The Iconoclastic Controversy

Slide [6 ← ↑ →]

Structure of On Holy Images
	Part I: Apologia of St John Damascene Against Those Who Decry Holy Images Authentic Testimony of Ancient Fathers in Favour of Images Part II: Testimony of Ancient and Learned Fathers to Images Part III: Testimony of Ancient and Learned Fathers Concerning Images

Our Holy Images Are Not Heathen Idols [9 ← ↑ →]

“If you bring forward certain practices, they do not inculpate [incrimate] our worship of images, but the worship of heathens who make them idols. Because heathens do it foolishly, this is no reason for objecting to our pious practice. If the same magicians and sorcerers use supplication, so does the Church with catechumens; the former invoke devils, but the Church calls upon God against devils. Heathens have raised up images to demons, whom they call gods. Now we have raised them to the one Incarnate God, to His servants and friends, who are proof against the diabolical hosts. Misuse of pious practices—greedy prayers, almsgiving for personal glory, obedience for self-righteous ends—does not invalidate the correct practice of these acts."

We Have Passed the Stage of Infancy [10 ← ↑ →]

"Thou shalt not have strange gods other than Me. Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor any similitude. Thou shalt not adore them, and thou shalt not serve them, for I am the Lord thy God." (Deut. 5.7–9… "Overthrow their altars, and break down their statues; burn their groves with fire, and break their idols in pieces. For thou shalt not adore a strange god." (Deut. 12.3) …"Thou shalt not make to thyself gods of metal." (Ex. 34.17)

“These injunctions were given to the Jews on account of their proneness to idolatry. Now we, on the contrary, are no longer in leading strings. Speaking theologically, it is given to us to avoid superstitious error, to be with God in the knowledge of the truth, to worship God alone, to enjoy the fulness of His knowledge. We have passed the stage of infancy, and reached the perfection of manhood. We receive our habit of mind from God, and know what may be imaged and what may not.“

Images Honor Those Who Have Crushed Idolatry [11 ← ↑ →]

“Have you no shame, seeing me as you do day by day pulling down the temples of idols in the whole world and raising churches to martyrs? If I worship idols, why do I honour martyrs, their destroyers? If I glorify wood, as you say, why do I honour the saints who have pulled down the wooden statues of demons? If I glorify stones, how can I glorify the apostles who broke the stone idols? If I honour the images of false gods, how can I praise and glorify and keep the feast of the three children at Babylon who would not worship the golden statue?” Testimony III

Images Are Not Our Gods [12 ← ↑ →]

“We, who are of the faithful, do not worship images as gods, as the heathens did, God forbid, but we mark our loving desire alone to see the face of the person represented in image. Hence, when it is obliterated, we are wont to throw the image as so much wood into the fire.” Testimony III

Images Represent a Reality Beyond Themselves to Us [13 ← ↑ →]

“In worshipping the book of the law, you are not worshipping parchment or colour, but God's words contained in it. So do I worship the image of Christ, neither wood nor colouring for themselves. Adoring an inanimate figure of Christ through the Cross, I seem to possess and to adore Christ. Jacob received Joseph's cloak of many colours from his brothers who had sold him, (Gen. 37.32 ff) and he caressed it with tears as he gazed at it. He did not weep over the cloak, but considered it a way of showing his love for Joseph and of embracing , him. Thus do we Christians embrace with our lips the image of Christ, or the apostles, or the martyrs, whilst in spirit we deem that we are embracing Christ Himself or His martyr.” Testimony III

Images Honor Realities; Idols Honor Fictions and Lies [14 ← ↑ →]

“Nor are the saints whom we glorify fictitious. They are in being, and are living with God;” Testimony III, Simeon of Mount Thaumastus on Images

Images Inspire Us [15 ← ↑ →]

“The mere memory of just deeds is a source of spiritual joy to the whole world; people are moved to imitate the holiness of which they hear. The life of holy men is as a light illuminating the way for those who would see it. And again, when we recount the story of holy lives we glorify in the first place the Lord of those servants, and we give praise to the servants on account of their testimony, which is known to us. We rejoice the world through good report.” Testimony I

Images May Spiritually Transform Us [16 ← ↑ →]

