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Full page view with more icons Icons in
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In the seventeenth century, Bishop Lancelot Andrewes asserted that the basis for authority in Anglicanism is to be found in one canon of Scripture, two testaments, three creeds, four councils, and five centuries of patristic teaching. In limiting the authority of the ecumenical councils to the first four, Andrewes, and those who follow him in this, would appear to deny the significance and authority of three of the seven generally recognized ecumenical councils of the early church. These three councils fall outside of Andrewes' "five centuries". Also, Andrewes was writing at the time of the Reformation when images, the particular issue addressed by the seventh council (Nicaea II in 787), were a particular sticking point for protestants. However, it |
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would be a mistake to say that the Second Council of Nicaea, which brought an end to the iconoclastic controversy and established the legitimacy of icons in the architecture and worship of the Church, was concerned only with images. For the fathers of the council, the issue of images, or icons, was a Christological issue: the material depiction Christ and the saints in icons is an affirmation of the reality of his Incarnation and bodily Resurrection and of the restoration of the image of God in all who are sanctified in him. Before the Reformation, images abounded in English churches. Wood and stone carving, stained glass, painted and woven work depicted God and his saints, biblical stories, and the lives of the saints. Much of this work was essentially decorative and educational, but |
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a lot of it was also devotional: for example, statues of Christ and the saints were often the centerpieces of elaborate shrines to which the faithful would often resort for prayer. In fact, authority for the use of images--even icons--in English Christianity may be found nearly two centuries before the Second Council of Nicaea: when St. Augustine arrived in 597 to begin his mission to the English, a picture of Jesus Christ painted on a board was carried before him. Many images were destroyed at the Reformation, but some survived and in time new ones were created. It is said that a group of Orthodox clergy who were being shown around an English church in the 20th century were |
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told that the stained glass windows were "Anglican icons". The comparison is not entirely accurate, as windows are not generally venerated as icons are. The function of stained glass both before and after the Reformation was educational and decorative, not devotional. Nevertheless, the point was made that images were never completely eliminated from Anglican church architecture. And later in the 20th century, actual icons, painted on prepared boards, began to appear with great frequency in Anglican churches, and also in the homes of Anglican Christians, just as crucifixes and other devotional objects were introduced in response to the catholic revival of the 19th century. It would be fair to say that for many Anglicans icons are a variation on stained glass--decorative |
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and educational, an attractive addition to the fabric of our churches, bringing an ecumenical flavor to them. However, others are finding meaning in the theology of the icon and its use in prayer. Orthodox Christians reverence icons because they are a particular way in
which the presence of God is made known. While icons have a sacramental quality, people do not worship the icon itself. Icons have been described as
"windows to heaven." When praying in front of an icon, it is said that a
person looks through the icon to the heavenly reality behind it. To
show reverence to an icon is to worship God. The orthodox understanding of
icons, clarified in the decrees of the Second Council of Nicaea, makes a careful distinction between worship, which may be
given to God alone, and reverence, which may be shown to icons and other symbols which direct us to God. |
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The principal subject of icons is the person of Jesus Christ who is the
"image (Greek: εικων–‘icon’) of the invisible God, the firstborn of all
creation" (Colossians 1:15). Icons of Christ are a graphic expression of our
creed that the invisible God took on our flesh in order that we might see and
know him personally. Icons depict the divinity of the Son of God in the fullness
of his humanity. Icons also depict the saints in whom the image of God has been
restored through their union with Christ. All people are created in the image of
God. That image has been broken and distorted by sin, but in Christ it has been
restored. The unique two-dimensional style of icons intentionally avoids a
strict realism in order to emphasize the fact that the image of God transcends
our earthly existence. |
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Just as light figures significantly in the art of stained glass, light is an important characteristic of icons. The eyes of people portrayed in icons are never depicted as reflecting light. Rather, an icon and the person depicted radiate light from within, the divine Light who is the second Person of the Trinity. It is this Light which illumines the saints who are, in turn, the lights of the world in their generations. The Orthodox describe the process of painting an icon as "writing" because icons are an expression of the Gospel, a medium by which the Word made flesh is proclaimed to the world. The actual writing of an icon is more than a technique or artistic process. It is a form of prayer in itself and traditional iconographers prepare for their work by prayer and fasting. As icons have found their way into Anglican churches and prayer, interest in writing icons has also arisen and iconographers are being trained |
