The Living Icon:

The Apologetic Witness of Byzantine Icons

By Fr. Vasilios Avramidis

TH-C0140

Final Thesis
For a Diploma in Sacred Theology
Saint Elias School of Orthodox Theology
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Table of Contents

I. Introduction - The Iconic Witness ....................................................................................... 3

II. Image in the Garden - The Planting of God's Image within Man ....................................... 5

III. The Broken Image - Idolatry of Man .................................................................................. 10

IV. The Image Incarnate - The Perfect Image of the Father in the Son ................................ 17

V. The Transfigured Image - Glory of God and the Uncreated Light ................................... 19

VI. The Semiotic Image - The Apologetic Icon ....................................................................... 22

VII. The Pastoral Image - The Image as a Therapeutic Agent ................................................ 35

VIII. Conclusion - The Gathering Image ....................................................................................41

IX. Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 44

X. Endnotes .............................................................................................................................. 46
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I. Introduction - The Iconic Witness

We did not know if we were in heaven or on earth, only that God dwells

there ... We cannot forget such beauty. 1

The conversion of Russia is a story proudly retold by Eastern Orthodox Christians

with apologetic fervor, as a testimony to the superiority of their faith over the heterodox

denominations. While non-orthodox critics and even some scholars may dismiss the story

as either mere propaganda or popular legend, a key observation is often overlooked: the

hegemony of beauty within the Eastern Orthodox faith. It is neither logical proof, nor

theological disputations, that impress the Prince and his envoys, but beauty. "We cannot

forget such beauty" is the report brought back to Prince Vladamir after his envoys visit the

church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Beauty plays a central role within the life of the

Orthodox Church, and icons are its spiritual heart.

The story of Russia's conversion to Orthodoxy begins around AD 987. Prince

Vladamir is seeking a common faith to help unify the people of the Kievan Rus and

therefore sends a delegation throughout the neighboring lands to make a study of the

popular religions. The envoys meet with leaders among the Mohammedans, the Roman

Catholics, and the Jews; none of these faiths are reported to have left an impression upon

the Russian delegates. When the envoys reach Constantinople, however, and enter the

Church of Hagia Sophia, they become spellbound: "We did not know if we were in heaven

or on earth, only that God dwells there ... We cannot forget such beauty." 2

The delegates make no doctrinal or theological claims about Orthodoxy, only

aesthetic declarations. For those who are members of the Eastern Orthodox body of
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believers, this is no surprise; beauty in general, and the aesthetic presence of

iconography in particular, is a paramount feature of the spiritual life of the church. "Icons

are not art," an Orthodox monk on Mount Athos retorted, "they are liturgical artifacts.” 3

Icons are theology. They preach, they teach, and they transmit the realities of the

Kingdom of God to those who view them. Icons testify that transfiguration is within reach

of every believer. The work of the icon is anagogic, an ascent up Mount Tabor; it reveals

the process of transfiguration, from darkness to light, which is the reality for each believer.

The miracle of the Transfiguration isn't that God shines with light brighter than the sun, but

that man shines with this same divine light. 4

The conversion of Russia is not the only instance in which iconography is said to

have directly led to the conversion of a nation. Prince Boris of Bulgaria was also arrested

by the dynamic power of an icon, thus leading him to repentance and the ultimate

conversion of his kingdom. Why do icons seem to hold such power? They are neither

talismans nor objects of material magic; the church stands in clear opposition to such

views. Yet, icons do seem to exhibit a power upon those who gaze into their visage.

Whether it is consciously recognized or not, this attraction to the icon’s beauty

affirms that the viewer is made in the image of God. They are drawn to this spiritual

beauty because, in essence, they themselves are beautiful. 5 Man is composed of both

soil and breath, he is the divine seedling planted and formed by the Creator, sprouting

from earth to heaven and unifying the two. The icon is also a garden of sorts; while it is

composed of earthen minerals, it receives its life via the breath of the artist. It is through

nurturing prayer and touch that the true icon sprouts to life and in turn bestows life to its

viewer. The icon is an image of Eden, an image of the Heavenly Jerusalem, and an image

of human nature forever united to the person of Christ. The genesis of the iconic image
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takes seed in Eden, with Christ and Adam, and is harvested in the Heavenly Jerusalem.

"Who first made images? God Himself first begat His Only-Begotten Son and Word, His

living and natural image, the exact imprint of His eternity; He then made human kind in

accordance with the same image and likeness.” 6

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II. Image in the Garden - The Planting of God's Image within Man

Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so

that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over

the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that

move along the ground." 7

Light came to be, and there was a simple command; God said, “Let there

be light” [Gen 1.3]. Heaven came to be without deliberation concerning

heaven. The stars came to be, and there was no deliberation beforehand

about the stars. Sea and boundless ocean—by a command they were

brought into being. Fish of all kinds were ordered to come into being.

Wild beasts and domestic animals, swimming and flying creatures—he

spoke, and they came to be. Here, the human being does not yet exist,

and there is deliberation concerning the human. He did not say, as with

the others, “Let there be a human being.” Learn well your own dignity.