“Recognise the blessedness of the martyr heartily, that you may be a martyr in will; thus, without persecutor, or fire, or blows, found worthy of the same reward.” Testimony I

Images Are the Textbooks of the Illiterate [17 ← ↑ →]

“What better proof have we that images are the books of the illiterate, the ever-speaking heralds of honouring the saints, teaching those who gaze upon them without words, and sanctifying the spectacle…If, indeed, they honoured wood as wood, they would be bound to worship trees of whatever kind, as you, O Israel, worshipped them of old, saying to the tree and to the stone, "Thou art my God and didst bring me forth." (Jer. 2.27) We do not speak either to the Cross or to the representations of the saints in this way. They are not our gods, but books which lie open and are venerated in churches in order to remind us of God and to lead us to worship Him.” Testimony I

Images Invigorate and Feed the Literate [18 ← ↑ →]

“I have not many books nor time for study, and I go into a church, the common refuge of souls, my mind wearied with conflicting thoughts. I see before me a beautiful picture and the sight refreshes me, and induces me to glorify God. I marvel at the martyr's endurance, at his reward, and fired with burning zeal, I fall down to adore God through His martyr, and receive a grace of salvation.” Testimony I

Images Justly Honor God’s Faithful Martyrs and Servants [19 ← ↑ →]

“Shall I not perpetuate the martyr's testimony both by word and paint brush? Shall I not embrace with my eyes that which is a wonder to the angels and to the whole world, formidable to the devil, a terror to demons…?” Testimony I

Does American culture teach its youth this same veneration for God's martyrs and servants, or do we honor other types of heroes with images?

Images Can Passionately Affect Us [20 ← ↑ →]

“I have often seen paintings of this touching scene, and could not look at it with dry eyes, art setting it forth so vividly. Isaac is lying before the altar, his legs bound, his hands tied behind his back. The father approaching the victim, clasping his hair with the left hand, stoops over the face so piteously turned towards him, and holds in his right hand the sword, ready to strike. Already the point of the sword is on the body when the divine voice is heard, forbidding the consummation.” Testimony I

Images Celebrate Our Victory Over Idols and Demons [21 ← ↑ →]

“As our forefathers in the faith pulled down the temples of demons, and erected on the same spot churches dedicated to saints whom we honour, so they overturned the statues of demons, and set up instead the images of Christ, of His holy Mother, and the saints.” Part II

Images Celebrate the Victories of the Church [22 ← ↑ →]

“Kings put victorious trophies before their conquering generals; rulers erect proud monuments to their charioteers, and brave men, and with the epitaph as a crown, use matter for their triumph. Others, again, write the praises of conquerors in books, wishing to show that their own gift in praising is greater than those praised. And orators and painters, sculpturers and people, rulers, and cities, and places acclaim the victorious. No one ever made images of the deserter or the coward.” Testimony III, St John Chrysostom, on the "Third Psalm, on David, and Absalom."

Images Validate that Matter Is GOOD [23 ← ↑ →]

One of the Church’s longest and most bitter battles was with Gnostic sects which considered matter evil, that we are good spirits trapped in an evil material world. Images are an affirmation that matter is good. "Was not the thrice happy and thrice blessed wood of the Cross matter? Was not the sacred and holy mountain of Calvary matter? What of the life-giving rock, the Holy Sepulchre, the source of our resurrection: was it not matter? Is not the most holy book of the Gospels matter? Is not the blessed table matter which gives us the Bread of Life? Are not the gold and silver matter, out of which crosses and altar-plate and chalices are made? And before all these things, is not the body and blood of our Lord matter? … Do not despise matter, for it is not despicable. Nothing is that which God has made. This is the Manichean heresy.”

Images Allow Us to Honor (Or Dishonor) the Thing They Represent [24 ← ↑ →]

“If you despise the royal garment, do you not despise the king himself? Do you not see that if you despise the image of the king, you despise the original? Do you not know that if a man shows contempt for an image of wood or a statue of metal, he is not judged as if he had vented himself or lifeless matter, but as showing contempt for the king? Dishonour shown to an image of the king is dishonour shown to the king.” Testimony II

Images (And Objects) Can Work Wonders [25 ← ↑ →]

