What Are Icons? Understanding Orthodox Iconography and Its role in Christian Worship Pt.1

Pictured above is from Legacy Icons visit to Greece: Rotunda of St George (Agios Georgios), Thessaloniki — a 4th‑century imperial rotunda later converted to a church — preserves some of the earliest and finest Early Christian mosaics, including a dome program on Christ’s Second Coming with processions of saints that shaped Orthodox iconography.  Recognized by UNESCO for its masterpiece mosaics and far‑reaching influence on Byzantine monumental art.

“Windows of God’s Kingdom:” An Apology and Exposition of Icons Part. 1

The icon is a song of triumph, and a revelation, and an enduring monument to the victory of the saints and the disgrace of the demons. St. John of Damascus (1)  (Ware 42) 

Why Icons?  

Iconography has always been a part of the Church’s witness to the Kingdom of God. Along with the spoken and written word, icons attest to the work and person of Jesus Christ and His Body, the Church. Since the first century, icons accompanied the Apostles’ teaching and subsequent missionary journeys to “all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Icons have a vital role in sharing the Good News of Christ’s triumph over His people’s enemies–sin, death, and the evil one. In its visual depiction of Scripture, Holy Tradition, and the experience of generations of the faithful, iconography is a gift of the constant presence of God and His friends on earth and in heaven. Moreover, icons have always been viewed as windows, or even doors, to the invisible reality of the Kingdom of God, glimpses of the representatives of the “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) and the King of Kings whose presence now invites veneration and worship. 

Furthermore, the Church has always made a distinction in the kind of veneration given icons, namely, giving honor to saints and angels while reserving worship solely for God, namely, Jesus Christ, the Incarnate (in-the-flesh) Son. Both types of veneration give the worshipper the opportunity to realize his or her own desperate need and to connect him or her to the Living God and the faithful with Him. Of course, Christ Himself is the primary receiver of prayers, but just as all Christians request prayer from friends and family around them, Orthodox believe that those in heaven are still alive– even more alive than we are– and are capable of interceding for us in Christ’s presence now.

Throughout history, there have been ample conversations regarding the efficacy and even the permissibility of using icons in Christian worship. The early Church wrestled with these questions with intensity perhaps second only to that of the person and work of Christ. While this short article cannot do justice to the theological subtleties and issues at stake, it is important to note why generations of clergy and laity were willing to endure persecution to retain the tradition and practice of the Apostles. This article is intended to edify those who already daily use icons as well as those who want to know more about the centrality of icons in historic, apostolic Christian worship. 

What Is Iconography? 

The Greek term eikon means an image, figure, or likeness or images. Strictly speaking, the term iconography refers to the writing of icons. This definition points to the significant understanding that icons, while literally painted with brush, have always been understood to be written by iconographers. This action speaks of the distinctive message that icons contain. While many other forms of art are necessary for the worship and work of the Church, iconography holds a place next to the preaching of the Word and the work of the Sacrament in making clear God’s presence in this world. 

This is true, the Orthodox Church believes, because icons remind us of our true nature as the image of God. It reminds us, as men and women, that we are the primary icons of God on the earth. 

Because he is an icon of God, each member of the human race, even the most sinful, is infinitely precious in God’s sight. As Orthodox theologian Paul Evdokimov once wrote, “The best icon of God is man.”  (2) (Ware 226)

Human kind is capable of apprehending this vision of the image of the invisible God, because he is himself a created “image of God’s own being” (Wisdom 2:23)... and, therefore is equally “the image of the Image” (Origen), that is, the image of the Son, of the Original. (3) (Bunge 15). 

As such, iconography is essential to Christian worship and practice and works in tandem with the spoken and written word to communicate God’s truth to His people. Father Pavel Florensky of blessed memory states this truth in his work on icons: 

What the words of the sermon are for the ear, so the icons are for the eye. And this is not so because the icon conditionally “translates” some written text or other but, instead, because both… have as their subject the same spiritual reality. (4) (Bunge 18) 

While rejected by secular culture (and much of contemporary Christianity), the power of icons continues to be felt. Even relegated to a cliche term, in the words of the Merriam-Webster dictionary, of “any significant person, place or thing representing influential qualities,” a ‘sports icon’ or ‘icon of fashion’ retains an echo of the original meaning’s authority and meaning. Even as in a rejection of religious icons, the need for an influential image is striking. The phenomena points to something within each person that yearns for the greater, what is known in theology and philosophy as its archetype, the first or primary form or person. 

This unconscious practice of recognizing an authoritative type or person is common to every generation, regardless of its overt religious beliefs. Noting this truth from his own vantage of the 7th-8th centuries, St. John of Damascus describes the natural proclivity of people to make and hold images of authorities, especially of God, complementary to using words. 

I say that everywhere we use our senses to produce an image of the Incarnate God himself, and we sanctify the first of the senses… just as by words hearing is sanctified. For the image is a memorial. What the book does for those who understand letters, the image does for the illiterate; the word appeals to hearing, the image appeals to sight; it conveys understanding. (5) (Louth 31).

From an Orthodox standpoint, this is not a surprise as the Church understands that all people are His image-bearers. Iconography makes that truth visible.

Iconographer Brian Matthew Whirledge describes the deep meaning and symbolism of Legacy Icons' exclusive icon commission of "The Authors of the Holy Scriptures."

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(1) The Orthodox Church, Timothy Ware (Fr. Kallistos Ware) (New York: Penguin Books Ltd, 1981) 42. 

(2) Ibid, 226

(3) The Rublev Trinity: The Icon of the Trinity by the Monk-Painter Andrei Rublev, Fr. Gabriel Bunge (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Press, 2007) 15 

(4) Ibid, 18

(5) Three Treatises on the Divine Images, St. John of Damascus, translated by Andrew Louth (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Press, 2003) 31.