He did not cast forth your origin by a commandment, but there was

counsel in God to consider how to bring the dignified living creature into

life. “Let us make.” The wise one deliberates, the Craftsman ponders -

St. Basil the Great. 8

The power of the iconic image finds its root in the garden of Eden with the creation

of man. Unlike the rest of creation which is accompanied by the words, "Let there be …,"

the creation of man takes a more personal tone. With each instance of creation, whether it
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be the birds and fish, the plants, or beasts of the field, God merely speaks them into

being; with man, however, God seems to pause and ponder prior to creating: "Let Us

make man in Our image, according to Our likeness." 9 Human beings occupy a special

place of honor among the rest of God's creation. As Clement of Alexandria points out,

"Other things have been made by command alone, while God fashioned the human being

with His own breath, and breathed something of His own into them." 10 God did not simply

speak human beings into existence, rather He fashioned them with His own hands, and

breathed into them His divine breath; by breathing His divine breath into mankind, God put

something of Himself into them, something that would forever connect mankind with his

Creator.

When writing on the creation of mankind, St. Basil of Caesarea compares God to a

divine craftsman when He creates man, ascribing to Him anthropomorphic properties:

pondering, deliberating, taking council. 11 Saint Basil employs such conventions in order to

distinguish between the ordinary creation of the cosmos which was merely spoken into

being, from the extraordinary creation of mankind whom God has set above the rest of the

cosmos. Unlike the plants, animals, or birds, man was created in God's image, and is

therefore the first icon of God. Man's authority over the rest of creation was one of

priesthood; when the creation gazed upon the first humans that walked in its midst, it saw

an icon of its Creator. Although man is in many ways a microcosm of the cosmos,

containing within himself the same substance that fills the universe, he is also separated

from the creation by virtue of the indwelling breath of God, the divine spirit that binds

mankind forever with the Creator. No other created thing was animated by the breath of

God, save mankind alone. Humans are unique. 12 The perfection of man does not consist
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in that which assimilates him to the whole of creation, but in that which distinguishes him

from the created order and assimilates him to his Creator. 13

As an icon of the Creator, mankind was charged with a divine stewardship over the

creation. As its priest, human beings were intended to sacramentally unite the material

creation with the Divine; man being composed of both a material and a noetic substance

could consecrate the cosmos by his theosis. In the book of Genesis, after each phase of

creation, God saw that what He had made was good, but it was not until He had made

man that He expressed that all things were very good. The human person is not merely

the static crown of creation, but he is called to lead it dynamically towards its fulfillment in

Christ, to make it very good. 14 "For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children

of God to be revealed. 15 " Mankind is the image of God on earth, they are the icon which

reveals the Divine Prototype who is God. Just as the painted icons of the post-

incarnational era necessarily depict both God and man, the first humans were also an

image of a hypostatic union. Being made in the image of God and being composed of

earth, man was a living and breathing icon upon the earth. The rest of creation was not to

worship mankind or serve him as a god, but rather to honor him, and through him, honor

its Creator. As St. Basil the Great professed, “The honor given to the image passes to the

prototype.” 16

The living icon in man, however, was not to last; through an act of the will, mankind

would abdicate his rightful authority over creation as its priest and mar the image of God

within him. Because Man is made both out of the soil and the breath of God, if he allows

the divine breath to direct him, he will be raised up into glory, his body included; if, on the

other hand, he follows the material part of his nature, he will hear the terrible words, “You

are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 17 Being made in the image of God, man is
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bestowed freewill, to either choose life and existence in God, or a never ending descent

into the abyss of non-existence. Evil does not exist in that it has no being; evil is a

condition of the will with no real substance, and therefore a nullification of existence. "Evil

is nothing other than an attraction of the will towards nothing, a negation of being, of

creation, and above all of God, a furious hatred of grace against which the rebellious will

put up an implacable resistance. Even though they have become spirits of darkness ...

their rejection of the will of God represents a despairing intercourse with the nothingness

which they will never find. Their eternal descent towards non-being will have no end." 18

This rejection of God's will and the descent into nothingness would severely mar

the image of God in man, and the living icon would receive a death sentence. The image

of God in man, however, could not be completely obliterated. It would be marred and

tarnished but it could not be destroyed. The image of God is the very nature of mankind; it

is integral to his being. Saint Gregory Nazinazen poetically illustrates this point:

The soul is a breath of God, and though heavenly, it allows itself to

mingle with the earth. It is the light shut up in a cave, but it is none the

less a light divine and inextinguishable. 19

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III. The Broken Image - Idolatry of Man

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed

them. And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of

us,knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand

and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the LORD

God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from

which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the

east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword

flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. 20

"The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them," 21 is the

perfect analogy for the covering of the image of God, of the tarring over of the living icon.

For Clement of Alexandria the light of the first day existed before the creation. This light

was “the true light of the Logos illuminating the things still hidden. By this light all

creatures came into being.” 22 The first humans were created to be all light, but now,

through an act of the will, they became clothed in darkness. They covered over the image

of God with a heaviness, a darkness, thereby severing the chord that united the cosmos

with the divine. Mankind was no longer the living icon in creation revealing the Prototype;

now instead of being an icon, man became an idol and and idolater.

"Part of man’s calling is to conduct the cosmic orchestra in a symphony of praise to

God. Instead of conducting the orchestra of the cosmos, fallen man allowed the lower

cosmos to conduct him. We foolishly abdicate our power to rule, and submit to being

ruled, and ruled by hard taskmasters." 23 Rather than leading the creation towards union
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with God through theosis, mankind tends towards two extremes: exploitation and

subservience; both extremes have their end in idolatry. On the one extreme, mankind

abuses the cosmos through rapacious exploitation, hoarding resources at the expense of

other humans and the environment. At the other extreme, mankind worships the cosmos,

placing creation on the level of Creator. Both extremes are idolatrous in that they place an

improper emphasis on the creation at the expense of a proper relationship with the

Creator; they supplant the proper place of honor for the Creator with worship of mere

matter. Abdicating the right of image bearers and living icons, mankind turns to idols and

dead things.

