You may catch this halo . . .

Or another. There are 9, 999 more.

It was a quote from Gregory of Nyssa concerning the halo as a force for good; something infectious (I read a play on 'catch'), and flavourful and fragrant that got me ruminating. Neither elan vital exactly, (but close, I sense) nor joie de vivre (looking at icons you are not generally struck by the cheeriness usually associated with that phrase), but combining elements of both, the halo is a sign of freedom.

I'm interested in the way artists have 'seen' halos and how the images translate into meaning/s. It's a fairly universal sign with origins in Egypt and Syria, from whence it was appropriated by the Graeco-Roman culture and gradually became a marker of holiness. The halo is always present in the work of icons, a strictly disciplined and stylised form, which says something about freedom, I reckon, and this is something you will be struck by in the presence of icons: freedom is costly.

With a few slight changes that allow for language that's a little more inclusive, St. Gregory's extract reads:

Now,
if ever before,
saintliness abounds and penetrates our world;
by gradual advances it has reached the highest mark of perfectness;
and one who follows such footsteps
in her daily rounds
may catch this halo;
one who tracks the scent of this preceding perfume may be drenched in the sweet fragrances of Christ Himself.
As,
when one torch has been fired,
flame is transmitted to all the neighbouring candlesticks, without either the first light being lessened or blazing with unequal brilliance on the other points where it has been caught;
so the saintliness of a life is transmitted from one who has achieved it,
to those who enter the circle . . .

 Hanging out with halos is good for you!

P.S. I was drawn to this image, rather than the classic icons of Gregory, because this looks so Japanese to me! Doubtless that is a book of scripture in his left hand but at first glance it looked like an obi; the cross at waist level could have been a sword; the mountain, well, Mt. Fuji, of course (all red, just like Hokusai's red Fuji!).

The artist is William Rabinovitch and the blurb from the book was rather lovely and affirmed some of my earlier intuitions and assuaged an anxiety I had over what 'perfection' looked like to Gregory. The artist writes:

The water color is meant to convey a stained glass effect in order to bring out the luminosity, fluidity, and intensity suggested by Saint Gregory's life. I have worked in an expressionistic style reminiscent of the highly expressive Greek icon and Mosaic art but reinterpreted it in a twentieth century way so as to create a kind of aesthetic bridge with his time. The figure of Gregory conveys  the degree of asceticism and necessary mystery he espoused as a correct way toward the path of enlightenment. . . . To me, the triangle form beyond the halo conveys his strong sense of the Trinity and the unity of man. Another aspect of the triangle suggests its allusions to Mount Sinai and the idea that the achieving of each summit creates new horizons emphasizing Gregory's idea that progress itself is perfection.

And that is news I can use!