Icons

According to Fr. Thomas Hopko of St Vladimir's Seminary, "icons bear witness to the reality of God's presence with us in the mystery of faith. The icons are not just human pictures or visual aids to contemplation and prayer. They are the witnesses of the presence of the Kingdom of God to us, and so of our own presence to the Kingdom of God in the Church."

Icons, in case you're wondering, do not violate the Second Commandment. If it were God’s intention to forbid all images (the word “icon” comes from the Greek word εἰκών, which means "image"), He, in all likelihood, would not have commanded their use in the Tabernacle and in the Temple (cherubim, almond flowers, pomegranates, gourds, palm trees, lilies, lions, bulls, etc.), or even the display of the bronze serpent in the Book of Numbers (21.4-9). God’s commandment was clearly not intended to forbid the creation of images, but rather their worship.

The Church has always practiced the display and veneration of icons, although there have been periods during her history when icons were strongly opposed by certain factions. Finally, near the end of the eighth century, the Church convened a council that affirmed once and for all the display and veneration of sacred images.

Right up through the Reformation, most Christian bodies retained the use of images (including statues). Even to this day all but the most iconoclastic of Protestant churches display images of some kind or another: the Cross, Noah’s ark, prints of Warner Sallman’s famous Head of Christ (left), pictures of missionaries, or the pastor’s image on the Jumbotron. The difference between these uses of images, and the use of holy icons in the Orthodox Church is that the latter understands the theology and doctrine surrounding the display of sacred images.

Icons in the Orthodox Church are more than just decoration (although they certainly are beautiful to look at), they are a theological statement about the Incarnation of Christ, Who is the “image of God” (εἰκών του Θεου) (2 Cor 4.4). According to Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, the Orthodox Church recognizes that “God took a material body, thereby providing that matter can be redeemed: ‘The Word made flesh has deified the flesh,’ said John of Damascus. God had ‘deified’ matter, making it ‘spirit-bearing’; and if flesh has become a vehicle of the Spirit, then so—though in a different way—can wood and paint” (The Orthodox Church, p.33). In other words, it's okay to use material items in our worship of God.

Instruction
I have heard icons referred to as “theology in color.” What the Bible is to paper and ink, the icon is to wood (or plaster) and paint. What the Scriptures teach us through the printed page, the icons teach us with colors and shapes. Icons often depict events from the Bible or from Church history and therefore serve as tools of instruction in much the same way that stained-glass windows have historically in the Western Church. However, icons tend to be much heavier on symbolism. Every color, every posture, even the position of the hands, has a specific theological significance.

Icons are not portraits and are not intended to be realistic in the way that other paintings usually are, but are intended to communicate a spiritual reality. One of the techniques often used to achieve this is called “inverse perspective,” which you can read about here or here or here. Iconographers are pious, disciplined people who pray and fast prior to and during the creation of an icon; with each stroke of the brush a prayer is offered to God. Iconographers aren't free to alter the style of icons as they see fit, but use a style and a technique and a fomat that has been preserved unchanged in the Church for nearly a hundred generations. They are very careful to write (iconographers are said to "write," rather than "paint" icons) these images in precisely the same way they have been written since the Church began. I envision ancient monastic scholars praying over every penstroke as they transcribe the Scriptures, taking great pains not to alter a comma, lest they distort the meaning of the text. The same is true for inconographers and the way they pass on spiritual Truth through color.

Sacred Space
When you walk into an Orthodox temple, you know you're in a sacred place; a place that has been set aside solely for the purpose of worship. An Orthodox house of worship will never be mistaken for a theater or a high school auditorium, or any other secular venue. When you’re standing among images of saints and angels, you know where you are and for what purpose!

