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Category: Icons (Page 5 of 12)

Cracks in Reformed Iconoclasm?

Dominic Bnonn Tennant, a Reformed Baptist, raised some important questions about Reformed iconoclasm.  In “Are Pictures of Jesus Idolatry?” he notes:

Thinking so is an understandably venerable Reformed tradition which strikes me as naive and legalistic on several levels.  Here, I look at the context of the Second Commandment to exegete the limitation of its meaning.

The article has two-parts: Part 1: exegesis and Part 2: what were ancient people thinking.  In the first part Tennant examines exegetical issues pertaining to the Second Commandment taking note of three issues.

 

1. The Second Commandment prohibits 3D objects, not flat 2D pictures.

The word “image” in the King James Version’s rendering “graven image” implies a flat picture, however, a more accurate translation would be the New American Standard Bible’s “idol.”  It is worth noting that the Septuagint translation of the Second Commandment uses the Greek “ειδωλα (eidola),” not “εικον (eikon).”  It seems that certain Protestant translations of the Bible have been slanted in a particular direction to suit a particular theological agenda.

Tennant notes that images of Jesus in a children’s’ picture bible are not carved and therefore not prohibited by the Second Commandment.

In other words, anyone who wants to say the commandment prohibits us from creating 2D pictures of Jesus needs to actually argue for that position. It is not a given. It isn’t as if the Hebrews couldn’t draw. The only given in the commandment itself, on the face of it, is that we cannot create carved or sculpted images.  (Italics in original.)

This line of reasoning can be used to justify Orthodox icons of Christ and also depictions of Christ in stained glass windows, a practice favored by Anglicans and Lutherans.

St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in Granada Hills, CA

 

2. The Old Testament Has Directives About the Making of Carved Images.

One problem with Reformed iconoclasm is that a blanket prohibition against carved images would rule out the carved images like the cherubim over the Ark of the Covenant.  Tennant notes: “If the second commandment includes a prohibition against any carved images, God would be contradicting himself (italics in original).”

3. Arguing from God’s invisibility is unbiblical and logically flawed.

Dominic Tennant notes that there are problems with arguing from God’s invisibility.  First, God did in fact manifest himself in visible form several times in the Old Testament, e.g., to Abraham in Genesis 15-18, to Joshua in Joshua 5:13-15, and to Gideon in Judges 6.

Second, Tennant notes that in the Incarnation God revealed himself visibly in Jesus Christ.  This has implications for the Second Commandment.

In any case, if we take Deuteronomy 4 as a touchstone for understanding the second commandment, it seems to blow any objection to images of Jesus out of the water.  The whole covenantal, historical, revelational context of the second commandment is that God has not revealed himself in a created form—therefore, do not create an image of any created form to worship.

But this is simply no longer true! If this is the argument that justifies the second commandment, it is invalid under the new covenant, because God has now revealed himself in a created form: Jesus.  (Emphases in original)

Here Dominic Tennant is reiterating John of Damascus’ classic apologia for icons:

When the invisible One becomes visible to flesh, you may then draw His likeness.  When He who is bodiless and without form, immeasurable in the boundlessness of His own nature, existing in the form of God, empties Himself and takes the form of a servant in substance and in stature and is found in a body of flesh, then you may draw His image and show it to anyone willing to gaze upon it. (On Divine Images – First Apologia §8)

Tennant seems to be unaware of the classical defense of icons by one of the great church fathers of Ancient Christianity.  Doing biblical exegesis in a historical vacuum carries the risk of being confined (unwittingly) to a particular reading of Scripture.  The early Church Fathers’ exegesis of Scripture comprises a rich heritage for all Christians.  A grounding in patristics will broaden Protestant pastors and theologians’ understanding of the biblical text and sharpen their understanding of theology.

 

Storm god – Bronze Age temple in Aleppo Syria. Kay Kohlmayer

 

What is Idolatry?

In Part 2, Dominic Tennant argues that to understand the Second Commandment we need to understand the nature of idolatry in ancient cultures.  Ancient paganism was based on a monistic worldview in which the divine, human, and natural realms were ontologically identical with each other.  This was the basis for sympathetic representation in which a representation was made of a natural element (storm, sky, rain, plant life) that could be controllable, i.e., manipulated towards certain ends (good harvest, clement weather, health).  Tennant notes:

Idolatry entails (1) treating God and his creation as continuous, as through sympathetic representation; and/or (2) putting one’s faith in a divine being other than God.

Thus, the Second Commandment in its original context was not directed against the use of pictures in worship, or against Roman Catholicism as Reformed Christians seem to assume, but against idolatry as practiced by the Israelites’ neighbors in the ancient Near East.  The intent behind the Second Commandment together with the First Commandment was right worship of the one true God.

He [Yahweh] does not want them trying to influence other deities; and he especially does not want them trying to influence him

Orthodox icon – Christ on the Cross

 

Dominic Tennant and Orthodoxy

Is Tennant’s understanding of religious images compatible with Orthodoxy?  In my opinion, he’s close but not quite.  Tennant’s position is more in line with the Anglican or Lutheran traditions in Protestantism.

In terms of monism, a picture of Jesus is never—in evangelical circles—intended to “channel” or “center” Jesus or his power through something like sympathetic representation. (The same cannot be said for many Roman Catholic contexts.)

