The Mystery of Healing: Oil, Anointing, and the Unity of the Local Church
The Holy Sacraments of Baptism, Chrismation and Holy Communion
The Seven Sacraments of the Greek Orthodox Church
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In
the Orthodox Church we place great emphasis on the veneration of the Theotokos
and other holy men and women. We also reverence icons of our Lord
and of the saints. About twelve centuries ago a group called the
“Iconoclasts” challenged the Church’s devotion to icons and her invocation
of the saints. Their teaching was refuted at the Seventh Ecumenical
Council, held in 787 in the city of Nicea. Each year, on October
11th or the Sunday following, we commemorate the work of that Council.
Therefore, this seems an appropriate time to discuss the significance
of icons and the meaning of the adoration of the saints.
The
misunderstanding that most often arises in connection with icons is that
they are a form of idolatry. This view asserts that paying honor
to created things detracts from the devotion we owe to God. In reality,
our veneration of the saints, their relics, and the holy icons does not
detract from our worship of God. Indeed, in the Orthodox understanding,
we affirm our faith in our Creator and Redeemer by honoring the saints
and venerating the icons as testimonials of His loving care.
The
Fathers assembled at the Seventh Council began by distinguishing our attitude
toward God from that toward icons or saints. They went so far as
to use two different Greek words to name these emotions: latreia
(“worship”) was due to God alone, but proskynesis (“veneration”) could
be paid to created things as well. They drew this distinction from
the literal reading of Matthew 4:10: “You shall venerate (prokyneseis)
the Lord your God, and Him only shall you worship (latreuseis).”
The Fathers noted that the Iconoclasts ignored this distinction, when
they attacked the icons through certain verses of Scripture such as the
First Commandment (Exodus 20:4). The Fathers also evoked numerous
passages in the Old Testament where God directed that representations
of angels be made (for example, Exodus 25:18-20 and 26: 1; 1 Kings
6:23-32) and where high honor was paid to created beings, both earthly
and heavenly (Numbers 21:8-9; 1 Chronicles 29:20; Hebrews 11:21; etc.).
St.
Theodore the Studite sums up the Council’s position as follows:
“Worship is unique and belongs to God alone; but other kinds of veneration
belong to others. We venerate kings and rulers, servants venerate
their masters, children their parents; but not as gods. Although
veneration has the same outward form, it varies in intention. For
these are human beings, and receive respect according to the honor due
them, whether by law, by fear, or by affection.
The
Council Fathers did not rest there, however. They sought to show
that veneration of icons and honor paid to the saints was in fact worship
of the one true God, but in another form. They borrowed an idea
from a great theologian and bishop, Saint Basil the Great, who had lived
four centuries earlier. Saint Basil wrote, “The honor given to the
image is transferred to its prototype.” In other words, when we
honor a representation of something, we are really thinking about the
person or thing represented, not the image itself. When we look
at photographs of a loved one or of scenes taken on some occasion, we
immediately turn to memories of the person or events depicted. The
emotions we feel – whether joy, sadness, discomfort or pleasure – do not
come from the piece of paper in our hands but from our remembrances of
the person or scene represented. If we treasure such a picture,
we do so because of our associations with the people or scenes preserved
there, not because we attribute some value to the photo itself.
The icons are the same. When we see an icon of our Lord, the emotions
we feel – penitence, thanksgiving, comfort, peace, etc. – arise because
the icon recalls to us Christ’s love and His many blessings. Likewise,
when we venerate saints, we do so because we see God’s image reflected
in them. We recognize that the sole source of holiness in their
lives was divine grace, that the miracles they performed were the working
of divine power, that the purity of their teachings sprang from their
openness to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We recognize too,
that the same grace, power, and purity can be ours if we give ourselves
to our Lord in faith as they did.
Our
veneration is distinct from the worship of idolatry, in the first place,
because the pagans adored many false gods. The Christian, in all
things, offers praise and petition to the one true God – Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. The pagans worshipped personifications of the forces
of nature and of human character or endeavor, the gods of the storm and
the sea, or of love or the harvest. They had no true concept of
God as the great Creator Who is Himself totally distinct from His creation.
Thus, it was easy for their minds to be trapped in the material representations,
to honor the idol for its own sake and forget that there should be something
behind it. The Christian, however, knows that his God is not identified
with any part of His creation. Therefore, even when he uses material
things or pays homage to a creature, the Christian’s mind is drawn upward
to the Source of all things, of life and of holiness. As Saint Theodore
notes, “The mind does not remain with the materials, because it does not
trust them: that is the error of the idolaters. Through the
materials, rather, the mind ascends toward the prototypes: this
is the faith of the Orthodox.” In pagan materialism thoughts and
prayers would be trapped in the world; for the Orthodox Christian,
material things impel our thoughts and prayers beyond the material into
the spiritual realm, toward our Creator and Redeemer.
Thus
the Fathers’ vision embraced a whole way of looking at the world and its
relationship to God. They saw in the icons and the saints, concrete
proof that God had changed that relationship when He became man.
With the Fall, sinful man had broken the link between the Creator and
His creation. He had also shattered the unity of creation.
The material universe would no longer be a blessing to man but a hindrance
in his pursuit of life and virtue. “...cursed is the ground because
of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat
the plants of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat
bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken;
you are dust, and to dust you shall return (Genesis 3:17-19).
Christ,
however, became man and took to Himself our whole nature, both a spiritual
soul and a material body. Thus, He took back to Himself all His
creation. In His baptism He sanctified the waters; in His
miracles and healing He annulled the Genesis curse and blessed anew the
ground and the fruit which it bore. In His death and resurrection
He opened to us the way of salvation. By sending the Holy Spirit
He poured out upon all who accept Him the assurance of new life in this
world and eternal life in the age to come.
A
bishop at the Seventh Council called Iconoclasm “the worst of heresies
for it subverts the incarnation of our Savior.” The Word of God
became man in order to reclaim His creation, to reassert His Lordship,
and to make His world again a repository of grace and love. In honoring
the icons and the saints we honor God’s great work of restoring and saving
the world. Denying the icons denies that He has done these things.
Iconoclasm says, in effect, that material is unredeemed and unredeemable,
that all it can do is weigh us down and obstruct our vision of God.
It says that veneration of the saints can only draw us away from devotion
to our Savior. The Gospel tells us something quite different.
The Gospel affirms that Christ, having taken to Himself a physical Body,
has sanctified matter and made it again a way to knowledge of Him and
means by which His grace flows to us. The Gospel shows us men and
women whose lives were transfigured and illumined by the power of the
incarnate, crucified and risen Christ. The Gospel offers us these
same men and women as models of the Christian life and intercessors before
our common Lord.
The formal decision of the Council, proclaims that we venerate the icons
“...so that through the representations, we may be able to be led back
in memory and representation to the prototype, and have a share in their
holiness.” When our soul rises to God, He reaches out to us in return.
Thus, by directing us toward God, the icons become channels by which His
grace flows into us. Let us then allow the icons and the saints
to fulfill their purpose in life. When we see the icons of our Savior,
let us remember what He has done and has promised to do for us.
When we see the icons of the saints, let us be assured through them that
the life-renewing power and grace of Christ are truly present even in
this age. When we venerate the icons and invoke the saints, let
us do so in faith and love. By the honor we pay them, let us worship
our one Lord and show our gratitude for all that our Savior has given
us.
From The Dawn
Publication of the Diocese of the South
Orthodox Church in America
October 1998
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