The Icon as Text- Reading Sacred Images

Guest lecturer each quarter: Presbytera Maria Koulianos

In The Icon as Text-Reading Sacred Images course, students discover that an icon is far more than a picture—it is a theological text, a sacred image, a window into the Kingdom of Heaven, and a living tradition of the Church. Through guided study, students will learn to “read” an icon with attentiveness and reverence, exploring its theological meaning, historical development, and rich symbolic language.

Students will examine traditional forms, colors, gestures, inscriptions, and compositional choices, uncovering how each element communicates doctrine, prayer, and spiritual truth. They also will explore how icons live within the architectural setting of the Orthodox Church: the dome that proclaims Christ Pantokrator, the apse that reveals the Theotokos as the living temple, the iconostasis that orders the heavenly hierarchy, and the walls that surround the faithful with the communion of saints. By studying how sacred images and sacred space work together, students will begin to see the church building itself as a vast icon, one that shapes the worshipper’s imagination and draws the heart toward God.

Along the way, they will encounter the lives of saints, the rhythm of the liturgical year, and the continuity of Orthodox tradition across centuries. They will come to understand how iconography and architecture together express the Church’s vision of creation, redemption, and the transfigured world to come. In addition, they will have the opportunity to learn from an iconography master and sketch their own icon in real time during class in the fourth quarter.

By the end of the course, students not only will recognize the beauty and purpose of sacred images but also gain the confidence to interpret icons as the Church has always intended, through the lens of faith, history, and holy symbolism. Ultimately, these sacred images and sacred spaces bring the faithful closer to Christ, and closer to theosis.

Get to Know Presbytera Maria Koulianos

Presbytera Maria Koulianos, Principal, has been an educator for over 25 years, loving every minute, with vast experiences in both public and private schools as a classroom teacher, a developer and implementer of learning programs for students, and an area administrator. She earned her bachelor of science in education from Indiana University with certifications in elementary education, 7/8 non-departmental, language arts 1–9, and computer education K–12. She holds a master of divinity and a master of theology from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts, where she wrote her thesis, “The Annunciation of the Theotokos from a Liturgical Perspective.” Presbytera Maria and her husband, Father Dionysios, live in the greater Springfield area where he is the Dean of Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Springfield, MA. As an educator, she hopes to inspire her students to love literature and become lifelong learners. As principal, she is a servant-leader who is charged with building a community that supports students and parents striving for Orthodox restful classical education.