Missing from the above quote are: (1) an affirmation of the sacramental nature of icons and (2) the importance of venerating icons.  In a later article “Are the first and second commandments morally distinguishable?” Tennant notes:

Of course, none of this has any bearing on pictures of Jesus in storybooks or memes, as neo-Puritans often shrilly claim. No Christian uses such pictures as aids to worship (that I know of!) Even in quite “Catholic” theological traditions, like the Lutherans and Anglicans, stained glass windows are nothing like idols. They exist to stimulate the mind to worship—I don’t think anyone worships through them in the way that they might kiss a photo of a relative. Mind you, kissing a photo is a bit weird too, in my opinion…

Venerating the Icon of Saints Peter and Paul

Here it is clear that Tennant remains a Protestant in his understanding of religious images.  He sees their value in functional terms – “to stimulate the mind to worship.”  His description of kissing a photo of a loved one pretty much describes how Orthodoxy understands the veneration of icons; his squeamishness about kissing icons reveals a very Protestant attitude!

In response to concerns that the Orthodox veneration of icons would mark a reversion to pagan monism, I would note that: (1) Orthodoxy’s sacramental worldview is grounded in the Incarnation—in Jesus Christ created matter is joined to the uncreated Word of God, and (2) the Bible gives examples of matter becoming channels of divine grace, e.g., the hem of Jesus’ cloak healing the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:27-30), Peter’s shadow having healing powers (Acts 5:15), and Elisha’s bones restoring a man to life (2 Kings 13:21).

Taken too far the separation of the divine and the natural realms which underlie the Reformed worldview can result in a naturalistic and destructive secularism.  The Reformed disenchantment of the cosmos has robbed Christianity of the vibrant sacramental connection between material matter and the reality of heaven.  It positions Reformed Christianity in modernity cut off from the sacramental worldview of the early Church.

 

Reformed Iconoclasm – Extreme and Untenable 

Dominic Bnonn Tennant’s careful exegesis of the Second Commandment is a carefully staged demolition job on Reformed iconoclasm. He shows that the Reformed opposition to flat images goes beyond what the biblical text says about carved objects.  His two-fold critique of the argument from God’s invisibility: (1) Old Testament accounts of God manifesting himself in visible form and (2) God taking on human flesh in the Incarnation, are biblically and theologically sound.  They echo the classic apologia offered by the early Church Father, John of Damascus.  Tennant’s observation that Reformed iconoclasm’s blanket opposition to carved images puts it at odds with other biblical passages that called for the making of carved objects like the cherubim is impressive.  No Reformed Christian would dare admit that the Bible is self-contradictory!  But will they reconcile the differences?

Tennant’s article is an invitation for Reformed pastors and theologians to critically examine the Reformed tradition’s opposition to icons.  Failure to do so would result in Reformed iconoclasm becoming a manmade tradition!  Tennant’s article also has the potential to advance Reformed-Orthodox dialogue.  It is hoped that after reading Tennant’s articles Reformed Christians will examine the rich heritage of the early Church Fathers’ affirmation of icons.

Robert Arakaki

 

Recommended Reading

John of Damascus.  Apologia Against Those Who Decry Holy Images.

Theodore the Studite.  On Holy Icons.

Council of Nicea II (787).  “The Decree of the Holy, Great, Ecumenical Synod, the Second of Nice.”  NPNF Series II Vol. XIV The Seven Ecumenical Councils, pp. 549-551.

Robert Arakaki.  2011.  “Calvin vs. the Icon: Was John Calvin Wrong?”  OrthodoxBridge  (19 June)

Robert Arakaki.  2011.  “The Biblical Basis for Icons.”  OrthodoxBridge (12 July)

Robert Arakaki.  2013.  “Early Jewish Attitudes Toward Images.”  OrthodoxBridge (29 July)

Vncent Gabriel.  2014.  “St. Theodore the Studite against the Iconoclasts.”  On Behalf of All  (27 April)

Dominic Bnonn Tennant.  2014.  “Are pictures of Jesus idolatry? – Part 1: exegesis.”  (9 July)

Dominic Bnonn Tennant.  2015.  “Are pictures of Jesus idolatry? – Part 2: what were ancient people thinking.”  (12 February)

Dominic Bnonn Tennant.  2015.  “Are the first and second commandments morally distinguishable?” (21 September)

 

An Encounter with the Hawaiian Miraculous Icon

 

2012-0523-hawaii

Recently, there has been an increase in dialogue between Reformed Christians and Orthodox Christians about icons.  Much of it has been of an intellectual nature focused on the Bible and the early church fathers, but what is one to make of miraculous icons?  These pose a different kind of challenge to Christians who are accustomed to using logic and reason in theological debates.

I just received this from one of our readers, JM Burnham, who wrote of his encounter with miraculous icon in June 2016:

This past Sunday in my parish church, Holy Apostles (ROCOR) in Beltsville, Maryland, we had the distinct honor of welcoming the Hawaiian Iveron Myrrh-streaming Icon. As our dear Metropolitan Hilarion (First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad) was celebrating the Divine Liturgy, everyone came up to the Icons of the church-temple and venerated them. The myrrh-streaming Icon, which I named above, was actually streaming myrrh and giving off one of the loveliest odours of holiness I had ever witnessed; i.e., like roses mixed with a myriad of other odorous flowers, but a hundred times more fragrant and soothing.

