Craftsmanship

Revered guest at the Icon Centre Alexei Saveljev,
dear internet guest!


We herewith bid you a warm welcome!  The Icon Centre Alexei Saveliev is not a museum, neither is it an exhibition in the usual sense.

For one thing, it preserves the unparalleled - both spiritually and in terms of craftsmanship, life’s work of one of the most important iconographers of “modern icons” in modern times: Alexei Alexandrivitch Saveliev (born 20th January 1918/1920 in Kiev, Ukraine, died 1st March 1996 in Zell/Mosel).  For another, the Icon Centre, which was set up and run by him in the years 1976-1982 in Graach, and from 1983-1995 in Traben-Trarbach-Kautenbach, documents essential elements of the one Christian Church founded by Jesus Christ.

Thus, the Icon Centre also wants to be a place where the guest, visitor, internet surfer is invited to participate, and has the opportunity to ponder the origins, the substance,
the meaning and the life of the icon, as well as to reflect on his/her own existence. 

The icon (presentation and transmission of the dignified personality) like our own life, is just one of God’s mercies.  For many of us, not only here and now, the icon seems either too small and insignificant to be taken notice of or so large that it attracts attention but doesn’t really give anything, and is therefore neither existent in nor essential to our lives. 

Either way, - the personalities depicted here – the words and deeds of God, of his son Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost – reflect through the “modern icons” (skill and earnest  submission, School of Novgorod) a fragment of the beauty, truth, happiness, freedom, greatness and therewith the mercy and love of God.

For this reason, we have more or less done without a detailed description and “picture contemplation” of the icons and holy personalities portrayed and also of the history of the Church and divine guidelines (attributes, gestures, colouring, importance).  Instead, we have  placed the emphasis on information and explanation along with some aspects of modern history in order to give an idea of the extraordinary personality of these people (likeness, participation in God’s healing) and the pervasive presence of the love and the mercy of God, and of his son Jesus Christ, manifested in the wonderful implementations of the Holy Spirit. 

These paths to believing , signs of hope, works of love and times of happiness are remedies for loneliness, emptiness, doubt, haste as well as for egalitarianism and growing inhumanity and ungodliness.

We wish you time for reflection and contemplation, happiness on beholding these “modern” icons and in understanding and reading the accompanying explanatory texts.

“Where shall we go?  Lord, have you words of eternal life?” –John, 6.68
God’s love and mercy gives us the icon – through our love of God, the icon lives!

We thank you for your visit!


The Members of the Board of the Society for the Patronage
of the Icon Centre Alexei Saveliev..