Emblematically Traced ...

By, St. John of Kronstadt

"In the temple, in its arrangements and parts, in the icons, in the Divine services, with the reading of the Holy Scripture, the singing, the rites, the entire Old Testament, New Testament, and Church history, the whole Divine ordering of the salvation of mankind is emblematically traced, as upon a chart, in figures and in general outlines. Grand is the spectacle of the Divine services of our Orthodox Church for those who understand it, who penetrate into its essence, its spirit, its signification, its sense!"


From: My Life in Christ, Holy Trinity Publications, p. 394.

The Scriptural understanding of image

Another talk presented at our Icon exhibit "Images of Eternity."

This talk was given by Dn. Thomas Lynch.

The Christian understanding of image is intrinsically connected to the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. By which I mean, “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” ⁱ “ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” ⁱⁱ In another place it is written that Jesus Christ is the exact image ( Greek: Icon) of the invisible God who is beyond human comprehension: Jesus, “Who being the brightness of his (God's) glory, and the express image of his (God's) person...” ⁱⁱⁱ, The Father’s dear son^iv “Who is the image (Greek: Eikon, Ikon) of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, ...all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”^v

“...By him were all things created...” So we read of the mystery of creation in Genesis, that God, when creating humankind, said “ And God (Elohim: plural, a revelation of the mystery of the Trinity) said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: ...So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” ^vi In the most ancient texts of the Old Testament Scripture, the Greek Septuagint, which were used by the Apostles and the Lord Himself, the word image here is “Icon”, just as it usually is in the New Testament writings. There is a cohesiveness and unity of thought, of revelation. Jesus is the Icon of the Invisible God, existing before time and from all eternity, and man is created as the image, the icon, of the Eternal Word, the Pre-Eternal Image of God, by whom all things were created. St Athanasius comments:

“You must understand why it is that the Word of the Father, so great and so high has been made manifest in bodily form.... He has been manifested in a human body for this reason only, out of the love and goodness of His Father for the salvation of us men. We will begin, then, with the creation of the world and with God its Maker, for the first fact that you must grasp is this: the renewal of creation has been wrought by the Self-same Word Who made it in the beginning. There IS thus no inconsistency between creation and salvation; for the One Father has employed the same Agent for both works, effecting the salvation of the world through the same Word Who made it in the beginning.”

For God is good-or rather, of all goodness He is Fountainhead, and it is impossible for one who is good to be mean or grudging about anything. Grudging existence to none therefore, He made all things out of nothing through His own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ; and of all these His earthly creatures He reserved especial mercy for the race of men. Upon them, ..., upon men who, as animals, were essentially impermanent, He bestowed a grace which other creatures lacked - namely, the impress of His own Image, a share in the reasonable being of the very Word Himself, so that, reflecting Him and themselves becoming reasonable and expressing the Mind of God even as He does, though in limited degree, they might continue for ever in the blessed and only true life of the saints in paradise. But since the will of man could turn either way, God secured this grace that He had given by making it conditional from the first upon two things -namely, a law and a place. He set them in His own paradise, and laid upon them a single prohibition. If they guarded the grace and retained the loveliness of their original innocence, then the life of paradise should be theirs, without sorrow, pain or care, and after it the assurance of immortality in heaven. But if they went astray and became vile, throwing away their birthright of beauty, then they would come under the natural law of death and live no longer in paradise, but, dying outside of it, continue in death and in corruption. This is what Holy Scripture tells us, proclaiming the command of God, "Of every tree that is in the garden thou shalt surely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ye shall not eat, but in the day that ye do eat, ye shall surely die." 1 "Ye shall surely die"- not just die only, but remain in the state of death and of corruption.

