A Defense of the Holy Icons

Defense of the Holy Icons by David Withun This article was originally published on David Withun's blog, Pious Fabrications, at http://piousfabrications.blogspot.com/2010/12/defense-of-holy-icons.html, and is republished with his permission.

One of the most common criticisms that Protestants express against Orthodox Christianity is the prominent place of iconography, a uniquely Orthodox Christian figurative art form, in the Church. That Orthodox Christians give a very special place to the Holy Icons is hard to miss. Our churches, homes, and even places of business are filled with them, often outside as well as in. Upon entering a church and before prayers at home, Orthodox Christians generally perform bows from the waist1 and kiss the icons in reverence. During the worship services in an Orthodox Church, the Priest frequently incenses the icons and the worshipers frequently bow and even prostrate toward them. On various feast days throughout the year,2 icons of Christ, of the Theotokos,3 and of various Saints and Angels are raised high and processed in and around churches and streets. And we do, after all, refer to them as the “Holy Icons.”

For Orthodox Christians, icons are an intrinsic aspect of our spirituality and of our everyday lives. We use them for prayer, as gifts, as decoration, as jewelry, and as ever-present reminders of our loved ones and the love and inspiration they offer. We even believe that God can and does work miracles through them. There are many icons referred to as “wonder-working” or “myrrh-streaming” which Orthodox believers bear a special reverence for, accepting that through these particular icons God has done a special act for man.4 Some of these icons are even on the calendar of feast days we celebrate.5

In short, for Orthodox Christians icons are central to the Christian Faith. As we will see later in this essay, there is a theology of images in Orthodox Christianity without which it could no longer call itself “orthodox”6 Icons are not a peripheral aspect of Christianity, but one of its most essential features. A loss of the icons, for an Orthodox Christian, would entail the loss of a significant and irreplaceable piece of what it means to be a Christian.

In contrast to all of this, most Protestants reject the use of figurative religious art and even those who accept it generally do so in a very limited sense and inconsistently, largely only in principle and not necessarily in the fullness of practice.7

Though Martin Luther, the founding figure of the Protestant Reformation, was relatively accepting of figurative religious art,8 the tendency of most Protestants throughout their history has been toward absolute or near-absolute iconoclasm, a hatred of the Holy Icons. This has been especially true amongst those Protestants who have followed in the Reformed tradition of John Calvin, probably the single individual most responsible for the negative attitude of Protestants toward iconography.

Calvin, like most iconoclasts both before and after him, based his absolute iconoclasm primarily on a strict and literal interpretation of the Second Commandment of the Decalogue,9 allowing no distinction between iconography and idolatry10 nor between worship and veneration.11 He also, though secondarily, supported his argument with his understanding, false but common even until fairly recent times, that the Christians of approximately the first 500 years of the Faith had not used images in their worship.12

Although Calvin's attacks on figurative art in religion were not waged directly upon iconography,13 but upon the statuary and paintings of medieval Roman Catholicism, his arguments have been assumed and utilized by his iconoclastic Protestant successors against Orthodox iconography as well. For this reason, it is primarily these arguments which will be examined and discussed in this short essay. Along the way, we will also look at several other relevant issues, including the Christological implications of iconography and iconoclasm, the historical development of iconography in the Orthodox Christian Church, and the reasons why the Holy Icons are so important to Orthodox Christian theology, practice, and life.

An obvious and important question to ask when examining the validity of the presence and veneration of the Holy Icons in the churches today is whether or not the earliest Christians, roughly those of the first five hundred years of the Church, used iconography and, if so, how they used it. The faith and practice of these earliest Christians is supremely important in deciding correct faith and practice of Christians today as these early Christians lived the closest in time, place, and culture to the Apostles and other first century followers of Christ. Many of the Christians who lived during this period were members of churches which had been directly founded by Apostles and lived in cities mentioned in the Bible. In addition, very importantly, most of the Christians of this period spoke the ancient Greek of the New Testament as their own native language. Recognizing the importance and authority of the early Church, John Calvin wrote: If the authority of the ancient church moves us in any way, we will recall that for about five hundred years, during which religion was still flourishing, and a pure doctrine thriving, Christian Churches were commonly empty of images. Thus, it was when the purity of the ministry had somewhat degenerated that they were first introduced for the adornment of churches.12 Until fairly recently, Calvin's words here were the common assumption of both Protestants and historians of early Christianity. It was widely believed and taught that the churches of the first several hundred years were largely imageless and that Christians themselves were generally hostile to figurative art, rejecting it as an idolatrous pagan practice. This assumption was largely based on a dearth of archaeological evidence and on a false assumption of Jewish iconophobia coupled with erroneous prooftexting of various early Christian writers' criticisms of the idols of the pagans.

All three bases of the theory of early Christian hostility toward images have been dismantled by the introduction of new evidence throughout the 20th century, and more evidence continues to be uncovered today through archaeological exploration.14 The hole that once existed in physical evidence of the worship of ancient Christians and Jews has now been filled with numerous discoveries throughout the Middle East, Southern and Eastern Europe, and North Africa.

Perhaps the most famous of these discoveries is the ancient city of Dura Europos.15Dura Europos was a diverse city, home to Christians, pagans, and Jews alike, located near the western border of what is now the nation of Syria. While under Roman rule, the city was left abandoned by its inhabitants due to a Sassanian siege in AD 256-257,16preserving for modern archaeologists, who would begin excavating the city shortly after its rediscovery in 1920, a particularly interesting look into the lives of Romans in Syria in the third century.

And of particular interest to us for the purposes of this essay is the church of the city, the oldest Christian church yet discovered, dating to about AD 233.17 Though they are in some rough condition, several examples of early Christian iconography are preserved within the church.18 On the wall near the baptismal font, there is an icon of Christ as the Good Shepherd,19 with Adam and Eve below the figure. On the south wall of the baptistery are icons of St. Photini, better known as “the woman at the well”20 and, to the left of that, an image of the Prophet-King David's fight with Goliath.21 On the north wall of the baptistery are an illustration of the healing of the paralytic22 and a depiction of Christ and St. Peter walking on water.23 A large icon below these depicts three women, probably the Virgin Mary, St. Mary Magdalene, and St. Salome, walking towards what appears to be a tomb, probably a depiction of the cave in which Christ's body was placed after the Crucifixion.24

And the Christians of the city weren't the only ones whose house of worship had lots of images. The Jewish synagogue discovered at Dura Europos, the construction of which was probably finished in about AD 245,25 is filled nearly top to bottom with ornate iconographic depictions of Old Testament events and figures.26 Throughout the dozens of icons present in the synagogue are images of Prophets, such as Moses, David, Ezekiel, and Abraham, symbols such as the Menorah and the Torah Scroll, and depictions of events such as the near-sacrifice of Isaac27 and Moses' reception of the Ten Commandments.28 The synagogue at Dura Europos, though a very striking example because of its excellent preservation, is by no means unique in the ancient world; there are many more synagogues with much more iconographic art which archaeologists have discovered and are still in the process of discovering.29

The abundance of images in these synagogues is especially important to our current purposes as it significantly undermines one of the key pillars of the theory that early Christians were hostile to images, namely, the assumption, which passed unquestioned for quite some length of time, that the early Judaism from which Christianity emerged was aniconic and even iconophobic. Clearly, the opposite was true; Christianity emerged from and grew up alongside a Judaism with a vibrant iconographic tradition.