As a result of their willful transgression against God's will, humans became the

slaves of that which they were intended to master. Whether exploiters or servants of the

cosmos, both become its slaves in the end, for neither can see anything higher than the

creation which they idolize. Abba Dorotheus comments on the general state of man's

slavery saying:

Banished from Paradise, [man] fell away from the natural condition, and

fell into a condition against nature, and then he remained in sin, in love of

glory, in love for the enjoyments of this age, and of other passions, and

he was mastered by them, for he became their slave through

transgression. 24

This break in the natural order, the marring of the living icon and the adoption of the idol

would have grave implications for the history of mankind, leading to a great deal of pain,

war, and violence. The image of God in mankind is a universal reality, and is not scattered
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among individuals, but properly belongs to humanity at large; it is the very nature of man.

The individual is neither a part of the image of God, nor its sole possessor; he is both in

full possession of the image of God and at the same time in communion with the full

image of God in humanity.

The human person is not a part of humanity, any more than the persons

of the Trinity are parts of God. That is why the character of the image of

God does not belong to any one part of the human make-up, but refers to

the whole man in his entirety. The first man who contained in himself the

whole of human nature was also the unique person. ‘For the name

Adam’, says St. Gregory of Nyssa, ‘is not yet given to the man, as in the

subsequent narratives. The man created has no particular name, but is

universal man. Therefore by this general term for human nature, we are

meant to understand that God by His providence and power, included all

mankind in this first creation. … For the image is not in a part of the

nature, nor is grace in one individual among those it regards; this power

extends to the whole human race. … In this respect there is no difference

between the man made in the first creation of the world, and he who shall

be made at the end of all things; both bear the same divine image.' 25

Just as each Person of the Holy Trinity is completely God, and not merely a part of God,

and yet the Trinity as a communion of Persons is also fully God, so each human being is

fully the image of God, and not a mere part. Likewise, the whole human race taken

together as a communion of persons is also of the full image of God. Man, in short, is the
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image of the Holy Trinity, meant to exist in undivided unity. This original intention,

however, has been broken and obscured by marring of the image of God in man and the

death of the living icon. "In the Holy Trinity there exists one divine nature, in three distinct

but not separate Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This distinction of

nature and persons is reflected in humanity, which is made in God’s image: there is one

human nature and many human persons, each distinct but not separated, except by sin.”
26

Sin is the separating force that divides individuals. Persons, as opposed to

individuals, are in common and possess the undivided human nature which is made in the

image of God. Individuals, rather than persons, are the result of willful sin which cuts

humans off from each other, from creation, and from the Godhead; this cutting off is a

condition of humanity, not its nature. By nature, humans are undivided in their possession

of the image of God, but like evil which does not exist by nature, but rather is a condition

of the will, individualism is a condition of the willful marring of the image of God in men, an

abnegation of his proper nature. Evil entered into the world through the will. It is not a

nature (ϕύσις), but a condition (ἕξις). ‘The nature of good is stronger than the habit of evil,’

says Diadochus of Photike, ‘for good exists, while evil does not exist, or rather it exists

only at the moment in which it is practiced.’ 27

Thus, through willful individualism, the image of God, the living icon, is fractured

and appears to be fragmented into a billion pieces as if seen in a shattered mirror. The

image of God, however, was not lost; what was made by God could not be unmade by

men. The image of God in human beings was simply covered up, soiled, and obscured by

sin. According to St. Athanasius, one of the reasons for Jesus' incarnation was to help

human beings restore the image of God within them. The word restore is an appropriate
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one as Athanasius uses the analogy of an old artwork for the image of God, comparing

the image of God in human beings to an old painting that has been damaged over time.

St. Athanasius writes:

You know what happens when a portrait that has been painted on a

panel becomes obliterated through external stains. The artist does not

throw away the panel, but the subject of the portrait has to come and sit

for it again, and then the likeness is re-drawn on the same material. Even

so was it with the All-holy Son of God. He, the Image of the Father, came

and dwelt in our midst, in order that He might renew mankind made after

Himself, and seek out His lost sheep, even as He says in the Gospel: "I

came to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19. 10) This also

explains His saying to the Jews : " Except a man be born anew ..." (John

3. 3) He was not referring to a man's natural birth from his mother, as

they thought, but to the re-birth and re-creation of the soul in the Image of
28
God.

The painting, covered with dirt and grime, worn, and chipped, is not done away with, but

rather meticulously restored to its former beauty. Through His incarnation, Jesus serves

as both model and master. As model, He sits as the Prototype of the Original, that

mankind might see the Image of God before them, and that through Him, the image with

them might be restored. Additionally, Christ is also master Artist who does the work of

restoration within humanity; men are mere apprentices and unable to restore the image of
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God themselves. Therefore, Christ guides the work, that it might be masterfully

completed. Without the incarnation, humans have no hope of restoration.

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IV. The Image Incarnate - The Perfect Image of the Father

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.29

The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of

his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. 30

Saint Macarios the Great says: “A soul which has been illuminated by the

divine glory becomes all light.” 31

Since human beings were created out of nothing, they are by nature mortal. By the

grace of God however, and through sharing in the divine Logos, they can overcome their

nature and remain in God eternally; without God's grace mankind has no recourse but to

drift into non-existence.

