Father Anthony Salzman sits on a scaffold in the dilapidated
102-year-old school building that houses his studio and paints
details of one of the Twelve Apostles’ hair. Across the room,
his son, Maximos, paints in the details of the bench on which
the Twelve Apostles sit. A canvas painted with the likeness of
St. John the Baptist hangs on a center wall. The walls of the
studio are covered with canvases that, once pieced together,
will form a 10-foot-high, 37-foot-long painting — the first
phase of a larger work to be installed on the ceiling of St.
Sophia Hellenic Orthodox Church in New London, Conn. Salzman,
the priest at St. Philothea Greek Orthodox Church in
Watkinsville, is a specialist in Byzantine iconography — art
comprising sacred images of saints, Christ and the Virgin Mary,
and including narrative scenes such as Christ’s crucifixion.
“(Iconography) is an expressive art form that shows the kingdom
of God and makes it visibly present to people,” Salzman
explained. “It’s just another way of communicati