The statements of early Christians writing against idolatry have been interpreted in the context of this false assumption by many for some time. But, with this new archaeological evidence, including both the synagogues and the church at Dura Europos, new interpretations are necessary. The textual evidence can not continue to be interpreted in a vacuum, but must now be interpreted alongside and within the context of the archaeological evidence.

Why would the early Christians expend so much time and effort arguing so vehemently against the idolatry of the pagans while remaining silent about the idolatry, assuming they considered it to be so, rising up in their midst? Early Christian apologists simultaneously railed against the images of the pagans while attending worship services in churches with images; the only plausible explanation for how to reconcile these two facts is that they must not have considered their own images to be idolatrous.

Additionally, early Christian apologists were never shy about criticizing the Jews for any of even the slightest perceived transgressions;30 if the widespread use of images in the synagogues was viewed by them as idolatrous, why did they never take the opportunity to attack the Jews for this? Why, instead, does it seem that early Christians in fact picked up their art forms and styles from the Jews?31 Contrary to the former allegations of Calvin and his faithful disciples, the introduction of icons into the churches was not the result of later pagan influence upon a weaker Church, but was part of the early Jewish inheritance assumed by the new Christian Faith in its first centuries.

These are questions and conundrums that, because the evidence was unavailable until fairly recently, never occurred to earlier Protestant proponents of iconoclasm like John Calvin and which iconoclasm's modern proponents have yet to sufficiently answer or explain. But these are questions which demand an answer if their views are going to continue to be taken seriously in the light of modern archaeological evidence.

Now that we've established that icons were present in the early Church, the next question that must be answered in our examination of the historical validity of iconography is how these ancient icons were viewed and used by Christians during that time. Were they merely decorative? Were they an active part of the worship service or merely a background setting for it? Most importantly, were they venerated?

The only honest and straightforward answer that can be given to these questions is the admission that we don't know anything for sure. There are some things that archaeologists just don't have access to – and the minds and hearts of early third century Christians and Jews are amongst those things. Of course, we can't travel back in time to witness their worship services and pious practices or to interview them on these things for ourselves. But we do have a few clues within the archaeological evidence if we pay close attention.

Returning to the synagogue at Dura Europos as our outstanding example, we find, as in nearly every synagogue, a niche in which the Torah scroll was placed located on the wall towards the direction of Jerusalem, in this case the western wall. This is the holiest place in a Jewish temple, the location of the scroll containing the Torah, the Law of Moses, the direction, again, towards Jerusalem, which Jews face for prayer, the center of the community's liturgical life.32 And on this same wall, surrounding the Torah niche, are dozens of icons. This means that the Jewish congregants at this synagogue would have been facing toward these images throughout their worship, chanting, singing, praying, and bowing.

Also of note is the orientation of the figures depicted in the iconography at the synagogue; they are facing outward, toward the viewer, looking at the individual looking at them. This is true not only of those icons intentionally painted in portrait style, but even of those which illustrate a biblical story or otherwise show a scene or movement; the individual depicted is almost always facing toward the worshipers.

Visualize yourself, for a moment, in this synagogue in the third century in the midst of a worship service. You are facing toward a wall filled with images. You pray and raise your eyes, looking at the Saints of God, and they are looking back at you. The effect that these icons must have been intended to have and surely did have is obvious.

Similarly, the surviving icons in the church at Dura Europos are not located in a backroom or even in the back of the room; they are in the baptistery, the place within the church building where baptism, one of the most sacred rites of Christianity, takes place. The icon of Christ as the Good Shepherd is located in an apse above the baptismal font at about eye level with a standing man. Is it really a stretch of the imagination to wonder if the priest or bishop presiding at the baptism, given that he would have been standing eye to eye with this image of Christ, might have been looking with love upon this image of his Savior as he recited the prayers which would bring another sheep into the Good Shepherd's pasture? Is it really such a stretch of the imagination to think that this newly-illuminated Christian, arising from the baptismal waters cleansed of his sins and a new creation in Christ, might have looked to this icon of his Master and uttered even the briefest prayer, exclamation, or thought of thanks? I don't think that either is a very far stretch, but instead the greatest likelihood.

In trying to determine whether early Christians, or Jews for that matter, venerated icons, the question of what exactly constitutes veneration must first be answered. Webster's Dictionary defines the word venerate as to “regard with reverence.”33 Veneration is not merely the outward act we currently see in Orthodox churches; veneration is much, much more. One need not touch or even come especially close to an icon to venerate it. The very presence of these icons at all in fact attests to their veneration. Why else did the early Christians and ancient Jews decorate their temples so lavishly with icons? In the ancient world, art was not only intended for beauty but almost always for utility as well.34These icons, then, were created as and for more than mere decoration.

The artists who made these images and/or the individuals who originally commissioned their production were moved by their piety and reverence to create these depictions of holy men and women in the service of God. It is hard to imagine that these same individuals who were so moved to create them, as well as the many others who would view them in the temple, would not also be moved by their piety and devotion to God with feelings of reverence and awe as they gazed upon the beauty of the finished product. What truly reverent Jew could look into the eyes of the image of the Prophet Moses in the synagogue during Sabbath worship and not feel moved with awe at this great holy man of God? What truly religious Christian could look upon the image of Christ healing the paralytic in the church and not feel moved with love and gratefulness to his Lord and Savior for healing his own spiritual sickness and paralysis?

So, did early Christians perform the standardized ritual of bowing twice, kissing the icon, and bowing once more as Orthodox Christians commonly do today? Perhaps, but probably not. Did they bow while standing in front of these icons? Unless the Christians and Jews of Dura Europos were the only Christians and Jews who didn't bow during worship, the answer is a clear affirmative. Did they pray in front of these icons? Clearly they did; as we have seen, the icons are located on walls which would have been faced during prayer. Did they kiss these icons? There's no way to tell; as these ancient cultures were certainly “kissing cultures” I don't think it's a great leap of logic to think they might have, but, as far as I know, archaeologists haven't looked for lipstick smudges yet! But did they venerate these icons? Did they “regard [them] with reverence”? Absolutely, without a doubt.

