Hmmm...
Your examples have the lettering in the same order on both the Russian and Byzantine icons. I\'m sure I was told that they sometimes differed.
As much as I am reluctant to quote Wikipedia, it is occasionally a good STARTING POINT for research:
Whether those letters are written in the order of a circle around Christ\'s head, or in the order a triangle, is relatively irrelevant. It\'s the same word, and I am confident that there is no theological implication to writing the word in a different direction.
It\'s like writing \\"He Who Is\\" as:
.... He
Who ^ Is
or:
.... Who
He ^ Is
(ignore the dots, I\'m just trying to get the auto-editor to not \\"correct\\" what I\'m typing.)
One is read like two lines of text while the other is read in a circle around the head.
No biggie.
But double check with your spiritual father to check that there aren\'t any specific theological errors in the icons (I personally don\'t see any, but I\'m not an expert!), and follow his advice.
But, I don\'t think you need to go shopping for new icons just yet. I think you\'re not likely to be seduced into thinking that this groups ideas are okay anytime soon, so I wouldn\'t worry about any \\"contamination\\". Besides, in the New Covenant, it\'s holiness that is contagious, not uncleanness. Ordinary things get sprinkled by holy water and become holy, not the other way around.
But, do double check with your spiritual father, because I am no one\'s spiritual father and probably shouldn\'t be giving advice in the first place. :)
Fr Cyprian
In Byzantine and Orthodox images, inside each of the bars of the cross in Christ's halo is one of the Greek letters ? ? ? making up I AM—literally, \"the Existing One\" — indicating the divinity of Jesus.
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