Christos Paleoxaris spent his Friday perched on a small scaffold platform 20 or so feet above the marble floor below, using a paintbrush to carefully fill in a larger-than-life painting of Jesus Christ.
Though the prospect of standing — never mind painting — at such heights might be enough to make many people queasy, this was just another day at the office for Paleoxaris.
Except that Paleoxaris’ office is, in this case, the nave of Loveland’s St. Spyridon Orthodox Church, where Paleoxaris was working with a team of Athens- and Barcelona-based artists led by iconographer Leonidas Diamantopoulos, who had been charged with painting a series of Greek Orthodox icons onto the walls above the altar.
The installation of the icons, which are a sacred tradition in Orthodox Christian churches, is one of the final steps in the church’s yearlong renovation that involved a major building expansion and an overhaul of much of the interior.
Among the images being painted by Diamantopoulos’ crew are those of Christ sharing a final meal with his disciples before his crucifixion, which is referred to as the Mystical Supper in the Orthodox Church.
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