[K0aM7urg]

Forgive me for asking a question that to some may seem silly, but I've come across a number of saints that I'd like to add to my icon corner. Of course, icons can be costly and in other cases icons of certain saints are just very hard to find (for instance, some lesser-known Coptic saints such as St. Abanoub and newer saints such as Maria Skobtsova and John Karastamatis). Is it okay to cut icons out of catalogues, or otherwise to copy and print icons found in an online image search (assuming they're not copyrighted) in order to frame and venerate them? I do recall having read somewhere that various ascetics used paper icons so as to avoid the spirit of pride that may come with having ornate, beautiful icons.

Another consideration is that when cutting an icon image from an old catalog, there's usually an image on the opposite side of the page that will then be cut up... am I being overly scrupulous here?

[esconsise]

Its just fine--some day I will get one of those beautiful Byzantine icons for my icon corner.
BUT until then i have two lg postcard icons that i framed under glass. one is st Nikolas and the other is Arch angel Michael.
i have one Byzantine style reproduction i got from a D.C. museum for abt 20 bucks.
a framed Jesus on the cross that was sent to me from Greece made by needle point by my aunt.
and my favorite a Jesus (pandocrator) picture from a magazine that i cut out an framed under glass 8x10.
and a few other kick knack type stuff.
Wow, i think that’s TMI!
but my point is heck yes its just fine. most people cant afford the real thing but this is AOK.
NOTE: If you have a good printer you can print out copies of the beautiful old icons and even frame them on wood so they look like the original.
do a web search for how to do this if you interested.

[Alupleintilla]

Thank you, Niko. That's pretty much what I suspected. What about photographs of the saints? I've read elsewhere that photos should not be venerated as icons. But I see photos of more modern saints quite commonly in icon corners. Surely we can pray before a saint's photograph if no icon is available?

(For that matter, what about photos of departed loved ones? Is it appropriate to have them among the saints in our icon/prayer corners?)

[moopogyOvenny]

A photograph is an image of earthly, temporal reality. An icon is painted using a deliberately abstracted, non-realistic artistic style, because it seeks to portray and express the saint in his spiritually-transfigured, perfected state. A photograph depicts what is of this world, an icon depicts what is not of this world. I suppose venerating a photograph could be considered better than nothing if one was in an extreme situation (such as being a prisoner in a concentration camp), but, as a rule, photographs are not considered to reach the standard required for them to be venerated as would a properly-painted icon (or a paper print of one).

[CenICrerflind]

Forgive me for asking a question that to some may seem silly, but I've come across a number of saints that I'd like to add to my icon corner. Of course, icons can be costly and in other cases icons of certain saints are just very hard to find (for instance, some lesser-known Coptic saints such as St. Abanoub and newer saints such as Maria Skobtsova and John Karastamatis). Is it okay to cut icons out of catalogues, or otherwise to copy and print icons found in an online image search (assuming they're not copyrighted) in order to frame and venerate them? I do recall having read somewhere that various ascetics used paper icons so as to avoid the spirit of pride that may come with having ornate, beautiful icons.

Another consideration is that when cutting an icon image from an old catalog, there's usually an image on the opposite side of the page that will then be cut up... am I being overly scrupulous here?

Even though not hand painted, paper icons bear holy, heavenly images and can be venerated. For this reason St. John Maximovitch was opposed to icons being used on greeting cards (viz., at Nativity), because they could fall on the floor and be stepped upon or thrown in the wastebasket with other trash. Even paper icons have been known to weep or stream myrrh! --Hieromonk Ambvrose

[Petwrenny]

Even paper icons have been known to weep or stream myrrh! --Hieromonk Ambvrose

For example the Hawaii Myrrh-streaming Iviron Mother of God.

Fr David

[acneman]

Thank you all for the clarification. Hieroschemamonk Ambrose, I have fond memories of you from my trip to Perrysville some years back. Pray for me if you will.

[AutocadOemM]

For example the Hawaii Myrrh-streaming Iviron Mother of God.

Fr David Another is the icon of St Nicholas of Myra, a mounted print produced by the St Issac Skete in Wisconsin. Here's a post of mine from an old thread:

I might add also that there is a recent example of a myrrh-streaming icon of St Nicholas of Myra, a printed icon laminated with plastic and mounted on board, which was produced by a monastery in Wisconsin. The interesting thing is that this icon was considered "unfit" for sale by the monastery, because of a flaw in the mounting process. Such icons were given away, not sold, to visitors to the monastery for this reason.

An Orthodox priest from Indiana acquired one of these icons, and, in 1996, on the morning of the feast-day of St Nicholas, the icon which had been placed on the main icon stand in the church began streaming myrrh. It has done so ever since, and miracles have been reported from those who have venerated the icon or have been anointed with the myrrh. Despite extensive examination, no rational or scientific explanation for this phenomenon has been found.

I was privileged to see and venerate this icon when it came to Australia in late 2000, and, on hearing its history, I couldn't help thinking of the passage "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" - that even an ordinary printed icon which was deemed not good enough for sale, but simply given away, became a source of miracles.