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 ST. GREGORY of PALAMAS - On the Holy Icons

'You shall not make an image of anything in the heavens above, or in the earth
below, or in the sea' (cf. Ex 20.4), in such a way that you worship these
things and glorify them as gods. For all are the creations of the one God,
created by Him in the Holy Spirit through His Son and Logos, who as Logos of
God in these latter times took flesh from a virgin's womb, appeared on earth
and associated with men, and who for the salvation of men suffered, died and
rose again, ascended with His body into the heavens, and 'sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty on High' (Heb 1.3), and who will come again with His
body to judge the living and the dead. Out of love for Him you should make,
therefore, an icon of Him who became man for our sakes, and through His icon
you should bring Him to mind and worship Him, elevating your intellect through
it to the venerable body of the Saviour, that is set on the right hand of the
Father in heaven.

In like manner you should also make icons of the saints and venerate
them, not as gods --for this is forbidden-- but because of the attachment,
inner affection and sense of surpassing honour that you feel for the saints
when by means of their icons the intellect is raised up to them. It was in
this spirit that Moses made icons of the Cherubim within the Holy of Holies
(cf. Ex 25.18). The Holy of Holies itself was an image of things
supercelestial (cf. Ex 25.40; Heb 8.5), while the Holy Place was an image of
the entire world. Moses called these things holy, not glorifying what is
created, but through it glorifying God the Creator of the world. You must not,
then, deify the icons of Christ and of the saints, but through them you should
venerate Him who originally created us in His own image, and who subsequently
consented in His ineffable compassion to assume the human image and to be
circumscribed by it.

You should venerate not only the icon of Christ, but also the similitude
of His cross. For the cross is Christ's great sign and trophy of victory over
the devil and all his hostile hosts; for this reason they tremble and flee
when they see the figuration of the cross. This figure, even prior to the
crucifixion, was greatly glorified by the prophets and wrought great wonders;
and when He who was hung upon it, our Lord Jesus Christ, comes again to judge
the living and the dead, this His great and terrible sign will precede Him,
full of power and glory (cf. Mt 24.30). So glorify the cross now, so that you
may boldly look upon it then and be glorified with it. And you should venerate
icons of the saints, for the saints have been crucified with the Lord; and you
should make the sign of the cross upon your person before doing so, bringing
to mind their communion in the sufferings of Christ. In the same way you
should venerate their holy shrines and any relic of their bones; for God's
grace is not sundered from these things, even as the divinity was not sundered
from Christ's venerable body at the time of His life-quickening death. By
doing this and by glorifying those who glorified God --for through their
actions they showed themselves to be perfect in their love for God-- you too
will be glorified together with them by God, and with David you will chant: 'I
have held Thy friends in high honour, O Lord' (Ps 139.17 LXX).

 

On Orthodox Iconography

Orthodox Iconography is not merely an art, but is also the science of the knowledge of God and His holy ones.

The Icon is not intended to conform to outward or "empirical" precision, according to the eyes of the flesh. Nor is it intended to be an expression of the
soulfulness, or creativity of feeling, of the author/painter, for that would be merely "psychical" -- of the soul.

Both of these would still be worldly art, or perhaps religious painting, or portraiture. But neither would be iconography. For iconography taps into the realm of "the spirit".

Orthodox icons are "windows into heaven", into that noetic realm of men and angels, the Heavenly Jerusalem, Mt. Zion -- the city of the living God. It
is not merely that those depicted have been transfigured, but we too are transformed and changed by our viewing of them. We are transported "from glory
to glory" by this vision.

Through iconography we are made to behold things as they really are, after the fashion of the world to come, and not according to the things of this world...
which will pass away and be changed.

Icons, when depicted after the traditional manner and within the traditional ethos of patristic spiritual life, are indeed a "foretaste of glory divine" -- that Glory, Uncreated and Divine, which the Son of God, Jesus Christ, shared with His Father (and the Holy Spirit) from "before the foundation of the world."

This is the "shekinah", or glory-cloud, manifested continually throughout the Old Testament as the perceptible presence of the Divinity, of Jehovah or
YHWH, who is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob...who is the God of Moses, who saw the fire of Divinity present in the "Burning Bush", which burned with fire
but was not consumed. And Moses stood on Holy Ground, unleashed his sandals, and heard the Word of God, the Angel of Great Counsel.

"It is this "King of Glory", the Lord of Israel, our Saviour Jesus Christ, the Son and Word of God Himself, who came down from Heaven and dwelt in a temple made
of flesh. This temple is, as the Gospel says, his very own Body, which was taken from the pure and ever-virgin Mary -- and she is called the "Theotokos", the one who gave birth to the incarnate God."

Icons, depictions of Holy things and Holy people, were ultimately made possible by Christ's incarnation. By His taking on of "matter" and of visible existence, He has sanctified the things of earth and made them spiritual, bearers of the Spirit and vessels of God.

God is "wondrous in His saints", as King David said in the Book of Psalms. And we wonder at and behold the mighty acts of God by viewing holy icons of the
incarnate God, of His Holy Mother, of the angels (who, by the way, were depicted in the Holy of Holies and on the Curtain, even in the Old Testament Temple), and of the lives, persons, and great deeds of all the Saints who have served our Lord Jesus Christ.

To God be Glory: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.



 

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