Mitralexis, Sotiris;
(2025)
A Parallax View on Eastern Orthodox Aesthetics: From the Ethos of Liturgical Art to Dionysis Savvopoulos’ Aesthetic Eschatology.
Religions
, 16
(10)
, Article 1227. 10.3390/rel16101227.
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Abstract
This study explores Eastern Orthodox aesthetics through a parallax lens, situating it at the intersection of theology, anthropology, and cultural practice to move beyond the icon-centric discourse. It examines how Orthodox aesthetics, rooted in the theological vision of beauty as divine disclosure, manifests in liturgical ethos, material culture, and secular artistic expression. The analysis draws on Christos Yannaras’ ethos of liturgical art, Chrysostomos Stamoulis’ exercise in philokalic aesthetics, and Timothy Carroll’s ethnographic material ecology of Orthodox Christianity, revealing beauty as an ontological event of communion and transformation. A parallax shift to Dionysis Savvopoulos’ lyrics uncovers an aesthetic eschatology, or an aesthetics of eschatology, where Orthodox themes of resurrection and festivity permeate non-ecclesial Greek culture. Employing a comparative, interdisciplinary methodology, the study integrates theological reflection, ethnographic insights, and cultural analysis. It concludes that Orthodox aesthetics is a dynamic field where beauty, truth, and eschatological hope converge, extending beyond the sanctuary into everyday practices and popular art—“incarnated” in material reality. This transdisciplinary approach reconfigures Orthodox aesthetics as a theological anthropology, offering fresh perspectives on its role in contemporary discourse and its diffusion into the public sphere, while advocating for material culture as a critical lens for future exploration.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | A Parallax View on Eastern Orthodox Aesthetics: From the Ethos of Liturgical Art to Dionysis Savvopoulos’ Aesthetic Eschatology |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3390/rel16101227 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16101227 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2025 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | Orthodox aesthetics; material culture; eschatology; Dionysis Savvopoulos; Christos Yannaras; Timothy Carroll; liturgical art; philokalia; Greek culture; theological anthropology |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Anthropology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10214571 |
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