MyKyrieEleison

AN ICONOGRAPHY PROJECT

A PRAYERParadox

You know how the same prayer, repeated again and again, somehow always comes anew?

A master iconographer’s account of his life and methods: struggles, possible ways forward, and glimpses into the traditional craft of sacred art.

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The SaviorAn early work in the series
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One prototypeDeveloped over decades
Each painted by handAn individual work
8 × 8 inchesAcrylic & pigment on canvas

01 / The story

Finding my way
back to the easel.

During my fourteen years in the Pacific Northwest, supported by the Antiochian Orthodox community, I brought the region’s largest fresco ensemble almost to completion.

We do not shape and form it according to our own image. Rather, we are shaped and formed by the grace of God flowing from this iconographic tradition.
— Fr. Joseph Copeland
Holy Cross, Yakima · 2012

Eight years of serious illness interrupted my work and my plans for the Orthodox Christian Arts Research Center.

Now back in Serbia, I am recovering and gradually returning to sustained work as a master iconographer. KYRIE ELEISON belongs to that return.

From time to time, I paint a small series of these portraits of Christ. Each follows my own original prototype, developed over decades of iconographic experience. Each is also my painter’s expression of the prayer: Lord, have mercy.

These individual works are moments of an ongoing practice—iconographic “prayer snapshots.”

02 / The practice

The same beginning.
A face painted anew.

I return to the same motif, as an athlete returns to the same obstacle: another occasion to hone the craft.

01 / THE TRACE

A shared beginning.

The working drawing ↗

The same halo within the square. The same linear trace of my own design, repeated at the beginning of each icon.

02 / THE PAINTING

From soul and mind.

Then comes the painting. There is nothing before me to copy; I work from what I carry in my soul and mind.

03 / THE CADENCE

Each a little different.

After a handwritten gift
Professor G. Stathis · Sinai

The faces appear remarkably alike. Their subtle differences resemble the changing rhythm and breathing pauses within a cycle of prayer.

The same prayer

The same face.
Its own cadence.

Through this repeated practice, this askesis, I approach my ideal model of the icon of Christ.

03 / The icons

If you choose to acquire one, you will receive an original work from my hands and help sustain the painting and research that follow. I would be deeply grateful for your support.

KYRIE ELEISON
The Savior
A continuing series

Medium
Acrylic and pigment on canvas
Icon
Approximately 8 × 8 inches
20 × 20 cm
Framed
Approximately 9¼ × 9¼ inches
23.5 × 23.5 cm
Framed dimensions may vary.
Year
2026

$525 each

Each piece is individually painted after my own original prototype.

04 / The artist

Uglješa Mileta

Iconographer · OCARC founder

I intend to keep this channel open throughout the rest of my working life: offering new icons, sharing discoveries, and occasionally recording moments of the return to my easel.

Uglješa Mileta

Holy Cross, Yakima · 2012

Shaped by the tradition.

Iconography is like that as well. We do not shape and form it according to our own image. Rather, we are shaped and formed by the grace of God flowing from this iconographic tradition. This is the ethos of the Church in shapes and colors that bends our attention toward seeking “...first the kingdom of God and His righteousness...”.

Fr. Joseph Copeland
Holy Cross Yakima Iconography Project
Afterfeast of the Dormition · August 17, 2012

The working drawing

The preliminary icon drawing photographed on paper, with the lighter pencil marks visible beneath the final contours

From my working drawing for the series: the linear trace and the lighter pencil marks beneath it.

A handwritten gift · Sinai

The full original photograph of Professor G. Stathis’s handwritten Kyrie Eleison on Sinai monastery memo paper, resting on a green surface

Different ways of chanting the same prayer: “Kyrie Eleison”—“Lord, have mercy.” Handwritten for me by Professor G. Stathis on Sinai.

Open the full photograph ↗

The prototype

“Generic but genuine.”

This face of Christ is my own prototype, synthesized over decades of looking at some of the finest examples tradition has given us: Protaton, Hilandar, and Sinai.

The same design lies beneath every piece in the series. Each painting is another approach to the face I carry within.

The painting

Copying by not copying it.

I have returned to the same motif hundreds of times. When the feast of St. Nicholas comes around each year in Serbia, there is another occasion to paint him, another chance to approach a beloved Byzantine prototype more closely.

With KYRIE ELEISON, the underlying design is my own. I repeat its linear trace. Then the painting begins, guided by what is in my soul and mind.

Every piece comes out a little different. Through the work, I keep honing my skill and approaching my ideal model.

Cadence

Always the same.
Always coming anew.

To an untrained eye, the icons in a series may appear remarkably the same. To the painter, each contains its own small differences.

They resemble the slight changes in rhythm and breathing pauses within a cycle of prayer: the same words, a particular cadence.

That is one way I understand these works as iconographic “prayer snapshots.”

An encounter on Mount Athos

Looking through
my portfolio.

At the Bourazeri kellion on Mount Athos, Geronda Arsenios once examined my portfolio and spoke to me in English.

A chapel interior with icons and hanging lamps, and a monk reading beside a sunlit window

As I remember his words, he reminded me that we must never forget whom we are painting: Christ, the living God, whose image is within every one of us.

That conversation has stayed with me.

The work ahead

Painting, encounter,
and research.

These icons help support my daily work and the continuing research of OCARC, now taking root in Serbia.

Mount Athos and Sinai remain essential destinations for this work. My investigations include the proportional methods of the Byzantine masters and their practical use in iconography today.

Each purchase helps make the painting, study, and journeys ahead possible.

The Savior · Early series

The original phone photograph of the framed icon resting on a lace-covered table

An early icon from the KYRIE ELEISON series, photographed in its frame.

OCARC · Header study

The letter-ring seal.

Enlarged OCARC mark

The same original logo, enclosed by a small ring of the full studio name.