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The Orthodox Understanding of Icons

In this discussion we will deal with the definition of icons, the OT and NT reasons for icons, the use of icons in the Christian’s life.

One of the things that strikes people when the walk into and Orthodox Church is the presence of icons, or images, of Christ, Mary, the Saints etc. in the Church. One will notice that there are no statues or 3 dimensional images in the Church. This is because icons are not intended to be “realistic representations” of the persons portrayed, but spiritual depictions. There are many “rules” regarding iconography and these are intended to teach the viewer about the spiritual life and our salvation in Christ. Iconography is purposely painted to NOT look “realistic”. “There is a vital difference between an image and its prototype”, John of Damascus explained: "An image is a likeness, a model, or a figure of something, showing in itself what it depicts. An image is not always like its prototype in every way. For the image is one thing and the thing depicted is another." Icons are not primarily historical but spiritual portrayals. An icon of the Resurrection, in which Adam and Eve are rescued from the grave, is not intended to paint an exact physical likeness of Adam and Eve nor an historical event. Rather the icon seeks to communicate spiritual and theological truths about the Resurrection: all of us sinners, like Adam and Eve, share in Christ's victory over the grave. (But the rubrics of iconography is another topic!)

The other, and more disconcerting thing to most Protestant visitors, is the practice of Orthodox Christians bowing before the icons and kissing them. To the modern Protestant, this is idolatry.
But we must look at the Scriptures and determine if this is idolatry or a proper practice for the Christian. The Scriptures will give us the foundations for how both the Jews from which Christianity came, and the early Church Fathers understood images, Christ as God incarnate, and the distinction between honor or veneration and worship.

What Icons are NOT
The issue begins with Scripture and the second commandment:
Exodus 20:4 You shall not make a graven image of anything that is in heaven above, in the earth or in the water, nor shall you bow down to worship them.
So, are images a violation of the Second Commandment?

What God actually forbade was the making of graven images of anything in heaven or earth, for the purpose of worshipping them. This is the actual command:
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; you shall not bow down to them nor 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 fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (Exodus 20:4,5).

If this passage prohibits any kind of pictures of the incarnate Christ, or of angels or our heroes in the Faith, then we must also abandon all of our children’s Sunday school materials, anything that depicts Bible stories, and we need to destroy our photos of our families, posters of landscapes, nor can we take any vacation pictures and email them to friends. Those are all images of things in the heaven or earth or water. In reality, of course, no one but the Muslims and some VERY fundamentalist Christians really believe that God meant to prohibit all images of anything in heaven or earth; it's the worshipping of images that He forbids.

The Temple and the Jews
The Jews received the second commandment and in the same historical timeframe God also commanded the building of the tabernacle and its furnishings. We are all familiar with the infamous golden calf that Aaron set up while Moses was receiving the 10 commandments. One MIGHT conclude that ANY image of a bull would be absolutely forbidden in God’s tabernacle.
But the image of a bull was set up in the Temple – by God’s command and with God's approval! Here are a couple of examples:
"And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the Ark; and in the Ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the Ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel." (Ex. 25:18, see also Ex. 26:1, I Kings 6:29, Ezek. 41:25)

1 Kings 7:25 tells about the brazen sea - the huge 15-foot diameter basin in the courts of the Temple. It was made with graven images of twelve bulls surrounding the sea. This should tell us, if nothing else, that God is NOT displeased by the presence of pictorial representations in His holy places of worship. In fact, these were even graven images identical to those the Israelites periodically worshipped! Apparently God knows the difference between pagan worship and true worship even though similar artifacts might be present in both.

If you read the commands of God regarding the building of the Tabernacle, those weren't the only graven images. You'll also find:
Two fifteen-foot-tall cherubim in the Holy of Holies (1 Kings 6:23-28)
All the Temple's inside walls were covered with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. (1 Kings 6:29)
The doors of the sanctuary and of the inner sanctuary were carved gold-overlaid images of cherubim, palm trees, and flowers (1 Kings 6:32,34)
On the Temple carts, images of bulls and lions. (1 Kings 7:29,36)
and of course the two cherubs on top of the Ark itself!