God could not be satisfied with this situation; St. Athanasius proposes that there

was now a divine dilemma. "The law of death was in place, and from it there was no

escape. It would have been unthinkable for God to go back on His word and that man

having transgressed should not die. But it was equally monstrous that beings which once

had shared the nature of the Word should perish and turn back into non-existence

through corruption." 32 God could not simply relent and allow man to live in his current

state of sin, that would make Him a liar, and would consequently prove that the devil told

the truth when he said to Eve that she surely would not die if she ate the fruit. 33 This

would be unthinkable. Conversely, God could not be satisfied to allow human beings to

drift into non-existence. God's love for His creation could not simply allow Him to idly
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watch as human beings ceased to exist. Nor was there anything to be done on the part of

humanity to affect their own salvation. The law of death was now in place. Even if

mankind repented, they would still be unable to change their fate. "Repentance does not

recall men from what is according to their nature; all it does is to make them cease from

sinning." 34 Man's nature was mortal, their share in God's Logos, gone. There was nothing

left for humanity but to corrupt and drift into non-being.

God could not simply let this happen; thus He became incarnate for humanity's

sake in the person of Jesus Christ. Being immortal, Jesus could not die, for this reason

He assumed a body capable of death, in order that in dying He might become a sufficient

exchange for all, His body remaining incorrupt, and therefore putting an end to the

corruption of others as well, by the grace of His resurrection. 35 The incarnation of Jesus

united the corruptible nature of human beings with the incorruptible nature of God,

restoring the once fallen image of God in man, and reviving the the living icon, bringing it

back from the brink of death.

The incarnation is paramount to the icon. The doctrine of the incarnation provides

the basis for the existence of icons, which record the divine image. 36 The incarnation of

Christ not only restores the marred image of God in man, the living icon, but also lays the

foundation for the painted icon as a sacramental meeting place between humans and the

transfigured prototypes represented on wooden boards. "The ancient ascetics found that

their [painted] icons were not simply windows through which they could behold the holy

countenances depicted on them but were also doorways through which these

countenances actually entered the empirical world." 37

Christ, being the very image of the invisible God made the circumscribing of God

possible through His incarnation: "That which was from the beginning, which we have
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heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have

touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. We proclaim to you the one who

existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen." 38 The popular saying

'seeing is believing' is certainly apropos to the incarnation, for as Christ says, "Because

you have seen me, you have believed",39 but seeing is becoming would be a more holistic

statement of the incarnation; as St. Athanasius stated in his treatise On the Incarnation,

"God became man, that man might become god." 40 The incarnation was not intended as

a mere spectacle, a demonstration of God's power. Christ admonished those who sought

after signs and wonders, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign!" 41 The

greater purpose of the incarnation was the transfiguration of man, the restoration of the

image of God, the living icon, and the blossoming forth of the likeness of God in man.

Man was created in both the image and likeness of God; the image of God was present

by virtue of mankind's nature, while the likeness was something to be realized by the

grace of God through the conforming of man's will to God's. Therefore the image of God

in man, while it could be tarnished and marred, could not be destroyed, not even by man's

rebellion. The likeness of God however, was fluid and not a de facto part of man's nature,

rather it was a potential of his nature. This is expressed well by the patristic admonition to

“become what you are”, which means to freely conform ourselves to God’s idea of us, to

become the temple of divine likeness and indwelling presence. 42 The movement of the

indwelling presence of God, the divine likeness in mankind, is best expressed in the

Transfiguration of Christ. Christ’s transfiguration affirms the union of the divine and

human natures in Christ, the communion of the saints, and the possible deification of the

human person. The miracle of the Transfiguration is not that God shines with light brighter

than the sun, but that man shines with this same divine light. 43
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V. The Transfigured Image - Glory of God and the Uncreated Light

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of

James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was

transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes

became as white as the light. 44

No discussion of iconography would be complete without mention of the

Transfiguration. Just as the incarnation is pivotal to the understanding of the foundation of

iconography, the Transfiguration is equally vital to the understanding of the purpose of

iconography: the transfiguration of man into the likeness of God. When the apostles saw
45
Christ shining brighter than the sun, this required a transfiguration in them. The greater

mystery of the Transfiguration isn't that Christ was clothed in light, He is eternally clothed

in light, rather, the mystery is that the apostles' eyes were open to seeing that light, this

required a change in them. In the Transfiguration, they experienced a momentary

transfiguration themselves; they became all light. Saint Gregory of Nyssa presupposes

that like is known by like, something many Greek philosophers believed. This belief,

shared by many in the ancient world, implies that in order for the human person to know

God there must be something within the human itself that is like God. 46 However small or

temporary the change in the apostles may have been, there was change. This

transfiguration of the saints of God is witnessed throughout salvation history; many of the

saints were seen by their contemporaries surrounded by an intense light. This light is the

Uncreated Light of God, and is what icons attempt to capture. "In relation to the Word, the

Gospel of the Holy Spirit is visual and contemplative. In His revelations, the Spirit is the
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“finger of God” which sketches the Icon of Being with the uncreated Light. 47 The message

of the Transfiguration—that creation, in particular mankind, is an icon, a theophany, a

glorious manifestation of God. 48

While mankind is the living icon of God, and possesses all the potential to shine

with light brighter than the sun, there are still a great many obstacles that keep man from

fully realizing his potential. This is where the painted icon serves its greatest role. The

icon is a therapeutic device; it awakens the mind and soul. The icon has widely been

compared to a window, which on the one hand is an accurate description, as it opens the

view of the worshiper to the reality of the eschatalogical realm that lies beyond and within

it, but this is an incomplete description. In addition to being a window, the icon also serves

as mirror by reflecting an image of the penitent's true nature and calling: to become all

light, to be conformed to the image of God and thereby become living icons themselves.