You may be wondering why we are discussing the origin of men when we set out to talk about the Word's becoming Man (and about Image and Icon). The former subject is relevant to the latter for this reason: it was our sorry case that caused the Word to come down, our transgression that called out His love for us, so that He made haste to help us and to appear among us. It is we who were the cause of His taking human form, and for our salvation that in His great love He was both born and manifested in a human body. For God had made man thus (that is, as an embodied spirit), and had willed that he should remain in incorruption. But men, having turned from the contemplation of God to evil of their own devising, had come inevitably under the law of death. Instead of remaining in the state in which God had created them, they were in process of becoming corrupted entirely, and death had them completely under its dominion. For the transgression of the commandment was making them turn back again according to their to their nature; and as_they had at the beginning come into being out of non- existence, so were they now on the way to returning, through corruption, to non-existence again.”^vii

The Eternal, self-existent God the Word took our form, our nature, and so became our Brother.^viii He was and is both 'Son of Man' and 'Son of God': both completely identifying and joining our humanity, except without sin, and retaining the fulness of the Image of God. Thus being joined to us while at the same time keeping complete union with the Father, and being the very Image of the Father, He is able to restore us to our lost position, to restore us to the Image of God. “ But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”^ix God in Christ, the Creator condescending to become part of His creation, is a wonder beyond wonders. For love of us and longing to provide the way of our restoration He did what He did. He did so not for man alone, but to free and lift all of creation which was enslaved through man's rebellion to the curse and corruption. All of creation is lifted and cleansed by Christ's life, death and resurrection, and made a fitting vessel for His goodness and love.The Creator came as a creation, and through this recreated all things, making all things new, especially to him who believes. Dehumanized man was made capable of true humanity again. Even more, he is recreated in the Image of Him who created Him, and made, even more, a child and heir of God and Christ. Through Jesus' birth, man is able to be reborn, to be set free, to begin again on the true path of life. Jesus as the Image of the Father, and His union with man, through His death and resurrection, could recreate and restore man to the lost image of God.

He sanctified the body by being in it.

He sanctified creation by entering it.

He descended below, He ascended above, He fills all things. ^x

Man, in Christ, is made a “kingdom of kings and priests” ^xi to offer spiritual sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise to the Lord of all creation.

Man is made a living stone, built into a spiritual house for God to dwell in. He was a dead stone, insensible to God: now in the Rock Christ he is partaker of the divine nature.^xii

It is written in the Old Testament that Israel passed through the river Jordan as on dry land. God caused the river to stop, and they passed over dry-shod.

“And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying,Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man, And command them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you... And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel:

That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.”^xiii St Paul writes that the Old Testament stories are examples and allegories for us.^xiv God, who forbade the worship of created matter as God, yet ordains matter as a memorial, sign and example: not as an object of worship, which is reserved for God alone, but as an aide and witness. The stones represented the tribes of Israel. Stones because they were not yet truly made alive in God. Now those who believe and obey Christ are made living stones: and God the Holy Spirit continues to instruct His servants to set up memorials - Icons - to the living stones whose lives are joined to Christ. The great cloud of witnesses surrounds us^xv, not just in the Spirit, but in the matter which God has sanctified by His becoming matter. They speak to us in words beyond words in Icons, images of the image of God,Christ, whom they are joined to:

“ For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,...

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant...”^xvi

Are come... in the Spirt, and in the body as well, when you enter a sacred space filled with the memorials to the “ just men made perfect and Jesus the mediator of the new covenant”, the living stones and the Living Stone.

The ancient prohibition of God against images was not directed at images per se (Or else why would God himself have commanded images to be made: the Brass Serpent^xvii, the Cherubim overshadowing the Mercy Seat^xviii, the appointments of Solomon's temple like the brazen oxen^xix, the adornments of the Tabernacle of meeting^xx, etc, etc); but rather the prohibition was directed at 2 main defects:

1. The worship of material,created things as the uncreated, uncontainable, incomprehensible God.
   (This has ever been the deluding work of man's archenemy, the devil, who is ever trying to impose his image on man and seduce man to worship him and demons. (See Revelation 19.20; 20.4, 10) We have an enemy that ever desires to impose on us a false image and obstruct the image of Christ – (2 Corinthians 4.4,6)
2. Because God had not yet revealed His form or Image -
   “And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:

Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air.”^xxi

Now that God has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, has taken human form, has joined His divinity to matter, it is fitting and good to portray Him, as well as those who are evident signs of His divinizing, Christifying, sanctifying work in man. St John said “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;”^xxii God has come in the flesh, and dwelt among men. Iconography bears eloquent and true testimony to this. That which was granted to the Apostles, to see the Lord, is given to us in a physical approximation which conveys deep spiritual truth. We “see” through the Spirit granted medium of the Icon.

“Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.”^xxiii Icons bear faithful witness to the coming of Jesus in the flesh, and stand against the raging of the devil and the ravages of men who wish to obscure the fullness of the redemption that is in Christ.

iJohn 1.1

ii John1.14

iiiHebrews 1.3

ivColossians 1: 12, 13

vColossians 1:15-17

viGenesis 1.26,27

vii St Athanasius, On the Incarnation: St Vladimir's seminary Press, Crestwood NY: pgs. 26, 28,29

viii Psalm 22.2 : Hebrews 2.12 -“I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.”

John 20:17: “Jesus said.. go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."

ix 2 Corinthians 3:18

x Ephesians 4.9,10

xi1Peter 2.5,9

xii2 Peter 1.4

xiii Joshua 4.ff

xiv Galatians 4.24, 1 Corinthians 10.11

xv Hebrews 12.1

xvi Hebrews 12.18-24

xvii Numbers 21. 8, 9

xviii Exodus 25. 19,20

xix 2 Chronicles 4.3,4

xx Exodus 25 - 28

xxi Deuteronomy 4. 12 -17

xxii 1 John 1.1

xxiii I John 4.2,3 & 2 John 1.7

The Historical Experience and Spirituality of the Icon

The transcript of one of the icon talks given at Images of Eternity, an Icon exhibit and talks presented by St. Michael's Orthodox church on September 30th. The talk is entitled The Historical Experience and Spirituality of the Icon, presented by Fr. Zechariah Lynch

I hope to impart to our listeners in this brief talk a basic understanding of, first: what we will call the development of the icon, and second: the inner life of Christianity from which it developed. The inner life is what we understand as eternal revelation, and what we have named development is the expression of that revelation in time. Indeed, we are looking at two facets of a single reality.

It must be understood that when we speak of development, from an Orthodox Christian perspective, we are not speaking of something that was not and slowly developed into something that is. The underlying principle, the essence is for us unchanging. Human encounter and penetration and expression may develop. Thus we have for the confine of this talk two aspects, the essence and the expression of that essence in time.

First, I will address the expression of that essence in time. This is the Historical Experience. I have purposely said experience, because we must leave behind the notion that history is something that has happened, simply a string of past events. Indeed in the Christian life it is something happening. The Orthodox Christian faith does not see itself as detached from time, or driven along by time, but fulfilling time, and in an ultimate sense timeless. Thus, for us events that happened, in what is called the past, have deep significance. The history of the Church is not so much a culmination of events, as an organic whole of existence in Christ. Christ Jesus manifested Himself in time, but in Him time is also transcended. So, we see ourselves as abiding in time timelessly. This is important because we are not presenting events as marks on a time-line, but as parts, happenings of a life.

Image, Eikon, has existed in the Christian faith from its very beginning. Thanks to archaeological achievements many of these images, icons, have been uncovered. It is important to note that ancient Christianity ascribes the practice of icon painting to the Apostle Luke. Some would argue that this is a ploy to ascribe the practice to a famous figure, clearly we do not take this view. Tradition, which for us means the vivacious keeping alive of the knowledge and experience of Christ, attests that the Apostle Luke recorded for Christian posterity the image of Mary, the Virgin Mother of God. From the perspective of Christianity we are not looking for archaeological or historical evidence so as to “prove” that the practice of painting images is “ancient,” we know in the center of our being, in the essence, the very heart, that it is. Any evidence is simply icing on the cake, so to speak.

