Holy Icons in the Narthex
Holy Icons, the sacred images of the Orthodox Church, splendidly adorn the interior spaces of our Orthodox temples. When entering the Narthex, you will likely encounter an Icon depicting Jesus Christ as a man and another showing Him as a child, held by His mother, the Virgin Mary. Typically in an Icon of Christ as an adult, a halo surrounds the Lord’s head with three Greek letters identifying Him as The Existing One or The One Who Is, meaning that He is the God without beginning, unconfined by space and time. In the Icon of Christ as a child with His Mother, the child bears the halo as mentioned, and is held lovingly by His mother, who is identified as the Mother of God. These icons provide strong affirmations that Jesus Christ is both God, The Existing One, and a human being, born as one of us from a human mother.
Holy Icons express Truth
Holy Icons express Truth visually in paint as the Holy Scriptures express the Truth in words with ink. These symbolic images are more than humanly-inspired art. An Icon teaches the Holy Tradition of the Church and invites the viewer to participate in the spiritual reality beyond the Icon itself.
Icons before the Incarnation of Jesus Christ
In the ancient times recorded in the Old Testament, before the Birth of Jesus Christ into the world, God commanded His people not to make images of Him. The God Who created everything that exists, fills the universe, and sustains the universe did not have an image that could be portrayed. No image made by human hands could possibly represent the invisible God Who is present everywhere at once. Having revealed Himself to His people, the Israelites, God warned them against making and worshipping idols as idols. When they did rebelliously incorporate idols into their worship, influenced by the pagan cultures around them, they inevitably drifted away from the real God Who loved them and fell into spiritual confusion. God taught His people that He was not like the false gods worshipped by their pagan neighbors. The True God showed His presence, sometimes as cloud, smoke, and fire, but no image made by human hands could properly express the Mystery of the One Who Is. How could a human being presume to depict the One who is invisible, limitless, and without boundary, size, or shape?
God did not completely forbid the Israelites from making images. In fact, He instructed them to weave images of the angelic Cherubim into the curtains of the Holy Tabernacle. God also told the Israelites to make two solid-gold statues of Cherubim, facing each other with wings outstretched toward the other, to sit on top of the Ark of the Covenant. The images in the Tabernacle reflected the heavenly reality because the Tabernacle served as a reflection of heaven on earth. These images identified the Tabernacle as God’s Palace, the Holy of Holies as His Throne Room, and the Ark of the Covenant as both His Divine Throne on earth and as His Footstool (considering that God fills the whole universe).
On one occasion, God commanded the Israelites to make a bronze serpent, raised upon a pole as a sign of God’s love for His people, His faithfulness to them, and His power to heal. Whoever looked upon the bronze serpent would receive healing from a snake bite. (Later in history, the serpent was destroyed because the Israelites began worshipping it as an idol.) The proper meaning of the bronze serpent is found in the meaning of the Cross.
When King Solomon built his magnificent Temple in Jerusalem to replace the mobile Tabernacle, he directed his craftsmen to carve beautiful images into the wooden walls and doors, and then to overlay the wood with gold. In the most sacred room, the Holy of Holies, Solomon placed two enormous statues of cherubim to overshadow the Ark of the Covenant with their broad, majestic wings.
Holy Icons after that Incarnation of Jesus Christ
The Old Testament contains the Story of God’s work in human history to prepare the world for the Birth of Jesus Christ. Through His Birth, the Uncreated Son of God, Who Is equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit as God, came into the world through a human woman as one of us, a human being. The One Who cannot be contained by the universe was laid in a simple manger in a rustic cave. The invisible One became visible as “the image [that is, the icon] of the invisible God” (Colossians 1.15, NKJV).
Why can we make an image of God today when it was forbidden in Old Testament times? This is the reason: God gave Himself an image by becoming a man. His human nature was seen with human eyes and, therefore, can be depicted with human hands. We also depict the Saints (the holy ones) of God who have become like Christ and in whom the saving, transforming Divine Presence dwells, sanctifies, and shines.
Holy Icons remind us of the Story and our place in it.
Holy Icons remind us of our place in the Story of salvation, which extends from the beginning of time through the history of Israel in the Old Testament to the life of Jesus Christ on earth and the ministry of His Apostles on through the history of the Church until today. The Holy Icons help us remember God’s continuing Presence and work within human history. The Icons likewise remind us of the Saints, our spiritual ancestors who lived in different times, places, and culture, and how God changed their lives and worked through them to touch the lives of others.
Holy Icons remind us of the mystical reality and our place in it.
As the Holy Icons portray salvation history, they also portray the mystical aspect of reality invisible to human eyes. As Orthodox Christians, we participate in this mystical reality. The Icons help us to remember that God and His Saints, along with the Angels, are present with us today. When we gather for heavenly worship in our Orthodox temples, all the Saints from every age and place who have completed this life in faith and have gone on to be with Christ are present with us in worship.
Holy Icons are windows to heaven that help us pray.
