The ascetical or hesychastic life in Orthodox Christianity culminates in a type of mental and perceptual vigilance or nepsis in prayer that unites the heart with God. The extension of this concept to art is prompted by Neptic counsels that use examples from nature to describe the intensity and concentration of the spiritual states involved. Drawing from this literature and Orthodox theology, this paper explains how icons can reach a level of aesthetic and spiritual vitality that places the Christian image in an immanent and redemptive relationship to the world. The neptic icon is thus open to its epoch and to other art forms and has a wider aesthetic range than narrow interpretations of the Orthodox icon and tradition might suggest.