What the icon projects is the transfigured state of likeness to God. The saints depicted in

the icon have attained, by realization, the promise of salvation through the grace of God

and the hope of His Kingdom; they have become living icons. What they reflect is the

viewer's self-realization of their own shortfall. This reflection is intended to bring its viewer

to an awareness of their misguided will, and refocus it on the reality of God made present

in their own life. This idea of projection and reflection is articulated by St. Dionysius the

Areopogite in his prayer to the Theotokos:

I pray that your icon will be infinitely reflected in the mirror of our souls

and that it will preserve them pure until the end of time, that it will raise

up those who are bent down toward the earth, and that it will give hope to

those who contemplate and try to imitate this eternal model of Beauty.49
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Every icon, regardless of whom it represents, is ultimately an image of Christ, and thus an

image of God. Further, however, it is an image of the likeness of God, the transfigured

being of the person depicted. The icon reveals the fullest state of mankind, the potential

for theosis, transfiguration, and communion with God.

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VI. The Semiotic Image - The Apologetic Icon

Art is a form of communication that goes beyond language to forge

mythical links within a society. 50

For this is the marriage of heaven and earth: Perfect Myth and Perfect

Fact: claiming not only our love and our obedience, but also our wonder

and delight, addressed to the savage, the child, and the poet in each one

of us no less than to the moralist, the scholar, and the philosopher. 51

Images are collections of signs and symbols; a sign in that an image largely points

to something else, a visual stand in, whereas a symbol is the presence of the “other” in

visual form. For example, the popular ancient sign of the 'Jesus fish' (Fig. 1) that is often

seen on the bumpers of cars in the United States does not invoke the presence of Christ,

rather it points to the idea of the person of Christ in the minds of its viewers; it provokes

the question: What is that?” Which leads to the question: Who does it stand for? By

contrast, the icon of the Pantokrator (Fig. 2) invokes presence, the person of Christ made

manifest. The only question asked by the viewer is, 'Who is that?' A symbol brings about

direct experience and union with the presence behind it. In Greek, the words for devil

(diabolos) and symbol (symbolos) have the same root (bolos, throwing), but the devil

“throws apart,” what the symbol “throws together.” A symbol is a bridge which links two

shores: the visible and the invisible, the earthly and the heavenly, the empiric and the

ideal. The symbol makes it possible for the two to interpenetrate each other. 52
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An icon may be composed of a variety of signs: the wood which stands for the

cross, the cloth as swaddling clothes and burial shroud, the gesso as the Uncreated Light,

and the first layer of pigment as the primordial chaos at the dawn of creation. However,

the icon as a whole is a unified symbol that yokes together its viewer with its Prototype.

The icon is not a reminder in the abstract sense, it does not recall in the same way that a

note on a calendar does, nor does it simply bring to mind an idea or an event. The icon

spiritually connects the viewer with the reality of the eschatalogical promise; it yokes the

viewer to God. The icon opens the spiritual eyes of its viewer so that for a moment, the

worshiper can see the reality 'face to face', to be 'known, even as he is known.' The icon

not only yokes the viewer to its Prototype, but also awakens the primeval memory within

the viewer of mankind's true nature as a creature made in the image and likeness of God.

This is largely the power behind the icon and offers a reasonable explanation for its

apologetic nature.

This symbolic reality of the icon, of its mystical presence, is why the church has

avoided calling icons art, preferring rather to call them liturgical artifacts. The liturgical

nature of icons can be seen in the natural materials, representing all the elements

(animal, mineral, vegetable), which are refined and offered to God in the creation of an

icon. The material that God has made is used to represent Him; “Thine own of Thine

own.” 53 The church represents the union between earth and heaven and icons are

arranged to emphasize this reality. A strict canon is observed in the creation of the icon,

much like the performance of the divine liturgy; while some cultural variations may exist

within the local practice of the divine liturgy, by and large, it has universal cohesion. The

icon too may display some regional flair, and stylistic fluidity over the ages, yet each

canonical icon bears a family resemblance to the overarching ontological icon.

 25

Properly trained iconographers understand and utilize the basic grammar of the

icon in order to effectively communicate the symbolic and mystical presence of the

Prototype. Proportion, perspective, and contrast are used to bring emphasis to the

presence of God within the viewer. Secular art is concerned with external beauty, while

spiritual art is concerned with inner beauty. Physical beauty arouses the outer senses

while spiritual beauty arouses the inner senses; spiritual beauty makes the viewer feel

reverence, humility, contrition, the “gladdening sorrow” of which St. John Climacos

speaks. 54 This is accomplished through an understanding of the true nature of man, as

created in the image and likeness of God, created to be a Royal Priesthood, and co-heirs

with Christ. The icon is a work of dynamic tension, reminding its viewer of both their

eschatalogical reality, and their human frailty. The eschatological character of the icon

contains a kind of dialectic, the dialectic of “already but not yet.” It is eucharistic. It

makes man as a person always sense that his true home is not in this world. 55

The primary purpose of the icon is to reveal the process of transfiguration, a

journey from darkness to light. The icon prompts this journey and goads it along through a

continual dialogue of projection and reflection. The icon projects the realities of theosis,

demonstrating the attainability of deification for humanity, while at the same time reflecting

the penitent's inadequacy. Through this dual-play of projection and reflection, the icon

simultaneously convicts the penitent and calls him forth. The purpose of the calling forth is

communion, to become like God by becoming a member of the community of saints

whose images dwell upon the icon.