Image of Christ in the catacombs

Some of the most ancient Christian imagery is preserved in what is known as the catacombs. A simple search on all-knowing google reveals a wealth of information about Christian catacomb art, or one may prefer simply to check the library. Many of the images in catacombs such as, Commadilla, Domitilla and Priscilla, date from the 3^rd and early 4^th centuries. Images include Christ, the Virgin Mary, the Apostles, various early saints, Old Testament figures such as Abraham, Daniel and the three youths in the furnace of fire, etc. The catacombs highlight the fact that from earliest times Christians have viewed certain places as sacred space, area not simply used or occupied in a utilitarian way. It is also clear that Christianity sought to beautify and hallow the space in which it abode, not only through the worship of God in an oral manner but also in a pictorial. These spaces are filled with images and various decorative ornamentations and symbols. Even the floors of unearthed ancient Churches reveal a deep love of ornamentation and beauty, such as the site in Megiddo Israel which dates to the 3^rd century.

Thus, we have the personal witness of the Church testifying that icons have been a part of her life from nascent years, plus archaeological evidence of early Christian sacred spaces. The 4^th century historian of Christianity, Eusibius, mentions the practice of icons, though he himself was not a supporter (he was also an Arian), nonetheless he stands as a negative, so to speak, witness. I will note here that, like many other things in Christianity, icons were not simply unequivocally accepted. Yet, it is clear from historical experience icons have always been an integral component of Christian worship. Interestingly enough the precise expression of Christian thought regarding icons did not happen until the Iconoclast (one who fights or destroys icons) controversy in the 8^th and 9^th centuries. This is not too surprising. It in no way implies that there was a lack of earlier theological understanding, indeed it would have been impossible for such a deep spirituality to come out of nowhere. Those who gave expression to the theology of the icon were giving expression to the primordial revelation of Christ. From the Orthodox perspective we were never out to formulate a systematic Faith, almost all formulas of faith in the Orthodox Church are in counter to what is understood as untruth, or heresy.

Christianity is not a set of laws compiled and dictated from an elite echelon, but the keeping alive of the true experience of life in Christ. In its essence Christianity is content to live and know the experience of God, but if proper experience and life are challenged then the faith is expressed in as much as needed at that time to keep it true. Thus icons were an intrinsic experience of Christian life. When challenged they were explained and upheld through the experiential revelation of knowledge in Christ Jesus as preserved in the Church. When I say preserved do not think along the lines of canning, or mummies, but along the lines of the immune system. Our immune system preserves us from sickness, its job is to keep us healthy and alive. This is what we mean when we say preserving the faith.

During the above mentioned Iconoclast controversy a great many icons were lost. It was a policy of most Byzantine emperors starting with Leo III in 726AD to actively hunt down and destroy icons, and many times to torture and kill those found defending them. A very simplified reason for the rise of iconoclasm may be due to the political losses of the Byzantine Empire at that time. These losses were seen as chastisement, and a search began for the reason. Icons became the scapegoat: they must be a form of idolatry and we are finally paying for it! The arguments were of course very nuanced. There was brief respite from 786-815, during that time the 7^th ecumenical Council of 787, which confirmed the Christian practice of icons, was held. Yet iconoclasm was not completely subdued until 843, in what is known as the Triumph of Orthodoxy. From this time on icons flowered without resistance in Orthodoxy. Iconoclasm was not about art and its place in Christianity, it was about revelation and the place of representing Spirit and Truth through material mediums. The most ancient icons painted on boards (such as those on display here) were mainly preserved outside of the Byzantine Empire. One the most ancient notable treasuries of our day resides at St. Catherine's Monastery at Sinai.

After what is referred to as the Great Schism of 1054 (this date is good for general reference only, details, as most of the time in history, are varied and complex), which marks the parting of ways between the Orthodox east and the Latin west, the Orthodox east became the de facto guardian of the icon. To a great degree icons became lost to the Latin and Protestant west. In fact further resistance to the icon found a home in western Europe.

