William Sutherland's photos with the keyword: Christianity

Metropolitan Museum of Art - Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350 exhibit, New York, NY l.: Enthroned Virgin (Terracotta) by navtive Siena artist Goro Di Gregorio circa 1300-1334. Terracotta. r.: Head of Christ (Fragment of a Crucifix) by Lando Di Pietro circa 1280-1340. Woodcarving. The Head of Christ testifies to a miracle. Originally part of a life-sized crucifix, it survived an Allied aerial bombing raid outside Siena, Italy on 23 January, 1944 that struck the late 18th century Church of the Osservanza where it was displayed. Adding to the miracle, two pieces of an inscribed parchment by the artist also survived. They were discovered inside the remains of the badly damaged corpus that invited “the Virgin and numerous saints to join him in his supplication for mercy.”

Metropolitan Museum of Art - Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350 exhibit, New York, NY Virgin and Child by Palaiologan, circa 1260-70. Tempera on wood with metal and bejeweled revetment. Located in the Carmelite church of San Niccolò in Siena, Italy.

Church of St. Augustine (built 1928), Larchmont, NY l. Crucifix ; r. top Crucifixion Stained Glass Window ; r. bottom Mary Magdalene Stained Glass Window

St. Paul Roman Catholic Church, Rye Brook, NY Stained Glass window created in 1970 featuring St. Paul, a sword and a chain to capture his life as a persecutor and then a prisoner for Christ following his conversion.

St. Paul Roman Catholic Church, Rye Brook, NY Abstract of a stained glass window created in 1970 with panes featuring humble prayer, a cross and Ichthys "fish."

Saint Paul Roman Catholic Church, Rye Brook, NY When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit ... [Acts 2:1-4] And as [Jesus] was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him... like a dove... [Luke 3:21-22] Descent of the Holy Spirit : The Holy Spirit descends upon Mary and the Apostles on Pentecost Sunday. [Third Glorious Mystery of the Rosary] To Jesus, son of Mary, We... supported him with the [H] oly [S] pirit (Ruh al-Qudus) . [Qu'ran: Al-Baqarah (The Cow) 2:253] …the Spirit of God (Ruach Elohim) was hovering over the face of the water [a] nd God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. [Torah: Bereshit (Genesis) 1:2-3]

Created from a photograph of an icon of Our Lady of Kazan , circa 1970 in Sofrino, Russia. The original icon was created in Constantinople in the 13th century and brought to Russia shortly thereafter. When the Tatars captured Kazan in 1438 the icon disappeared. It was rediscovered under the ruins of a burnt down house in 1579 by a young girl Matrona who had received messages from the Virgin Mary. This icon has a lot in common with Fátima, Portugal. Consequently, with the expansion of wars and hardening of the already rigid and unyielding positions by world leaders that reject compromise and who have discarded the concept of mutually assured destruction (coined during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870), the 13 July 1917 Fatima message to Lucia – “ When you see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that it is the great sign God gives you that He is going to punish the world… ” – remains relevant and fitting today. On 25 January 1938 an intense geomagnetic storm lit up the night sky all across Europe and could be seen as far south as Bermuda. A month later Hitler invaded Austria. Eight months later he invaded Poland and World War II was officially underway. On 11 May 2024 an intense geomagnetic storm (perhaps the most intense since record-keeping began in1932) lit up the skies across much of the world. Auroral displays could be seen all across the United States into Mexico, in the Bahamas, western Africa and as far south as Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Argentina. Could this be history repeating itself with the greater intensity warning of an even greater conflagration that leads to nuclear war? Let’s hope world leaders rediscover reason and pursue peace if we are to remain a planet of the living. In the meantime, as the Blessed Mother has repeatedly implored through the ages – La Salette, France (1846), Lourdes, France (1858), Fátima, Portugal (1917), Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina (1981), to name four such instances – we should pray for peace . And as we pray for peace Our Lady of Kazan can serve as a protector. Although we may not live to see that day when peoples and nations are reconciled to each other and live in peace, one day it will happen if humanity doesn’t first extinguish itself into extinction through nuclear war and consequent Armageddon.

