"I do not think there is any way of 'opening icons up to a viewer', as one can do in Western painting. When one speaks about one of the Old Masters, for example, one is seeking to draw into action the viewer's imagination. The colour, the forms, the patternings, the meaning, often the narrative: all these can be set before another and one's joy in them expressed and shared. But icons do not appeal to the imagination, they appeal to the spirit. They are there for prayer. A true icon is as functional as a pen or a bicycle, and like a pen or a bicycle, it only works when put to personal use. You and you alone must ride your bicycle, or use your pen. No one can take this responsibility from you. Obviously, this is a far graver and more rewarding responsibility than anything material, but it is fundamentally a unique, personal offer of an encounter with God. Only you can respond to this."