But why icons? Why has Christianity so resolutely lived, practiced and defended icons? Why do we understand them to be holy objects? What is the inner essence, the spirituality, from which the icon springs? As has been pointed out in preceding talks, image has a fundamental role in Christianity. Christ, the Scriptures teach us, is the image of the Father (2 Cor. 4:4, Col. 1:15, Heb 1:3), and a Christian is to be conformed to the image of Christ (1 Cor. 15:49, 2 Cor. 3:18, Col 3:9-10). Christians should reflect not some random idea, but the concrete revelation of God in the Eikon of Christ Jesus. (Keep in mind icon means image.) In Christ the Image of the Unseen God is revealed. The shining forth of true image is at the very heart of Christianity, it is part of its very nature, “since it is not only the revelation of the Word of God, but also the Image of God, manifested in the God-Man” (Ouspensky, Vol 1 p. 41).

The icon stands as a witness and trophy to the revelation of God on earth. It testifies for us that God has indeed become man; if He had not, icons would not be possible. Moreover, depicted around us even in this church are many men and women considered saints. The great cloud of witnesses as spoken of in Hebrews. They are here witnessing to the reality of Christ. For us they are not simply people who did good, they are people who in a most dynamic way, through the grace of God, were conformed to the image of Christ. For us icons are not memorials to righteous dead people, according to Orthodox thought no one who is in Christ is dead. The Icon is thus also a most vibrant herald of the Resurrection. We understand ourselves to be communing with the living, for they are abiding in Life Himself.

In the Icon we take up earthly material: wood, gesso, pigments and so on and re-orient them to proper reality. Through what is referred to in Christianity as the Fall of mankind, proper orientation was lost. Humanity and matter no longer were focused on God. In the icon matter is reinstated to its former purpose. God has once again sanctified matter by Himself becoming flesh (matter) and using matter for His glory. Matter was intended originally to lift mankind's vision to eternity, in the icon it is once again fulfilling this purpose. We confess the renewal of the created order in Christ. The icon is a focal point reflecting the potentialized sanctification of humanity and the material world through the Divine Incarnation.

the Transfiguration

In the mystery of the icon we find heavenly grace being transmitted to us who are still very much earth bound. In its proper role it becomes a lightening rod, transmitting in a focused manner the limitless power of Divine energy. It is not lightening itself, but a revealed conduit of its energy and power. The Icon in reality is the coming together of the spiritual and the material. It testifies to the fact that in truth there are not two different worlds, one material and one spiritual, but one unified whole in and through Christ Jesus. This unity is not some abstract metaphysical unity, it is objective and personal; the icon is founded upon the real union of the earthly, material and human to the heavenly, spiritual and divine in the person of the God-Man Christ Jesus. This reality extends to all aspects of the Church, in Orthodoxy everything becomes a reflection of this paramount principle. Indeed this is why from the earliest times Christians have sought to sanctify their places of worship with images. Orthodoxy is seeking to reflect not this broken world that is in desperate need of healing, but the endless timeless perfect age that is already advancing upon us. The age that is whole and complete, where it has been revealed there shall be no more brokenness or fragmentation; it is not to come, but indeed is right now coming. The icon is one of its heralds. It is in light of this that icons are sometimes referred to as “windows to heaven,” though it should be clear they are not simply windows for passive viewing, but of active beholding. And as has been seen in the preceding talk sometimes there are very miraculous manifestations (from our point of view) poured forth from the icon.

Through the icon we may behold and participate in the whole encompassing reality of the redeemed cosmos. The cosmos that is both transfigured and being transfigured through the transformative energy of Christ God. From day one Christians have been trying to live this message, which is essential to Faith. And from day one Christianity has been announcing this message in word and in image; expressing in a comprehensive manner the mysterious vision of faith.

