Eastern Orthodoxy & evangelicals: An iconic moment?

I begin this occasional series on Eastern Orthodoxy by taking a look at icons. Icons are perhaps the thing that most non-Orthodox people associate with Orthodoxy.

Flat and two-dimensional images of saints, the Virgin Mary (often referred to as the Theotokos or Mother of God in Orthodoxy) and Jesus Christ, icons can be seen in Orthodox homes but most prominently in Orthodox churches. There they are placed on the walls, but are most concentrated on what is called the iconostasis, which is the screen in the church before and behind which the liturgy is conducted.

The iconostasis indicates the central place that icons have in Orthodoxy in general and in its worship in particular. As in its worship, so with an icon “nature and supernature, here and the beyond, world and God, are linked together” in the words of Metropolitan Seraphim. Icons are a bond to Christ, Mary and the heavenly church of the glorified saints in the eternal world. As such icons are not merely images that remind the faithful of what they portray, but rather they connect them to their reality. In his classic defence of icons, the great seventh-century Syrian theologian, John of Damascus, says that they are “materials laden with Divine energy and gracious power”. Or as the Orthodox liturgy puts it: “Not before powerless idols do we believers prostrate ourselves … No … from [them] we draw the grace of salvation”.

In giving icons such a significant, even essential place, Orthodox theologians make a distinction between veneration and worship or adoration. Icons are venerated for the image they portray, but only God is worshipped or adored. Even with an icon of Christ, the icon is venerated while He is worshipped as the incarnate Son of God. Mary and the saints are only venerated through the icons. And this the Orthodox insist has been what Christians have been doing since the time of the Apostles. Under the old covenant the use of images in worship was forbidden by the second commandment, but now under the new covenant with the incarnation of the invisible God in Jesus Christ it is not only possible but required for Christians to venerate icons. The Second Council of Nicaea of 787 (recognised by the Orthodox as well as Roman Catholics – but not Protestants – as the seventh ecumenical council) made the veneration of icons mandatory for Christians and pronounced a series of anathemas or condemnations to hell on anyone who says anything to the contrary. The way veneration is expressed is by bowing or prostration before, or kissing the icon. Such veneration of an icon is more than merely respecting the memory of Mary or the saint portrayed (much as Protestants might do with the image of a significant Christian figure). Also required is giving affection to the one who is portrayed in such a way that communion with him or her is established.

The background to that council was the Iconoclast Controversy of roughly 746–843 that divided the eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire. Several Byzantine emperors, known as iconoclasts, saw the rapid advance of the new religion of Islam, which had taken over much of their empire, as a judgment of God on the idolatry of using icons in worship. Icons were forbidden and many of the iconodule (servants of icons) faithful, priests and people, were severely persecuted. The defeat of the iconoclasts has been celebrated ever since in the church as the Triumph of Orthodoxy and icons have had an unchallenged place at its heart.

How should we evaluate the Orthodox veneration of icons? Several things can be said.

• The Bible does not permit the use of images of God or anything else in worship in public or private worship. They are forbidden by the second commandment and there is no commandment or example of their use in the New Testament. The issue is not that it is wrong to make images of Jesus, Mary and the saints for artistic or instructional purposes (images of the invisible Father the Orthodox agree are not permitted), but their use in worship.

• There is a risk that veneration becomes idolatry. The Orthodox insist that what is involved is not the latter, but at best icons are a distraction from the worship of God and at worst they are a substitute for God. Whatever the theory, the reality is that icons can become idols as many former Orthodox and Roman Catholics would affirm.

• Contrary to what the Orthodox claim, there is no historical evidence that icons were used in worship in the early church up to around 500. There is evidence of images such as those in catacombs, but they were not used for worship. In fact, church fathers such as Tertullian, Irenaeus and Origen strongly warned against their use.

• The Orthodox claim that not venerating icons in worship undermines the doctrine of the incarnation and the material reality of salvation does not hold up. Protestants also believe that salvation involves the body as well as the soul. The necessity of the physical body of Jesus for our salvation as well as the importance of the body for living as Christians in this world and in the new creation is essential Christianity, but that does not make icons necessary.

• The role of icons in the veneration of the saints and the Virgin Mary in both Orthodox and Roman Catholic worship challenges the mediatorship of Jesus Christ. He is the sole mediator between God and man, and it is only through Him and by the Spirit that we can come to the Father. The icon that matters most is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the image or icon of the invisible God who became man for us and our salvation and in whose face we see the glory of God, so that by faith we are transformed into His likeness (2 Cor. 3v18).