“If you loved God, you would be ready to honour His servants also. And if the bones of the just are unclean, why were the bones of Jacob and Joseph brought with all honour from Egypt? (Gen. 50.5 ff., Ex. 13.19) How was it that a dead man arose again on touching the bones of Eliseus? (II Kgs. 13.21) If God works wonders through bones, it is evident that He can work them through images, and stones, and many other things, as in the case of Eliseus, who gave his staff to his servant, saying, "With this go and raise from the dead the son of the Sunamitess." (II Kgs. 4.29) With his staff Moses chastised Pharaoh, parted the waters, struck the rock, and drew forth the stream. And Solomon said, "Blessed is the wood by which justice cometh." (Wis. 14.7) Eliseus took iron out of the Jordan with a piece of wood. (II Kgs. 6.4–7)” Testimony I

Images Are Necessary for Humans [26 ← ↑ →]

“For, as we are composed of soul and body, and our soul does not stand alone, but is, as it were, shrouded by a veil, it is impossible for us to arrive at intellectual conceptions without corporeal things. just as we listen with our bodily ears to physical words and understand spiritual things, so, through corporeal vision, we come to the spiritual. On this account Christ took a body and a soul, as man has both one and the other. And baptism likewise is double, of water and the spirit. So is communion and prayer and psalmody; everything has a double signification, a corporeal and a spiritual. Thus again, with lights and incense.” Part III

Images Allow Me Some of the Blessing the Apostles Had [27 ← ↑ →]

“The apostles knew our Lord with their bodily eyes; others knew the apostles, others the martyrs. I, too, desire to see them in the spirit and in the flesh, and to possess a saving remedy as I am a composite being. I see with my eyes, and revere that which represents what I honour, though I do not worship it as God. Now you, perhaps, are superior to me, and are lifted up above bodily things, and being, as it were, not of flesh, you make light of what is visible, but as I am human and clothed with a body, I desire to see and to be corporeally with the saints. Condescend to my humble wish that you may be secure on your heights.“ Testimony I

Images Scare Demons [28 ← ↑ →]

“I see the struggle more clearly depicted on your statue [of St Barlam, whose hand was burned off with hot incense coals that he refused to sprinkle on an idol]. Let demons be enraged even now, overcome by the martyr's excellencies which you reveal. Let the powerful hand be again outstretched to victory…Honouring the image becomes honouring the one who is set forth in image. Devils have feared the saints, and have fled from their shadow. The shadow is an image, and I make an image that I may scare demons.”

Images Are Legitimized By the Incarnation [29 ← ↑ →]

“When the Invisible One becomes visible to flesh, you may then draw a likeness of His form. When He who is a pure spirit, without form or limit, immeasurable in the boundlessness of His own nature, existing as God, takes upon Himself the form of a servant in substance and in stature, and a body of flesh, then you may draw His likeness, and show it to anyone willing to contemplate it. Depict His ineffable condescension, His virginal birth, His baptism in the Jordan, His transfiguration on Thabor, His all-powerful sufferings, His death and miracles, the proofs of His Godhead, the deeds which He worked in the flesh through divine power, His saving Cross, His Sepulchre, and resurrection, and ascent into heaven. Give to it all the endurance of engraving and colour.“ Part I

Images are Crystallized Metaphors and Analogies [30 ← ↑ →]

“For the invisible things of God since the creation of the world are made visible through images. (Rom. 1.20) We see images in creation which remind us faintly of God, as when, for instance, we speak of the holy and adorable Trinity, imaged by the sun, or light, or burning rays, or by a running fountain, or a full river, or by the mind, speech, or the spirit within us, or by a rose tree, or a sprouting flower, or a sweet fragrance.“

Images Are the Equivalent of Israel’s Holy Objects [31 ← ↑ →]

“The image is a memorial, just what words are to a listening ear. What a book is to the literate, that an image is to the illiterate. The image speaks to the sight as words to the ear; it brings us understanding. Hence God ordered the ark to be made of imperishable wood, and to be gilded outside and in, and the tablets to be put in it, and the staff and the golden urn containing the manna, for a remembrance of the past and a type of the future. Who can say these were not images and far-sounding heralds? And they did not hang on the walls of the tabernacle; but in sight of all the people who looked towards them, they were brought forward for the worship and adoration of God, who made use of them.”

