For a better understanding of icons role in the life of believers we should first consider that our Christian-Orthodox religion is a revealed belief, meaning it is not the result of a limited human intelligence, it is not a passing human creation.
Were talking about divine reason that has been revealed to us, to the people, in the beginning through the prophets of the Old Testament and then through Gods son himself, Jesus Christ, who was incarnated for our salvation. This revelation has been entrusted for keeping and administration to the Church and its servants, to the bishops and priests who to this day have the duty to teach people the truth about faith. Thus, everything happens within our Church is not a human invention.
Alongside Gods Word exposed through the Holy Bible, the icon is also a part of the divine revelation, especially if we take into account that the first icon of Saviour Jesus Chris wasnt painted by a human hand. As we already know Christs face imprinted itself on Saint Veronicas kerchief by divine miracle. The face was greatly worshiped and valued by believers since the first Christian centuries and it was reproduced by many painters for the piety of the believers who requested it. This is how the painting of holy icons of your Lord Jesus Christ began.
On the other hand it is known that the Saint Apostle Luca was a doctor but also painter and that he painted Mary the Mother of God holding child Jesus in her arms while Jesus Christ still walked this earth.
This first Mother of God icon the Saint Tradition tells us served as model to all the other painters.
These first icons were worshiped by believers through kissing, especially after Jesus Christ ascended to heaven. It is also known that through icons God performed numerous miracles and healings. Let us think of Edesas king, Abgar who was cured from the illness he suffered from by touching Jesus Christs face on the kerchief.
In the age of persecutions, when Christians had to pray to God in catacombs, underground, the face of our Saviour and that of the Mother of God were depicted on the catacombs walls. In the same period the depicting and the worshiping of God disciples and of the martyrs who died for their faith started.
Since the fourth century, after Christians stopped being persecuted came that period of heresies that lasted four centuries till the VIIIth century. During this period, the bishops and the Holy Fathers of the Church gathered together in ecumenical synods to define written dogmas of the faith that were attacked by heretics and faithless people. Thus, at the VIIth Ecumenical Synod, the Churchs position regarding the saint icons veneration was settled for ever.
Measures were taken against those who testified that the worship and kissing of icons meant praying to idols and that under no circumstances should icons be painted in churches. At the time, lots of Christians gave their lives for telling the truth. By worshipping icons we worship God, the Mother of God or the Saints depicted on them. Thus the seventh Ecumenical Synod, by its canons, stated that icons had to be worshiped by all believers by kissing, same as the Christs Saint Cross and those who are not worshipping them in this way to be anathemized, that is to be forever separated from Christs Church.
During that century a certain style of depicting the Saviour, the Mother of God and the other Saints was crystallized, style we now call the Byzantine style. It formed during the Byzantine Empire and through this style the Church preaches its truth of faith not only through words but also through images. It is known that the bishops and priests from those times were close by icons painters and they guided closely. |
