USA: Exhibition of Byzantine Icons opens in Washington — “Revealing the Hidden”

A special exhibition dedicated to Byzantine art and the Greek Orthodox Christian tradition has opened at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., under the title “Revealing the Hidden: Byzantine Icons from Thessaloniki and Patmos.”

The exhibition features 24 precious Byzantine icons from two historic Greek monasteries associated with the Bible and recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Sites for their icons and manuscripts.

These are the Vlatadon Monastery in Thessaloniki, the city where the Apostle Paul preached, and the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian on Patmos, where the Apostle John received the visions recorded in the Book of Revelation.

The 24 icons are being exhibited in the United States for the first time, made possible through cooperation between the Museum of the Bible, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, under whose spiritual jurisdiction both monasteries fall, and the Greek Ministry of Culture.

Messages were presented at the opening ceremony from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew; Greek Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni; Bishop Nikephoros of Amorion, Abbot of the Holy Patriarchal and Stavropegial Vlatadon Monastery in Thessaloniki; and Father Polykarpos…