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St. Nektarios
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Archimandrite Efthymios Father Superior of the Holy Monastery of Pantokrator in Mount Athos has written about his work: The uniquely mixed colours which result in tones of unprecedented variety—a feast for the eyes of the body and the soul alike—his original compositions, balanced and atmospheric, and the harmony of the whole take me daily into realms of divine exaltation and spiritual meditation; an example of technically and theologically perfect art which all artists strive for but very few can achieve today. The facial expressions—mild but penetrating, serene, imposing and manly—are rarely seen in today’s churches. All this artistic richness, design, colours and expression, uniquely atmospheric as well as theologically sound, releases spiritual elation. The inimitable in my opinion faces of his holy figures, products of the spiritual toil and artistic labour of the religious painter Mr. Sotirios Panailidis, emanate a mystical quality visible to all, lay Christians and art connoisseurs alike, as a result of their creator’s strong character and artistic inquisitiveness. Sotiris is no copier of icons. He ponders the psalms and sayings by the Holy Fathers of our Church and thus triggers his Orthodox-cultivated and filtered imagination; the fruit of this laborious and so rare process is “artistic birth”, i.e. composition and creation. He begets and at the same time gives birth. His mind goes beyond the trivial and the mundane; he lives his art, penetrates the secret world of light and colour as well as that of Orthodox theology, seeking something new, higher and nobler. He does not copy—he remoulds and creates. In some 15 years, he has painted in more than 15 churches and monasteries in Greece (Larisa, Thessaloniki, Serres, Kozani, Athens, Dion, Karies Holy Maintain, Marathousa Halkidikis, Ellinokastro Karditsa, Katerini, etc.). |