The Holy Icons were displayed and venerated in Christian churches throughout the world for almost 700 years before anybody raised a voice of opposition against them, a significant point of fact in itself.35 Some time between the years 726 and 730, however, the Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Leo III the Isaurian ordered the removal of an Icon of Christ which had hung prominently over one of the main gates to the city of Constantinople, the imperial capitol. In a subsequent decree issued shortly after, he forbade the veneration of the Holy Icons altogether, although still allowing for the veneration of symbols such as the Cross.36

Christians throughout the Roman Empire and well beyond its borders reacted with shock and outrage at the Emperor's unprecedented move. St. Germanos I resigned his position as Patriarch of Constantinople. St. Gregory III, Pope of Rome at the time, held two synods in Rome condemning Leo and his actions. In some parts of the Empire, there were riots and even popular uprisings, often led by the monks, which group unanimously opposed Leo's attempted “reforms” of the Christian Faith. The ensuing chaos and Christian infighting continued for over a hundred years. However, as interesting as the history of the Byzantine iconoclast controversy is, it is not within our purview here to examine the events in detail; that topic has been excellently treated in very many other places.37 What matters to us are the arguments that each side used to support their position; many of these arguments are the same that today's iconoclasts continue to use.

It is not precisely known what motivated Emperor Leo to begin issuing his edicts against the Holy Icons. Some historians have posited that the Emperor may have been influenced by Islam, a strictly iconoclastic religion which was quickly rising in power and which the Emperor had encountered firsthand during his battles with the Islamic Ummayad Caliphate.38 Another likely motivating factor was the Emperor's apparent search for reasons why God's wrath had fallen upon the Empire in the form of Muslim victories and recent natural disasters; images seemed to him an obvious answer.39 The most obvious reason and the most widely cited by the iconoclasts themselves, though, was a strict and literal interpretation of the Second Commandment,9 which states (see Exodus 20:4-6 and Deuteronomy 5:8-10): You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.40 The strict and literal interpretation of these verses of Scripture lays at the heart of and has been the key point in all movements of Christian iconoclasm, including the the original iconoclasm of the Byzantines, that of the Protestant Reformers, and that of modern iconoclasts.

The immediate problem with such a strict and literal interpretation, however, is that Scripture itself does not interpret this as a prohibition of images in a strict and literal sense. Where the Second Commandment occurs in the book of Exodus, for instance, God says only a few chapters later (Exodus 26:1): Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains woven of fine linen thread, and blue and purple and scarlet yarn; with artistic designs of cherubim you shall weave them. And in another verse previous to that, God even associates his own presence with images (Exodus 25:22): And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, of all things which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel. Clearly, Scripture can and does distinguish between an idol and an icon, just as the early Christians and Jews we encountered earlier did. Few, if any, Christians interpret the Sixth Commandment, which forbids murder, so strictly.41 Nearly all Christians accept that Scripture distinguishes here between murder and killing, forbidding the former while allowing for the latter in some limited circumstances; this is especially true in the light of later verses in which God directly orders the killing of certain groups and individuals.42Why, then, if Protestants can allow for a distinction here between murder and killing in the light of later verses, do they refuse to allow for a distinction between idols and icons in the Second Commandment in the light of later verses allowing for and even ordering the production of religious images? This inconsistency smacks of hypocrisy and is indicative of certain readers interpreting their own presuppositions into the text rather than allowing the text to speak for itself.

And the text of Scripture certainly does interpret itself on this matter. Speaking to the people and repeating much of the Second Commandment to them, the Prophet Moses explains why it is that they are forbidden to make an image of God (Deuteronomy 4:11, 15-18): And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice. ... Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. According to the Prophet Moses, then, the reason that the Hebrews were ordered not to make an image is because they saw no image. They were unable to make an image of God because God was as yet unseen and even unseeable, and therefore undepicted and undepictable. However, approximately 2000 years ago, a remarkable event occurred which changed all of this: the Incarnation; in the words of the Holy Apostle John (Gospel of John 1:14): And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. God became man in the Person of Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary. And, in becoming man, he took on all the properties of mankind, becoming like us in all things.43Amongst the properties common to humankind is to have form and to be depictable; Christ, therefore, took upon himself the ability to be depicted in an image. We are no longer in the situation of the Hebrews in the Book of Deuteronomy who had only “heard the sound of the words, but saw no form;” we have now “beheld His glory.”

The truth of the Incarnation is fatal to any attempt at Christian iconoclasm and, necessarily, iconoclasts have traditionally, and dangerously, downplayed or altogether ignored it and its implications. The father of Protestant iconoclasm, John Calvin, for instance, wrote against images as if he were totally unfamiliar with the Incarnation of the Lord: Therefore it remains that only those things are to be sculptured or painted which the eyes are capable of seeing: let not God's majesty, which is far above the perception of the eyes, be debased through unseemly representations.44 St. John of Damascus (ca. 646-749), one of the most important defenders of the Holy Icons during the Byzantine controversy, noted this betrayal of the prime truth of Christianity amongst the iconoclasts of his day and rightly declared: In times past, God, without body and form, could in no way be represented. But now, since God has appeared in flesh and lived among men, I can depict that which is visible of God. I do not venerate the matter, but I venerate the Creator of matter, who became matter for me, who condescended to live in matter, and who, through matter accomplished my salvation; and I do not cease to respect the matter through which my salvation is accomplished.45 One of the truly remarkable features of all iconoclastic movements, no matter which location or century, is their inevitable lack of emphasis on the Incarnation and resulting pseudo-Eutychian Christology, often approaching very close to outright docetism.46 A suitable example of this can be read in a short treatise forged by the eighth century Byzantine iconoclasts in the name of the fourth century Bishop and Church Father St. Epiphanius of Salamis: I have heard it said that some people have ordered that the incomprehensible Son of God be represented: to hear and believe such a blasphemy makes one shiver.

How can anyone say that God, incomprehensible, inexpressible, ungraspable by the mind, and uncircumscribable, can be represented, him whom Moses could not look at? Some people say that since the Word of God became perfect man born from the ever-virgin Mary, we can represent him as man.

