Over at CNEWA, the Romanian Orthodox nun<\/strong> and Icon-writer Sister Eliseea Papacioc visited the New York office<\/a> of CNEWA and talked a little about process:<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very connected with God when I do this,\u201d she said, \u201cand God is doing everything through my hand. I can\u2019t paint without prayer. This comes from heaven, from the words of God, and if you can\u2019t pray you can\u2019t call yourself an iconographer. The prayer comes in your heart from God. Through this prayer, God gives me this inspiration. It\u2019s like I\u2019m under his protection all the time when I paint, he\u2019s covering me with his wings. I never know how a painting is going to be. I just start a sketch and it just comes to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Sister Eliseea said she\u2019s written hundreds of icons over the course of her life; some can be done in a matter of months, others take years. A large icon of the \u201cDeposition from the Cross\u201d \u2014 Jesus being taken from the cross \u2014 took three years. It is all a labor of love.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not a commercial painter,\u201d she said with a shy smile, explaining that she doesn\u2019t keep any of the icons for herself. \u201cI just paint as much as God inspires me. God gives me this gift to give to people, to give away.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I highly recommend<\/strong> reading this feature piece<\/a> from a past issue of ONE Magazine<\/a>, in which Sister Eliseea explains more fully the prayerful process.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/7\/2013\/05\/Sister-Eliseea-Papacioc-visiting-CNEWA.jpg\")
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