Retail price: $14.95

The 2012 Icon Calendar from Conciliar Press features icons of saintly families from the following iconographers: Michael Kapeluck, Jan Isham, the Convent of Saint Elizabeth (Etna, California), and Decani Monastery (Serbia). The full-color calendar measures 11" X 12" and features large calendar boxes (1-3/8" X 1-3/4") for recording your important date reminders and lists major saint and feast days traditionally celebrated in Orthodox countries around the world (dates are according to the new calendar).

Icons used in the calendar

January—The Wedding at Cana, icon by Jan Isham

February—St. Sophia and her daughters: Faith, Hope, and Love, icon by Michael Kapeluck

March—The Righteous Hannah and her son, the Prophet Samuel, icon by Michael Kapeluck

April—The brothers Ss. Cyril and Methodius, icon by Michael Kapeluck

May—St. Helen and her son, St. Constantine, icon by the Convent of St. Elizabeth, Etna, CA

June—St. Elizabeth and her son, the Forerunner and Baptist John, icon by Michael Kapeluck

July—St. Olga and her grandson, St. Vladimir, icon by Michael Kapeluck

August—The Righteous Noah and his son Shem; the Righteous Abraham and his wife, Sarah, icons by Michael Kapeluck

September—Saints Joachim and Anna with their daughter, the Theotokos, icon by the Convent of St. Elizabeth, Etna, CA

October—St. Cleopatra and her son, St. John, icon by Michael Kapeluck

November—Saints Cosmas and Damian, icon by the Convent of St. Elizabeth, Etna, CA

December—The Flight to Egypt, icon by Decani Monastery, Serbia

About the iconographers whose work is featured in this calendar

Michael Kapeluck. Michael was born in Pittsburgh, PA, and is a lifelong communicant of Saints Peter & Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Carnegie, PA. Michael started his art training early in life, being chosen to attend formal art classes at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh at the age of nine. He studied in this program for six years, at which point he graduated to the pre-college course of instruction at Carnegie Mellon University, where he spent three years. Upon graduation from high school he decided to continue his studies in art at Carnegie Mellon, where he was accepted into the College of Fine Arts. After four years of study Michael graduated with high honors and a Bachelor of Fine Art.

After several years of showing in area art galleries, Michael felt that the Holy Spirit was moving him to give up the world of secular art to devote his life to the study and creation of the sacred art of iconography. Realizing God had been preparing him, he would start using the skills he had learned over the past 14 years to begin a new and ultimately more fulfilling journey. He has been blessed to paint for churches and individuals for over 20 years and continues to enjoy the challenge of pushing his skills to greater levels. He thanks the Lord for such a tremendous blessing to be able to have a sustained career in this sacred art form of the Church. Michael now lives, paints, and worships in his home town of Carnegie, where he enjoys life with his wife Michele and their two children, Zachary and Mikaela.

Contact Information: Email: kapeluck@verizon.net; Website: www.archangelicons.com; Studio: Archangel Studios, Carnegie, PA; Phone: 412-527-5359

The Convent of St. Elizabeth, the Grand Duchess. The convent is located in Etna, in the mountains of far northern California, just below the Oregon border. The fourteen nuns at the Convent support themselves by painting icons, sewing vestments, and making prayer ropes. The Convent Icon Studio has been offering the finest quality workmanship for over 20 years. Three full-time iconographers paint a large range of icons, including canvasses, wooden panels, triptychs, crucifixes, mosaics, and much more. They offer gold leaf backgrounds on all icons and will add ornate relief decorations and raised frames for an additional cost. All icons are custom made. Copies of all icons are available as prints.

Contact Information: E-mail: cse@sisqtel.net; Website: www.conventofsaintelizabeth.org; Phone: 530-467-5625; Mail: Convent of St. Elizabeth, P.O. Box 126, Etna, CA 96027

Jan Isham. Jan was a fine artist living in Goleta, California, during the 1970s and 1980s, where she worshipped with Saint Athanasius Church—one of the churches that was part of the Evangelical Orthodox Church movement which eventually entered into canonical Orthodoxy in 1987. During the early 80s, after Father Alexander Schmemann, of blessed memory, made a brief visit to Saint Athanasius and taught the group there about the role of icons within the Orthodox Church, Jan was asked by her priests to paint some icons for the parish. Since that time, Jan has pursued her interest in iconography and has completed commissioned pieces for several churches and many private individuals. In 2000, she moved to the Midwest, and currently lives and paints in Hillsboro, Kansas, where she is a member of Holy Transfiguration Antiochian Church.

Contact Information: Email: jan.isham@gmail.com; Studio: Hillsboro, KS; Phone: 620-947-3788

Decani Monastery, Serbia. Visoki Decani (pronounced “Dechani”) Monastery, located in the Kosovo region of Serbia, is the largest and best preserved medieval monastery in Serbia. The cathedral’s celebrated frescoes, completed in 1350, comprise some 1000 portraits and cover all major themes of the New Testament. In 2004, UNESCO listed the monastery on the World Heritage List, citing its frescoes as “one of the most valued examples of the so-called Palaeologan renaissance in Byzantine painting.” Today a young brotherhood of 30 brethren lives in the monastery, continuing the centuries-old traditions of the past. The brotherhood engages in wood carving, icon painting, and book publishing, and is extremely active in missionary work in Kosovo. Conciliar Press is grateful to the brotherhood for their permission to include the fresco of the Flight to Egypt in this calendar.

About the Calendar Dates: The feast days shown on this calendar in bold, blue type are the twelve great feast days of the Orthodox Church. Other feast days of some of the most popularly venerated saints of the Orthodox churches around the world are listed in black, regular type. 

Dates are listed according to the Gregorian or “new” calendar. (Except for those feasts with their dates tied to the date of Pascha, add 13 days to determine the date celebrated according to the old calendar—e.g. Theophany, on January 6, would be celebrated on the civil date of January 19 for those Orthodox churches on the old calendar.) The date for Pascha (and the other movable feasts tied to the date of Pascha) is based on the traditional Eastern Orthodox calculation for the date of Easter. In the year 2012, Orthodox Pascha falls on April 15, while Western Easter falls on April 8.

Many days throughout the Orthodox church year are designated as fast days (on which we refrain from eating meat products, milk products, fish, wine, and oil). These fast days, marked in red type, include the four canonical fasting seasons (Great Lent, the Apostles’ fast, the Dormition fast, and the Advent fast), as well as almost every Wednesday and Friday. When a major feast falls during a fasting season, fish, wine & oil are allowed. In addition, there are also several fast-free weeks and other special fast days. Because fast day designations vary slightly from church to church, consult your local parish for further details.

Format: saddle stitch Trim size: 11 X 12 Page count: 28

ISBN: 978-1-936270-35-4

Sample pages