From the very moment an iconographer lays color to panel, a properly constructed

icon is washed in prayer. Besides being skilled with composition, painting, and gilding, an
 26

iconographer must first and foremost be faithful. An iconographer is not only expected to

be a member of the Orthodox church in good standing, but also to follow her ascetic

disciplines. The Russian council of 1551, known as the Council of 100 Chapters, stated

that painters of icons must be:

...pure, gentle, and pious, avoiding controversy, and must not be

quarrelsome, envious, drunkards, or thieves. They must practice spiritual

and corporal purity. The painter must be filled with humility, gentleness,

and piety: he will flee from frivolous speech and joking. His character will

be peaceful, and he will know nothing of envy. He will not drink, pillage,

or steal. Above all, he will observe, with scrupulous attention, spiritual

and bodily purity. If he cannot live in chastity till the end [of his life], he

will marry according to the law and take a wife. He will frequently visit his

spiritual fathers, inform them of all his behavior, fast, pray according to

their instructions and lessons, have pure and chaste habits, and know
56
nothing of impudence and disorder.

Icon painters were craftsmen who belonged to a guild which enforced the rules of icon

painting. A craftsman could have their equipment confiscated if they did not adhere to the

canon set forth by the church. In addition to the above stated canon governing the moral

and spiritual expectations of an iconographer, master iconographers were required to take

on apprentices without the expectation of monetary gain, and were bound by canon law to

transmit the full tradition and craft of icon painting, withholding no secrets from the

student. 57
 27

Iconographers did not think of themselves as artists, but rather as craftsmen.

This is because the job of an iconographer is not the same as that of a fine artist. Fine

artists have different goals than an iconographer, and different rules governing the

creation of their works. The work of an iconographer is liturgical and sacramental: the

union of God and man, heaven and earth, matter and spirit. An iconographer seeks to

express ultimate reality in their work, that man was created in the image and likeness of

God and has been granted a kingdom to rule as co-heir with Christ. Icons show the

transfigured state of man, not merely his earthly state. The work of the iconographer is the

artistic expression of the restored creation, which extends from the future into the present.
58

Icons are not considered naturalistic works of art as they do not seek to emulate

the mere appearance of things, but rather are realistic works of art that express a deeper

reality. They seek to blend both the seen and the unseen in a unified work; icons are

hypostatic. The work of an icon preaches the hypostatic union of God and man in Christ,

as well as the hypostatic union of matter and spirit in man. Icons are visual works of

theology and eschatology. They make present the reality available to all men through the

redemptive work of Christ.

Iconography reveals the reality of the New Man and the new creation.

"Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has

passed away, behold the new has come.” (2. Cor. 5.17 ) ... “Behold, I

make all things new." (Rv. 21.5). These words of the enthroned God and

Father in the Apocalypse of St. John provide both the icon and the viewer

with a focus and objective. The material components of an iconographic

 28

composition-paint, wood, stone, fabric, metal, glass, etc.-are brought into

the reality of the covenanted community and, like each person of the

community, undergo a transformation. The icon tells us that what will be

fulfilled in the future has begun to be revealed in the present. History and

eschatology are brought together in the icon. 59

Two examples have been chosen to demonstrate this eschatalogical purpose of

iconography: The Hogidetria icon of the Mother of God (fig. 3) and the Crucifixion (fig. 4).

Both icons use imagery that points to the ultimate reality of man as triumphant priest and

king. The word Hogidetria in fact means 'the guide'. In the Hogidetria icon (fig 3.), the

Theotokos guides the viewer to the Christ child that sits upon her lap, but the full meaning

of the icon is not simply a family portrait of a mother gesturing towards her son. The icon

is not a portrait nor a mere collection of signs, it is a symbol of ultimate Triumph, of

mankind deified and crowned with glory.

The icon of the Hogidetria displays Mary, the Theotokos, as royalty. She is dressed

in the rich garments of nobility, wearing a purple outer cloak which was a color reserved

for rulers in first century Israel. Purple was a costly dye to make which required the

harvesting and processing of a specific type of mollusk. Mary, being of humble origins

from Nazareth, would not have owned any such garments in her lifetime. In addition, her

garments are lined with gold, another extravagance that would have been out of her

reach. If one looks closely, a blue garment can be seen under her royal outer cloak. The

blue garment symbolizes repentant humanity, mankind turned away from sin and towards

its Creator. The blue echoes the cleansing color of “water”, hearkening to baptism. The

iconographer uses such imagery to communicate a specific message: that humans have
 29

been deified and granted a royal standing through the turning away from sin and towards

the saving work of Christ. The Hogidetria shows a transfigured woman in the glory of the

Kingdom, a hypostatic union of man and God, earth and heaven, matter and spirit.

Likewise the eastern icon of the crucifixion is one of triumph and not one of despair

(Fig. 4). Christ may be hanging on the cross, but He is not lifeless, nor a corpse, He is

triumphant; already the Resurrection can be seen in the icon. Rather than hanging low on

the cross, stretched almost to breaking, Christ sits almost comfortably high on the cross,

as if already rising; His body glows with an internal light. The symbol of death, the cross of

the crucifixion, becomes the Tree of Life. It is a symbol of not only Christ's triumph over

death, but mankind's triumph as well. The entire atmosphere is one of glory. Angels attend

to Christ overhead, the background is laid out with gold, and shines with light. Here the

cross, Christ, and those in attendance, Mary and St. John, are all transported to the

heavenly realm of glory, communicating the future reality for all believers.