Having said that, I have sadly encountered several [D]eformed Protestants who said that “It’s nothing more than Devil’s work! Satan’s deceiving you to get you to worship your idols and forget about Jesus!” Instead of taking it upon themselves to investigate further, I’ve noticed that such persons immediately dismiss any miracles in the Orthodox Church (let alone actively myrrh-streaming icons) as trickery from the Evil One. They then point their fingers at us Orthodox Christians saying that we’re guilty of idol worship and so many other “sins” against God. It is well-known that many Protestants, even some traditionalist Roman Catholics, don’t even believe that we Orthodox are actually Christians – but that’s a topic for another discussion.

The main point I’m trying to convey is anecdotal, yet strongly grounded in existential reality and interpersonal experience. For me, I felt confirmed in my faith as an Orthodox Christian. Seeing this miraculous icon actually helped me to realize some very important realities that I had been taking for granted, but not appreciating as deeply as I ought:

Icons are not “idolatrous pictures of dead saints,” as most mainline Protestants would call them. These sacred “pictures” amplify, and bring home the reality of, the Incarnation of the God-man, Jesus Christ. In particular, myrrh-streaming icons, such as the Hawaiian Iveron Icon as aforementioned, demonstrate the approval of the Holy Spirit, for it is only the Holy Spirit Who could bring about such secular-logic-defying, clearly supernatural occurrences. It is almost always (about 95% of the time) Icons of the Theotokos that tend to be miraculous. This demonstrates Mary’s critical role in God the Word’s [historical] Incarnation as well as the incarnational reality of the Church, Christ’s Mystical Body; after all, the Church Fathers looked upon Mary as the purest figure of the Church. Moreover, after venerating the myrrh-streaming icon, I realized in a more profound way that the Orthodox Church truly is the Body of Christ, in both time and eternity, in heaven and on earth, against which “the gates of hell shall [have] not prevail[ed]” (Matthew 16:18).

I just wanted to share this little story with everyone to help bring home the profoundly simple truth of the Orthodox Faith concerning Icons. As a side note, I’m a recovering Roman Catholic, and I sometimes still struggle with some of the negatives effects that Roman Catholic heresy has had upon my heart, mind, body, and soul. Such miraculous icons can only be witnessed in canonical Orthodox Churches. They do NOT exist in the Roman Catholic church or in the Protestant communities; moreover, they definitely do not exist in any other religious expression (non-Christian) known to mankind. Orthodoxy is indeed unique; it is deeply supernatural and a living Faith that has no equals.

 

Comment from Robert

Oily streaks on the glass cover of the Hawaii icon.

Oily streaks on the glass cover of the Hawaii icon.

I know this icon.  Living in Hawaii, I visit the Russian Orthodox Church often and most of the time I will see this icon on the stand up in front.  The icon is what I would call a quiet miracle.  When I stand before it, I can see oily streaks on the glass cover and smell the flowery fragrance emanating from the icon.  The first time I saw the icon I was surprised by the absence of drama.  Yet, as I stood before it, I found myself amazed at this inexplicable phenomenon.  It was as if God opened this window to heaven just a tiny bit, allowing the fragrant scent of heaven to flow over into our fallen world that is so desperately in need of His mercy.

There are stories of people being healed miraculously after being anointed by the oil coming from this icon.  But then, there are many who have not been healed after seeing this icon.  These healing miracles are a gift from God, but they are not the main point.  With respect to miracles, Orthodoxy is not cessationist.  (Cessationaism is the heresy that miracles ceased with the death of the last of the original Apostles.)  We believe that miracles can happen, even today.  The main point of Orthodox icons is to draw us closer to Christ.  When I stand before the miraculous Iveron icon, I see the Virgin Mary pointing her hand to Jesus.  I am reminded of her total commitment to her Son and our God.  I reflect on her words: “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:5)

I would not advocate using miraculous icons as a means of refuting the Reformed tradition’s iconoclasm. The better approach is to appeal to Scripture and the witness of the church fathers.  Nonetheless, the miraculous Hawaiian icon does pose a challenge to the secular, disenchanted worldview so prevalent among Reformed and Evangelical Christians.  Fr. Stephen Freeman described this particular outlook in his recent post “The Disenchanted World”:

Where people of earlier eras and other cultures have experienced the world around them as charged with divine power (of various sorts), we simply experience the world as inert. There is nothing there.

Secularism has affected, not just the way Protestants view nature, but also the way they approach conversion.  The Protestant reduction of the Gospel to mere “rational choice” avoids, if not obviates, conversion being a super-natural work of the Holy Spirit. The empirical nature of this miraculous icon cannot be refuted by means of logic and syllogism.

 

Screen Shot 2016-07-28 at 3.49.58 PMReader Nectarios Yangson who is tasked with guarding the icon noted:

It is the grace of the Holy Spirit visibly showing itself upon us.  It is something tangible: we can touch; we can taste; we can feel.  [See “Icon of Unity” at 7:25]

An encounter with the Hawaiian miraculous icon and others like it – Yes, there are other miraculous icons! – is like a short visit to the enchanted world of the kingdom of God suffused with the divine presence.