Did the Word become flesh so that you could represent by your hand the Incomprehensible One by whom all things were made?47 The author here is apparently even aware of the Orthodox counter-argument formulated by St. John of Damascus and yet, rather than attempt to provide a decent answer to it, he simply ignores it and repeats the same thing he had said previously but with different phrasing, completely sidestepping the logical flaw in his own argument. If the Word of God “became perfect man born from the ever-virgin Mary” he took on all of the aspects of what it means to be a man, as we discussed above. Men are comprehensible, expressible, graspable by the mind, and circumscribable, therefore the Word of God, in order to be perfect man, had taken on comprehensibility, expressibility, graspability, and circumscribability. If he did not, then he did not become perfect man, which conclusion places us firmly in the camp of the docetists.

An argument to the same end which the Orthodox theologians and Church Fathers who fought against the Byzantine iconoclasts did not have at hand is the question of whether a photograph of Christ would have been permissible had the technology existed during his earthly sojourn. If not, the iconoclast must answer the question of “why?” Would it have been physically possible? If not, then Christ must not have been fully human, therefore not perfect man. Would it have been permissible by the laws of God? If not, then different rules must apply to Christ's humanity than apply to ours, making his humanity unlike our own instead of “like [us] in every way,”43 and so not real humanity at all.

Each time without exception that iconoclasm has cropped up within Christendom, its followers have found themselves dangerously close to denying or at least minimizing the most central truth claim of Christianity, the Incarnation, and, as a result, placing themselves within or startlingly close to the realm of docetism. The Holy Icons are a necessary safeguard of the most central doctrines of Christianity and to deny them causes a subtle but monumental alteration in Christology and theology as a natural implication. In the words of one historian, Richard Chenevix Trench, himself in fact a Protestant clergyman (Anglican, to be specific), commenting on the end of the Byzantine iconoclast controversy: Had the Iconoclasts triumphed, when their work showed itself at last in its true colours, it would have proved to be the triumph, not of faith in an invisible God, but of frivolous unbelief in an incarnate Saviour.48 The Kontakion49 for the Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy (celebrated on the first Sunday of Great Lent), the commemoration of the restoration of the Holy Icons to the churches following the conclusion of the Byzantine iconoclast controversy, succinctly summarizes the Orthodox argument against the docetism of the iconoclasts: No one could describe the Word of the Father; but when He took flesh from you, O Theotokos, He accepted to be described, and restored the fallen image to its former beauty. We confess and proclaim our salvation in word and images.50

Thus far we have established that the the presence and veneration of the Holy Icons in the Christian churches are early Christian traditions inherited from ancient Judaism and also that to attempt to do away with the Christian iconographic tradition poses significant issues with radical implications in Christology. We will now build on the base we have already set in place with these points and move onto the necessity of the veneration of the Holy Icons.

There are some Protestant pseudo-iconoclasts who, backing off from full-blown iconoclasm because its erroneous implications, concede to the production and presence of iconography but not to its veneration. Such a semi-iconoclasm, though, is also filled with pitfalls. As we noted above (section III) veneration is not only the standardized ritual common in the Orthodox Church today, but any feeling of awe or reverence, a feeling which the Holy Icons must naturally bring about in any pious Christian with a love for Christ, His Holy Mother, and the Saints and Angels.

This is not very difficult to illustrate. Imagine that you are away from your wife or husband, your mother or father, or your son or daughter for a long period of time. Naturally, you hang up a picture on your wall or carry a photo of this loved one in your pocket. Each time that you look at this picture, you experience love and joy. You contemplate this picture and think about the times you've had with this person, how much they mean to you, how anxious you are to return to their embrace. You might even pick that picture up and kiss it! Now, one might naturally wonder why it would be acceptable, natural, and normal for you to do all of this for a spouse, parent, or child, but not to do the same for our Lord and Savior who said, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”51

To continue with the illustration, if one were to look upon a photograph of his wife whom he has been away from for some time and not feel any love or desire for her, it would be safe to wonder if he really loves his wife and wants to be with her. Similarly, if a Christian looks upon an Icon of his Savior Crucified for his salvation or of his Master depicted as the Good Shepherd and feels no awe, no reverence, even no desire to prostrate himself in worship of his Lord, would it not be safe to wonder if he really loves God and wants to be united to Him, even if he is a Christian at all?

In short, if the icons are present, and, as we have seen, they must be present if we are to have a correct Christology, it is the natural response of honest love for God that the iconsmust be venerated. To allow for the presence of iconography but disallow its veneration is to separate not only art from utility, a strange enough concept in the context of ancient thought whether Greco-Roman or Judeo-Christian, but, more importantly and more spiritually dangerously, to divorce mind from heart, theology from practice, and piety from devotion.

St. Theodore of Studium (759-826), a monk and one of the primary Orthodox opponents of the Byzantine iconoclasts, offered a concise summary of this point: “If merely mental contemplation had been sufficient, it would have been enough for him to come to us in a merely mental way.”52

Before we close this essay, it seems worthwhile to take note of the dangers of excess which can lead us to idolatry, as icons can certainly be made into idols. In part, it may have been some of the abuses and perversions related to iconography in the Middle Ages that inspired Emperor Leo III the Isaurian to launch the Byzantine iconoclast controversy in the first place. For example, there are accounts which indicate that icons may have served as godparents at baptisms on multiple occassions.53

Such abuses and perversions are, as stated, idolatrous; their possibility does not, however, preclude the display and veneration of the Holy Icons altogether, as some iconoclasts would aver. On the contrary, iconoclasts are just as capable of falling into idolatry as are iconodules (that is, those who venerate the Holy Icons). In fact, it may be somewhat easier for an iconoclast to fall into idolatry as he is much more susceptible to the danger of making a false image of God, most likely created in his own image, whereas for the iconodule an image is already present. All the iconodule must do is make certain that he doesn't turn this image into an idol.

Of all the senses, sight is perhaps the most used by and most important to human beings. Images are natural to us. Martin Luther, the founder of the Protestant Reformation, wrote: I am convinced that it is God's will that we should hear and learn what He has done, especially what Christ suffered. But when I hear these things and meditate upon them, I find it impossible not to picture them in my heart. Whether I want to or not, when I hear of Christ, a human form hanging upon a cross rises up in my heart: just as I see my natural face reflected when I look into water.8 This not only makes the iconoclast's position an inconsistent one, as he places a ban on external images but knows himself incapable of stopping the natural rising up of images in his mind, but also makes it more difficult for him to avoid idolatry. In the Orthodox Christian iconographic tradition, creativity and imagination are strongly discouraged; an iconographer's goal is essentially to copy previous images and, in the few cases in which news ones are needed, to stick as closely to traditional guidelines of color, symbolism, style, etc. as possible. Insofar as he departs from these standards, his quality as an iconographer decreases. In short, iconography is the art of imitation, not innovation.54Iconoclasts, on the other hand, having no traditional image to which to look, are forced to create their own image fresh each time, allowing for the creation of a great variety of false images and the danger of worshiping a false god; this is idolatry.

