In Gratitude - Yevgeniy

 At the end of the 20th century the world was changing rapidly. Internet communications offered speed, convenience and accessibility previously unimaginable. It has been noticed that young people adapt to the new technologies much more quickly than older generations. While babies with delight and ease press virtual buttons on new electronic toys, connecting to the entertainment channels of YouTube, their parents often struggle to grasp the paradigm of the new era of communications. 

Our school was formed just on the border of time when the  internet was becoming a routine part of life. Most of us were suspicious, ignorant, or more often both, of the digital “web” stretching over our familiar analogue world. Rooted in iconography as an ancient tradition, we were reluctant to open up to new technologies beyond those needed for crushing rocks for pigment or beating a leaf of gold; however, the need and desire to communicate the message of icons to the world was pressing. The expanding schedule of intensive workshops and other events where members of the school could participate demanded an efficient way to have the information posted and available for people inside and outside the school. It had to be a place where anyone interested in the school’s work could find reliable information. 

Yevgeny Vaskevich appeared in the iconography studio located in the basement of the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection in New York City, a seventeen year old, recently emigrated to the US with his mother from Kiev, Ukraine. Yevgeny was a bright young man,  with a strong interest in iconography. During his years of study in the studio he proved himself a very inventive, inquisitive person, able to accomplish many tasks in various areas. One of his many talents and sustaining interests is photo and video imaging, which he later went on to pursue professionally. Yevgeniy offered to design and maintain a school website, and his ability to do so was God-sent, as no one in the school had any of the coding skills needed at the time. After some discussion, the offer was happily accepted and Yevgeniy, with the help of another dear friend of the school, Ekaterina Svetova, went on to create a beautifully designed site that was to become the internet face of the Prosopon School for many years to come. Until this year Yevgeniy has remained the technician and webmaster keeping the website functioning. 

Now with a family and a growing son, Yevgeniy has asked to be relieved of his webmaster duties. New website hosting platforms have appeared in interim years and even those of us still more comfortable in the analogue world can manage to work with them. This new site has been redesigned with a visual reference to the “classic” Prosopon website. We hope viewers of the new site will find it welcoming and informative, an easy to navigate place.

Using this opportunity, we, the members of Prosopon School, would like to express to Yevgeniy Vaskevich our “sobornoye” THANK YOU and gratitude for all the work that he has done, and for the continuing support he offers in the life of the school. Besides the website, Yevgeniy is responsible for creating a series of excellent instructional videos, popular with students of the school and people around the world interested in iconography. Yevgeniy remains affiliated with the school and its production. 

Any comments or suggestions regarding the new site can be sent to prosoponweb@gmail.com.