Worship in Heaven
Christian worship is intended to imitate heavenly worship (Heb 8.5). The interior of an Orthodox temple reflects that worship. One reason for the icons is to show us the “great could of witnesses” that worship with us. When the Jews worshipped in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple, they were surrounded by images of Heaven. Those images didn’t include Saints until Christ released the saints from Sheol and escorted them to Paradise. Now, in continuity with that ancient worship, the Orthodox Church shows us Heaven with the saints and martyrs, ascetics, virgins, unmercenaries, wonderworkers, and Apostles all around, worshipping the Trinity alongside us.

On an icon depicting Christ are the letters IC XC. This is the Greek abbreviation (the first and last letter of each word) of Ιησους Χριστος, which in English is Jesus Christ. On many icons, the fingers on the right hand of the person depicted will be positioned to mimic these four letters: index finger=I; middle=C; ring and thumb=X; pinky=C

In Christ’s halo is a cross, on the arms of which are the words “Ο ΩΝ,” which means “He Who Is,” or “I Am” (Exodus 3:14, Revelation 4:8).

On icons depicting the Virgin Mary are the letters ΜΡ ΘΥ, which is the abbreviation of Μητηρ Θεου (Mother of God). In contrast to Roman Catholic depictions of Mary, Orthodox icons seldom depict her without Jesus (in fact, to my knowledge, the only icon of Mary in which Christ is not visible—but certainly present—is the icon of the Annunciation), but show her holding Christ and pointing to Him as if to say “Do whatever He tells you.” (Jn 2.5)

Veneration
One thing that is very troubling to Protestant sensibilities is the Orthodox practice of venerating icons.

When one enters an Orthodox house of worship, one is likely to see parishioners bowing their heads, lighting candles, and making the sign of the Cross before the icons, and even kissing them. These actions are horrifying to a Protestant, and especially to one, such as myself, raised in the Baptist faith.

But, why is this practice so distressing? Are the Orthodox worshipping these icons? The Orthodox will say certainly not; that there is a big difference between worship or adoration—which are for the Holy Trinity alone—and the veneration, reverence, honor, and respect, which are paid to sacred items and holy people: worship is a total giving over of the self to be united with God, while veneration is showing delight for what God has done.

For millennia the Jews have understood the difference between veneration and worship: they kiss the mezuzah on their door post, they kiss the tallit before putting it on, they kiss the Torah before reading it in the Synagogue. Certainly Christ Himself did likewise when reading the Scriptures in the Synagogue. I doubt anyone confused these actions with idol worship.

And I think it’s a safe bet that I can get away with kissing a picture of my wife, or my grandfather’s headstone, or even a letter that he wrote without anyone accusing me of worshipping those items or the family members they call to mind. (I don’t know of a single Christian who will deny that humans are created in the image of God. In Genesis 1.26 God is quoted as saying “Let Us make man in Our image” (LXX: εικονα). So, when we kiss our loved ones, we are literally venerating icons of God!)

As a member of the Selfridge Honor Guard, I attended hundreds of funerals where a grieving next-of-kin would kiss the folded Flag and never once did it occur to me that that person might be worshipping the flag or the person in whose memory the flag was presented.*

The truth is, if I’m not scandalized by this…

…what reason could I possibly have to be distressed by a Christian kissing an image of Christ?

Anyone who has been to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. is sure to have seen people kneeling, laying flowers, lighting candles, kissing the wall, or bowing their heads in prayer. There is nothing improper or sacrilegious about this. It’s a very human and heartfelt expression of honor and respect, and no one will deny that those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our Country are deserving of our respect, our gratitude, our honor.

How much more, then, is our honor and respect due to those who lived and died, who surrendered everything, who denied themselves and daily bore their crosses in service to the Lord?

For more information:
The Function of Icons
No Graven Image: Icons and Their Proper Use
What Do Icons Mean?
Is Venerating Icons Idolatry?
The Icon FAQ
Talk given by Fr. Jacob Myers at St John’s Church in Atlanta

*If we truly believe that the Second Commandment strictly forbids the display of “anything in heaven above,” then the U.S. flag itself is a violation of this commandment fifty times over! In which case we violate God’s commandment fifty times whenever we salute, rise to our feet in the presence of, or pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States.