The Seventh Ecumenical Council, held in the city of Nicaea in 787, in finally giving the Church's official endorsement to iconography in opposition to the Byzantine iconoclasts, was careful with its language and its stipulations on two particularly important points. Here is the relevant portion of the Decree of the Holy Seventh Ecumenical Council:55 We, therefore, following the royal pathway and the divinely inspired authority of our Holy Fathers and the traditions of the Catholic Church (for, as we all know, the Holy Spirit indwells her), define with all certitude and accuracy that just as the figure of the precious and life-giving Cross, so also the venerable and holy images, as well in painting and mosaic as of other fit materials, should be set forth in the holy churches of God, and on the sacred vessels and on the vestments and on hangings and in pictures both in houses and by the wayside, to wit, the figure of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, of our spotless Lady, the Mother of God, of the honourable Angels, of all Saints and of all pious people. For by so much more frequently as they are seen in artistic representation, by so much more readily are men lifted up to the memory of their prototypes, and to a longing after them; and to these should be given due salutation and honourable reverence, not indeed that true worship of faith which pertains alone to the divine nature; but to these, as to the figure of the precious and life-giving Cross and to the Book of the Gospels and to the other holy objects, incense and lights may be offered according to ancient pious custom. For the honour which is paid to the image passes on to that which the image represents, and he who reveres the image reveres in it the subject represented. For thus the teaching of our holy Fathers, that is the tradition of the Catholic Church, which from one end of the earth to the other hath received the Gospel, is strengthened. Thus we follow Paul, who spake in Christ, and the whole divine Apostolic company and the holy Fathers, holding fast the traditions which we have received. Note the two portions I have placed in boldface.

First, notice the list of figures which the Council gives permission to depict, namely, Christ, the Theotokos, Angels, Saints, and “pious people.” The Council does not give permission to attempt to depict the divine essence of God (that is, the inner workings of the Trinity) nor the Father and the Holy Spirit. The only Person of the Trinity who can be depicted directly is the Son, the Word of God who became flesh, because He is the only one who has revealed an Image of Himself.

The second portion I have bolded is unequivocal; it is even more unequivocal in the original Greek. The veneration shown to the Holy Icons is not the same as the worship given to the divine nature. You may recall St. John of Damascus' words cited earlier in this essay (section IV): I do not venerate the matter, but I venerate the Creator of matter, who became matter for me, who condescended to live in matter, and who, through matter accomplished my salvation; and I do not cease to respect the matter through which my salvation is accomplished.45 The Icon itself is not to be confused with the person or Person who is depicted on the Icon. To return to our earlier illustration (section V), this would be the equivalent of preferring a photograph of your wife to actually being with your wife! Or, worse, confusing a photograph of your wife for actually being your wife!

In the course of this essay, we have examined the presence and veneration of the Holy Icons in the light of history, Scripture, and the content of the Christian Faith. It has been shown that, to the contrary of what has often been previously supposed, rather than being a later addition to a weaker, less devout Christianity, the iconographic tradition is instead an inheritance assumed by the very earliest Christians from their ancient Jewish forebears. in spite of how such passages are often treated, the writings of the early Christians against the idols of the pagans must be interpreted not in a vacuum but in the light of the presence of Christian iconography within the temples within which these individuals worshiped. any attempt to eliminate the Holy Icons has necessarily resulted in a de-emphasis of the Incarnation and a resulting step into docetic or semi-docetic Christology. veneration of the Holy Icons is not only the historical practice of the Christian Church but, in addition, the only natural response to the presence of the icons. although the danger of idolatry exists in an iconographic tradition, iconoclasts are equally if not more capable of falling into idolatry, and the Church in its regulations of the Holy Icons has been careful to avoid the errors which could lead to idolatry. Early Christians probably began painting Images of Christ, of His Mother, and of holy people in their homes and churches largely as a spontaneous expression of their piety and love for their Lord. Honoring God and commemorating the Saints and events of Christ's life through artistic depictions probably seemed quite natural to them; it was common practice, as we have seen, in the Judaism from which Christianity emerged and to which it still held very close ties. These early Christians probably put little if any thought into the deeper implications and meanings of Christian iconography. And not much changed in these respects until over 700 years into the Christian era with the outbreak of the first-ever movement of iconoclasm within Christianity.

As a result of this movement to destroy and ban the Holy Icons, Christians were forced to take a deeper look at what they had been doing all along and to explore its implications and logical conclusions. What they found is that this practice of iconography which had been natural but largely lacking in deeper meaning thus far was in fact an essential aspect of the Christian Faith without which the primary truths of Christianity would be turned on their head. In short, what had been simply “traditional,” something that had always been done, had become a “Holy Tradition,” itself a central principle of Orthodox Christianity.

1 This bow from the waist, generally accompanied with a downward sweeping movement of the arm until the hand touches the floor is called a metanoia. The word, in Greek μετάνοια, refers to a changing of one's mind; where it appears in the New Testament, such as Matthew 3:8, Luke 24:47, 2 Peter 3:9, etc., it is translated in most English versions of the Bible as “repentance.” The veneration of an icon generally includes three of these bows, two before kissing the icon and one after.

2 Perhaps the most remarkable and obvious example of this is the procession before the Divine Liturgy on the Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, observed on the first Sunday of Lent. In commemoration of the restoration of the Holy Icons to the churches after the end of Byzantine iconoclasm in 842, Orthodox Christians process, each holding an icon, through the streets, or at least around the outside of the church building, while singing a hymn about the veneration of icons written by one of iconography's most ardent defenders during the Byzantine controversy, St. Theodore of Studium. The procession stops only for the people to vehemently proclaim the anathemas against iconoclasts and other heretics.

3 The Greek term Theotokos (Θεοτόκος) refers to the Virgin Mary and literally means “God-bearer,” though it is often translated as “Mother of God.” The title, in use in the ancient Church, was officially endorsed by the Church at the Third Ecumenical Council in Ephesus in AD 431, largely in order to counter the claims of Nestorius of Antioch and his followers, who claimed that the man Jesus and the divine Word were two different persons. The title Theotokos is the term most commonly used by Orthodox Christians to refer to the Virgin Mary. In using this term, Orthodox Christians do not mean to impart inherent divinity to the Virgin Mary, but to ensure the inherent divinity of Jesus Christ by pointing out that the man who was in her womb is indeed God Incarnate.

