Fr. Theodore Jurewicz is a Polish-American Orthodox priest and artist specializing in painting Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 icon

Icon

An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...

s and fresco

Fresco

Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...

es. Father Jurewicz is also a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia , also called the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, ROCA, or ROCOR) is a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church....

, and serves the parish of the Nativity of the Lord in Erie, Pennsylvania

Erie, Pennsylvania

Erie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...

.

Art

Fr. Jurewicz is held to be one of the most renowned iconographers in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 today, and has painted about a dozen Eastern Orthodox churches

Eastern Orthodox church architecture

An Orthodox church as a church building of Eastern Orthodoxy has a distinct, recognizable style among church architectures.-History:While sharing many traditions, East and West in Christianity began to diverge from each other from an early date...

 across North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. He was a student of the late Archimandrite Cyprian, founder of the Russian school of iconography outside of Russia.

One of his more famous works was his commission to paint the entire church at New Gračanica Monastery

New Gracanica Monastery

New Gračanica is a Serbian Orthodox monastery complex is located in Third Lake, Illinois, USA, a suburb of Chicago. The complex houses a scaled up replica of the Gračanica monastery in Kosovo...

 in Third Lake, Illinois

Third Lake, Illinois

Third Lake is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,355 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Third Lake is located at ....

, a faithful replica of the original Gračanica monastery

Gracanica monastery

Gračanica is a Serbian Orthodox monastery located in Kosovo. It was founded by the Serbian king Stefan Milutin in 1321. Gračanica Monastery was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1990, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia, and on 13 July 2006 it was placed on UNESCO's...

 in Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

, which is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as an endangered example of medieval monuments. Done over the span of three years, it is painted in a Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 style and features richly colored designs and religious scenes covering the walls

Walls

- Other uses :*Wall's , a company that makes ice cream*Wall's sausages, a British sausage brand*Walls, an episode of Power Rangers S.P.D.- Music :*Walls EP, a 2005 album by The Red Paintings*Walls , 2007...

, vaults

Vault (architecture)

A Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that require a counter resistance. When vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required...

, pillars

Column

A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...

 and dome

Dome

A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....

 of the church. The fresco

Fresco

Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...

es are painted in acrylics

Acrylic paint

Acrylic paint is fast drying paint containing pigment suspension in acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints can be diluted with water, but become water-resistant when dry...

 on dry plaster

Plaster

Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...

.

Fr. Theodore has also mastered the art of Coptic Orthodox iconography. His Coptic iconography can be seen at St. George Coptic Orthodox Church in Toledo, OH.

Sources

• http://directory.stinnocentpress.com/viewclergy.cgi?Uid=46&lang=en