Armia Elkatcha

Armia (Jeremiah) Elkatcha is an Egyptian Coptic iconographer trained in the studio of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate in Cairo. He perfected his art under Professor Isaac Fanous (1919-2007), father of 20th-century neo-Coptic art, and is today one of his most gifted disciples.

Faithful to his master's style — round, gentle faces, thick outlines, inner light, gold backgrounds — he renews it with rich narrative compositions in which the saint is surrounded by scenes of their life, miracles and liturgical memory.

Over more than twenty years, he has painted the icons of more than sixty churches in Egypt and abroad, including the first Coptic Orthodox church in Japan and in Russia. He works as an artist for Saint Mark's Cathedral in Cairo and teaches Coptic iconography in courses and workshops, including in France (Limoges Cathedral).

His works have been shown in Paris at the Bansard gallery and at the 2021 exhibition “Secrets of the Coptic icon” organised by the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Paris and Northern France at Draveil Cathedral, opened in the presence of the Egyptian ambassador and Bishop Anba Marc.

Every icon offered on Coptic Icons Gallery is hand-painted on request by Armia Elkatcha in his Cairo studio.