Re] Eastern Orthodox icons placement of icons

[Michele A. Berdy]

On icons and the icon corner:

Orthodox Christians pray to the East for a number of reasons: the Second 
Coming will be from the East (Matt 24:27); Eden was in the East; the Three 
Wise Men saw the star in the East (Matt 2:1-2); Ezekiel saw the "Glory of 
the Lord" when looking East (Eze 43:4); etc. (many Biblical references) --  
and also because the sun rises in the East. The altar of an Orthodox Church 
is in the east, when possible, and so are icons in homes. The icons are 
traditionally placed in the corner to limit distractions. If I'm not 
mistaken, in Russia houses were built so that the entrance to the main room 
was in the west corner, across from the east corner, so the icon would be 
the first thing a person saw when entering (and the person would venerate 
the icon(s) before greeting the hosts). Today houses and apartments aren't 
built for Orthodox worship (!), so people make icon corners or icon shelves 
(or walls) wherever it makes sense.

You might be interested in: The Meaning of Icons (Leonid Ouspensky, Valdimir 
Lossky); Timothy Ware's books (good basic intros to Orthodox worship for 
Westerners); Icons and Saints of the Orthodox Church (Alfredo Tradigo; very 
detailed analyses of icons); Praying with Icons (Jim Forest; more devotional 
than academic, but a good introduction).

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