By Metropolitan of Pergamon John (Zizioulas)

Finally, the main characteristic of Fr. Stamatis’ paintings is the gaze. Although his work encompasses many forms of painting – frescos, icons, pictures, book illustrations, etc. – and although it employs various techniques and styles, there is something common to all of it that unites everything and that gives everything a stable identity. This characteristic is the gaze from the image. Inall the painted images by Fr. Stamatis, the gaze is “questioning.” As in the Psalms God “searches the hearts andreins” (Ps. 7:9), so also the gaze of these paintings questions and inquires about the existential depth of the picture’s observer.