In closing, the icon is a potent reality of Christian spirituality and eschatology, it takes its form from matter but transmits power from eternity. The icon witnesses to humanity of its true purpose in the order of the redeemed cosmos. But it must be understood that the icon is not a magic trinket, nor an image standing in the place of God. It is empowered by God's grace, and to understand and see it for what it is requires eyes that have been enlightened by divine light. If we approach with eyes burdened down with the ideologies and systems of this broken existence, then the icon will remain shrouded in darkness, whether idolatrous blasphemy, primitive religious art for display in museums, or a cloud of mystical confusion.  

The Icon: A vision of reality

One of the greatest necessities for the Christian life is to stay centered on Christ at all times. It is only in the purifying light of God that we see light, and become enlightened. “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.”ⁱ By abiding in this light the Christian believer is empowered to discern true reality. Only when our spiritual vision is renewed in the Divine Light of the Holy Trinity are we able to act in accordance with the Truth. Even more so, the one being illumined goes beyond acting in accordance with Truth, indeed, they move into existence in Truth. The continual incarnation of Truth through and in the Church to this world is only possible within the all revealing Light of the Holy Trinity: “For with Thee is the fountain of life, and in Thy light we see light.”ⁱⁱ

When persons within the Church cease to lift their eyes up to the lustrating energy of God they fall into darkness, and this darkness is great and of the worst kind. “But if your eye be bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If the light that is in you is darkness, how great the darkness!”ⁱⁱⁱ When the inner eyes of a person are cut off from God that one is no longer able to discern true reality; it is then that the shadows of this fallen world are taken to be real. When this happens within the institution of the Church the result is devastating.^iv The inner eyes (nous) become blinded by darkness and are cast into the abyss of existing in non-reality. This is the result of the eyes of the heart ceasing to focus on Christ Jesus, and becoming fixated on this temporal world. “Where your heart is, there your treasure will be also.”^v

In the early 700's a loss of vision steadily arose in the form of a heresy known as Iconoclasm. Iconoclasm is against all pious depiction of Christ Jesus, the Theotokos or any saint, in a word it is against holy icons. Thus, it taught that icons were indeed idolatry, and forbade their veneration by the faithful. This false teaching was divinely repudiated in the Church culminating in what is known as the Triumph of Orthodoxy in 843AD. Iconoclasm is the sad loss of the true revelation of salvation as it relates to both man and the whole material world. It could be that the historical events, such as the rise of Islam and the growing gap between Eastern and Western Christianity at that time helped to cause the Iconoclasts to take their eyes off of Christ. It is not uncommon that even when we are tested we focus on the storm around us and cease gazing on Christ. In the midst of testing, if one fails to refocus on Christ, true vision may be darkened by unbelief. Whatever the reasons may have been, the rejection of icons betrays a tragic loss of true reality.

One of the many characteristics of the icon is the fact that it is a herald of true reality and life. It is a focal point reflecting the sanctification of man and the material world through the Divine Incarnation. “Holiness is the realization of the possibilities given to man by the Divine Incarnation, an example to us: the icon is the means of the revealing this revelation … In other words, the icon transmits visually the realization of the patristic formula … 'God became man so that man should become god.'"^vi Redeemed mankind, when dwelling in the reality of transformation into the image of Christ, through the community of the Church, is able by grace to take up the sensible and material and give it its true vision. The created material world, through the redemptive work of Christ, may once again fully achieve its original intent: to be a tool for the glory of God. St. John of Damascus writes: “I reverence the rest of matter and hold in respect that through which my salvation came because it is filled with divine energy and grace.”^vii

The icon is one of the most potent examples of the redeemed cosmos. It presents to mankind the pure vision of revelation, portraying those things which are everlasting and real. The reality is that this world is being penetrated by the eternal – that death, sin, and corruption are no longer lords over mankind and creation. The icon cries out: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”^viii It stands as an invitation for all to enter into true reality and being. This entails rejecting the call and temptation of this fallen world to live in a state of non-being by following one's own carnal desire, thereby choosing the non-existence of falsehood. For to dwell outside of the revealed divine reality is to dwell away from God Who is Life and true being beyond all being.

