Artist Statement: The Bread of Life. The Icon Not Made by Human Hands. They are joined in this tabernacle. Together, they signify and celebrate the Good News of Jesus in a powerful way.
Created for the chapel of Holy Cross Monastery in upstate New York, the tabernacle is ornamented with carved capitals, an inlaid descending dove, Alpha and Omega entwined, and an icon of the Mandylion. Inside, the arched vault and paneling are of light-colored bird’s-eye maple. We have come to think of this particular wood in this particular space as “God's-eye maple”: God keeping watch over the Sacrament.
The icon is the “Mandylion” (“cloth” in Greek), one of the most beloved images in the heritage of the Church. Tradition tells us that Jesus left an imprint of his face on a cloth, which became one of the holiest of relics, and iconographic images of this “icon not made by hands” have been treasured by Christians since the earliest years. It is common, and most appropriate, for Christ’s face to be depicted on a tabernacle, the container for the consecrated bread and wine that have become for the faithful the body and blood of Jesus.
The very shape of the tabernacle, suggesting a temple, recalls Jesus’ reference to the resurrection of his body: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). This tabernacle is carefully designed to honor what it contains, as well as to lead the viewer into prayer and contemplation of the holy mystery of God’s coming into the world to meet humanity face to face.
Bio: Jason Breen is a fine woodworker in Brattleboro, Vermont. Zachary Roesemann is an iconographer in New York City.
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