In the Bible, visible tangible miracles are often used to validate a spiritual claim.  In Mark’s Gospel Jesus prefaced the healing of the paralytic with: “But that you may know . . . .” (Mark 2:10)  The beneficiaries of the healing miracle were not just the paralytic lying on the pallet, but also the Pharisees and teachers of the Law who doubted Jesus’ authority to forgive sins.  Not all miracles are from God; therefore, miracles need to be subjected to spiritual tests, e.g., Is Jesus Christ glorified?  Is his coming in the flesh affirmed?  Is the Church, the Body of Christ, edified?  Are sinners converted?  The atmosphere surrounding a miraculous icon should be a faith-filled one like in Luke 5:26: “And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, ‘We have seen strange things today!’”

Venerating the miraculous icon

Venerating the miraculous icon

 

Miraculous icons also serve as notice to prospective converts that conversion to Orthodoxy entails more than an intellectual acceptance of the Seventh Ecumenical Council and the writings of early church fathers like John of Damascus and Theodore the Studite.  It involves a transition from a detached, intellectual approach to Christianity to one of an embodied mysticism that is sensuous and otherworldly at the same time.  One does not gawk at a miraculous icon.  The Orthodox response to this miraculous icon is one of veneration mixed with love and affection.  We gather at church; we sing hymns honoring Mary; we ask Mary to be our prayer partner to Christ; and we line up to kiss her icon.  This is what the Seventh Ecumenical Council had in mind when they affirmed the veneration of icons.  One way to venerate the Hawaii Iveron icon is to kiss Mary’s hand which points to her Son and then to kiss Christ’s feet.  In honoring the mother we honor her Son, and in honoring our God Jesus Christ we honor his mother Mary who made possible the miracle of the Incarnation.

A friend once expressed disappointment that she had missed seeing the miraculous icon.  I pointed out that all icons are special, and, that this miraculous is not more sacred than the others.  It is just that God chose to use this particular icon to manifest his grace in a visible, tangible way to weak, sinful people like us.  With the other “ordinary” icons God’s grace is invisible; we respond to this unseen grace through an act of faith.  This means we don’t have wait for a miraculous icon to come to our neighborhood.  Just go to the nearest Orthodox parish!

In closing, the miraculous Hawaii icon is a sign that the kingdom of God has come near, that we need to repent and turn to God.  This call to repentance applies to the Orthodox just as it does to Reformed and Evangelical Christians.  So if the Hawaiian miraculous icon does come to your area, don’t hesitate to visit the icon.  It is God’s gift of mercy to Orthodox and non-Orthodox.  As Philip said in response to Nathaniel’s skepticism: “Come and see!

Robert Arakaki

 

RESOURCES

Article: “Iveron Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary Visits Our Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church.”

Video: “Icon of Unity – The Hawaiian Myrrh-Streaming Icon of the Mother of God.”   [Reader Nectarios at 7:25]

Video: NECN News Report “exuding’ icon draws thousands to Massachusetts.

Video: “Opening Hawaii Icon

Article:The Disenchanted World.”  Fr. Stephen Freeman.  Glory to God for All Things, 22 July 2016.

 

 

Do We Need a Photo ID of Christ?

A Response to Pastor Toby Sumpter

 

 

Rev. Toby Sumpter’s “A Plea & A Sketch of an Argument on Icons  is not a simplistic bashing of icons.  Rather, he has taken the trouble to engage the Christological issues underlying the iconoclastic debates.  Among the earlier objections to icons was the two-fold argument that either icons depict Christ’s divinity, and by doing so circumscribed the divine Being, falling into the heresy of monophysitism, or they depict only Christ’s humanity and by doing so separated his humanity from his divinity, falling into the heresy of Nestorianism.  The Orthodox answer, reflecting Chalcedonian Christology, is that icons depict the Person of Christ, who is both divine and human. Toby Sumpter takes Orthodoxy’s Chalcedonian premise that icons depict the Person of Christ as the starting point for his argument.  He reasons that if icons are inaccurate or lack sufficient details, then Orthodox Christians, despite their sincerity, are venerating something other than Christ.  He writes:

Thus, to be in accordance with Nicaea II and Theodore, the Orthodox position really must insist that the icons of Christ are in fact true representations of the man Jesus Christ and that whenever they have seen His icon, they have truly seen Christ.

. . . .

And here we arrive at long last at the problem. First, let us grant that if there had been photographers on site in Judea during the earthly days of Jesus it would have been fine to take pictures of Jesus, preserve those pictures, and venerate those pictures. For the sake of argument, let’s grant that the Seventh Ecumenical Council’s argument is sound in principle. The question comes down to whether we have strong enough evidence to believe that the icons we now have are in fact accurate portraits of Christ. And very much related to that, did Jesus and the apostles intend for a central part of the ministry of the Church to be through the making and venerating of images? The actual historical evidence seems decidedly against this.

. . . .

In other words, there are hefty biblical and historical arguments against assuming that modern icons of Christ actually resemble the Jewish man they claim to. And if they do not, they are not in fact the hypostasis of Christ, and therefore we are left with millions of Christians praying in front of pictures of someone else. Either that someone else is real and exists (but we don’t know them[sic]) or else the canonized face of Jesus is the result of the composite imagination of artists.  (Emphases added)

In short, he attempts to show how the Orthodox position on icons, even with its Chalcedonian premise, is untenable and therefore leads to iconoclastic conclusions.

