THE FAITH THAT HAS ESTABLISHED THE UNIVERSE

As the Prophets beheld, As the Apostles taught, As the Church received, As the Teachers dogmatized, As the Universe agreed, As Grace illumined, As the Truth revealed, As falsehood passed away, As Wisdom presented, As Christ awarded, Thus we declare, Thus we assert, Thus we proclaim Christ our true God and honor His saints, In words, In writings, In thoughts, In sacrifices, In churches, In holy icons.


On the one hand, worshipping and reverencing Christ as God and Lord. And on the other hand, honoring and venerating His Saints as true servants of the same Lord.


This is the Faith of the Apostles. This is the Faith of the Fathers. This is the Faith of the Orthodox. This is the Faith which has established the Universe.



Every now and then I will meet an Evangelical or Fundamentalist Protestant who will tell me that the Orthodox veneration of icons is idolatrous. When I encounter such persons I feel, on an emotional level, the same way I would if someone were to make insinuations about my mother or in some other way insult a beloved member of my family. I have to tell myself that these people are speaking from ignorance--ignorance of the Scriptures (which they claim to know so well), ignorance of Jesus Christ (with whom they claim a personal relationship), and, of course, ignorance of all things Orthodox.



I usually take a deep breath and say something like, "We Orthodox believe that Jesus is God. He is God Incarnate, the Emmanuel that Isaiah spoke of in the Scriptures". That usually leaves them a bit taken aback. "Well, what do you mean? We believe that Jesus is God, too." "Then you must believe that it is possible to make an image of Him--since He is also human and had a human body". At this point they usually begin to stammer something about the second commandment and try to shift the discussion to the most blessed Virgin Mary and the saints.

Again, I refer them to the scriptures--especially the Prophet Isaiah. What was forbidden in by the second commandment was the creation of any image of God because He had not yet appeared in the flesh among human beings. Even now, it is not possible to create an image of the Father or the Holy Spirit. Neither of them became incarnate. And for that matter it is not possible to portray the infinite Deity of Christ. What we can show is the human appearance of God--one of the Trinity in the flesh. But the prohibitions against idolatry are always directed against the creation of images that represent falsehood. The idols were images of false gods and demons--snares and deceptions that led away from the worship of the Only True God.

Icons of our Lord Jesus Christ are hardly idols--unless one wishes to say that He is not really God in the flesh. Indeed, if He is not who He said He was, then we are guilty of the worst kind of idolatry! But we believe that He is God-with-us, Emmanuel. And thus we can portray him and offer Him right worship through venerating images of Him. Now, only a great fool would believe that the worship we offer is of wood and paint! We are worshipping the one who is represented by wood and paint--the reality, or, archetype that is portrayed.

Occasionally, one of my Protestant accusers will give a grudging nod to the possibility that there is something to this, even though he or she may find it distasteful. "But what about Mary and your other saints", they demand, "you don't think they're God, do you?" And I immediately respond, "Of course not! Who would ever accuse us of such a thing? We portray the Mother of God and the saints as members of the living Church--as members of the family of believers who have gone before us but continue to live in Christ. We honor their images as examples of Christian holiness."

At this point I will ask them if they carry any pictures of family members in their wallet, or keep some at home somewhere. It is a rare person who does not. Then I ask them if looking at those pictures gives them any sort of emotional feeling. Again, it is a rare person who will deny that looking at a picture of a grandchild or of a loved one who has since passed away raises profound emotions of love, joy, happiness, or sadness or a mixture of all these things. And I explain to them that they understand icons very well--even if they won't admit to it.

Of course, it is possible to "idolize" those images of our loved ones. But most Christians would find such behavior strange and unnatural. I'm not convinced that a lot of non Christians--people who have lost faith in God--don't idolize the images of earthly 'gods'. Witness the idolatry of political leaders--even here in America today, but serious Christians know better. And our Evangelical/Fundamentalist critics know exactly what I am alluding to.

The image, as St. John of Damascus wrote at the height of the attack on icons by the Imperial government of the Byzantine Empire during the 7th and 8th centuries, represents the prototype. If the prototype is Christ, then the image is worthy of 'worship' because Christ is being worshipped. If the image is of the Mother of God or one of the saints, it is worthy of 'veneration' (or honor) because those persons are worthy of honor and love because of their faithfulness to God and His Church.

The key word in all of this is 'love'. We honor the images because we love the ones portrayed in them. They are part of our family and as living members of the Church (because our God is the God of the living not the dead--as the Lord Jesus Himself has taught) they merit the kisses we bestow upon them.

In our churches we are surrounded by icons--each one representing a member of our family. We know their stories and we firmly believe that they know us. For those who say they don't "get it" we say, open your wallet and look at that person you love so well and then tell us you don't understand.