God also commanded the making of icons, or images for spiritual purposes. He commanded Moses to display an icon in Numbers 21:8,9 - God healed the Israelites from snakebite when they looked to the icon of the snake. It was not until a later generation, when the people had named this icon Nehushtan and worshipped it as a god, that it was necessary to destroy it (2 Kings 18:4). At another time, God specifically commanded Ezekiel to paint an icon of the city of Jerusalem and to treat the icon as a symbol of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:1ff).

So it is clear that the Jews NEVER were iconoclasts or without images in their worship. The New Testament-era Jews had no qualms about lavishly decorating their synagogues with images of biblical figures. In Dura Europa (click here for a link) in modern Syria a second century synagogue was unearthed, and it was covered with wall-paintings that were in excellent condition.

It is clear FROM SCRIPTURE that the second commandment DOES NOT apply to ALL images and their presence in the context of a place of worship.

Modern Icons in Protestantism
Most Protestant Christians would be scandalized if someone mistreated or desecrated a Bible or their Lord’s Supper by spitting on it, or treating it in a disrespectful way because it “represents” something of God even though technically most would regard the Bible as paper and ink and the Lord’s Supper as crackers and juice. This “honor or veneration” of material objects is not limited to religious articles. Most people show respect for the Flag, pictures of family (anyone would be scandalized if someone spit on a picture of their mother), historical places/things, and sacred art. These are “icons” or representations of something that we in fact regard with a degree of “sacredness” worthy of showing some form of respect for.
Aside from the Bible and the Lord’s Supper which are “icons” representing something greater than the material objects themselves, many Protestant Churches will have a depiction of the Holy Spirit in the form of a Dove somewhere in their sanctuaries. The question we have to ask is: Is the Holy Spirit God? Well, of course He is. If we can depict the Holy Spirit, then why not Christ who is also God? If Christ, then why not the saints who are in the image of Christ?
This leads us to the next point, which is the biblical basis for icons.

ICONS ARE BASED IN THE QUESTION WHO IS CHRIST.

An icon is a representation of someone. The very word icon/eikwn means "image." There are 2 fundamental texts here significant for NT Christians: Colossians 1:15 and 2 Cor 4:4. Here St Paul asserts that Jesus of Nazareth *is* the eikwn of the invisible God. God is no longer invisible, but God can be seen, felt, touched, and heard. (1 John 1:1ff, John 1:14)

In His incarnation: Jesus became material. The Church Fathers say the “uncircumscribed GOD is now circumscribed by matter and the invisible God has become visible.
Jesus says in John 14:6 “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.”

St John of Damascus (8th Century) says:
"Of old, God the incorporeal and uncircumscribed was never depicted. Now, however, when God is seen clothed in flesh, and conversing with men, I make an image of the God whom I see.

Another key passage is 2 Cor 4:4, "In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God."

Because the man Jesus Christ is indeed the true likeness (eikwn) of God, He *can* be depicted. If He could not be depicted, He'd be no more than a Gnostic phantom. Iconic representation of the second person of the Trinity, God the Word made flesh is Chalcedonian theology par excellence! St Theodore the Studite, second generation of defender of icons, writes accordingly: "The Inconceivable is conceived in the womb of a Virgin; the Unmeasurable becomes three cubits high, the Unqualified acquires a quality; the Undefinable stands up, sits down, and lies down; He who is everywhere is put into a crib; He who is above time gradually reaches the age of twelve; He who is formless appears with the shape of a man, and the Incorporeal enters into a body... Therefore, He is describable and indescribable." Christ's redemption extends to both the "spiritual" and "physical" sides of creation. If Christ did not have a real human body, then he didn't identify completely with the created order. To deny an icon was to deny the Incarnation, a heresy!

The early tradition of the Church supports icons. If one looks at biblical archeology one will find images in the catacombs and among the earliest Christian places used for worship and spiritual purposes. Although there are some early Church Fathers that argued against the use of icons, the majority of them like Athanasius, Basil, and John Chrysostom supported the use of icons. Furthermore, icons and their veneration had long been part of the practice of the most ancient churches, and none of the preceding six ecumenical councils (for nearly 700 years) had ever raised questions concerning it. So it is clear from Church history that icons were part of the piety of the earliest Christians and did not become a true controversy until the 8th century, during which the issue was finally resolved by an Ecumenical Council of the Church.