[In Orthodox Icons] This crucified body is not just anyone’s; it is

the very body of the God-Man Himself, and hence is not a corpse,

but is incorruptible unto eternity and the source of life. It radiates

the hope of Resurrection. In the Orthodox devotional icon,

everything is depicted anagogically, that is, to lift us from the

world of the senses to the spiritual realms. In this realm there is

nothing from the world of corruption, everything has the

comeliness of the incorruptible. The sight of this liturgical icon

does, of course, convey sorrow to the faithful, but not that sorrow

which is full of despair. Rather, it is a sorrow in Christ, which is a

 30

grief mixed with hope, and which the Fathers call “gladdening

sorrow” or “joyous grief.” 60

The purpose of the icon is not to entertain or to titillate, it is to transfigure. The icon

is properly a liturgical and a sacramental artifact. The purpose of the icon is to

simultaneously draw the viewer inward towards contemplation and to raise the viewer up

to eschatalogical realities that are already present and available to the faithful. The

western Christian religious art which most are familiar with tends to evoke sentiments and

emotions which stem from the artist's own conception of God, man, and creation. The

icon, on the contrary, provides a reversed perspective from which the iconographer

depicts God's vision of God Himself, of man, and of creation. 61 The iconic vision is one of

communion with God, of the realization of the image of God in man, and his participation

in the Life and Energy of God. "Thus from grace we become like unto Him, our man-loving

God and Lord," wrote St. Symeon the New Theologian, "and in soul are renewed from

being old, and brought to life from being dead as we were.” 62

 31

Fig 1. - Jesus Fish Souce: Wikipedia

 32

Fig. 2 – Panktokrator Icon, St. Catherines Monastery, Sinai

Source: Wikipedia
 33

Fig. 3 – Hogidetria Icon – Source: Wikipedia

 34

Fig. 4 – Byzantine Crucifixion Museum of Athens

Source: Wikipedia
 35

VII. The Pastoral Image - The Image as a Therapeutic Agent

St. Gregory of Nyssa - “I saw an icon of the Passion and I was not able

to pass by the sight without tears, because the art was conveying the

story vividly.” 63

St. Symeon the New Theologian - It is a great good thing to believe in

Christ, because without faith in Christ it is impossible for anyone to be

saved; but one must also be instructed in the word of truth and

understand it. 64

It has often been said that "icons are the books of the illiterate"; St. John of

Damascus echoed this sentiment when he called icons "the never silent heralds of the

honor due the saints, teaching without use of words those who gaze on them.” 65 This view

of icons, however, is insufficient, and the church fathers were never satisfied to simply

view icons as "books for the illiterate" as is often done in the west. Icons are more than

mere illustrations, retelling the stories of far away times and places; icons are mystical

artifacts that arrest the viewers' attention, shaking them to their very foundations as if

sifting the wheat from the chaff, 66 burning their foundations with divine fire in order to test

the work each has done and proffer salvation. 67 Icons have a presence, an enargia that

leaps from the board and unites itself with the viewer. Enargia is a principle that hearkens

back to the ancient Greek philosophers and writers. Originally applied to the literary arts, it

was used to describe works whose expression was so vivid as to acquire a sense of

hypostatic reality; the characters seemed to come to life. Greek Historian Dionysius of
 36

Halicarnassus describes Lysias’ style as having “abundant enargeian” (enargeian pollen)

and explains that his writing makes characters so vivid that they are seen “face-to-face …

as if they were present” (prosopois omilein … hosper parousin), while events are

described as if they are “actually happening” (ginomena). (Tsakiridou ). 68

The principle of enargia implies a real presence. When applied to images this

enargic principle is most clearly seen at work in byzantine icons. Images that have

enargeia behave as facts or realities rather than as the interior, mental objects that they

actually are. 69 Icons, more than any other work of art, exhibit enargia; this is largely due to

the liturgical and sacramental nature of the icon's creation, but also to the counter-intuitive

composition in the works themselves. The iconographic canon ensures that icons always

keep a dynamic tension at the forefront of the work: joyful-sorrow, heaven and earth, push

and pull, stillness and energy.

The response of those who have never seen an icon may be one of

disorientation, uneasiness or even repulsion. What is seen initially

appears so different from what is experienced in every day life. If the

viewer is able to go beyond this uncomfortable encounter, and struggles to

accept what the icon offers without succumbing to his own emotions, then

he can begin contemplating the composition. 70

It is important to always be mindful of the fact that icons are not naturalistic, but

realistic. What most contemporary men consider to be reality is in fact a fiction. Firstly,

most contemporary inhabitants of the western world spend a great deal of their day

dwelling in materiality, superficiality, and fantasy. Most of what passes for day to day
 37

existence is in fact based on constructed fables; television programs for instance,

especially those of the so-called "reality" genre, depict worlds and events that are

orchestrated to look like reality, when in fact they are misrepresentations at best, and out-

right lies at worst. Even the work and home lives of most are constructed upon false

ideologies of reality; the whole notion of consumerism, fiat money, gossip, and usery are

just some of the false ideologies that pass for reality in contemporary western society.

