Icons on the Other Side of the World: 7 Byzantine Stained Glass Windows for Brisbane

Some of our windows travel a few miles. These traveled to the other side of the world. In 2009 Stevan Stanisic and Mila Apperlo made 7 stained glass windows, icons in the Byzantine style, for a project in Brisbane, Australia, for the investor Mile Buturovic. It was our first project in Australia, and to this day it is the farthest place on earth where our work can be found.

Icons in glass

In the Orthodox tradition an icon is not simply a picture of a saint. It is often called a window to heaven: an image that makes present the person it shows and invites prayer, not only admiration. A stained glass icon takes that idea literally. The light that passes through it becomes part of the image.

The 7 windows follow the language of Byzantine iconography. The figures stand frontal and calm, looking straight at the viewer. Their faces are serene and timeless rather than portraits of a moment. Each head is surrounded by a halo of gold glass, the sign of holiness and of the uncreated light of God. Each saint is named in Serbian Cyrillic at the top of the window, as on a painted icon, and each carries the attribute that tells his story: a book, a scroll, the keys.

Around the figures, deep blue and turquoise glass fills the background like the sky, crossed by rings and green leaves in a rhythmic pattern, and each window is framed in red.

The Archangel Michael

At the head of the program is a round window of the Archangel Michael, the Archistrategos, the commander of the heavenly hosts. His name in Hebrew asks a question, "Who is like God?", and the answer is the heart of his place in Orthodox theology: he is the defender of the glory of God against pride and evil.

Mila and Stevan show him in gold and blue, with golden wings and a gold halo, holding a staff in one hand and a glowing sphere in the other, the sign of his service to the will of God. The circular window gives him a place of honor, like a medallion above the others.

The 4 Evangelists

4 tall arched windows show the Evangelists, the authors of the 4 Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Together they stand for the Good News carried to the 4 corners of the world, which made them a fitting choice for windows sent to the other side of the globe.

Saint Matthew, the tax collector who left everything to follow Christ, holds a jeweled Gospel book. Saint Mark, who by tradition wrote down the preaching of the apostle Peter, holds his Gospel against a robe of gold. Saint Luke, the physician, is remembered in Orthodox tradition as the first painter of icons of the Mother of God, so he has a special place in any program of icons. Saint John, called the Theologian, holds a scroll, for the Gospel that begins "In the beginning was the Word".

Peter and Paul, the chief apostles

The last 2 windows show the apostles Peter and Paul, honored together in the Orthodox Church as the chief apostles. They share one feast day, Petrovdan for the Serbs.

Saint Peter holds the keys, the keys of the kingdom of heaven that Christ promised him, and a scroll. Saint Paul, the apostle to the nations, who carried the faith far beyond the land where it began, holds a book for his epistles. It is hard to think of better patrons for a work that traveled so far.

Painted and fired by hand

Every face, hand and fold of drapery was painted on the glass by hand. The lines and shadows are painted in glass paint and fired in the kiln, so they fuse with the glass and last as long as the window itself. Then every piece was cut, leaded and soldered into the panels.

The longest journey

When the 7 windows were finished, they were packed in a heavy wooden crate on a steel frame, ready to be shipped farther than any work we had ever made.

Everything arrived in Brisbane safely, and the clients were happy. Of all the places where our glass can be found, from Florida and California to Russia and Croatia, Brisbane remains the farthest.

Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Investor: Mile Buturovic
Work: 7 stained glass windows, icons in the Byzantine style: the Archangel Michael, the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and the apostles Peter and Paul
Made by: Stevan Stanisic and Mila Apperlo, Stanisic Studio