4 “Wonder-working” icons are those through which miracles, including the healing of sick people, victory in battle, and safety in the face of catastrophe, have been affected by God's power. Myrrh is a sweet-smelling resin collected from the dried sap of certain trees and often used in perfumes and incense. There are some Holy Icons which have begun to spontaneously and miraculously drip with this substance; it is these icons which are referred to with the title “myrrh-streaming.”

5 Some famous examples of icons celebrated on the Church's calendar include the Myrrh-streaming Icon of the Theotokos of Iveron, celebrated on February 12, with which a number of miracles are associated, including blood coming forth from the the Virgin Mary's face after it was speared by an iconoclast during the Byzantine iconoclast era; the Weeping Icon of the Theotokos of Tikhvin, celebrated February 17, located in Tikhvin Monastery on Mount Athos, from which tears began to flow in 1877; and the Wonder-working Icon of the Theotokos “Surety of Sinners” of Odrino, celebrated on March 7, which is associated with numerous healings of the sick, including the restoration of a crippled child in 1844.

6 That is, “right-believing,” from the Greek ὀρθόδοξος, literally meaning “straight opinion.”

7 For example: “Protestantism does not give painting and sculpture the same place in its Cultus that was an is accorded to these arts in the Cultus of the Roman and Greek Churches, for it knows no picture and image worship. Zwingli and others for the sake of saving the Word rejected all plastic art; Luther, with an equal concern for the Word, but far more conservative, would have all the arts to be the servants of the Gospel. … The Lutheran Cultus has therefore never excluded painting and sculpture, but it assigns these arts the last place.” Jeremiah F. Ohl, "Art in Worship," Memoirs of the Lutheran Liturgical Association, Vol. II (Pittsburgh: Lutheran Liturgical Association, 1900), 88-89.

8 "I have myself heard those who oppose pictures, read from my German Bible. . . . But this contains many pictures of God, of the angels, of men, and of animals, especially in the Revelation of St. John, in the books of Moses, and in the book of Joshua. We therefore kindly beg these fanatics to permit us also to paint these pictures on the wall that they may be remembered and better understood, inasmuch as they can harm as little on the walls as in books. Would to God that I could persuade those who can afford it to paint the whole Bible on their houses, inside and outside, so that all might see ; this would indeed be a Christian work. For I am convinced that it is God's will that we should hear and learn what He has done, especially what Christ suffered. But when I hear these things and meditate upon them, I find it impossible not to picture them in my heart. Whether I want to or not, when I hear of Christ, a human form hanging upon a cross rises up in my heart: just as I see my natural face reflected when I look into water. Now if it is not sinful for me to have Christ's picture in my heart, why should it be sinful to have it before my eyes?" Martin Luther, quoted in Ohl, 88-89.

9 According to Exodus 20:4-6 and Deuteronomy 5:8-10, “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.” This Commandment is traditionally number as the Second in the Decalogue (or Ten Commandments) by Orthodox Christians, Jews, and most Protestants, while Roman Catholics and Lutherans include it as part of the First Commandment.

10 In arguing that icons fall under the purview of the Second Commandment's ban on idolatry, Calvin, as well as all who follow in his footsteps, thereby equates icons with idols, which means, of course, equating Christian images of Christian figures, including the Lord Christ, the Blessed Theotokos, and the Holy Saints and Angels, with pagan images of demons, sinful human beings of ancient times, and imaginary deities; this is dangerous ground indeed.

11 See Calvin's criticism of the medieval Roman Catholic distinction between dulia (the reverence given to Saints, Angels, holy objects such as icons, etc., meaning “veneration;” in Greek δουλεία) and latria (the reverence reserved for the Trinity alone, meaning “adoration;” in Greek λατρεία) in his Institutes of the Christian Religion 1.11.11 and 1.12.2 - 1.12.3, for instance. This distinction appeared relatively early in Latin Christianity, being cited by Blessed Augustine of Hippo in his City of God 10.1, but was made most explicit in and most firmly entered the medieval Roman Catholic consciousness through the twelfth century Scholastic philosopher Thomas Aquinas, considered a saint in the Roman Catholic Church; see his Summa Theologiae II II 84, 1 and II II 103, 3. Interestingly, this distinction is not the one used by the Seventh Ecumenical Council (Second Council of Nicaea) when it issued the official Orthodox stance on iconography in 787. This Council then and the Orthodox Church today instead differentiate between προσκύνησις (literally meaning “kissing towards,” describes the act of prostrating oneself before a superior, a common act in the ancient world) and λατρεύσεις (which refers to the service to be rendered only to God), as well as other, more precise Greek Septuagint and New Testament terms. Calvin, then, never addressed the Orthodox understanding of icons and their veneration.

13 “The way Calvin actually deals with the 8th-century Councils of the iconoclast controversy shows he did not really get to grips with the questions at issue in the Byzantine theology of that age. For that matter he probably never saw an icon in his life.” George Kretschmar, "The Reformation and the Theology of Images." Icons: Windows On Eternity: Theology and Spirituality in Colour, com. Gennadios Limouris, (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1990), 80.

14 Steven Bigham, Early Christian Attitudes toward Images, (Rollingsford, NH: Orthodox Research Institute, 2004).

15 For more information on Dura Europos, see Clark Hopkins, The Discovery of Dura Europos, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979). and Michael Ivanovitch Rostovtzeff,Dura-Europos and Its Art, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1938).

16 Simon Anglim, Phyllis G. Jestice, Rob S. Rice, Scott M. Rusch, and John Serrati.Fighting Techniques of the Ancient World: 3000 BC-500 AD : Equipment, Combat Skills, and Tactics, (New York: St. Martin's, 2002), 218.

17 Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity, (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984), 95.

18 Ann Louise Perkins, The Art of Dura-Europos, (Oxford: Clarendon, 1973) and Graydon F. Snyder, Ante Pacem: Archaeological Evidence of Church Life Before Constantine, (Macon, Ga.: Mercer UP, 2003), 128-134.

19 John 10:11. Depictions of Christ as the Good Shepherd in poetry, prayer, literature, and art were very popular amongst early Christians.

25 Jonathan Goldstein, “The Judaism of the Synagogues (Focusing on the Synagogue of Dura-Europos” in Jacob Neusner, Alan J. Avery-Peck, and Bruce Chilton, Judaism in Late Antiquity, (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995), 110.

26 Steven Fine, Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World: Toward a New Jewish Archaeology, (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005), ch. 11.

29 Dan Urman, and Paul Virgil McCracken Flesher. Ancient Synagogues Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery, (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1998).

30 See, for instance, St. Justin the Philosopher's (also known as Justin Martyr) lengthy diatribe against the Jews for what he alleges are their alterations, most of them nearly insignificantly minor, of the Scriptural texts, in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew (written ca. AD 165).