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in the traditions passed down through the ages in the East. In Orthodoxy, the blessing of an icon takes place in three ways. First, there is the writing of the icon itself, surrounded and lifted up by the fasting and prayer of the iconographer. Secondly, it is customary for a new icon to be placed on the Altar during the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Finally, the icon may be blessed by a priest or bishop. A simple form of blessing is found in the Book of Occasional Services of the Episcopal Church: Antiphon |
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 Icon of a Guardian Angel, by the hand of Judith Kaestner |
V. The Word became flesh: |
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Another, more elaborate, form of blessing draws on the rich tradition of icons in the East: Priest: Blessed be the
Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, both now and
forever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. O heavenly King, Consoler, Spirit of Truth, everywhere present and filling all things, Treasury of blessings and Giver of life: Come, dwell within us; cleanse us of every stain and save our souls, O Good One. Amen. The Priest censes the icon(s) while the following is said: Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, Have mercy upon us. Our Father.... Priest: The Lord be with you People: And with thy spirit. Priest: Let us pray. Lord God, thou art glorified in the Holy Trinity whom neither mind can comprehend nor word have power to express, whom no man has anywhere seen, of whom we only learn from the Holy Scriptures and the teaching of the Apostles. Thus we believe and thus we confess thee: God the Father without beginning, and thy Son of one substance, and thy Spirit equal in sovereignty and essence. As the Old Testament telleth us of thy coming in the form of three angels appearing to the Patriarch Abraham, so after the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ from the ever-virgin Mary thou didst show us the image of the most holy Trinity in his Baptism by John in the Jordan River and in his radiant Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. Thou didst teach us also to reverence the Icon of our Lord Jesus Christ not made by hands, miraculously revealing his image on the handkerchief sent to Abgar, King of Edessa, diseases. So, too, thou hast not rejected but dost and with it healing him and many others of divers diseases. So, too, thou hast not rejected but dost accept |
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the Icons and likenesses of the Saints who worthily served thee. And now, O God, do thou thyself look upon these Icons which thy servants have fashioned in honor of thee, one God glorified in the Holy Trinity; and of thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ; and of hismost pure and most blessed Mother, our Lady, the Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary; and to the memory of thy Saints NN. Bless and sanctify them and grant to them power of healing and of driving away all the snares of the devil. Grant that all who zealously pray before them may be heard, and confer upon them the mercy of thy love and grant to them thy grace. For thou art our sanctification, and to thee we give glory: to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. |
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After sprinkling with Holy
Water, the Priest censes the icons. He makes the sign of the Cross on each
icon and says the Collect proper to the icon. The use of icons in prayer and worship is not an esoteric matter. A number of helpful books have been written for westerners on the subject, but it is most important for the worshiper to understand that venerating an icon is nothing more or less than meeting God very much as we do in other forms of prayer. In a manner similar to the sacraments, an icon uses the matter of earth to communicate the reality of the divine. It is not the beauty of the icon that is important but the simple fact of its material reality which reminds us that God himself took on our flesh and that he renews us and all of creation in all of its earthiness. Icons are indeed windows to heaven. They do not transport us to a mystical state of being but allow us to see with our own eyes. One may simply stand before an icon while praying, with or without words, with the eye and the heart open to God's presence. But the physical nature of the icon invites us to active engagement, to make the sign of the cross, to touch the icon. One may kiss the margin of the icon or the hand or foot of Christ or the saint who is portrayed. It is also appropriate to touch the forehead to the icon, bringing the conscious praying mind physically to the presence that is communicated through the icon. Finally, one may light a candle or a lamp. A flame burning before an icon is both a prayer to God and a way of affirming that we, too, are called to bear the Light of Christ into the world. The use of religious symbols, such as crosses, statues, and pictures to sanctify a home or a room is a familiar practice in many cultures. In Orthodox homes, icons serve this purpose and may be found in several rooms--icons of Christ, his Mother, or a family patron saint in public rooms and the saint for whom a person is named in a bedroom. At meals, everyone faces the icon in the dining room when they pray before and after eating. In a traditional Russian home, the main room of a home has a place known as the "beautiful corner" where the principal family icons are kept and where family prayers are said. Links: The Seventh General Council and the Doctrine of Icons, from the minutes of a conference of representatives of the Church of England and the Greek Orthodox Church in 1918 The Church of England and the Seventh Council, by Claude Beaufort Moss
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