[man chanting in Greek] Kordis: You have to have a connection with what you paint.

I don't think that you can render the deep spirit of the work if you are not close to that.

For me, this is my, I would say, mother artistic language.

[music] Father Zosos: When we were in the renovation, I felt, “Why not put icons in it that never had any for a hundred years?” It's bringing the historic tradition to the present.

[music] Rockwood: It isn't just a picture.

They tell a story.

They help us understand things.

They don't make things up and paint it on the wall.

It's things that we actually understand from years way back that actually occurred.

Zosos: The souls of these individuals are still alive, as our souls are.

So there is a relationship.

We just don't look at them.

We pray to them.

We ask them for their intercessions.

Kordis: It's a very old technique.

And the idea is that we mix a medium and pigments, which are basically oxides, different oxides.

And this way we create a paint.

We want to have a very simple palette, so when you enter the space, these colors to be peaceful and reconciled, and in unity.

It is a complete system of painting.

I would say perfect system.

Panou: Every time is different.

Every church is different.

You have to study and work and persist.

We all do everything in this group, but I usually make like the ornaments and all the small details around.

It's like calligraphy, actually.

That's why I like it.

Yes.

I have this really bad habit to put every color on me, just dry my brushes on me.

It's not very practical.

[laughs] I have tried so much to stop it.

And then I do it again and again.

[laughs] It's my style.

Yes.

I have to accept it.

[laughs] [music] Goodner: It's very moving.

It's very moving.

It's amazing how fast they're doing this and how beautiful it is.

It's stunning.

All of these saints, they're people.

And I feel like they're friends and they're helping me.

Zosos: It takes you a little while sometimes to appreciate them because their faces are different, their hands are different.

But that's because they've elevated themselves; they've grown closer to God, to a place that we can't understand right now.

Kordis: Smiling or joy or sorrow is something that is temporary.

That - it's not there forever.

So we, we try to render such things through movement.

The depth in Byzantine painting is in front of the icon, it's not in the background.

We want through this painting to give spectators the sense that everything is here in present.

If you have a movement towards this direction, then you have immediately another movement to the other direction.

This way, actually painter creates a cone, a visual, iconic cone in front of the icon So when the spectator enters this cone, has the sense that he's inside the icon.

Wherever you stand, he's looking at you.

And if you move, he is following you.

In every church, the most interesting and difficult part definitely is the icon of Jesus in the dome, which is sometimes - it's very big, very huge and very difficult to handle because it's a big artwork.

We are very close.

Rockwood: People came forth with all of the money that it took to do this.

[Greek music] Zosos: Our biggest fundraiser has been the Greek festival.

It's one of the largest, well-attended events in the summer.

[chanting] Iconography has existed from the beginning of the Christian church.

In the early church, they used to use the yolk of an egg with powder paint to do this.

It’s laborious work.

There's like three or four or five different levels of paint that go on this.

And it's beautiful.

When you enter an Orthodox church and you come from the secular world outside and the door closes behind you, you know you're in the presence of God.

You know that it's special.

Help us, save us, have mercy upon us and keep us, O God, in your grace.

[audience responds] Goodner: This is the way it should be.

When you walk into an Orthodox church, you should feel this communion of saints and ordinary people today and the feeling of history.

Kordis: We hope that they will be inspired.

They will be able to pray better or more in this peaceful space.

[bell ringing] Zosos: I have to tell you, it brings tears to my eyes.

I get emotional because, you know, as you get older I think you want to get closer to God.

And this surely is a way of doing that.

[singing and bell ringing]