Since 2008, Tatiana Nikolova-Houston has dedicated her life to re-creating and re-interpreting Byzantine and South Slavic iconography and manuscript illuminations as a ministry and mission to Western audiences. Sacred Illuminations grew out of her fascination with Slavic manuscripts, unique in their eclectic decorations inspired by Byzantine arts, Persian carpets, Bulgarian folk arts, and even Celtic designs. The illuminations reflect the joy of spirituality and provide a glimpse of the Heavenly reality, of the radiance of the Holy Spirit within everything in God’s Creation and the spiritual symbolism of Holy Scripture.

Ultimately, Roy’s willingness to play the game and pursue the mission, comes from this recognition: that the personal has become inextricably entwined with the immense. There is no other way to be human than to engage with this confoundedly big thing.

How do we embrace our adversity, tragedy, trauma and find strength and courage during the time of challenges? How to gather strength during the challenging times also depends on the aesthetic vision, that is, how to find beauty in the woundedness.

"And then after sitting for a while, a marvelous thing happened. I got up, and walked into my painting. I walked over the bridge that I had drawn, and up the stairs that disappeared into the background of my composition."