Phos Hilaron (icons)

Phos Hilaron (‘gracious light’) is a beautiful song, the most typical of the Hesperinó (office of vespers) from the Byzantine liturgy, which is sung when the lamps are lit at sundown. The gracious light is Jesus Christ, the light of the world. The exhibition of iconography from the Eastern Orthodox Church seeks to use the holy icons enveloped in the golden light of Byzantine churches to present the faces, mysteries and glories of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, God (Theotokos), the saints and the festivals on the calendar. Altogether they form a complete sacred world which seeks to reflect the glory of the uncreated light, as the Eastern Orthodox Church experiences it. This section of icons from Slavic Byzantine churches is uniquely special within the discourse of the Museum of Montserrat. It is a world outside this world in which the golden light of Byzantium shines, allowing us to see and contemplate the same icons in an atmosphere more closely resembling a sacred space than an art gallery. Only in this way do the icons find their own atmosphere and covey their true message.