 

Misleading Question

Pastor Sumpter’s focus on accurate physical depictions of Christ is, from the Orthodox standpoint, entirely off-base.  By framing his question in terms of the need for accurate depictions of Christ’s physical features in icons, Sumpter assumes that the purpose of Orthodox icons is to depict the physical features of the human Christ, not his Person.  Here he confuses Christ’s physical nature with his Person in the icon.  In doing so, he inadvertently frames his question in a way that departs from the Chalcedonian focus on the Person uniting the two natures; thus, he reverts to the heretical alternatives that assumed icons relate to the natures of Christ.  The Orthodox understanding is that icons relate us to the Person of Christ.  However, Sumpter’s question by focusing on Christ’s physical features assumes that icons relate us to the human nature of Christ.  In other words, Pastor Sumpter’s question is not rooted in Chalcedonian Christology but rather reverts to the heretical alternatives that confused the natures for the Person.  Furthermore, implicit in Toby Sumpter’s iconoclasm is a decidedly heretical non-Chalcedonian Christology!

Pastor Sumpter’s argument was anticipated by Leonid Ouspensky, who wrote in Theology of the Icon:

Thus, iconoclastic thought could accept an image only when this image was identical to that which it representedWithout identity, no image was possible.  Therefore an image made by a painter could not be an icon of Christ.  (p. 124; emphasis added)

But the Orthodox, fully aware of the distinction between nature and person, maintain precisely this third possibility, which abolishes the iconoclastic dilemma. The icon does not represent the nature, but the person: Περιγραπτος  αρα ο Χριστος καθ υποστασιν καν τη θεοτητι απεριγραπτος, “Christ is describable according to His hypostasis, remaining indescribable in His Divinity,” explains St Theodore the Studite.  When we represent our Lord, we do not represent His divinity or His humanity, but His Person, which inconceivably unites in itself these two natures without confusion and without division, as the Chalcedonian dogma defines it. (p. 125; emphases added)

This articulation of icons’ otherworldly vantage point is shared by Paul Evdokimov in The Art of the Icon.  He writes:

Now the iconic likeness is radically opposed to natural likeness, to natural portraiture, and only relates to the hypostasis, that is, the person, and to his heavenly body. (p. 87)

Pastor Sumpter’s argument that the absence of exact correspondence between icon and the prototype invalidates icons is not new.  Theodore the Studite anticipated this in his apologia On the Holy Icons:

1. An objection as from the iconoclasts: “If everything which is made in the likeness of something else inevitably falls short of equality with its prototype, then obviously Christ is not the same as His portrait in regard to veneration.  And if these differ, the veneration which you introduce differs also.  Therefore it produces an idolatrous worship.”

Answer: The prototype is not essentially in the image.  If it were, the image would be called prototype, as conversely the prototype would be called image.  This is not admissible, because the nature of each has its own definition.   Rather, the prototype is in the image by the similarity of hypostasis, which does not have a different principle of definition for the prototype and for the image. (pp. 102-103; bold type added)

Theodore argues that the link between the icon and the prototype (Christ) is not found in essence (ousia) but rather in the person (hypostasis) being depicted.  In other words, iconoclasts erred when they located the connection in the essence (ousia) rather than the person (hypostasis).  In doing so, early iconoclasts deviated from the Chalcedonian principle of the enhypostatic union as the basis for Orthodox Christology and iconography.

Note: “enhypostatic” means “in-person.” It refers to the union of the two natures of Christ in his PersonThe Evangelical Theological Dictionary’s entry for “Hypostatic Union” has this definition: “In the incarnation of the Son of God, a human nature was inseparably united forever with the divine nature in the one person of Jesus Christ, yet with the two natures remaining distinct, whole, and unchanged, without mixture or confusion so that the one person, Jesus Christ, is truly God and truly man.”  (1984, Elwell ed.) This understanding comes from the Council of Chalcedon (451).

In the icon, we encounter the Person of Christ.  Key to understanding the Orthodox veneration of icons is prayer.  There can be no veneration apart from prayer.  This is due to the fact that the veneration of icon is an act of prayer.  And key to prayer is calling on the divine Name of Christ.  This is because to invoke the divine Name is to call on the Person who bears that Name.  There is, within the Jewish tradition, a deep reverence for the divine Name.  I learned this when I bought a yarmulke for a friend of mine years ago.  I asked the lady at the counter what made it a holy object and she explained that God’s name was woven into it.  Similarly, because the icon of Christ not only depicts the Word made human flesh, but also bears the name “Jesus” given to him at his birth, it becomes a holy object.  Ouspensky writes:

The icon is joined to its prototype because it portrays the person and carries his name.  This is what makes communion with the represented person possible, what makes him known.  (Ouspensky p. 127; emphasis added)

And,

In an icon, the Hypostasis, Christ’s person, “enhypostasizes” not a substance (the wood and colors) but the likeness.  It is the likeness alone and not the board that is the meeting place where we encounter the presence.  This likeness is fundamental to an understanding of the real nature of the icon.  (p. 195; italics in original)

In other words, Toby Sumpter’s insistence on the need for an exact visual (photographic) representation of Christ diverts him from the Chalcedonian emphasis on the Person of Christ to the heretics’ misguided emphasis on the human nature of Christ.  Rather than refute Nicea II, he merely rephrases the earlier iconoclastic arguments in the form of a question.

