With notable accomplishments in the field of ecclesiastical arts, the Certificate Degree faculty is composed of a small and dedicated group of teachers and artists.  

GEORGE KORDIS

Master Teacher & Founder, Writing the Light

(For a full bio, please see About Us)

MARIA PANOU

Foundation Year Leader 

Maria Panou was born in Athens and has been studying painting since a very young age under several artists. Attracted by the art of the Hellenistic and Byzantine Era, she began studying Byzantine painting under Dr. George Kordis in 2015.  Soon thereafter she was invited to join Dr. Kordis’s team of icon painters where she has participated in painting numerous Orthodox Churches both in Greece and abroad under Kordis’s leadership internationally and is a current active team member for all of Kordis’s church projects.  She is highly knowledgeable in materials and is a master in painting techniques in egg tempera.

Since 2020, Maria Panou has undertaken several independent projects of painting the small temples and chapels on the island of Agistri in Greece. As a member of the art group Ochre, she has participated in multiple exhibitions showing her own work in Greece and abroad, most recently with works inspired by the life of Dostoevsky shown at the Sheen Art Center Gallery, New York City.

OLGA YUNAK 

Byzantine Art History 

Olga Yunak holds a PhD in art and theology from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. Originally from Kazakhstan in Central Asia, she currently lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Initially coming to the USA to study for an MBA, her interest in art making and research gradually pulled her into the field of Byzantine Studies.

Her PhD dissertation focuses on Theophanes the Greek, a master painter from Constantinople who worked in Veliky Novgorod at the end of the 14th century. Olga’s research interests include traveling artists in the Byzantine Commonwealth and the practices of knowledge transfer, such as the use of sketches, model books, and painting treatises.

Olga regularly presents at conferences, contributes to edited volumes, and reviews books on Byzantine art and history. Currently, she is working on a catalogue of metal icons from the collection at the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute in Berkeley. She is also involved in designing a curriculum for the laity on recovering Catholicism through the arts, a project initiated by the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley.

Olga has studied drawing and painting in the Byzantine system with George Kordis, and her practical understanding is an additional asset to her approach in teaching Byzantine art history to artists.  She looks forward to bringing her knowledge of Byzantine Art History to the Writing the Light Certificate Program.

SLAVICA MIHAILOVA

Summer School Assistant Teacher and Church Painting Techniques

Slavica Mihailova was born in Bitola, North Macedonia.  She has been an art educator and professional iconographer for over twenty-five years.  After completing her studies at the National Academy of Art in Sofia, Bulgaria in mural/wall-painting, she studied with George Kordis for two years in Thessaloniki before earning her Master’s degree in Belgrade, Serbia under the tutelage of professor Todor Mitrovic at the Academy of Art and Conservation.  

She has worked on several churches with George Kordis and his team of wall-painters both in Thessaloniki and in the United States. More recently, she has worked on individual church projects in Skopie and Ljubljana, Slovenia, as well as in Zagreb, Croatia.  Currently she is working on several churches in Germany as the lead designer and painter.  She has written numerous icons for private collections throughout Europe, and has been included in many individual and group exhibitions.  She brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the Writing the Light team. 

MIHAI COMAN 

Church Painting Techniques, Romanian Seminar

Mihai Coman was born in Romania in 1979.  He is a Lecturer, teaching Traditional Painting Techniques in the Faculty of Orthodox Theology Justinian the Patriarch’ s Department of Sacred Art, University of Bucharest. He completed his studies in the Department of Conservation and Restoration of Art Works, at Nicolae Grigorescu University of Fine Arts (Romania). He gained an MA in Pastoral and Liturgical Life, at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology Justinian the Patriarch (Romania), and a PhD in Byzantine Iconography, from the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece).  It was during that time that he studied with Dr. George Kordis.

As an Icon and mural painter, Mihai Coman is attested by the Religious Painting Committee of the Romanian Patriarchy; member of UAP – The Romanian Artists Union; member of Eikona group – icon painters teaching in European universities.

Mihai’s numerous mural works include: interior paintings of St. Gregory Palamas Church, Polytechnic University Campus Bucharest Romania (in fresco technique); interior paintings of the main church, Monastery of Prophet Elijah in Mures district, Romania (in fresco technique). His portable icon works are in churches and private collections in Romania and internationally.

Other visiting and guest teachers and lecturers are a regular part of the program.