The Veneration of Icons

This is probably the most difficult of all practices of the Orthodox Church for Protestants to understand and accept. When they see someone bow before and icon and kiss it, the red flags wave and the Scriptures cry out “IDOLATRY!!” But DO they?

This is where we REALLY need to let the SCRIPTURES tell us what is worship and what is not, and what can be done in worship and what cannot. To be very blunt, Christianity was born out of Judaism and OT Biblical practices, NOT modern American evangelicalism. If we are to understand the Church’s practice that has been going on for 2,000 years and for another 2,000 years before it in Judaism, we need to look at the Scriptures, not what WE do here and what offends us in the 21st century. SCRIPTURE must and does teach us what can and cannot be done in worship and does indeed make a distinction between worship which is given only to God and veneration which is given to multitudes of things and people.

Veneration and Worship

There is a difference between veneration and worship. Just as they are two different words in English, so they are in Greek and Hebrew. Unfortunately, the two words have come to mean virtually the same thing in English. We cannot base our theology and practice as Christians on modern definitions of Biblical words. We MUST let Scripture interpret Scripture on these points if we are to understand the actions and intentions of Orthodox Christians.

So, veneration is paying respect, reverence and due honor to someone or something. Worship, on the other hand, is reserved ONLY for God. As for the role of icons in worship, the Seventh Ecumenical Council affirmed the important Biblical distinction between veneration and worship: "We declare that one may render to icons the veneration of honor (proskune-sis), not true worship (latreia) of our faith, which is due only to (God)."

This should not be foreign to us if we think about it for a moment. We have all seen people kissing the Vietnam Memorial wall, kneeling in front of it, kissing pictures taped to it. etc. We have all seen movies of soldiers kissing pictures of their wives and kids when going off to battle. We all treat “honorable things” with respect, like the flag, the Bible, and historical objects like the Declaration of Independence, Abraham Lincoln’s clothing, etc. When we take our hat off to the flag, we are not “worshipping” the flag, nor even the cloth of the flag itself, but we are respecting what it stands for. This is exactly the rationale of icons. St. John of Damascus in his defense of icons in the 7th Ecumenical Council says, “I do not worship matter, I worship the God of matter, who became matter for my sake, and deigned to inhabit matter,
who worked out my salvation through matter. I will not cease from honouring that matter which works my salvation. I venerate it, though not as God.” In this way, the Seventh Ecumenical Council affirmed, "The honor paid to the icon is conveyed to its prototype." When the Christian reverences an icon of Mary or the saints, the honor is transferred to the person it represents, just as the respect paid to the flag is given to the United States and all the it stands for.

It is clear that we need to distinguish between worship, which is for God alone, and honor, which the Bible says we owe to kings (1 Peter 2:7), presbyters (1 Tim 5:17), wives (1 Peter 3:7), and indeed to all people (1 Peter 2:17), since all are in the image [icon] of Christ. We bow to honor one another and to honor our heroes in the Faith who are depicted in icons. We greet all the saints (Hebrews 13:24) with a holy kiss ...including the saints who are represented in the Bible and in icons. This is why we kiss our icons. It is much like a husband kissing the picture of his wife and children, or a widow kissing the wall of the Vietnam memorial. It is clear that we as human beings intuitively understand that there isn't a great chasm fixed between the living and the dead. That gulf lies between the righteous and the wicked (Luke 16:26), not between us and the living Christians who are "absent from the body and present with the Lord." Christ doesn't have two Bodies, one on earth and one in heaven; His Body the Church is one, and includes both us who are in the body and the "great cloud of witnesses" (Heb 12:1).

