What exactly is an icon?
We in the internet world use this word daily, and I never considered its meaning besides the little digitized GUI button on my computer desktop. Stop for a second and think about it, though. When you click that icon that looks like a map compass on an Apple computer, it opens a page that allows you to search for literally any information that has been known to man since knowledge was invented. It is an image that represents something far greater than the few pixels it takes up on the desktop. It is an image behind which the whole body of human knowledge can be accessed with a few keystrokes. Keep that in mind as we walk through this topic together. I’ll come back to it.
Until I became an Orthodox Christian, I never considered the definition of the word icon and had only used it as any modern secular individual does. Sure, I knew there were Christians who had icons around their churches, but figured they were no more than the Eastern Church’s version of stained glass windows. Catholics had great stained glass, Orthodox had icons. No biggie….
That was until the idea of venerating icons came about. I was learning wonderful things about the Orthodox Church. The idea that this is the Church established when the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost was beyond appealing. The idea that the Church has held the beliefs and traditions of the apostles for over 2000 years was compelling. The reality that this entity was far larger than myself and anything I could fight against was one with which I had to reconcile. I was inclined to trust, however, and I’m not sure why—I am mostly skeptical about everything, and especially of churches and people who call themselves Christians, even though I myself desire to be a true Christian. (Come to think of it that is why I’m so skeptical—may the Lord have mercy on me, a sinner. +)
To understand the Orthodox Christian use of icons as part of worship, I have had to embark on a rather circuitous journey. Explanations from clergy and other church members were not alone sufficient to allay this particular skepticism. I believe it took the gentle revelation of the Holy Spirit to be able to embrace and receive all of these answers in my heart.
First, let’s examine the most prominent argument against the use of icons. Early in my journey into Orthodoxy, I had conversations with a friend of mine who absolutely could not accept this practice because of “God’s jealousy” which comes from Exodus 20, and is the go-to argument of Protestant resistance to the veneration of icons.
3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
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, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:3-6, ESV)
My friend’s argument hammered the jealousy of God and his insistence on a worship that is focused exclusively upon Him, and on that point I do not disagree. However, she absolutely sees any form of veneration, prostrations, or prayers offered to anything but Christ as blasphemous. But there are some distinct pieces missing from the Protestant’s puzzle, which I will attempt to reclaim and put into place. Furthermore, I’ve come to see this criticism as a dishonest interpretation of Scripture and an overreach of “sola scriptura” to extend this commandment into any kind of Christian practice. It is clear from the whole text of scripture that what God was commanding was that the Israelites not practice the worship of pagan gods, or create images that represent them. He desired their exclusive devotion, hence his description of his jealousy. When I have traveled in the far East where touring Buddhist or Shinto temples is part of the experience, there is no bowing, venerating, or participation in the worship practices by me, full stop. This would be crossing a line, but no one in the Eastern Orthodox tradition is confusing an icon for God or treating them in the same way that we worship the Trinity.1
Here’s the thing: It’s not about the icons. What is central to this issue is the Incarnation of God in his only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
As I reflect on my Orthodox journey and my nascent and developing understanding of icons and the people and events they depict, I have reconciled myself through consideration of the first issue, and through that am able to accept and celebrate the second:
The Incarnation of Christ and what it means for the Christian to be united to Christ, and
What it means to pray to or venerate the Saints through icons, and why we venerate the Saints as part of our spiritual practice.
In my next two posts I will contemplate these two issues.
I always feel it is important to remind my reader, though—I am a lay person in the Orthodox Church. I am not writing this journal to raise debates or to try to present myself as a theologian. I am writing with the blessing of my Bishop, whom I trust will help me in any way (and has!) as questions arise. This is my journey, and it correlates with so many who have converted from Protestant Evangelicalism to Eastern Orthodoxy. I invite you to learn along with me.
Orthodox Road, Fr. Jeremy, October 22, 2018, Why do the Orthodox have Icons?https://www.orthodoxroad.com/why-do-the-orthodox-have-icons