March 9: Sunday of Orthodoxy

Not long ago, a Jehovah’s witness knocked on my door and asked to speak with me about my relationship with God.  She and I spoke for some time on the porch, and she asked to come back the next week, and then the next, and the next, and eventually, I invited her in for a cup of tea while we had our weekly conversation.  When she entered our home, she became somewhat uncomfortable when she noticed our icon corner.  This is a place in our entry way where we have icons, a crucifix, candle, shelf for rosaries and chotki; a place where our family gathers for prayer.  It is in a somewhat prominent place, hard to miss, and was decorated for a feast day by the children with flowers and candles, so it was extremely noticeable.  When I asked her why she avoided looking at it, she told me that she felt such images were sinful.  She believed that the veneration we give to icons was akin to idol worship and cautioned me about it.  I asked my friend if she ever studied the councils of the early church and if she was aware of what the founding fathers of the Church had to say regarding icons.  Of course, she knew none of it; so, I began to tell her the story of the iconophiles vs the iconoclasts and the battle which ended the controversy about whether or not icons were idols, once and for all on the first Sunday of the Great Fast 1,171 years ago today.  

Toward the end of the seventh century, a controversy arose within the Byzantine Empire due to many miracles which were happening after the faithful would pray before certain icons, thus causing them to be venerated as miraculous.  The icons were so revered that a few zealous Christians were accused of worshipping the icons themselves.  This was a dangerous thing which led many a good Christian to fear the use of icons and swing to the other extreme of removing all icons from homes and even churches, so that no confusion could occur.  These were known as iconoclasts.  This movement upset another group of Byzantine Catholics who became known as iconophiles, who argued that icons were merely tools for worship, not worshipped themselves, and that true worship belonged to God alone.  The iconophiles treasured the symbolic teaching tools for what they were and could not understand how anyone could confuse them with idol worship.  These two groups of people were completely at odds, and their division caused the church much strife and anxiety.  Terasios, the Patriarch of Constantinople asked the Empress Irene to call an Ecumenical Council to discuss and resolve this issue once and for all, and restore peace to the Church.  The Seventh Ecumenical Council was convened in Nicea in 787, and was attended by 367 bishops.  

 

Pope Hadrian, who could not attend the council, sent a letter stating that he held the position that icons were important and worthy of veneration, but not worship, which is due only to God alone.  The council agreed and decreed that all icons were to be restored to homes and churches, stating:

 

"We define that the holy icons, whether in color, mosaic, or some other material, should be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on the sacred vessels and liturgical vestments, on the walls, furnishings, and in houses and along the roads, namely the icons of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, that of our Lady the Theotokos, those of the venerable angels and those of all saintly people. Whenever these representations are contemplated, they will cause those who look at them to commemorate and love their prototype. We define also that they should be kissed and that they are an object of veneration and honor (timitiki proskynisis), but not of real worship (latreia), which is reserved for Him Who is the subject of our faith and is proper for the divine nature. The veneration accorded to an icon is in effect transmitted to the prototype; he who venerates the icon, venerated in it the reality for which it stands".

 

In 843 AD, a regional Synod was called in Constantinople where Empress Theodora, her son Michael III, Patriarch Methodios and many monks and priests processed into the Hagia Sophia Cathedral, carrying the icons and restoring them to their rightful place in the church.  This was done on the first Sunday of the Great Fast and was from that time on, commemorated and known as the Sunday of Orthodoxy.  Many churches celebrate this commemoration by processing their own collection of icons around the church.  

 

So how did this information impress my Witness friend?  Not very much, I’m afraid.  She quoted various exerpts from scripture like the ones listed below, calling attention to the fact that God the Father specifically and emphatically told the early Israelites NOT to make images resembling any living thing.  

 

Exodus 20:4-5  4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.

Leviticus 26:1-2  “You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. 2  You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

I agreed that God did indeed caution us against making such images, but asked her to continue reading those verses further to get the full message.  He isn’t angry about the making of images so much as He is about His followers worshipping those images.  The Israelites of the time lived in close proximity to pagan tribes who constantly sought for God but, not having had Him reveal Himself to them, they did not know him.  They made gods for themselves out of familiar objects and began to offer them worship.  God did not want His people to be tempted to do the same.  His problem was not with the object, but with the false worship of it.  

Psalm 97:7  All worshipers of images are put to shame,  who make their boast in worthless idols;  worship him, all you gods!

 

As Christians, we encounter a new and wonderful idea not yet known to the early Israelites.  They were told that whosoever looked upon the Face of God would surely die, so magnificent and unencounterable is our Heavenly Father.  No one could ever attempt to fashion an image of Him, or His heavenly angelic escorts, since they had no earthly body to replicate.  It was a futile exercise.  Then along came Christ.  

 

Colossians 1:15  15  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

 

Now, when the second person of the Blessed Trinity became a human being, it became possible for God to be seen and heard; those who encountered Christ did not die.  Christ makes the unencounterable God, able to be encountered.  Not only can we see Him, but we can remember what He looked like in His earthly, physical body and copy the image on canvas to be passed on to future generations.  Legend tells us that St. Luke painted the first icon as a portrait of the Mother of God.  Christ, Himself left the imprint of His Holy Face upon the veil of St. Veronika, and the imprint of His crucified body on the Shroud of Turin.  Miraculous cures and healing events have been attributed to the placement of these “images” upon the sick and suffering.  Surely, he is not opposed to the painted image.  

                                                                                                 Iconettes by Susan Howard

Another example of God’s tolerance for artistic images of heavenly things comes to us in the book of Exodus when He tells the Israelites how to construct the Ark of the Covenant.

 

Exodus 25:18-20 8 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. 20 The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be.

 

Why would God instruct them to build images Cherubim out of gold to adorn the Ark, if He was opposed to graven images all together?  The answer is that He is not.  He IS, however, opposed to the worship of those images.  This is precisely the distinction that the Council of Nicea sought to solidify in the minds of all Christians.  Icons are not dangerous to the faith of the Christian who venerates them, so long as the veneration given to the icon, is understood to be transferred to the image it represents.  

 

For example, I carry a picture of my children in my wallet.  When I am far from home and miss them terribly, I may be inclined to spend time before their image, contemplating my relationship with them, conversing with them in my mind, and even kissing the image of their faces.  I may treasure that photograph above all my other possessions.  Yet, if I was to raise my eyes from the photograph and see that my children had come into the room, I would toss it to the floor in order to run to them!  This is so for the icon as well!  Who would forsake the beloved for His picture?  It’s common sense.  

 

This Sunday, let us contemplate how much these sacred icons have enhanced what we know about the Lord, His Blessed Mother, the Angels and Saints, and the feast days of the church.  Before people could read and write, they could consult these icons and remember facts about their catechism.  When we feel far away from God due to the state of our souls, the state of the world, or the circumstances we find ourselves in, we can always turn to these images to find comfort and solace, before our Beloved enters!