ICONS AS INSTRUMENTS OF PEACE

 

 

I recently came across some art work by a Benedictine nun living far from us.  SISTER MARIE-PAUL FARRAN,  OSB, of the Monastery on the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem died in 2019 at the age of 89.

Her community, Benedictines of Our Lady of Calvary, is a small, cloistered group of French-speaking nuns. One of their main sources of support is the sale of Sister Marie-Paul’s icons, both originals and reproductions. The Printery House of Conception Abbey in Missouri is the source for her work in the USA.

Sr. Marie-Paul’s community is a very poor community located in the Arab part of the city. One of their main sources of support is the sale of Sister Marie-Paul’s icons, both originals and reproductions.

Sister had been writing icons since 1962.  She was born in Egypt, of Palestinian and Italian descent in 1930. She painted in the Byzantine style, following faithfully the ancient patterns and colors. She was the author of the "Icon of the Holy Family"  known and distributed worldwide.

It would take her three to six months to draw an icon after meditation.  She once said in an interview, "an icon is revelation, however, we are an icon, the icon of GOD and we have to act out the love of God".  

Once she entered the religious life, she felt deeply the tensions between Arabs and Jews in the Holy Land, praying and offering her life and presence for peace in the land of Jesus's birth.  Over the years, she became a world renown iconographer.  She viewed her icons as instruments of peace and love in a war torn world.  

The beauty of her icons matched the beauty of her heart. Her icons may be found in churches and individual collections all over the world.  A copy of her icon, “The Resurrected Christ," hangs above the altar at the Church of the Advocate (The Red Door) and welcomes all with his arms wide open to the sacred space of our varied ministries.