The Mount Athos Center presents an exhibition of painting and iconography entitled ‘Constantine Xenopoulos’s Athos: An experiential approach to the Garden of the Virgin Mary’, which will be officially opened on Thursday 18 June at 19:00.  A unique cultural and spiritual experience awaits the public at the forthcoming exhibition by the acclaimed icon-painter and teacher Constantine Xenopoulos. Through its different thematic sections and the artist’s variety of styles, in a unique and experiential way the exhibition conveys the prayerful atmosphere, daily life and rich artistic tradition of the monastic state of Mount Athos.  
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In the exhibition space of the Mount Athos Center, visitors will be able to view watercolours, reproductions and icons on Athonite subjects, such as portraits, depictions of monasteries and scenes from the everyday lives of the monks, all captured by the brush of the artist Constantine Xenopoulos. The different sections of the exhibition present the monks at work on their daily tasks, copies of 13^th- and 14^th-century wall-paintings at the Protaton in Karyes, and reproductions of works painted in the ‘Nazarene’ style. There is also an array of portraits of monks who live as ‘fools for Christ’, an expression inspired by the words of St. Paul ‘We are fools for Christ’s sake’ and denoting peculiar forms of asceticism and humility,

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The icon-painter hieromonk Loukas Xenophontinos on Constantine Xenopoulos
The hieromonk Loukas Xenophontinos, the author of the main text for the exhibition, notes:
From a young age, Xenopoulos received instruction in the art of icon-painting at the Athonias Academy on Athos. The Holy Mountain is not only where he learned to paint but also his home, the place that brought about his spiritual regeneration and instilled in him his ardent desire to seek beauty in the riches of our tradition. All of this can be easily understood through his artistic approaches. The most sacred church of the Protaton, which houses the frescoes of Manuel Panselinos, is itself a school for learning. There, at the feet of the great master, he indulged in the sacred art of icon painting. One fruit of this education consists in the copies he created. Out of respect, he contented himself with simply copying the frescoes in order to honour their sacredness, though these copies also show his deep understanding of the great master’s style. Xenopoulos’s presence in the Athonite state did not influence only his painting style; it left a profound impression on his heart. He loved the place dearly, its old buildings, shady footpaths, hallowed cells and, above all, the saintly figures of the elders who became such a venerable and catalytic experience for him.

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Biographical sketch
Constantine Xenopoulos was born in 1959 in the village of Strymoniko in the Serres Prefecture. He studied icon painting under Ioannis Vranos and Archimandrite Damaskinos Rodakis at the Athonias Ecclesiastical Academy, where he himself taught from 1982 until 1986. In 1990 he founded the Karapipereio School of Byzantine Icon Painting in Katerini, and he has also directed schools of icon painting at the Holy Metropolis of Serres and Nigrita (1992-1997) and the Holy Metropolis of Aetolia and Akarnania (2006-2009). He has also taught at the Theology Faculty of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1999-2019), the Summer Academy at Moosburg in Austria, the Valamo Monastery in Finland and various foundations in Sweden.
Xenopoulos has decorated churches and monasteries both in Greece and abroad (Italy, Russia, Belarus, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Poland, Hungary, Finland and Jordan). In as early as 1984 the late lamented Patriarch Demetrios entrusted him with the painting of icons that could be given away as presents on his official tours. Since 1992 the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has occasionally commissioned him to decorate churches within the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In 2001 he began a collaboration with the Patriarchate of Alexandria which so far includes his mural decoration of the patriarchal church and his mosaic decoration of the new patriarchal residence. In 2008 the Patriarch of Alexandria Theodore conferred on him the offikion of Archon Iconographer. 
Xenopoulos has published a manual on classic icon painting in two volumes entitled Kopos kai Spoudi (Toil and Study), as well as four other books. He has been awarded medals by the Archbishopric of Finland, the Autocephalous Church of Poland and, in 2016, by UNESCO. In 2024 the Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III bestowed on him the title of Crusader of the Order of Orthodox Crusaders of the Holy Sepulchre. He is also a member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece. He lives and works in Katerini. 

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View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://www.agioritikiestia.gr/en/the-new-art-exhibition-at-the-mount-athos-center-constantine-xenopoulos-s-athos-an-experiential-approach-to-the-garden-of-the-virgin-mary#sigProId841e6eae2e

 
Exhibition curator: Anastasios Douros
The exhibition will run from 4 June until 3 October and will remain open during the summer months.

Opening hours

4 June – 18 July & 24 August – 3 October
Monday, Wednesday: 09:00–16:00
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 09:00–20:00
Saturday: 09:00–15:00
Sunday: closed

20 July – 22 August
Monday - Friday: 09:00–16:00
Saturday & Sunday: closed

Last admissions 30 minutes before closing time.
 
Free admission
 
Mount Athos Center
Nedelkos Mansion, 109 Egnatia St., Thessaloniki
Tel. no. 2310263308 & 2310250648
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