BOWING AND KISSING
In the Eastern cultures bowing is sign of humility before someone, or paying respect to someone. This is known to all from movies about Japanese customs. What about Scripture? Does the Bible have anything to say about bowing to people or objects and kissing things?
What did Jesus do? If one reads the Babylonian Talmud (contemporary to Christ) it describes the feast of tabernacles and says the Jews prostrated to the ground and kissed the court floor of the Temple. Pious Jews still kiss the mezuzah (scroll containing shema and Shaddai on doorposts), fringe of prayer shawl, and phylacteries, the weeping wall, and the LAW during worship, (now we kiss the Gospel). We all know that Christianity grew out of Judaism. What was/is the Jewish practice regarding kissing “holy objects”? Jesus, as a Jew, practiced these same things, especially in the context of the Temple and Synagogue worship. We see parallels within the Orthodox practices toward sacred things.

KISSING
This is an article about “Kissing” from "To Pray As A Jew", by Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin
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KISSING: AN ACT OF RELIGIOUS DEVOTION
Kissing is a universal sign of affection. It is an act of love, an expression of endearment, not only between man and woman, parents and children, but is also the expression of one's feelings for the ritual objects and the religious duties associated with them.

There are no religious laws that require us to kiss a ritual or holy object. There is only the force of custom as it develops through the ages. In varying degrees kissing has become an optional commonplace
among the Jews as an expression of religious devotion at the following times:

The tallit [prayer shawl] is kissed just before putting it on.

The tefillin [phylacteries] are kissed when taken them out of their bag and before replacing them in the bag.

The mezuzah on the doorpost is sometimes kissed upon entering or leaving a house. It is done by touching the mezuzah with one's hand and kissing the fingers that made contact with the mezuzah.

The Torah is kissed when it passes by in the synagogue. Here, too, it is often done by extending a hand to touch the Torah mantle and then kissing the hand. Some touch the Torah with the edge of a tallit and then kiss the tallit.

The Torah is also kissed before one recites the blessings over it. Here it is done by taking the edge of one's tallit or the sash that is used to tie the scroll together, touching the outside of the scroll with it, and then kissing the tallit or the sash. Many people place the tallit or sash to the very words where the reading is about to begin. The sages advised against doing this as it may hasten a wearing away or erasure of the letters. At best, they recommend touching only the margin area near the line where the reading is about to begin. In all instances, one should not touch the Torah parchment with one's bare hand. The custom of not doing so derives from a special edict issued by the sages prohibiting such contact (Shabbat 14a: OH 147:1).

The curtain on the Ark (paokhet) is kissed before one opens it, or after closing it when the Torah is put away.

A siddur [prayer book] and [C]Humash [Jewish Bible] are kissed before putting them away. These holy books are also kissed if they are accidentally dropped on the floor.
From To Pray as a Jew: A Guide to the Prayer book and the Synagogue
Service, (New York: Basic Books [Harper Collins], 1980), p.43f.

The Biblical customs and piety of the Jewish faith is carried over into New Testament times and continued in the life of the Church. In general you won’t find commands to kiss things because it did not need to be commanded because it was part of the fabric of the Jewish faith. Howeve, the Bible does command we “greet one another with a Holy Kiss” Rom. 16:16, I Cor. 16:20, I Pet. 5:14 etc. So we see that kissing is NOT IN AND OF ITSELF a sign of WORSHIPPING an object or a person.

IS BOWING TO SOMETHING WORSHIP?
As we noted in the Eastern cultures it is common for people to bow to one another as a sign of humility and respect. The Roman culture practiced social bowing too. You'd bow to the ground (prostrate) upon meeting a king or governor.

But once again, we must let SCRIPTURE tell us the meaning of bowing. The Septuagint version of Genesis and noted the following instances of "proskunew" (bow down).

* 23:7, 12 "And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth... And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land."
* 27:29 "Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee"
* 33:3 "And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother."
* 37:7, 9, 10 "Behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf."
* 42:6 "and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth."
* 43:26, 28 "And they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance."
* 47:31 (quoted in the NT, Hebrews 11:21) "And Israel worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff."
* 48:12 "And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth."
* 49:8 "thy father's children shall bow down before thee."

In Esther 3:2-4, Mordecai refuses to bow before Haman since the latter is demanding this as latria (worship). But in Est 8:3, Mordecai’s own niece, Esther, bows before King Ahasuerus, which is simply an instance of her rendering him the honor (proskunew) he is due as royalty.