Images of the Saints, Not Just Jesus and Mary [32 ← ↑ →]

“We depict Christ as our King and Lord, and do not deprive Him of His army. The saints constitute the Lord's army. Let the earthly king dismiss his army before he gives up his King and Lord. Let him put off the purple before he takes honour away from his most valiant men who have conquered their passions. For if the saints are heirs of God, and co-heirs of Christ, (Rom. 8.17) they will be also partakers of the divine glory of sovereignty.”

“They have withstood sin unto blood, and followed Christ in shedding their blood for Him, who shed His blood for them. I put on record the excellencies and the sufferings of those who have walked in His footsteps, that I may sanctify myself, and be fired with the zeal of imitation.”

Our Senses Guide Us Beyond Our Senses [33 ← ↑ →]

“On the one side, through the veiled language of Scripture and the help of oral tradition, intellectual things are understood through sensible ones [i.e., things we grasp with our senses], and the things above nature by the things that are. Forms are given to what is intangible and without shape, and immaterial perfection is clothed and multiplied in a variety of different symbols.” St Denis the Areopagite, “On the Names of God”

There Are Different Kinds of Worship [34 ← ↑ →]

“[W]orship is not all of the same kind. Abraham worshipped the sons of Emmor, impious men in ignorance of God, when he bought the double cave for a tomb. (Gen. 23.7; Acts 7.16) Jacob worshipped his brother Esau and Pharao, the Egyptian, but on the point of his staff. 4 (Gen 33.3) He worshipped, he did not adore. Josue and Daniel worshipped an angel of God; (Jos. 5.14) they did not adore him. The worship of latreia [worship directed only to the Holy Trinity, who alone is worthy of worship] is one thing, and the worship which is given to merit another. [reverence given to those who have accomplished great things for God]”

Latreia – The Worship Given Only to God

Types of Worship Directed Only Towards God [35 ← ↑ →]

“It is needless to say that fear, desire, and honour are tokens of worship, as also submission and humiliation.” Part III

1. Latreia – The Worship Given Only to God [36 ← ↑ →]

“The first kind is the worship of latreia, which we give to God, who alone is adorable by nature, and this worship is shown in several ways, and first by the worship of servants. All created things worship Him, as servants their master…Part III…The worship of latreia [worship directed only to the Holy Trinity, who alone is worthy of worship] is one thing, and the worship which is given to merit another. [reverence given to those who have accomplished great things for God]” Part I

2. Worship of God on Account of His Essential Glory [37 ← ↑ →]

“The second kind is the worship of admiration and desire which we give to God on account of His essential glory. He alone is worthy of praise, who receives it from no one, being Himself the cause of all glory and all good, He is light, incomprehensible sweetness, incomparable, immeasurable perfection, an ocean of goodness, boundless wisdom, and power, who alone is worthy of Himself to excite admiration, to be worshipped, glorified, and desired.” Part III

3. Thanksgiving for the Goods We Have Received [38 ← ↑ →]

“The third kind of worship is that of thanksgiving for the goods we have received. We must thank God for all created things, and show Him perpetual worship, as from Him and through Him all creation takes its being and subsists. (Col. 1.16–17) He gives lavishly of His gifts to all, and without being asked. He wishes all to be saved, (I Tim. 2.4) and to partake of His goodness.” Part III

4. The Need and Hope of Benefit [39 ← ↑ →]

“The fourth kind is suggested by the need and hope of benefits. Recognising that without Him we can neither do nor possess anything good, we worship Him, asking Him to satisfy our needs and desires, that we may be preserved from evil and arrive at good.” Part III

5. Contrition and Confession [40 ← ↑ →]

“The fifth kind is the worship of contrition and confession. As sinners we worship God, and prostrate ourselves before Him, needing His forgiveness, as it becomes servants.” Part III

Worship Directed Towards Creatures [41 ← ↑ →]

“No one should be worshipped as God except the one true God. Whatever is due to all the rest is for God's sake.” Part III

1. The Human Resting Places of God [42 ← ↑ →]

“First, those places in which God, who alone is holy, has rested, and His resting-place in the saints, as in the holy Mother of God and in all the saints…so they are to be worshipped, not as worshipful on their own account, but as possessing in themselves Him who is worshipful by nature …We worship them, then, as the king is honoured through the honour given to a loved servant. He is honoured as a minister in attendance upon his master—as a valued friend, not as king.” Part III