Given Pastor Sumpter’s earlier exhortation that we do our homework, it comes as a surprise that he apparently has not read Ouspensky’s Theology of the Icon, which anticipates his objection.  Nor, it seems, did he read Theodore the Studite carefully.  And, even more telling is the fact that he failed to grasp the categories used in Chalcedonian Christology.  His confusing nature with person led to his misleading question and his erroneous iconoclastic conclusion!  A muddled Christology is a bad starting point for doing theology.

 

Depicting Christ

One important question is whether there is evidence of visual depictions of Christ that can be traced back to the time of Christ.  The Orthodox understanding that icons form part of Holy Tradition implies that icons have been present in Christianity from the start.  Ouspensky wrote: “Thus, the Church maintains that authentic images of Christ have existed form the very beginning.” (p. 58)

One important early witness to icon making is Eusebius’ Church History.   In the fascinating passage about a statue made in memory of Jesus’ healing the woman with the issue of blood is a passing reference to paintings being made of Christ and the Apostles.

Nor is it strange that those of the Gentiles who, of old, were benefited by our Saviour, should have done such things, since we have learned also that the likenesses of his apostles Paul and Peter, and of Christ himself, are preserved in paintings, the ancients being accustomed, as it is likely, according to a habit of the Gentiles, to pay this kind of honor indiscriminately to those regarded by them as deliverers. (Book VII Chapter 18, NPNF Vol. I p. 304; emphases added)

Eusebius’ statement about the “likeness” of Christ and his Apostles being “preserved in paintings” points to icons having been a longstanding practice in the early Church.

King Abgar with miraculous icon of Christ

King Abgar with miraculous icon of Christ

There is, in the Orthodox Tradition, the icon known as the Acheiropoietos (Made Without Hands).  This particular icon is commemorated on August 16.  The sticheron (hymn) for this particular feast day goes: “After making an image of Your most pure image, You sent it to the faithful Abgar, who desired to see You, who in Your divinity are invisible to the cherubim.”  In other words, the Acheiropoietos icon is not incidental to Orthodoxy, but integral.  The story behind this unusual icon is related in the Festal Menaion for the month of August:

King Abgar, a leper, had sent to Christ his archivist Hannan (Ananias) with a letter in which he asked Christ to come to Edessa to heal him.  Hannan was a painter; and in case Christ refused to come, Abgar had advised Hannan to make a portrait of the Lord and bring it to him.  Hannan found Christ surrounded by a large crowd; he climbed a rock from which he could see him better.  He tried to make His portrait but did not succeed “because of the indescribable glory of His face which was changing through grace.”  Seeing that Hannan wanted to make His portrait, Christ asked for some water, washed Himself, and wiped His face with a piece of linen on which His features remained fixed.  He gave the linen to Hannan to carry it with a letter to the one who had sent him.  In His letter, Christ refused to go to Edessa Himself, but promised Abgar to send him one of His disciples, once His mission had ended. (Note 2 in Ouspensky p. 51)

Christos Acheiropoietos

Christos Acheiropoietos

If taken at face value, this anecdote about the Acheiropoietos icon rebuts Pastor Sumpter’s claim that early icons of Christ are the result of human imagination and therefore without historical basis.  But, while the Acheiropoietos icon has been accepted by Orthodoxy, its provenance is problematic to non-Orthodox scholars.  The earliest historical references date back to the fifth century, e.g., the Doctrine of Addai and Evagrius Scholasticus in his Ecclesiastical History (Ouspensky p. 52).  Christopher Jones in “The Letters of Abgar” ended on a cautious note: “We also have little corroborating evidence that they did happen.  So, like many thorny problems in ancient history, we can only look on our meager sources and wonder.”

Luke the Evangelist and the Icon of Mary and Christ

Luke the Evangelist and the Icon of Mary and Christ

 

Another witness to the antiquity of icon-making is the tradition that Luke the Evangelist in addition to writing Luke and Acts also painted the first icon of the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child.  The Orthodox Church commemorates Luke’s painting the icon of Mary and her giving her approval of the painting on the feast day of Our Lady of Vladimir (Ouspensky pp. 62-3).

 

Very early icon of Mary with Christ

Very early icon of Mary with Christ

 

Unusual icon - Christ without beard

Unusual icon – Christ without beard

 

The Wikipedia article “Depiction of Jesus” notes the historical development of visual depictions of Christ.

The depiction of him in art took several centuries to reach a conventional standardized form for his physical appearance, which has subsequently remained largely stable since that time. Most images of Jesus have in common a number of traits which are now almost universally associated with Jesus, although variants are seen.

Coptic icon

Coptic icon

A review of Orthodox icons compared with other ancient icons from the Latin, Coptic, and Ethiopian traditions shows striking similarities despite stylistic differences.  This underlying similarity points to a broad catholic visual tradition in the early Church.  For an overview of the various icons depicting Christ, see Betsy Porter’s website and Columbia University’s “Faith, Imagined – Early Christianity.”  This consensus among the historic churches serves as evidence against Pastor Sumpter’s assertion that icons of Christ to be the product of the imagination of artists.  Moreover, the recognizability of the icons of Christ challenges Pastor Sumpter’s insistence on the need for exact visual correspondence with Jesus’ appearance “according to the flesh.”

