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Saved by Beauty: Dostoevsky in New York

The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in New York City is hosting an exhibit dedicated to the great Russian writer

New York City, April 5, 2022

After all… Dostoevsky belongs in New York!

CATALOGUE (PDF)

After all… Dostoevsky belongs in New York!
The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in New York City is hosting an exhibit titled “Saved by Beauty: Dostoevsky in New York”. It is a visiual tribute to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-2021) and will last March 18 – April 30, 2022.

Having toured Greece and making its New York premiere at The Sheen Center, this exhibit spans two floors and gives visual expression to characters and existential and moral themes from the novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky through a variety of painting styles by 15 artists. Exhibit is featured at the New, Janet Hennessey Dilenschneider Gallery, and it is presented in collaboration with the Greek Orthodox Archdicese of America and St. Sebastian Press of the Western American Diocese, Serbian Orthodox Church.

These beautiful paintings are now welcome in New York, a city that exemplifies in many ways the extreme contradictions and creative struggles that Dostoevsky successfully described in his writings.

After all… Dostoevsky belongs in New York!
The exhibit features art by the Ochre Group: Fr. Stamatis Skliris, George Kordis, Bishop Maxim Vasiljevic, Babis Pylarinos, Costas Lavdas, Maria Panou, Giannoulis Lymperopoulos, Nektarios Mamais, Fotis Varthis, Konstantinos Kougioumtzis, Christos Kechagioglis, Nektarios Stamatelos, Despina Karantani, George Margaritis, Christina Papatheou-Douligeri. And they are all members of the visual group “OCHRE.”

“OCHRE” is an informal group of painters, who have contributed to the traditional Orthodox iconography but at the same time are in dialogue with the modern artistic trends.

After all… Dostoevsky belongs in New York!
On April 5, a special presentation on the new international art installation was held at the Loreto Theater, 18 Bleeker Street.

In his remarks, read by Archimandrite Nektarios, the Greek Archbishop Elpidophoros said that the title of today’s exhibition uses the past tense to speak of the action of beauty “Saved by Beauty”, however Dostoevsky prefers the future. “Beauty will save the world.” By coming to this Opening tonight, we want to acknowledge the transformative action that beauty and art has had over the world. “Meanwhile, Dostoevsky’s own words resonate like a promise to be fulfilled. The work of beauty as an icon of God’s presence in the world is not over. It has barely started,” concluded the Archbishop.

After all… Dostoevsky belongs in New York!
Bishop Maxim pointed out that the paintings on the walls of the gallery at the Sheen Center show Dostoevsky, a man, dressed in flesh and blood, who lives, suffers, falls, and rises. At the same time, these paintings are a result of a “non-Euclidean” reading of that reality. Fyodor creates art or beauty by confessing what is in his soul, hence its astonishing persuasiveness.

Prof. George Kordis spoke about the attempt of “Ochre” group: “We as artists believe that this artistic language, the Byzantine painting system, has elaborated and has developed for centuries in order for the ethos and the spirit of the ecclesiastical life to be properly render in visual terms. For that reason, we believe that this language can serve the needs for expression of contemporary artists who are looking for a vehicle for expressing their spiritual inquiries.”

After all… Dostoevsky belongs in New York!
The exhibit is characterized by great pluralism. It hosts various currents and artistic trends, which are in a harmonious dialogue with each other. One sees Byzantine elements conversing with impressionist, expressionist, cubist, abstract, as well as features of street art, graffiti, etc. The works emit a deep study and understanding of Dostoevsky’s novels. It is very important that the painters have so seriously studied the great writer and philosopher at a time when electronic images and soap operas distract readers from great and essential works and wider Literature.

After all… Dostoevsky belongs in New York!
The presentation is immediately followed by a reception at the second floor of the Sheen Center.

Given the horrors of the war in the Ukraine, this exhibition reminds the world of its spiritual and cultural inheritance received from the likes of one great Fyodor Dostoyevsky. May it be a blessing to us all!

Read the remarks of Archbishop Elpidophoros, Bishop Maxim and Prof. George Kordis.

Source: Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America

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Vinka Ellesin was a folk singer who sang Serbian music in the sevdalinka style. The national Serbian community referred to her as the "Queen of Sevdalinka". She was born to Serbian immigrants, Djoka and Sophia (Soka) Ellesin, in Akron, Ohio around 1921. By the age of 16, she was singing on a nationally broadcast radio show on WADC. Later, she performed at the Black Whale, a well-known club in Cleveland. In 1938, the bandleader Sammy Kaye invited her to audition to be the lead vocalist in his orchestra, but she turned him down, preferring to continue singing Serbian folk music instead. During World War II, Ellesin performed at the Blue Danube and the Russian Samovar in Detroit, Mich. where she lived. Ellesin stayed in the Pittsburgh area for an extended period of time in the early 1950s while she performed nightly at the Sunrise Inn in Monroeville, Pa. During the 1930s through the 1970s, Ellesin toured throughout North America and Australia while returning to Pittsburgh many times to perform at local Serb National Federation events.

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The Church at Prayer

The Church at Prayer

by Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra

Publisher’s note

Many readers of the addresses of Elder Aimilianos, which have been published in the five-volume series, rchimandrite Aimilianos, Spiritual Instructions and Discourses (Ormylia, 1998-2003), have frequently expressed the wish for an abridged and more accessible form of his teaching. In response, we are happy to inaugurate a new series of publications incorporating key texts from the above-mentioned collection. Other considerations have also contributed o this new project, such as the selection of specific texts which address important, contemporary questions; the need for a smaller, more reader-friendly publication format; and the necessity for editing certain passages in need of clarification, without however altering their basic meaning.

Above all, the works collected in this volume reflect the importance which the Elder consistently attached to prayer, spirituality, community life, worship, and liturgy. Thus the experientially based works "On Prayer", and "The Prayer of the Holy Mountain", which deal primarily with the Prayer of the Heart, appear first, followed by the summary addresses on "The Divine Liturgy", and "Our Church Attendance". These are in turn followed by the more socially oriented discourses on "Our Relations with Our Neighbor", and "Marriage: The Great Sacrament". Finally, the present volume closes with the sermons on "Spiritual Reading" and "The Spiritual Life", which in a simple and yet compelling manner set forth the conditions for "ascending to heaven on the wings of the Spirit".

It is our hope that The Church at Prayer will meet the purpose for which it is issued and will serve as a ready aid and support for those who desire God and eternal life in Him.

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