Springfield, Virginia, July 1, 2025
Photo: oca.org A newly commissioned icon depicting All Saints of North America will be unveiled for the first time at the 21st All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America, scheduled for July 14-18, in Phoenix, Arizona.
The icon was commissioned following a call for proposals issued in January 2024 by His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon. After reviewing submissions from iconographers worldwide, Met. Tikhon selected master iconographer Anton Daineko to create the work. Daineko serves as an instructor at the Icon School of St. Tikhon’s Art Institute in South Canaan, Pennsylvania, reports the Orthodox Church in America.
The completed icon, which has been housed at the OCA Chancery offices in Springfield, Virginia, since its completion earlier this year, features all saints of North America listed in the Orthodox Church in America’s diptychs. The composition includes the recently glorified righteous Olga of Kwethluk, marking her first appearance in an official icon of North American saints.
Among the 19 saints depicted in the icon are St. Herman of Alaska, St. Tikhon, St. Innocent of Alaska, St. Raphael, St. Alexis Toth, St. Jacob of Alaska, St. John Kochurov, St. Alexander Hotovitzky, St. Juvenaly, St. Peter, St. Basil Martysz, St. John Maximovitch, St. NiNikolai of Žiča, St. Alexei (Kabalyuk), St. Mardarije (Uskoković), St. Sebastian (Dabović), St. Seraphim (Samoilovich), St. Varnava (Nastić), and the newly glorified St. Olga of Kwethluk.
Following traditional iconographic conventions, the icon centers on Our Lord Jesus Christ enthroned, flanked by the Theotokos and St. John the Baptist in a deesis arrangement. The background features the Church of the Ascension on Unalaska, Alaska, originally constructed by St. Innocent of Alaska himself, representing the local ecclesiastical heritage of North American Orthodoxy.
Met. Tikhon will formally bless the icon during the Council proceedings, after which it will be available for veneration by the faithful attending the event. Following the Council, the icon is expected to return to Virginia until the next All-American Council convenes.
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