philosopher or theologian.

_Icons and the Mystical Origins of Christianity_ by Richard Temple is a short work that explains the ethereal qualities of iconography in terms of "Traditionalist" or "Perennialist" philosophy. Temple traces various schools of mystical, esoteric thought that both preceded and was contemporary with the early Church. Among these were the Zoroastrians, Platonists, Pythagoreans, Essenes, Therapeutae, Gnostics and Neoplatonists. Temple maintains that all of these groups held to a common belief in a Perennial Philosophy that was known to the earliest humans and was carried down generation to generation, largely orally from master to student, among various races, cultures and civilizations in a variety of forms. The central belief is that of a transcendent, objective reality along with a sort of self-realization by coming into contact with one's inner God. Although Temple's book reflects a gnostic perspective, he contends that the Fathers of the Church (especially Clement of Alexandria and Origen), the Desert Fathers and the Hesychasts of Eastern Christianity in their turn carried on this gnostic tradition. Several Fathers, such as St. Augustine, commented that Christianity was in fact the restored primordial religion of Adam before the fall. An important issue Temple touches on is the methods of interpreting scripture and how this relates to sacred Christian art. Clement of Alexandria and Origen stressed the imperative of interpreting the Scriptures in an allegorical manner because although the Bible may be literally true, taking certain parts literally when allegorical interpretation would have been more appropriate can become a cause of unnecessary confusion and spiritual delusion. In the same mode, Temple notes that it is the allegorical and spiritual realities that icons depict that take precedence over their literal, historical meaning. For instance, icons depict various stages of consciousness, from the lower, physical and material realm to suprarational angelic intelligence all the way up to the Divine Essence. My main contention with this book is that is seems to deny the historical reality of Christ at the expense of a gnostic and allegorical interpretation of the scenes icons present. Temple's God appears to be an immanence of human intelligence (albeit existing independent of time and space in the normal sense), rather than an actual transcendent God who in fact exists totally independent of human existence and experience. However, it is important to understand that icons and sacred texts do contain a "hidden" meaning beyond what is readily apparent for those who seek deeper insights into the nature of the cosmos.

Things are not always what they look like! Icons are certainly 'something else'. Mr. Temple's book, now in its revised edition, starts with an introduction to the origins of Christianity. The subject of this section, which covers nearly half of the contents, is not the history of things that might have happened or not happened. His subject is based on the writings, philosophies and ideas from ancient Egypt, Pythagoras, the Hellenic period all the way to Neo-Platonism and the beginnigs of Hesychasm, the practice of silence and the Prayer of the Heart in the 4th century. As a short introduction to the origins of Christianity it is the best I have so far come across.The second part of the book centers on the interpretation of icons. This section starts from the Egyptian Fayum portraits, which were paintings discovered in the graves in Egypt, and goes through examples of the interpretation ending up with the Iconostasis, which is separating the nave of the Orthodox churches from the sanctuary and on which many icons are displayed.The red thread through the book is its emphasis on the inner, esoteric, teaching in and around Christianity, which Mr. Temple refers to as the Perennial Philosophy. Gods are not places nor individuals, but states of being realizable within ourselves.In a similar way icons are not picturing historic events. They are presentations of the inner state of the icon painter, who has, with the help of self-knowledge, been able to come in contact with the higher reality and the subject of his painting and through this relationship has been in a position to express it in the icon.This kind of contact within ourselves is also necessary for the full appreciation of the icons. To experience an icon we need to approach it not just with our eyes. When that takes place the icon may take on the communication.

_Icons and the Mystical Origins of Christianity_ is an excellent introduction to the subject of Christian mysticism, the roots of early Christianity, and the expression of the sacred in the art of the icon. The first half of the book is devoted to a detailed background survey of the mystical roots of Christianity, and the second half of the book is devoted to the analysis and application of these ideas to the icons themselves. Fully rooted in the perennial philosophy, Richard Temple, the author, attempts to outline the mystical developments as they arose in Egypt, Greece, and in the earliest beginnings of Christianity. The author includes a detailed account of the philosophies of the ancient Egyptians, Pythagoras, the cult of Orpheus, the Platonists, and Philo of Alexandria. Involved in this survey are the esoteric ideas of Plato and the NeoPlatonists (particularly Plotinus, Philo of Alexandria from the Jewish perspective, and Origen from the Christian perspective). The early church father, Origen would come later to propose a fourfold interpretation of the sacred biblical texts, which some would regard as heretical (although it would be revived in modern times). Temple also considers the early heretical movement of Gnosticism, which claimed to offer esoteric knowledge of God and often involved elaborate mystical cosmogonies. The early church fathers would come to write against Gnosticism in the most severe manner due to the potential dangers lurking in this belief system. Temple includes a discussion of certain practices in the Eastern churches including the Hesychasm and the text used in the Eastern Church, _The Philokalia_, a presentation of the wisdom and practical mystical advice of the monks from Mount Athos throughout the centuries. Temple also includes discussions of the early Platonist, Plotinus, and his role in the philosophical underpinnings of mystical thought as well as the Christian Platonist, Dionysius the Areopagite, who developed a negative theology in his writings. The second section of this book turns to the discussion of the sacred art in icons proper. Here, the author examines icons through the Fayum portraits and the Sinai Christ and Mother of God. These earliest scenes paved the way for the future artworks which were to come to represent the icons. In particular, the Alexandrian, Cosmas Indicopleustes, explained the origin of the Divine Ray and the Platonic hierarchies as they applied to the Great Chain of Being in the development of the icons. The author examines the role of the Orpheus cult and alludes to Jesus Christ's descent into hell before his resurrection to explain the divine mysteries of certain icons. The author also examines icons revealing Saint George and the dragon, and he shows how these particular icons represent spiritual mastery over lower urges (expressed through the figures of the dragon and the white stead). A distinction is drawn between the inner and the outer levels of man. Thus, va