2. Sacred Places and Objects [43 ← ↑ →]

“Secondly, we worship creatures by honouring those places or persons whom God has associated with the work of our salvation, whether before our Lord's coming or since the dispensation of His incarnation. For instance, I venerate Mount Sinai, Nazareth, the stable at Bethlehem, and the cave, the sacred mount of Golgotha, the wood of the Cross, the nails and sponge and reed, the sacred and saving lance, the dress and tunic, the linen cloths, the swathing clothes, the holy tomb, the source of our resurrection, the sepulchre, the holy mountain of Sion and the mountain of Olives, the Pool of Bethsaida and the sacred garden of Gethsemane, and all similar spots. I cherish them and every holy temple of God, and everything connected with God's name, not on their own account but because they show forth the divine power, and through them and in them it pleased God to bring about our salvation.” Part III

3. Objects Dedicated to God [44 ← ↑ →]

“The third kind of worship is directed to objects dedicated to God, as, for instance, the holy Gospels and other sacred books. They were written for our instruction who live in these latter days. Sacred vessels, again, chalices, thuribles, candelabra, and altars (τραπεζαι) belong to this category. It is evident that respect is due to them all. Consider how Baltassar made the people use the sacred vessels, and how God took away his kingdom from him. (Dan. 5.2 ff)” Part III

4. Images Seen By the Prophets [45 ← ↑ →]

“The fourth kind of worship is that of images seen by the prophets. They saw God in sensible vision, and images of future things, as Aaron's rod, the figure of Our Lady's virginity, the urn, and the table.” Part III

5. Each Other [46 ← ↑ →]

“The fifth manner is in the worship of each other as having upon us the mark of God and being made after His image, humbling ourselves mutually, (Eph. 5.21) and so fulfilling the law of charity.” Part III

C. S. Lewis’s description of human destiny in “Weight of Glory” echoes this point: “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare… it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.“

6. Those In Power Who Have Authority [47 ← ↑ →]

“The sixth manner is the worship of those in power who have authority. ‘Give to all men their dues,’ the apostle says; ‘give honour where it is due’ (Rom. 13.7)” Part III

7. Servants Towards Masters/Petitioners Towards Benefactors [48 ← ↑ →]

“In the seventh place, the worship of servants towards their masters and benefactors, and of petitioners towards those who grant their favours, as in the case of Abraham when he bought the double cave from the sons of Emmor. (Gen. 23.7, 12)“ Part III

• John of Damascus. On Holy Images. ??? http://documentacatholicaomnia.eu/03d/0675-0749,_Ioannes_Damascenus,_Apologia_Against_Those_Who_Decry_Holy_Images,_EN.pdf 24 Apr 2019.
• St John of Damascus. St John of Damascus: Collection. No City:Aeterna Press, 2016.
• Coniaris, Anthony M. Introducing the Orthodox Faith. Minneapolis: Light & Life Publishing, 1982.
• Bible Illustrated. Jun 12, 2019. Reading Icons 1 - Inscriptions and Halos (Pencils & Prayer Ropes) Retrieved Dec 17, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0_62xuh7pE
• https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/medieval-world/byzantine1/beginners-guide-byzantine/a/iconoclastic-controversies
• Tradigo, Alfredo. Icons and Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2006.
• The Orthodox Life. "An Overview of the Iconoclastic Controversy." Feb 5, 2012. https://theorthodoxlife.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/an-overview-of-the-iconoclastic-controversy/ Retrieved Feb 16, 2020.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W604NAxQjys
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoEH9wiWdy8
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jvap4ItDlk&t=10653s

THE ICONOGRAPHIC CANON OF ORTHODOX CHURCHES: HISTORY, EVOLUTION, SYMBOLISM
Gheorghe Gîrbea
https://www.ocerints.org/socioint19_e-publication/abstracts/papers/252.pdf