Iconoclasm, the rejection of icons, is the result of a loss of true vision and reality. Tragically, the western world was heavily impacted by the Iconoclast spirit after initially being a champion of the icon. If any segment of Christianity begins to desire and focus on earthly power and prestige, the end result is a loss of heavenly vision. The rise of Charlemagne in the 700's in the west may be considered a marking point for this decline of vision. At the “council” of Frankfurt in 794AD Charlemagne led an attack and condemnation on holy icons.

Only six years later, in 800AD, the Pope of Rome crowned Charlemagne as the “holy Roman Emperor.” Of course, the events surrounding this are varied and complex, but it suffices to note this as the beginning of the end spiritually for the Western Church.^ix Sadly, unlike in the East, the West failed to counter the Iconoclast spirit and it came to dominate. The loss of spiritual vision became increasingly evident in the artistic vision of the West. The Iconoclast spirit of Charlemagne paved the way for the massive shift of vision which occurred in the Renaissance, as art began to take on a much greater naturalistic feel. This naturalism in art began to dominate the Western Church, reflecting its progressive loss of divine sight.^x

The Reformation and Enlightenment dealt a further blow to the sacred Christian vision of the icon. Art, in the west, became obsessed with naturalism, many times “raw to the point of repellency,” easily stirring carnal emotions.^xi An evident example of this is “The Crucifixion” by Grunewald, where Christ is portrayed as writhing in pain and agony, His flesh bloated and twisted. The overall effect is that of hopelessness and the victory of death; the sweet hope of immortality is nowhere present. True reality is replaced with false reality. Holbein the Younger's portrayal of Christ's rotting flesh in the tomb denies the fundamental ancient Christian belief that Christ's body was a stranger to corruption. Christ is not the victorious King, but a mortal man subject to the decay of death. With the loss of true theology and understanding of sacred vision, spiritual ascent in western art ceased.

Many of the traditional symbols and ancient methods used in sacred art were done away with, and portrayal of the holy struggle of the saints for the kingdom of heaven ceased to a great degree. All these outer manifestations act to reveal the West's inner shifting of the eyes of the soul from the heavenly world to the fallen material. Protestant-dominated northern European art, for the most part, left all religious subjects and simply portrayed daily life, giving way to the humanist undercurrent that helped propel the Reformation.^xii Some leaders of the Reformation (such as John Calvin) were outright iconoclastic in their dealings with religious art. This laid firm foundations for the recurrence of “anti-aestheticism in Western art” and paved the way for a “decline of Christian imagery in the Protestant Church.”^xiii The Western Church, once a champion of the icon during the Iconoclast heresy in the East, tragically became the place where the Iconoclast spirit found a place to thrive. Both the over humanizing of Christian art themes and the outright destruction of religious art are symptoms of Iconoclasm. Iconoclasm in its essence is a denial of the true Christian vision. The icon remains, therefore, the pure Christian vision of reality.

In our days, as throughout all time, enlightenment by Christ is contingent upon a person having ears to hear and eyes to see. Those who were exposed to Christ Jesus in His earthly ministry were not automatically illumined; they had to desire this in their heart. So the icon, as with its prototype Jesus Christ, is not mechanical illumination. The icon is not a vulgar intrusion into each person's mental world; it is an invitation to reality. It forces itself on no one; it only seeks those who have eyes to see. True vision is possible only in the light of Christ, outside of which is darkness. The icon is the crown of healed sensible vision gazing on the eternal which permeates this world here and now. Therefore it is imperative for a person to begin with the cleansing of the eyes of the heart so as to truly understand the icon, and this occurs in the Light of the Trinity Who is Truth. Outside of this light man's vision becomes darkened by the fallen world and this becomes his focus and aim, even in the “religious” realm.

The icon makes luminous Christ Jesus, for Christ is true reality. If one chooses to dwell outside of Truth, which is manifest in the Holy Orthodox Church, that one cannot truly understand the icon. It will forever elude, either remaining a piece of art history, or a tantalizing religious relic of intrigue.