This saving act of God is what man venerates in an icon. God became a man we can see and we therefore depict Him. The incarnation, God becoming man that we could see and touch is essential in the salvation of man. It is not, however, the image itself that is worshiped, but God or his friends the Saints who receive the love we show: for it passes through the image to the heavenly archetype. The term “venerate” is at times improperly translated and replaced with “worship,” which can easily lead to confusion. Athanasius the Great) This truth and loving act of God is what Christians venerate when they kiss icons, process icons, when they reverently place them on the walls of their homes and Churches. 12:27).Įach icon is unique and each cries out single central message: “God became man so that man could become God.” (St. They enable us to have contact with the experience of the Church, which is the mystical body of Christ (1 Cor. Icons are sacred images that reflect the physical and the spiritual, the human and the Divine, the visible and the invisible. They were not created to idolize in worship the image or the materials themselves, a common misconception. Icons were created as a way to pray to God and connect one’s soul to God through the physical veneration (honor or reverence) of the likeness of Christ. The sheer presence of iconoclasm made people realize the strength and importance of icons, and a movement naturally emerged to protect them at all costs. Iconoclasts were people opposed to the use of icons depicting the images of Christ and His Saints. All of this helps to explain the fervent desire Christians have had in protecting icons during the period’s iconoclasm (icon smashing) - a desire that often led to torture or death. During the Seventh Ecumenical Council it was affirmed that: “The making of icons is not the property of the artists, but is an established tradition of the Church…for to the artist belongs only the execution of the image, whereas its context and design belong to the Holy Fathers.” This teaching is affirmed to this day with the custom of iconographers not to sign their work, showing that it does not belong to their “unique individuality.” Adherence to traditional forms and types is prized over innovation and novelty.įor Orthodox Christians, icons provide a way to contemplate God and His saints from their conception, the role of icons has been to provide a visual for prayer, helping to keep the mind focused but also icons were a tool for teaching. Historically, iconographers were not just individuals with artistic talent-as in the West with artists such as Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci- but they were monastics or individuals with a life of prayer, theologically educated, and skilled interpreters of sacred texts. John of Damascus), then He could be seen, touched, heard, and thus even depicted in artistic representation. If He truly, “became matter for my salvation” (St. The faces drawn are solemn and not smiling, not as an expression of sadness but the rather dispassion before the things of this world.įor the Orthodox Church, icons are a testimony of the theology it is founded upon: the Incarnation of the Son of God. The ears are slightly larger to show not only their attentiveness to the voice of God, but also to the prayers of those who call upon them for help. Their lips are small, signifying the prudence of words, rather than a loose and thoughtless tongue. The saints are depicted often with sunken cheeks and frail bodies signifying their life of fasting, modesty and abstinence. It is noticeably different from the fleshly Renaissance paintings. The Byzantine style, depicts the body in a spiritual way: at once visible in both its glorified and still human form. It is immediately apparent that the faces and even landscapes depicted seem different or even abstract. Icons in the Orthodox Church are not merely decorations but vessels of meaning that hold some of Christianity's most important theological truths. In 843 the Empress Theodora brought the icons triumphantly back into the Church on the First Sunday of Lent and this event has forever been incorporated into the life of the Church as each subsequent year we hold a procession of the Holy Icons on the First Sunday of Lent up until this day. This Council took more than fifty years to finally be accepted throughout the Byzantine Empire and the whole Church. The Seventh Ecumenical Council, occurred in Constantinople in the year 787, responded to the claims that the use of icons in worship was idolatrous and against the fourth of the Ten Commandments, “You shall not make any graven image…” (Exodus 20:4). “He who sees Me, sees the Father.” John 14:9
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