The greatest gift of the exhibition documented in this catalogue is exemplified by catalogue entry 44 (by Glenn Peers), a small panel of just two figures. The desert father Makarios stands to one side, straight and intensely decorous in the “angelic robe” of the monk, his right hand resting on his long beard, his left lightly raised. Beside him looms a seraph, its upswept wings echoing Makarios’s hood, its cherubic face intent. Gently, it takes the monk’s left wrist in its small, red hand. Monastic inspiration is distilled here in an image of penetrating simplicity. Previously published only once, the panel characterizes the icons that most distinguish this exhibition. Small, each one unique in its imagery, uncluttered visually but absorbing to view, they represent a kind of iconic content that has survived only in the hallowed spaces of monastic spirituality. Conspicuously lacking the big, blowsy Mothers of God and sour Pantokrators that haunt the traditional iconic repertoire, the collection assembled in Holy Image, Hallowed Ground opens a glimpse into a potent and special realm of visual meditation. To enter the space of these images is to enter a very particular contemplative environment, a “hallowed ground.” The special selectivity of these...