Painting icons is a sacred service

Celibate priest Petru Pruteanu is Doctor of Theology and dean of the Theology Faculty of Edinets. Speaking about the specifics of church painting in his interview for „Moldova” he mentioned, that an icon is not a portrait. The image must reflect holiness, and this mystery cannot be transmitted by a person that does not posess holiness, at least to some degree.

„In the past, as well as today, a painter must have a pure life, fast, go to confession and receive communion, because only a person who lives in harmony with God and is becoming more holy can reflect sacred images in icons. Icon painting is a sacred service, it must be done with a fear of God and resignation. Maybe that is why the greatest icon painters in the history of Church were monks.