This place is the church painted according to the iconographic canon because here we meet with the invitation of Christ “that calls us to personal change, but change cannot be experienced individualistically ... the reason for the coming of Messiah is not to bring a few people to individual perfection, but it rather is God’s intervention in changing the course of history” (Mateos, 2014, p. 27).
Architecture and the iconographic program, through the specific forms, are designed to create a liturgical space in consonance with the teaching and canons of the Church, not just a functional and convenient space in the sense of a spectacle hall. The church is a “ship” on which believers travel along the tumultuous waves of this world to the unspoiled firth [inlet] of salvation.
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The Icon, History, Symbolism and Meaning
Author: Anonymous
http://www.orthodox.cn/catechesis/iconhistory_en.htm

" The images in the catacombs are simple, made with few brush strokes and a narrow range of colors. Subjects range from Christ carrying a lamb to three young men praising God from the fiery furnace, to the raising of Lazarus, to the Eucharistic meal. During the time when Christianity became tolerated, the decorations of the catacombs became quite elaborate. The Roman catacombs ceased to be used for burial in the 6th Century."

"The art of the catacombs was a teaching art. Pagan symbols that already existed were used by Christians along with new ones that they invented. For example: the ship represented the Church and also represented prosperity, while the peacock, the dove, and the palm tree were representations of Paradise. The adoration of the Wise Men represented the admission of pagans to the faith, and the multiplication of breads was the symbol of the Eucharistic banquet; the vine symbolized the mystery of God's grace for the baptized. What could not be openly expressed by Christians, because of the fears of persecution, was portrayed in a symbolic language, a secret code used by believers in a hostile world: This secret symbolism of the images in the catacombs was progressively taught to the catechumens. The catacombs bear witness that wherever Christians gathered, they created a visual environment to remind them of the Kingdom of God and help them pray."

"the fish became a condensed form of the Creed: the word fish in Greek is composed of five letters forming an acrostic abbreviating the dictum: Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter; translated into English, it means: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior."

"Rejecting any representation of Christ and His saints, Emperor Leo III felt that such images should not be objects of veneration. The Council of 754 which convened in Hiereia, near Constantinople, agreed to a formal condemnation of the cult. It denied that the mystery of Christ included both His divinity and humanity"

"Sacred art has been destroyed and desecrated by the iconoclasts, and profane art has been destroyed and desecrated by their adversaries."

"The Church was thrown once again into disarray with the coming to the throne of Emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820), by giving rise to the second wave of war against the holy images."

"She [Theodora] is quoted to say: “If for love's sake, anyone does not kiss and venerate these images in a relative manner, not worshiping them as gods but as images of their archetypes, let him be anathema!” For her role in the triumph of Orthodoxy she is commemorated on March 11(the First Sunday of Great Lent in 843). To this day, the First Sunday of Great Lent is dedicated to the restoration of the holy icons by Emperor Michael III and his mother Theodora, and the triumph over all heresies of Orthodoxy."

"The return to the art of sacred images, after a long and difficult struggle, meant the return to old practices; the images of Christ and of all the saints are now officially proclaimed by the victorious Church as having divine powers and their contemplation as necessary for our salvation. Charged by this new religious function, all paintings with a religious subject placed in the shade all other art representations."

"As we have seen so far, in all ages and in all cultures the icon is not nearly a piece of art, but an aid to worship, and an instrument for the transmission of Christian tradition and faith. The Holy Spirit speaks to men through icons. Anywhere an icon is placed (except maybe in a museum) a place of worship and prayer is set, because the icon is not an end in itself, but a window through which we look with our physical eyes at the Kingdom of Heaven and the realm of spiritual experience. It is important to remember thus that the icon is concerned only with the sacred; the icon is theology in images and color."

"For the Orthodox Christian the icon is not an aesthetic object, or an object of study; it is “living art” if we can call it such. It is meant to transfigure and to inspire the person to prayer and contemplation. Leonid Ouspensky says: "Just as the teaching concerning the purpose of Christian life — the deification of man — continues to exist, so the dogmatic teaching concerning the icon continues to exist and live in the Divine services of the Orthodox Church.... For an Orthodox man of our times an icon, whether ancient or modern, is not an object of aesthetic admiration" (L. Ouspensky and V. Lossky, The Meaning of icons, SVS Press, 1989, pp 49)."