Collage created by Craiyon AI art generator / digitally edited in Smart Photo Editor . _______________ Sanctity is the Light of the World, The reflection of God Who dwells within it. It is virtue, holiness and love. It is patient and compassionate – unstained by evil and violence. It is the inspiration and hope of all who desire the " holy place [of God]" [Psalm 24:1] with " robes... [washed] white in the blood of the Lamb. " [Revelation 7:14] _______________ Sadly today's world that immerses itself in bloodshed, violence and unimaginable acts of evil doesn't recognize the virtues of sanctity because " it cannot accept [H] im (God) ... [and] neither sees [H] im nor knows [H] im. [John 14:17] May the world accept God, discover His love and one day "[t] urn from evil... do good; seek peace... " [Psalm 34:14] and "[m] ake every effort... to be holy. [Hebrews 12:14]

Created with Dall-e 2® and Smart Photo Editor® . And on the first of the week, about the third hour of the night, the sun was seen such as it had never at any time shone, and all the heaven was lighted up. [A]n innumerable multitude of angels cr[ied] out… saying: Glory in the highest to God, and on earth peace, among [people] of goodwill: come up out of Hades, ye who have been kept in slavery… And at their voice all the mountains and hills were shaken, and the rocks were burst asunder… [a]nd there were seen… [the] dead raised up… And all the multitude walked about, and sang praises to God… saying: The Lord our God that has risen from the dead has brought to life all the dead, and has plundered Hades, and put him to death. The Report of Pontius Pilate/Letter to Tiberius Early on the first day of the week… Mary of Magdala went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance… Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white… They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” John 20:1, 11-13 [An] angel said… “Do not be afraid... He is not here; he has risen, just as he said!” Matthew 28:5-6

Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio (l.) The Crucifixion , about 1730. Porcelain; ebonized wood cross with gilt-bronze mounts. Du Paquier Porcelain Manufactory (Austria); (r.) Vesperbild (Pietà) , 1515-20. Lindenwood, polychromed and gilded. Master of Rabenden (Upper Bavaria, Germany)

Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland,Ohio (left): Icon of the Mother of God and Infant Christ , c. 1425-50, Tempera and gold on wood by Angelos Akotantos (1390-1457), Greece; (right): Icon of the New Testament Trinity , c. 1450, Tempera and gold on poplar wood, Constantinople, Byzantine. “…[I]cons speak to us of reality transformed and transfigured, both in and through God’s presence. They speak of transcendence and mystery… [and] point to a reality that we have never seen with our own eyes. …[I]cons, represent our limited attempts to speak of the unspeakable.” – Peter Pearson (born 1957), American Iconographer

St. Nicholas of Myra Byzantine Catholic Church, White Plains, NY It was encouraging to see Pope Francis demonstrated courage to attend the 2022 Kazakh Interfaith Summit despite objections from the dying minority that cling to the archaic and obsolete “one true religion” view that is antithetical to God's love, limits the power of the resurrection, monopolizes Jesus Christ’s saving grace and has caused so much human grief and suffering through the ages. During this conference, participants referenced the historic “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” signed by Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed Al Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar in Abu Dhabi, UAE (February 2019). During his closing speech, Pope Francis reinforced Point 10 of the summit’s declaration – “We note that pluralism and differences in religion, skin color, gender, race, and language are expressions of the wisdom of God’s will in creation. …any incident of coercion to a particular religion and religious doctrine is unacceptable” [1] – declaring “extremism, radicalism, terrorism and all other forms of violence and wars, whatever their goals, have nothing to do with true religion and must be rejected in the strongest possible term.” He also called on “world leaders to ‘abandon all aggressive and destructive rhetoric which leads to destabilization… and to cease from conflict and bloodshed…” [2] _________ [1] Hannah Brockhaus. Kazakhstan interreligious congress adopts declaration calling religious pluralism ‘God’s will.’ CAN (Catholic News Agency). 21 September 2022. www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252298/kazakhstan-interreligious-congress-adopts-declaration-calling-religious-pluralism-gods-will [2] Nicole Winfield. Pope criticized over interfaith event. The Journal News. 10 September 2022. 3A.