31 For a very interesting and enlightening examination specifically of the Dura Europos synagogue on this point, see Kurt Weitzmann and Herbert L. Kessler, The Frescoes of the Dura Synagogue and Christian Art, (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1990).

32 R. Morrison, "Missionary Intelligence." The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany 4 (1817), 403. For example, see Daniel 6:10.

33 Specifically: Albert H. Morehead, Loy Morehead, Philip D. Morehead, and Andrew T. Morehead, The New American Webster Handy College Dictionary, (New York, N.Y.: New American Library, 1981). See the entry for “venerate”.

34 Richard Cary, Critical Art Pedagogy: Foundations for Postmodern Art Education, (New York: Garland Pub., 1998), 71.

35 Until fairly recently, it has been a common supposition that St. Epiphanius of Salamis (ca. AD 310-403) and Eusebius of Caesarea (ca. AD 263-339) were, in some sense, “proto-iconoclasts.” This thesis, though, has been sufficiently addressed and dismissed by Steven Bigham, Epiphanius of Salamis, Doctor of Iconoclasm?: Deconstruction of a Myth, (Rollinsford, N.H.: Orthodox Research Institute, 2008). However, even if we permit two dissenting voices, which we nonetheless do not, the honest response is that it doesn't matter. In the famous words of Aristotle (Nicomacaean Ethics, Book 1, Chapter 7), “one swallow does not make a summer.” The point is that even if there were several dissenting voices in the early Church, which we have yet to discover, their trickle of difference is drowned out by the roaring river of the rest of Christendom. They are also unimportant in having had no large or lasting effect; either they were ignored entirely or, more likely, they didn't exist.

36 Warren T. Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State and Society, (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Univ., 2000).

37 For a concise but informative history, see chapter 9, “Iconoclasm,” in John Julius Norwich, A Short History of Byzantium, (New York: Knopf, 1997).

38 G.E. Von Grunebaum "Byzantine Iconoclasm and the Influence of the Islamic Environment." History of Religions 2.1 (1962), 1-10.

39 See the Chronicle of St. Theophanes the Confessor, in English translation: Harry Turtledove (tr.), The Chronicle of Theophanes: An English Translation of Anni Mundi 6095-6305 (A.D. 602-813), (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1982).

40 All quotations of Scripture contained in this essay are taken from the New King James Version (NKJV).

41 According to Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17, “You shall not murder.” This Commandment is traditionally numbered as the Sixth in the Decalogue (or Ten Commandments) by Orthodox Christians, Jews, and most Protestants, while Roman Catholics and Lutherans number it as the Fifth Commandment.

45 St. John of Damascus, Apology Against Those Who Decry the Holy Images, Part I.

46 Eutyches (ca. AD 380-456), the founder of the heresy known as Monophysitism (mono[one] + physis [nature] = one nature [of Christ]). He posited that Christ's human nature had been “swallowed up like a drop of honey in the sea” of his divine nature, thereby denying the full humanity of Christ. Eutyches' flawed Christology was condemned by the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon in AD 451. Docetism is a very early Christian heresy (late first/early second century) which posited that Christ only appeared to be human but was not so in reality, being instead totally divine. Docetism was condemned by the early Christians even in the New Testament (see, for instance, 2 John 1:7).

47 For the full text of the iconoclastic treatise falsely attributed to St. Epiphanius as well as a cogent argument as to why this attribution can safely be ruled as false, see Steven Bigham, Epiphanius of Salamis, Doctor of Iconoclasm?: Deconstruction of a Myth, (Rollinsford, N.H.: Orthodox Research Institute, 2008).

48 (Trench, Mediaeval History, Chap. vii.) “The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church,” trans H. R. Percival, in NPNF2, eds. P. Schaff and H. Wace, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1955), XIV, 575, cf. 547f.

49 A specific type of hymn used in the Orthodox Church to commemorate a Saint or feast.

50 "OCA - Troparion and Kontakion," The Orthodox Church in America, accessed 27 June 2010, http://www.oca.org/FStropars.asp?SID=13&ID=10

53 Alexander Avenarius, The Byzantine Struggle over the Icon: on the Problem of Eastern European Symbolism, (Bratislava: Academic Electronic, 2005), 32.

54"'Imitate; Don't Innovate': Safeguarding the Integrity of the Orthodox Faith," Orthodox Christian Information Center Home Page, Accessed 30 June 2010,http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/phronema/icon_innovate.aspx

55 "The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church," trans H. R. Percival, inNPNF2, ed. P. Schaff and H. Wace, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1955), XIV, 549.

St. John of Damascus: On The Orthodox Faith Book III
Chapter 15. Concerning the honourdue to the Saints and their remains.

To the saints honour must be paid as friends of Christ, as sons and heirs of God: in the words of John the theologian and evangelist, As many as received Him, to them gave He power to became sons of God. John 1:12 So that they are no longer servants, but sons: and if sons, also heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ : and the Lord in the holy Gospels says to His apostles, You are My friends John 15:14 . Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knows not what his lord does. And further, if the Creator and Lord of all things is called also King of Kings and Lord of Lords Revelation 19:16 and God of Gods, surely also the saints are gods and lords and kings. For of these God is and is called God and Lord and King. For I am the God of Abraham, He said to Moses, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Exodus 3:6 And God made Moses a god to Pharaoh. Now I mean gods and kings and lords not in nature, but as rulers and masters of their passions, and as preserving a truthful likeness to the divine image according to which they were made (for the image of a king is also called king), and as being united to God of their own free-will and receiving Him as an indweller and becoming by grace through participation with Him what He is Himself by nature. Surely, then, the worshippers and friends and sons of God are to be held in honour? For the honour shown to the most thoughtful of fellow-servants is a proof of good feeling towards the common Master.
These are made treasuries and pure habitations of God: For I will dwell in them, said God, and walk in them, and I will be their God. The divine Scripture likewise says that the souls of the just are in God’s hand Wisdom 3:1 and death cannot lay hold of them. For death is rather the sleep of the saints than their death. For they travailed in this life and shall to the end , and Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. What then, is more precious than to be in the hand of God? For God is Life and Light, and those who are in God’s hand are in life and light.

Further, that God dwelt even in their bodies in spiritual wise , the Apostle tells us, saying, Do you not know that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16, and The Lord is that Spirit 2 Corinthians 3:17, and If any one destroy the temple of God, him will God destroy. 1 Corinthians 3:17 Surely, then, we must ascribe honour to the living temples of God, the living tabernacles of God. These while they lived stood with confidence before God.

