The Prosopon School has found it useful for its students to begin their study of icon painting with these two angelic figures, warrior Archangel Michael and bearer of good news Archangel Gabriel. The angels stand, quietly, holding staffs and orbs of authority, and wear complex colored garments. The floor beneath them is beautifully ornate, yet even so, their feet require pillows on which to stand. These exalted beings seem to have little in common with the here-in-the-dirt-with-us angel who wrestles Jacob. Why is it, then, that the Prosopon School begins its curriculum always with these two?
In the Orthodox understanding, angels are called spiritual fire, minds, and second lights. Although angels are creatures made by God, they do not have bodies. (They do have names, however: Micha-el means “Who is like unto God” and Gabri-el means “Who is the might of God.”) Angels communicate energetically with mankind, sometimes through reason and words but also through the inner enlightening of our minds. Angels reflect the light of God, taking on different forms at God’s bidding, and are thereby able to unveil Divine mysteries, according to Saint John of Damascus.
The Prosopon School’s integration of iconography (the art of making icons) with iconology (the theory and theology of icons) offers a visual and experiential way to open the “angelic mind” that every human being possesses. Beginning students first paint Archangel Michael, the warrior who battles sin and is the closest to mankind. Meditating on Archangel Michael fortifies the student in his or her own fight against sin, clearing a path toward opening one’s angelic mind. The next-in-rank, Archangel Gabriel, is appropriately the second icon students will study, for it is only through the good news he brings to Mary, “behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son” (Luke 1:31 KJV), that humanity gains re-entry into Paradise. With the painting of these first two angels, the arc of humanity’s story of the fall and redemption is compressed through visual economy, encouraging students to continue on their journey.
What next in the progression of the Prosopon School teaching? The archangels, as spiritual fire, ignite within the student the desire for the further steps; with the third icon of Saint John the Baptist, students reflect on the Baptist’s call to repentance, followed by the fourth icon, one of the Theotokos, which deepens the student’s understanding of obedience. These four completed icons await and lean toward the central icon, which depicts Christ, reinforcing the core teaching of icons: “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things” (Colossians 1:19–20 KJV). Completing the first five icons in the Prosopon School forms a Deisis, calling each student to prayer.