"The existence of The Holy Napkin is first mentioned in the 6th Century. According to one story, Abgar V the Black, king of Edessa (capital of the Turkish province of Oshroene, important Christian and commercial center of the Islamic world until the 13th Century) had fallen ill and begged Christ to come and cure him. Instead of going to visit Abgar, Christ sent him a towel that He had pressed against His face and that retained the impression of His features. Upon receiving the towel the King was miraculously cured ... The image of the Holy Napkin was also known in the West under the name of The Veil of Veronica. The Veronica story is similar to that of King Abgar: Veronica was a woman who comforted Jesus as He was bearing the cross on the way to Golgotha. She offered Him a piece of cloth to wipe the blood and sweat off His face; later she found that she received a 'miraculous image. A building along Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem associated with Veronica is today the home of a community of sisters called "The Little Sisters of Jesus."

"Along with the Holy Scripture, the icon is a tool for the transmission of Christian tradition and faith. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through the use of images, images that are complementing the written words of the Scripture. It follows then that icons are educational and worshiping aids. This is why it is important to mention that the faith of the person who prays is above the aesthetic qualities of an icon. The icon has as its purpose to transport us into the realm of spiritual experience, to go beyond our material world, to show us the greatness and perfection of the divine reality that is invisible to us."

"Icons are also silent. A close observation indicates that the mouths of the characters depicted are never open; there are no symbols that can indicate sound. There is perfect silence in the icon and this stillness and silence creates, both in the church and in the home an atmosphere of prayer and contemplation. The silence of an icon is a silence that speaks, it is the silence of Christ on the Cross, the silence of the Virgin, the silence of the Transfiguration, the silence of the Resurrection."

"What do colors represent in iconography?
White: is the color that represents eternal life and purity.
Blue: represents celestial beings, God's dwelling place, the sky.
Red: symbolizes activity. In Hebrew thought, red represents life. We find it mentioned in several books of the Old Testament: in the Second Book of Samuel, Saul dressed the daughters of Israel in red garments: "O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with luxury..." (2 Samuel 1:24)[1]. In Proverbs we find that the perfect wife wears red, in the book of Jeremiah, Jerusalem beautifies herself in a red garment. The martyr's clothes are red, the clothing of the seraphims are red also. Red is also the color that depicts health, fire and the Last Judgment.
Purple: purple is the symbol of royalty, wealth, power, and priestly dignity. In the book of Daniel we learn that the king dressed himself in purple, and in the Psalms it is mentioned that the king and the queen are robed in purple.
Green: in the Holy Scriptures, green represents nature and vegetation, and it is thus representative of growth and fertility. It is mentioned in the Song of Songs and the Book of Jeremiah. In iconography it is used for the robes of martyrs and prophets.
Brown: represents density and lack of radiance. Brown is composed of red, blue, green and black, and it is used to depict soil, rocks and buildings. It is also used as a symbol of poverty and renunciation for the dark garments of monks and ascetics.
Black: represents absence of life; it symbolizes a void. It is the opposite of white. While white represents the fullness of life, black represents the lack of it. Monks and Great Schema monks wear black garments, as a symbol of their renunciation of all that is material.
Yellow: representing sadness, it is used in the icon of the Savior being placed in the tomb. In Deuteronomy it is mentioned as a sign of misfortune, bad harvest and blight."

"The iconographer does not have the right to change an icon just to be different and creative."

We may say that iconography is theology through God the Word as Image, therefore, the icon is regarded as a form of Christian doctrine. It is the Word of God, the Holy Scripture, in color.

"The icons displayed in the church are more than attractive pieces of art, or decorative items; they are not even considered religious art, but because icons do present religious subjects they can be classified as religious art. In fact an icon is a link between the eternal and the temporal aiding the worshiper in his own pilgrimage through this earthly life."

"The role of icons in the home of every believer is not to be taken lightly. Icons in the home are an extension of the presence of the liturgical mystery which we experience in church. The icon is an integral part of our worship life style."

"In the presence of a good icon we move from contemplation to prayer. In fact it is said that a good icon is one that inspires prayer. Prayer requires asceticism. Prayerful asceticism becomes a healing process in which whatever has estranged us from God is transformed into becoming a means of communion with God. The mind, soul, heart, body and will of the person who prays becomes still, attentive, attuned, and peaceful, constantly receptive to the presence of God."

"As we pray before an icon we enter in communion with the icon's prototype. This becomes the fulfillment of Christ's prayer: "so that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in us..." (Jn 17:21)."