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Church seeks funding to repair icon damaged by Alaska quake

Church seeks funding to repair icon damaged by Alaska quake | iNFOnews.ca
This Oct. 31, 2016, photo shows an icon of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, which sits behind the altar of Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church, in Kenai, Alaska. The icon was torn when a cross fell on it during an earthquake on Jan. 24, 2016. The church is raising funds to send the icon to a conservator in Colorado who will repair the rip, as well as an earlier candle burn above and to the right of the rip. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion via AP)

KENAI, Alaska – A painted icon of Jesus that sits behind the altar in an Alaska church is closer to being repaired, months after it was damaged by a 7.1-magnitude earthquake.

The quake struck the Kenai Peninsula Jan. 24, damaging a highway and destroying several homes. It also caused a heavy cross inside Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox church to fall over and tear through the canvas of the icon, The Peninsula Clarion reported (http://bit.ly/2fc3ltq).

The church council decided Saturday to send the icon for repair to Colorado, where an art conservator will fix the large rip covering most of Jesus’ right arm as well as a burn mark left by a candle.

Holy Assumption is now working to raise the funds needed for the repair work. The church is still seeking a cost estimate for the restoration, but the work is expected to cost between $5,000 and $6,000, according to Dorothy Gray, a church member and secretary of the non-profit preservation group Russian Orthodox Sacred Sites in Alaska.

The icon showing Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane with two angels by his side before his arrest and crucifixion is part of an Eastern Orthodox tradition of religious art illustrating stories and personalities from the Bible. The piece was created by Alaska Native iconographer Grigorii Petukhov, an Aleut who lived in Sitka during the mid-1800s.

The 121-year-old church has several icons that fill the sanctuary, many of which have been coated with soot as a result of candle lighting and incense burning. Gray estimated the church has sent over a dozen icons for restoration in the past 20 years.

“They’re not only repaired, but they’re cleaned, and then there’s a protective coating that is layered on top to help preserve them and keep them from any type of further damage, from water, from smoke, from the candles, incense, and to keep them clean,” Gray said.

The Gethsemane icon, however, is the first to be repaired for such a large rip.

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Information from: (Kenai, Alaska) Peninsula Clarion, http://www.peninsulaclarion.com

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