The Holy Icons serve as windows to heaven that help us pray. When we see an icon of Christ with our eyes, we look through it with our hearts (the eyes of the soul) to perceive Christ Himself. When we look upon an icon of a Saint or Angel, we see with our human eyes paint on a piece of wood, but with our hearts we look beyond it to the one depicted. Standing before the Holy Icons, we focus our hearts and offer our prayers. We speak with Christ in intimate prayer, face to face, before His Icon. We also ask for the Saints to boldly pray for us, interceding on our behalf, and we request that the Angels watch and protect us.
We worship God and venerate Icons, though which we encounter God’s Grace.
We Orthodox Christians worship one God, the True and Living God – The Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. No other God exists and we serve none other. To direct worship toward a created thing rather than the Uncreated Creator would be idolatry, completely contrary to the Orthodox Way. That would not make sense at all. We worship God alone and venerate (honor) both His Saints and those sacred things made holy by His Presence. For this reason, we venerate Holy Icons like we venerate the Holy Gospels, and other things within the Church that bring us to participation in God’s Grace. During Christ’s ministry on earth, a woman received healing by just touching the edge of His clothes. Later, people received healing through handkerchiefs and aprons touched by St. Paul. Others sought healing just by touching St. Peter’s shadow. Likewise, we may also experience the Grace of God through the Holy Icons when we use them properly for our benefit according to the Orthodox Way.
The whole Church affirms the place of Icons in the spiritual life
When iconoclasts (icon-destroyers) desecrated Holy Icons in earlier centuries, the whole Church affirmed the proper place of Icons at the Seventh Ecumenical Council in AD 787. Iconoclasts rose up again for a short time, but the Icons were restored to the churches once and for all in AD 843. Every year, Orthodox Christians gather to commemorate the final restoration of Icons by celebrating the Triumph of Orthodoxy. This day celebrates the restoration of the Icons specifically, but also the triumph of the Truth Faith (Orthodoxy) over false opinions (heresy), generally. On this Sunday of Orthodoxy, as it is also known, we proclaim with one voice:
As the prophets beheld, as the Apostles have taught, as the Church has received, as the Teachers have dogmatized, as the Universe has agreed, as Grace has shown forth, as Truth has revealed, as falsehood has been dissolved, as Wisdom has presented, as Christ awarded, thus we declare; thus we assert, thus we preach 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 worshiping and reverencing Christ as God and Lord; and on the other hand honoring as true servants of the same Lord of all and accordingly offering them veneration.
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!
Keep a proper approach to Icons and other sacred things
In order to maintain a proper spiritual understanding of Holy Icons (and other sacred things), be attentive to these three instructions:
1) Worship God alone and reverently venerate what God has sanctified (made holy) by His Presence: Never confuse the Uncreated with the created. In other words, always recognize the distinction between the Creator Himself and what He has made.
2) Maintain unity of the spiritual and material. Do not separate the physical (material) and the spiritual aspects of reality as though they are disconnected. God created the physical world as very good. He made you – body and soul. You encounter God through your human body and in your human body. Salvation encompasses soul and body. So, keep your body and soul in spiritual unity. Also, recognize that you can encounter the spiritual world with your soul and body through physical things.
3) Always recognize that what makes things holy is the Presence of God: Remember that Grace is not a created power, but it is the Uncreated God Himself – His Presence. If you forget that God Himself is present within holy things, you may fall into a pagan notion that holy things contain some magical power by themselves. Neither Holy Icons nor Holy Water or anything else contain power on their own. The protecting, healing, transforming Power we encounter through the sacred things that we venerate is not an it, but a He.
Immerse yourself in the whole spiritual life
Venerate the Holy Icon of Christ and worship the Living Christ depicted therein with all your being. Honor the Holy Icons of the Saints and Angels that depict these faithful servants of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. Standing before the Holy Icons, collect your mind, focus your heart, and offer your prayers and worship to the Son of God who took our image. Before the Icons of the Saints, ask those who are alive in Christ to offer prayers to God on your behalf. Request the Holy Angels and Archangels to watch over you and protect you on your journey. Immerse yourself in the whole healing life of the Church, taking advantage of every gift bestowed by God. As one of the many sacred therapeutic gifts God has given to us for our healing, make use of the Holy Icons for your salvation, for the benefit of others, and to the glory of God.
Be a living Icon of our Lord for the sake of others
Remember that you have been made according to the Image of God. Strive with all your soul to become a clear representative Icon of Jesus Christ so that those who know you may see Christ through you and learn what it means to bear His likeness.
Read: Genesis 1; Exodus 20.4-5; 25.17-22; 26.31; Numbers 21.4-9; 1 Chronicles 28.2; 3 Kingdoms (1 Kings) 6.14-37; 7.1-39; 4 Kingdoms (2 Kings) 18.1-8; John 3.12-17; Luke 8.3-48; Colossians 1:15-18; Acts 19.11-12; Acts 5.12-16.
Text copyright © 2017 by Fr. Symeon D. S. Kees