Rev. John Spilio
Rev. John Spilio (nee’ Ioannis Papaspiliopoulos) was born in Piraeus, Greece in 1932. He studied painting in Athens, Greece, Florence, Italy, and Paris, France.
Of all his teachers he was most influenced by the outstanding Byzantine iconographer, the late professor Photis Kontoglou. He exhibited his work several times in Athens, Piraeus and later in Paris. In 1963, Rev. Spilio came to the USA, invited by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. Because of his experience and skill in Byzantine iconography, he was soon in great demand. His work bears his personal style while simultaneously adheres to the pure dogmatic and liturgical style of the Byzantine iconographic protocol. Rev. Spilio is the founder of the Byzantine Icons Studios, where many of today’s younger iconographers learned the secrets of the Orthodox Ecclesiastical art.
Rev. Spilio has devoted more than 45 years of his life for the glory and beauty of the church. As a result, and through a long family tradition, he was ordained a priest on August 6, 1988, to fulfill his inward strong religious beliefs for the Glory of God.
Through a long, successful career, Rev. Spilio has a record of 82 fully decorated churches in the USA, Canada and Greece, including the Chapel in the residence of His Eminence Archbishop Iakovos (former Archbishop) and the chapel of St. Iakovos in the summer camp of the Archdiocese in Greece. Also, hundreds of portable art works of his exist at galleries and private collections throughout the world.
Rev. Spilio respectful of his responsibility as a delegate of civilization and culture, regularly lectures, publishes articles, participates in organizing exhibitions and seminars, and generally is committed in projecting the true form of religious representation that is “Orthodox Byzantine” art.
