There is at least one Sinai icon that is probably known even to people far removed from the Church. The famous Christ Pantocrator, one of the oldest iconographic depictions of Christ, was painted in Constantinople in the mid-6th century and presented to the Sinai Monastery.

But what exactly is Sinai icon painting?

Art historian Galina Kolpakova noted in one of her books: “In Sinai icons there is neither canonicity nor reference to established models. And this is not only because no models existed. The spontaneity and individuality of what was created are perceived as the result of a kind of clairvoyance, as evidence of a strong and living faith, and cannot be translated into the plane of a calculated system.”

We offer to your attention only a few examples of Sinai icon painting.

More can be viewed in the album "Sinai Icons"