Picture in Focus: The Flight into Egypt by Ostap Lozynsky

January 29, 2023

Picture in Focus: The Flight into Egypt by Ostap Lozynsky

This week's featured icon of the Flight into Egypt was made by Ostap Lozynsky, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic artist from the city of Lviv in West Ukraine who belonged to a new school of icon-makers, using contemporary and traditional folk art motifs to revitalize this ancient sacred art form. His version of the Flight into Egypt copies the naïve painting style of peasant artists who would have understood how important it was for Joseph the Carpenter to take the tools of his trade with him if he hoped to provide for his family in an alien land. Lozynsky's death during the global pandemic was a great loss to the West Ukrainian sacred art community. His icon of the Holy Family in flight brings to mind the eight million refugees who have been forced to leave their homes since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Pray for Peace in Ukraine! (John Kohan)