Holy Thursday :      “ Are you going to wash my feet!?” asks Peter as Jesus begins this action. “There’s no way on God’s earth are YOU going to wash MY feet! Jesus is communicating something central to his message here and Peter gets it…but doesn’t like it! Then Jesus asks:  “Do you understand  what I have done? You’ve been calling me Lord and master and in the old system that is correct. We’ve been living in a world organised in terms of lords and servants. What I have just

Feast of the Annunciation: March 25, 2026. Before we look at this icon let me share with you a little background to icons that may help in our understanding of what we are looking at. Firstly, icons are symbolic art, they are not naturalistic, rather they are 2-dimensional so the 3rd dimension does not recede into the background as in Western art, but comes forward, out of the image into the eyes and heart of the viewer. And secondly, icons are a form of art that has a specif

On the evening of 16th January, students from all over Tokyo gathered at Maria Nosenkyosha Francisco Shudokaitotsuka Daini Monastery to begin an intensive two day workshop with iconographer Lisa Ghent. After enjoying the first of many meals they were to share over the next two days, the workshop begun with a lecture on the fundamentals of iconography.  With the "writing" of Icons being a spiritual practice, prayer was at the core of the workshop and students were invited to

Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 2026. This feast is celebrated in both the Easter and Western Christian Churches on January 6 or on the nearest Sunday. However, what is being celebrated is slightly different. In the Eastern Orthodox Church this is the commemoration of the Baptism of Jesus where Jesus is baptised by John the Baptist in the Jordan River and hears God’s voice addressing him as “My Son, the Beloved.”  Whereas in the Western Church the Epiphany is the celebratio

Blessing of the icon of the Canticle of Creation,  a hymn written 800 years ago this year by St Francis of Assisi. This icon was commissioned to commemorate this event as well as the 10 th  anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical on care for the Earth, titled Laudato Si. It was blessed at the Good Shepherd Parish in Plumpton, NSW  and used in the celebration of the Feast of St Francis.   Thursday classes.... have been an enjoyable way of learning and developing skills in icon