About Icons

Why do the Orthodox use icons?  Saint Luke was the first iconographer of the Christian Church.  It goes to apostolic times.  Icons are not worshipped, but they are images that tell a story, and they also seem to reflect what the saints looked like in life.  They are a picture or pictures of the saints, and held in precious memory, just as someone would keep a picture of their mother or grandmother, father or grandfather, sister or brother, who has passed on.  Orthodox icons are made in a 2D style, rather than 3D.  The life of the saints and the Orthodox Church are all remembered in iconography.

Tradition holds that the Vladimir Icon was written by St Luke the Evangelist. He wrote the Icon on a board from the table on which our Lord Jesus Christ, His Most Holy Mother and the Righteous Joseph ate their meals.

In 450, the sacred Icon was taken from Jerusalem to Constantinople. At the beginning of the 12th Century the Icon was transferred from Constantinople to Kiev and installed in the womens monastery of Vyshgorod. Soon the Icon was glorified by producing great miracles.

We venerate, rather than worship, the icons of the Orthodox Church.  Many are dated to the first three centuries, and are copied over and over, and written as the original styles.  I will give one explanation why there is so much speculation as to the first and second Christians did not have icons, supposedly, and that is the intense percutions may have destroyed them, or at least most of them.  Another thing, also, is the Orthodox monasteries are keeping the oldest icons, and not placing them for viewing, or releasing any information about them.  As an Orthodox Christian, I know they exist, but they are not for public viewing.  This works to the detriment of our beliefs in the protestant world, but also it protects these precious icons.  Many of the oldest icons work miracles, and the weeping icon miracles, and healings whicht are associated with them cannot be valued by anything less than priceless.  I have personally witnessed enough miracles in the Orthodox Church to know that this is the faith of Apostles, the very Church that Christ handed to his Apostles, and the Church remains to this day.

Iconoclastic Controversy

Literally, iconoclasm is the destruction of religious icons and other sacred images or monuments, usually for religious or political motives. In Christian circles, iconoclasm has generally been motivated by a literal interpretation of the second of the Ten Commandments, which forbids the making and worshipping of "graven images." This is clearly a misinterpretation of the decalogue because if one continues to read through the Book of Exodus one would encounter the command to Moses to build the Tabernacle: a visible icon of the invisible God.

Among the reasons for the ending of the second Iconoclastic period was the doctrine of the Incarnation: because God the Son (Jesus Christ) took on flesh, having a physical appearance, it is now possible to use physical matter to depict God the Son and to depict the saints.

Trying to get information about the history of the Orthodox Church has enabled me to see the trashing and lies about the original Church and history. The protestants have been working overtime spreading the lies of the factual history.  It probably is to be expected, as the lies against Christ and his followers have been happening since the beginning of Christianity. The protestants keep insisting that any of the ancient icons in the Middle East can only be dated to, "the third or fourth" centuries, and there is nothing to back up this statement at all. It is all speculation.  The Church did not "fail" in a mere 200 years, and they were under heavy persecutions to have had a chance to do anything of the kind such as widespread errors, or make-up things.  I think this is merely convenient for those that want to deny the ancient faith.  They want to "prove" the original Church failed, and of course it was not "resurrected" again until the 17th century, or later.  This is their ego faith.  Their ego tells them they are the "true apostles," and this is heresy to proclaim such a thing, especially without the facts to back that up. A friend of mine called Protestantism a "shopping cart" religion because they get to pick and choose which verses they want to believe, and ignore or toss out the rest.  This is precisely what Martin Luther did at the Reformation period.

In the Orthodox Church, it is a fact that St. Luke was an iconographer.  It is also a fact that the ancient Israelites had images within their worship of God.  The Ark of the Covenant was a prime example.  People know this, but twist the commandment, "Do not have graven images," to beyond what it was meant to be.  It only meant to not have graven images that were pagan, or of false gods, or of any other objects of worship away from the True God.  The Orthodox Church has limited veneration to icons, and only serves as reminders and we worship Christ with the veneration of the saints who often gave their lives for the faith, or were doing miraculous things through the Holy Spirit.

Fresco in the Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, Turkey (now Istanbul)

The priests of  Ancient Israel wore vestments much like the priests and bishops of the Orthodox Church.  They also used incense, just as we do, and as the Bible states in Lv 2:1, 13; Num 17:3-15; Tb 8:2-4; Ps 44; 140, 141; SS 4:6; WSir 39:14; Mal 1:11; Is 6:1-6; Mt 2:11; Rev 5:8; 8:3

Icon of Christ found in the Catacombs.