The Master Christ made the remains of the saints to be fountains of salvation to us, pouring forth manifold blessings and abounding in oil of sweet fragrance: and let no one disbelieve this. For if water burst in the desert from the steep and solid rock at God’s will Exodus 17:6 and from the jaw-bone of an ass to quench Samson’s thirst Judges 15:17, is it incredible that fragrant oil should burst forth from the martyrs’ remains? By no means, at least to those who know the power of God and the honour which He accords His saints.

In the law every one who touches a dead body was considered impure Numbers 19:11, but these are not dead. For from the time when He that is Himself life and the Author of life was reckoned among the dead, we do not call those dead who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection and in faith on Him. For how could a dead body work miracles? How, therefore, are demons driven off by them, diseases dispelled, sick persons made well, the blind restored to sight, lepers purified, temptations and troubles overcome, and how does every good gift from the Father of lights James 1:17 come down through them to those who pray with sure faith? How much labour would you not undergo to find a patron to introduce you to a mortal king and speak to him on your behalf? Are not those, then, worthy of honour who are the patrons of the whole race, and make intercession to God for us? Yea, verily, we ought to give honour to them by raising temples to God in their name, bringing them fruit-offerings, honouring their memories and taking spiritual delight in them, in order that the joy of those who call on us may be ours, that in our attempts at worship we may not on the contrary cause them offense. For those who worship God will take pleasure in those things whereby God is worshipped, while His shield-bearers will be wrath at those things wherewith God is angry. In psalms and hymns and spiritual songs Ephesians 5:19, in contrition and in pity for the needy, let us believers worship the saints, as God also is most worshipped in such wise. Let us raise monuments to them and visible images, and let us ourselves become, through imitation of their virtues, living monuments and images of them. Let us give honour to her who bore God as being strictly and truly the Mother of God. Let us honour also the prophet John as forerunner and baptist , as apostle and martyr, For among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist Matthew 11:11, as says the Lord, and he became the first to proclaim the Kingdom. Let us honour the apostles as the Lord’s brothers, who saw Him face to face and ministered to His passion, for whom God the Father did foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son Romans 8:29, first apostles, second prophets 1 Corinthians 12:24, third pastors and teachers. Ephesians 4:11 Let us also honour the martyrs of the Lord chosen out of every class, as soldiers of Christ who have drunk His cup and were then baptized with the baptism of His life-bringing death, to be partakers of His passion and glory: of whom the leader is Stephen, the first deacon of Christ and apostle and first martyr. Also let us honour our holy fathers, the God-possessed ascetics, whose struggle was the longer and more toilsome one of the conscience: who wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented; they wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth, of whom the world was not worthy. Hebrews 11:37-38 Let us honour those who were prophets before grace, the patriarchs and just men who foretold the Lord’s coming. Let us carefully review the life of these men, and let us emulate their faith and love and hope and zeal and way of life, and endurance of sufferings and patience even to blood, in order that we may be sharers with them in their crowns of glory.

Chapter 16. Concerning Images.
But since some find fault with us for worshipping and honouring the image of our Saviour and that of our Lady, and those, too, of the rest of the saints and servants of Christ, let them remember that in the beginning God created man after His own image. Genesis 1:26 On what grounds, then, do we show reverence to each other unless because we are made after God’s image? For as Basil, that much-versed expounder of divine things, says, the honour given to the image passes over to the prototype. Now a prototype is that which is imaged, from which the derivative is obtained. Why was it that the Mosaic people honoured on all hands the tabernacle Exodus 33:10 which bore an image and type of heavenly things, or rather of the whole creation? God indeed said to Moses, Look that thou make them after their pattern which was showed you in the mount. The Cherubim, too, which o’ershadow the mercy seat, are they not the work of men’s hands Exodus 25:18? What, further, is the celebrated temple at Jerusalem? Is it not hand-made and fashioned by the skill of men 1 Kings viii?

Moreover the divine Scripture blames those who worship graven images, but also those who sacrifice to demons. The Greeks sacrificed and the Jews also sacrificed: but the Greeks to demons and the Jews to God. And the sacrifice of the Greeks was rejected and condemned, but the sacrifice of the just was very acceptable to God. For Noah sacrificed, and God smelled a sweet savour Genesis 8:21, receiving the fragrance of the right choice and good-will towards Him. And so the graven images of the Greeks, since they were images of deities, were rejected and forbidden.

But besides this who can make an imitation of the invisible, incorporeal, uncircumscribed, formless God? Therefore to give form to the Deity is the height of folly and impiety. And hence it is that in the Old Testament the use of images was not common. But after God in His bowels of pity became in truth man for our salvation, not as He was seen by Abraham in the semblance of a man, nor as He was seen by the prophets, but in being truly man, and after He lived upon the earth and dwelt among men Baruch 3:38, worked miracles, suffered, was crucified, rose again and was taken back to Heaven, since all these things actually took place and were seen by men, they were written for the remembrance and instruction of us who were not alive at that time in order that though we saw not, we may still, hearing and believing, obtain the blessing of the Lord. But seeing that not every one has a knowledge of letters nor time for reading, the Fathers gave their sanction to depicting these events on images as being acts of great heroism, in order that they should form a concise memorial of them. Often, doubtless, when we have not the Lord’s passion in mind and see the image of Christ’s crucifixion, His saving passion is brought back to remembrance, and we fall down and worship not the material but that which is imaged: just as we do not worship the material of which the Gospels are made, nor the material of the Cross, but that which these typify. For wherein does the cross, that typifies the Lord, differ from a cross that does not do so? It is just the same also in the case of the Mother of the Lord. For the honour which we give to her is referred to Him Who was made of her incarnate. And similarly also the brave acts of holy men stir us up to be brave and to emulate and imitate their valour and to glorify God. For as we said, the honour that is given to the best of fellow-servants is a proof of good-will towards our common Lady, and the honour rendered to the image passes over to the prototype. But this is an unwritten tradition , just as is also the worshipping towards the East and the worship of the Cross, and very many other similar things.

A certain tale , too, is told , how that when Augarus was king over the city of the Edessenes, he sent a portrait painter to paint a likeness of the Lord, and when the painter could not paint because of the brightness that shone from His countenance, the Lord Himself put a garment over His own divine and life-giving face and impressed on it an image of Himself and sent this to Augarus, to satisfy thus his desire.

Moreover that the Apostles handed down much that was unwritten, Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, tells us in these words: Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you have been taught of us, whether by word or by epistle. 2 Thessalonians 2:15 And to the Corinthians he writes, Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things, and keep the traditions as I have delivered them to you 1 Corinthians 11:2 .
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/33044.htm

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