 

 

Do We Need a Photo ID of Christ?

Depiction by Richard Neave

Depiction by Richard Neave

What did Jesus of Nazareth actually look like?  The fact that the palace guards sent by the Jewish leaders had to rely on Judas to point out Jesus suggests that Jesus’ physical appearance was not markedly different from other Jewish men of his time (see Mark 14:43-46).  Recently, a retired medical artist, Richard Neave, attempted to reconstruct Jesus’ appearance relying on the science of forensic medicine.  However, this concern with capturing Jesus’ physical appearance is at odds with Orthodoxy’s priorities.

Orthodox iconography is based on the assumption of there being a new heaven and new earth under Christ’s rule.  Ouspensky writes:

We therefore do not know what the first icons of Christ and of the Virgin were like.  But the little that remains of primitive art leads us to surmise that the first images were not purely naturalistic portraits, but rather images of a completely new and specific Christian reality. (p. 65)

Christian iconography attempts to convey what is visible to the human eyes and also that which is invisible, i.e., the spiritual content of that which is being presented.  This can be seen in ancient catacomb art, which combined direct images with abstract symbols.

Another characteristic trait of Christian art, which can be seen already in the first centuries, is that the image is reduced to a minimum of details and to a maximum of expression.  Such laconism, such frugality in methods, corresponds to the laconic and subdued character of Scripture.  . . . .  Similarly, the sacred image portrays only the essential.  Details are tolerated only when they have some significance.  (Ouspensky p. 78)

 

Dangerous Implications

Pastor Sumpter’s argument that the absence of historical accuracy with respect to the historical Jesus invalidates Orthodox icons has dangerous implications.  If his argument is valid, then one can likewise argue that if we do not have the exact words of Christ, but rather mediated and redacted versions, then the Gospel accounts are likewise invalid, and that we are reading the words of mere men.  This quest for the true and genuine sayings of Jesus of history reflects an aspect of higher critical biblical scholarship.  One of the unfortunate consequences of higher critical skepticism is a distrust of the veracity of Scripture and the belief that behind the “Christ of faith” is the supposedly true “Jesus of history.”

If exact visual correspondence is needed between icons and Jesus’ human face, then it could also be argued that valid prayer requires that we use Jesus’ name in the original Aramaic.  This would also imply that our Anglicized version of the Greek “Iesous” is likewise incorrect and invalid, and that God does not hear our prayers, no matter how sincere they may be.  This kind of logic lies behind Islam’s insistence that proper performance of the salat (five daily prayers) be done in Arabic, no matter the native language of the worshiper.

 

“Blessed are the Eyes that See What You See”

Pastor Toby Sumpter laid out a string of proof texts to bolster his position that faith in Christ requires no visual content.  However, a review of Scripture shows that seeing is not antithetical to believing, and that the two complement each other.  When John the Baptist’s faith was wavering, Jesus told John’s followers: “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard.” (Luke 7:22)  Jesus told his disciples that in comparison to the Old Testament saints who lived prior to the coming of Christ and had to go by the prophetic promises of the coming of Christ, they were blessed to be able to see Christ with their own eyes and hear the words of Christ with their own ears. (Luke 10:23-24)  Paul, in defense of his apostolic ministry, asked the Christians in Corinth: “Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?”  (1 Corinthians 9:1)  The Risen Christ commanded the Apostle John: “Write, therefore, what you have seen . . . .” (Revelation 1:19)  Jesus told Nathaniel: “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree.  You shall see greater things than that.  . . . .  I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:50-52)  And then, there is the verse we Orthodox love to quote to our non-Orthodox friends: “Come and see.” (John 1:46)

 

Source

Icon corner – a place for prayer – Source

 

How Orthodox Relate to Icons

Can Orthodox Christians pray to God without icons?  The answer is an unequivocal Yes!  Icons are meant only to aid us in prayer.  They make visible the invisible reality of heaven.  They remind us of the spiritual dimension, and so strengthen our faith in Christ.  It is not as if icons were essential for our making contact with God.  Implicit in Toby Sumpter’s critique is the assumption that icons are much like telephones and that the wrong area code can result in a disastrously misdirected phone call.

Key to effective prayer is faith in Christ.  But key to faith in Christ is right Christology.  Having a heretical Christology derails one’s prayer and worship life.  In Orthodoxy, especially in the Liturgy, the Christological and Trinitarian dogmas frame our prayers and our prayers express the dogmas of the Church.  In order to pray genuinely one must be in a relationship with Christ, which is to have Christ as one’s God and Savior.  Orthodox prayer is not like magic where one needs to perform special rites and utter magical formulas for something to happen.  Christian prayer is grounded in God’s mercy to us sinners and in our response to him.  Without faith, that is, without a personal commitment to Christ, the veneration of icons is an empty ritual; the presence of faith makes the veneration of icons a sacramental encounter with the Risen Christ.  Paul Evdokimov writes:

In a nutshell, the icon is a sacrament for the Christian East; more precisely, it is the vehicle of a personal presence.  (p. 178; italics in original)

Ouspensky writes:

The icon is not an image of the divine nature.  It is an image of a divine person incarnate; it conveys the features of the Son of God who came in the flesh, who became visible and could therefore be represented with human means. (p. 127)

In another passage, Evdokimov described the icon as being “charged with a presence.” (p. 178)  He notes that where the Christian West approach icons from the standpoint of anamnesis (memory), Orthodoxy stresses instead the epiphanic (revelatory) presence in icons. (p. 180)

Where the Reformed Christian may view religious pictures as having primarily a pedagogical function, i.e., as a stimulus to mental reflection, the Orthodox Christian sees icons as having a far more sacramental purpose, i.e., as a stimulus to prayer, a uniting of the spiritual with the physical, and beyond that, as a means to deepening one’s communion with Christ and the saints, who are far more present than we imagine.