St. Patricks Cathedral, New York, NY And on the first of the week, about the third hour of the night, the sun was seen such as it had never at any time shone, and all the heaven was lighted up. [A] n innumerable multitude of angels cr [ied] out… saying: “Glory in the highest to God, and on earth peace, among [people] of goodwill…” [A] t their voice all the mountains and hills were shaken, and the rocks were burst asunder… [a] nd there were seen… [the] dead raised up… And all the multitude walked about, and sang praises… saying: “The Lord our God that has risen from the dead has brought to life all the dead…” [The Report of Pontius Pilate (c. 33-40 CE)] “When he was buried, they set guards upon him – yet while my soldiers watched him, he rose again on the third day… The soldiers… did not remain silent about what had happened. They testified that they saw him arisen.” [Paul Winter. A Letter from Pontius Pilate. Novum Testamentum. Vol. 7. Fasc. 1. (March 1964). 38.] “He appeared to them… restored to life.” [Flavius Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews. Book 18, Chapter 3,3. (c. 71 CE)]

Created 26 April 2021 from three photos – a red sphere, Mount Vernon, NY (8 May 2012), a section of the sculpture “Passage” at Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens, Purchase, NY (9 May 2012), and a Corpus at St. Joseph’s Church, Yonkers, NY (18 October 2009). This creation was inspired by Spanish artist Salvador Dalí’s (1904-1989) “Crucifixion” (Corpus Hypercubus) painted in 1954. The red sphere representing the rock that was found rolled away from Christ’s tomb on Easter morning (c. AD 33) takes the place of Dalí’s hypercube. The section of the sculpture “Passage” by Richard Erdman and Roman Travertine, 1985 represents the empty tomb hewn out of stone. The resurrected Jesus with outstretched arms and radiance emanating from his risen “glorified” body stands in front of the stone (red sphere) that had been rolled away epitomizing the triumph of life over death. The various shades, swirls, and bokeh are intended to represent the same “nuclear mysticism” and surrealism as Dalí’s masterpiece painting. Consequently, the pocked rock of the tomb melds with the sky joining heaven and earth, every point on the sphere’s surface is equidistant from its center representing completeness and perpetuity and the tones, swirls and bokeh portray the transition from the spatial temporal reality of our world to the non-spatial eternity of the Kingdom to come made possible by Christ’s resurrection. Per Jesus Christ’s Resurrection real, according to some scientists (Word Press, 5 April 2010), based on “modern particle physics,” such a resurrection… conceivably… occurred when Jesus’ body “dematerialized” from underneath the burial shroud in which its physical matter was converted into neutrinos and then “rematerialized” when outside… [likely initiated through interaction with anti-neutrinos that caused] the neutrinos [to revert] back into their previous form of matter and… when such… rematerialization took place… the process emitted an abundance of light (photonic energy)… corroborat[ing] biblical accounts of His “glorified” body mentioned in Philippians 3:21.

Created from a photo of a wine display in Larchmont, NY (23 October 2011) and photo of a torn advertisement featuring Jesus and Mary for an Italian festival in May 2005 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, White Plains, NY found in Larchmont, NY (17 April 2021). The vibrant colors are meant to represent a stained glass window and joy.

Mamaroneck, NY Note: This abstract was created using discarded garbage and litter consisting of plastic debris, a rubber spacer ring, red foam heart, broken tiles and lima beans. When I created this work, I intended to break numerous rules, starting with the title Cela , inscribed on one of the broken tiles, which is derived from the French contraction Ce + là , which means “That.” In this case “That” is 1 John 4:8 and 16 – “God is Love.” Accordingly, the heart that represents God’s unconditional, unfailing and unending love based on Psalm 136:26: “Give thanks to God… for His steadfast love endures forever” was converted into a colorless heart because in reality His sacred heart is immaculate and pure and untarnished by even the slightest ill, evil and negativity, the black spacer ring that represents light and eternity maintained its color despite conventional views since black too as does every color, connotes brightness and goodness. The cross represents God’s great sacrifice that broke the chains of death while the widespread red represents God’s passion and love exhibited so clearly when He gave his life for each and every one of us and the power of the Holy Spirit that guides, inspires, purifies and sustains our existence – “And there appeared to them tongues as of fire…” [Acts 2:3] “to purify…” [Titus 2:14] and , based on Psalm 51:10 “create in [each of us] a clean heart." The faint wavy flows symbolize rebirth to eternity based on John 3:5 “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” All of us are body (75% of water) and soul! The lima beans represent seeds of faith based on the parable found in Luke 17:5-6: “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’ and it will obey you” while the simplicity proclaims the words of Matthew 11:30 – “ [M] y yoke is easy and M y burden is light.” Finally, the face represents the blissful attainment of eternal life in the presence of God captured by Psalm 16:11: “In Your presence is fullness of joy.”

Mamaroneck, NY

Larchmont, NY