What's significant about these passages is they demonstrate a form of veneration that is *NOT* worship. This is the OT basis for the fundamental distinction that St John of Damascus makes between worship (latreia) and veneration (proskunew).

BOWING BEFORE OBJECTS AND THINGS OF GOD
One might grant that it is OK to bow before a “live human being”, but what about before inanimate objects? What do the Scriptures say about that?

"Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and **casting himself down before the house of God**, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore." (Ezra 10:1)

""And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the Ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads." (Joshua 7:6)

The Scriptures did command the Israelites to bow before the Ark, which had two prominent images of cherubim on it. In Psalms 99:5, it commands: "bow before the footstool of His feet...." We should note first of all that the word for "bow" here, is the same word used in Exodus 20:5, when we are told to not bow to idols. And what is the "footstool of His feet"? In 1st Chronicles 28:2, David uses this phrase in reference to the Ark of the Covenant. In Psalm 99 [98 in the Septuagint], it begins by speaking of the Lord who "dwells between the Cherubim" (99:1), and it ends with a call to "bow to His holy hill"—which makes it even clearer that in context, this is speaking of the Ark of the Covenant. This phrase occurs again in Psalm 132:7, where it is preceded by the statement "We will go into His tabernacles..." and is followed by the statement "Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest; Thou and the Ark of Thy strength." This phrase is applied to the Cross in the services of the Church where as Orthodox Christians we will bow before the Cross, and the connection is not accidental—because on the Ark, between the Cherubim was the Mercy Seat, upon which the sacrificial blood was sprinkled for the sins of the people (Exodus 25:22, Leviticus 16:15).

Other Biblical references to bowing, images, and worship are found in many places.
1 Kgs 8:54 and 2 Chr 6:13b, Solomon kneels in prayer in the temple, which as we noted was full of images of bulls, cherubim, things on earth and heaven. Ezekiel 43:3b-4 depicts the prophet’s prostrating himself in a temple that chapters 40-41 have described as being carved from floor to ceiling with images of cherubim. Other Biblical instances of people genuflecting in presumably image-laden houses of worship include 1 Chr 29:20, in which the people bow before God and the king ! 2 Chr 20:18, in which Jehoshaphat and all of Judah and Jerusalem fall on their faces in worship; 2 Chr 29:28-30, in which the king and the assembly prostrate themselves thrice before the altar (Orthodox priests also bow thrice before the altar at one point during the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom); 2 Chr 32:12, in which Hezekiah instructs the populace of Judah and Jerusalem to prostrate itself before one altar only; and Ezr 10:1, in which Ezra is prostrate in front of the temple in tearful prayer.

In 1 Sm 5:3-4 God causes a statue of the Philistine god Dagon to fall on its face before the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with carvings of Cherubim. This is an instance of a false image bowing to a true one.

So we see that Scripture teaches clearly that the Orthodox practices toward icons is NOT
idolatry, anathema or heresy. Bowing and kissing are firmly Biblical, rooted in Jewish piety and continued within the piety of the Church from the beginning. It is a modern innovation that these practices have been dropped from the life of the Christian. It would do us well to recover
the spiritual practices of the Prophets, Apostles and Christ Himself.

CONCLUSION:
The Scriptures tell us that images, in and of themselves, are not idols.
The Scriptures tell us that bowing down and kissing things are not worship in an of itself.
The Scriptures tell us that God became flesh, circumscribed Himself with material form and thus depicted Himself in created matter to us.
Only by following the Scriptures can we not fall prey to two heresies: either worshipping that which is created and not God alone, OR rejecting the proper respect and veneration for things which God has told us is a right and good and properly expressed in relationship to HIM who is to be worshipped only.

DO I HAVE TO KISS ICONS TO BE ORTHODOX?
It is not so much that you HAVE to kiss an icon to be Orthodox, but you HAVE to understand that kissing them is not idolatry, worship, vain traditions of men, or satanic. But once you get over all that there really isn't much to keep you from kissing them except personal uncomfortableness, fear of looking stupid, doing it wrong and/or feeling goofy. And you only get over that by just doing it. Kind of like your first kiss with someone…. J

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