The Christian painter renounces the naturalistic representation of space, so noticeable in the Roman art of this time.  The Christian painter depicts neither depth nor shadow in his work.  . . . .  They are almost always represented face on, as we have already said.  They address the viewer and communicate their inner state to him, a state of prayer. (Ouspensky pp. 78-79)

Christ the Pantocrator

Christ the Pantocrator

In the context of Orthodoxy, it is impossible for an icon of Christ to mislead one into false worship.  The possibility of a misdirected veneration is prevented by the safeguards within Orthodoxy.  First, regular attendance at the Liturgy will result in familiarity with the icons of Christ and the other saints.  Icons are liturgical art.  One learns about who Jesus is through the Gospel readings and through receiving the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.  Second, icons of Christ depict him with a cruciform halo.  This distinguishes Christ from the saints, who also have haloes.  Third, icons of Christ typically have the Greek initials: “IS CS”, which stand for: “IesouS ChristoS” and the Greek: “O ΩN” which means: “Who Is,” a reference to the biblical phrase: “He who was, and who is, and who is to come” (Revelation 1:8).  Furthermore, Orthodox icons typically have written on them the name of the saint depicted.  With these safeguards, and living under the pastoral care of the local Orthodox priest, it is not likely for such an error to occur.

 

A Conversation About Icons

Orthodox Crossing Themselves

Orthodox Venerating an Icon

It is a common practice for Orthodox Christians to venerate the icon of Christ upon entering church on Sunday morning.  A Protestant visiting an Orthodox church for the first time might have this conversation with his Orthodox friend:

Protestant Visitor: What did you just do?  Why did you kiss that picture?

Orthodox Christian: I wanted to show my love and respect for Christ my Savior.

Protestant Visitor: But that’s just a picture!

Orthodox Christian: It’s more than a picture.  An icon is like a window into heaven.

Protestant Visitor: So you’re not kissing a picture but Christ himself?!

Orthodox Christian: Yes. You got that right.

Protestant Visitor: That’s weird!  Christ is up in heaven. He can’t be here in that picture.

Orthodox Christian: I guess that’s why you’re Protestant and I’m Orthodox.  I believe Christ is up in heaven and in the icon.  Christ is everywhere present.

 

The Disenchanted World of Modernity

Reformed Christians, and much of Protestantism, live in what Max Weber described as a “disenchanted world” of modernity (pp. 148, 155), where rational thinking prevails, and magic and mystery have been driven out.  For this reason, Reformed Christians are willing to allow for icons as creative expressions or visual illustrations, but balk at icons as sacramental vessels of divine grace.  This difference in worldview underlies the disconnect sketched in the dialogue above.  Converts to Orthodoxy have abandoned Weber’s “disenchanted world” for an earlier Christian worldview, where creation is viewed as sacramental, charged with divine grace, and not mere matter.  In Orthodoxy, common objects like olive oil, basil leaves, palm branches, are blessed and used to reveal God’s merciful presence, along with the water of baptism, and the bread and the wine of Holy Communion.  In Orthodoxy, the redemption of fallen creation, or rather the reenchantment of the world, begins right here and now.  In the Divine Liturgy, material creation is taken and blessed, and then offered up, or rather reintegrated with the kingdom of heaven.  In the Liturgy, the kingdom of God is not something we hear about but rather a reality we encounter through the worship of the Holy Trinity.

Robert Arakaki

 

References

Eusebius of Caesarea.  Church History.  Book VII, Chapter 18.

Leonid Ouspensky.  1978.  Theology of the Icon. Volume I.  St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

Paul Evdokimov.  1990.  The Art of the Icon: a theology of beauty.  Translated by Fr. Steven Bigham.  Oakwood Publications.

Theodore the Studite.  1981.  On the Holy Icons.  Translated by Catharine P. Roth.  St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

Max Weber.  1946.  “Science as a Vocation.”  In From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology.  H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, translators and editors.  Oxford University Press.

Betsy Porter.  Betsy Porter – Art and Iconography: Icons of Jesus and Scenes From His Life. Viewed 12 April 2016.

Columbia University.  “Faith, Imagined – Early Christianity.”

Howard Jacobson.  “Behold! The Jewish Jesus.”  The Guardian.

Faces of Jesus: Forensic Image.”  [Depiction of Jesus by Richard Neave.]

Christopher Jones.  “The Letters of Abgar V.” The Gates of Nineveh.wordpress.com

Wikipedia.  “Depictions of Jesus.” Viewed 12 April 2016.

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