These fantasies, however, are minor flaws when compared with the fable of scientism

which teaches that observational, testable evidence is the only way to any kind of

knowledge about the world and in which religion, theology and (as of lately) even

philosophy are recognized as ultimately worthless and superfluous in the timeless quest

for truth. 71 Scientism is the modern heresy that promulgates the false notion that only

science can explain the ultimate origin, cause, and purpose of all things; it turns science

into a false god and religion.

Icons are designed to combat these fictions that plague contemporary man. Icons,

by their very design and built-in tension, stretch the viewer and disorient them, in order to

reorient them towards the ultimate reality: that they are created in the image of God and

have the capacity for likeness with God. True reality is not material, yet it is not completely

spiritual either, it is a hypostatic union of the two in mankind. Fr. George Florovsky wrote,
72
“Man must unite everything in himself, and through himself unite it with God.” The icon

displays that union and serves as a visual reminder to its viewer that he is the true living

icon. The icon which is painted on the panel is a prophetic vision of the viewers destiny: to

be himself transfigured, to become all light, all face, a person in the truest theological

sense.
 38

It is in the icon that the viewer meets himself as if in a mirror. In experiencing this

divine beauty through icons the viewer discovers something of their own dignity, as living

icons of God. This revelation has in itself often brought healing in a situation which

presented itself as extremely complex. 73 The icon connects the viewer with both his

genesis and his telos. It reminds him that when he was created, God used the words,

"very good" 74 to describe him. The icon also projects the possibility that when the viewer

once again sees his Creator face-to-face, he can hear Him say, "Come, you who are

blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the

creation of the world." 75 The icon preaches the dignity of all human life. In its enargic

power, the icon makes present the eschatalogical reality of the deified man. Icons operate

outside the confines of chronological time and dwell in the pregnant moment, the moment

where God acts, in kairos.

All of humanity was made in the image of God at the creation of Adam, and all

were saved from death through the Resurrection of Christ, therefore, the riches of God's

mercy, His glorious inheritance, and the triumph of the saints over death are available to

all mankind in equal measure; whether this fact is consciously recognized by its viewer or

not, this is touch-point of the icon. This is the place of connection between the icon's

Prototype and the nous of the viewer.

It does not in fact matter a lot what a person’s background is when they

encounter icons. Icons can resonate with something deep inside people,

in many cases despite their consciously held beliefs. Its as though the

person remembers what life in paradise was like, and what they see in

the icon corresponds with this memory. Whether it is consciously

recognized or not, this attraction to the icon’s beauty affirms that the
 39

viewer is made in the image of God. They are drawn to this spiritual

beauty because they in essence themselves are beautiful. 76

Canonical icons can and should be given a greater role in both pastoral and

evangelical capacities. The icons ability through the principal of enargia to make present,

not only the person behind the icon, i.e. the prototype, but also the eschataolical telos of

the viewer, as well as their ontological nature as the image of God, makes icons a

valuable tool for both discipleship and evangelism. Where enargeia is present, the

aesthetic object exists in an eschatological modality, ordaining its “imitation”. 77 The goal

of iconic catechesis is for each person to become an icon, a living image of God, a person

who lives in continual fellowship - communion - with God. 78

This iconic witness becomes increasingly important in the contemporary western

world where the vision is assaulted minute by minute with an onslaught of degraded

images: violence, consumerism, rapacious abuse, and exploitation. "Like a fish, we swim

in a sea of images, and these images help shape our perceptions of the world and of

ourselves. It is estimated, for example, that most of us receive more than 8o percent of

our information through our eyes." 79 The icon offers a remedy, a respite from the

onslaught of negative imagery. Humans are visual beings, from the first moments an

infant opens his eyes and fixates on the blurry faces of his parents, visual learning and

association begins. The ancients recognized this primacy of vision in learning; St. John of

Damascus called vision the noblest of the senses.80 "The Hebrews … understood the eye

as an organ which shed light upon that which it contemplated, and thereby illuminated it.

Sight was thus seen to be an activity, and not simply a passive reception of rays.” 81
 40

The eye was linked to contemplation and to reason. When Plato warns against the

domination of thought by images, semblances, and opinions in the allegorical cave, he is

urging a turn away from the pictures that hold humanity captive and toward the pure light

of reason. 82 True reason occurs in the 'nous', man's noetic center, where his spiritual

intellect resides. Purely discursive reasoning is incomplete and subject to fantasy. The

discursive mind only sees the shadows that play upon the wall of the mind's “cave”, to

borrow the metaphor. It is in the 'nous' where mankind is truly able to discover reality.

Images have the ability to bypass the discursive mind and effect the nous, either bringing

it light, or darkening it. "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your

whole body will be full of light." 83

The images we surround ourselves with enter our minds and affect the

way we see the world, for better or for worse. Icons are born of a spiritual

way of seeing, and immersion in them helps us to see the world

spiritually. Icons involve the whole person: our physical senses, our

rational faculty, and our spirit, or more specifically, the eye of the heart or

nous in Greek. Their aim is to gather everything into this nous. 84

Thus icons are not merely "books for the illiterate", but mediators between the

divine and human viewer. The icon's role is largely sacramental, and therein lies the

greatest difference between the western and eastern conceptions of iconography. For the

western theologians, icons were largely illustrated "books", for eastern theologians, they

were "living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to

dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the
 41

heart." 85 Just as the scripture is not mere words about God, so the icons of the Orthodox

church are not mere pictures. The goal is not to know about the saints but to become

saints. The icon graphically displays the possibility for all human beings to be united with

God, achieving theosis. 86

 42

VIII. Conclusion - The Gathering Image

Preachers inform us; only poets invite us to experience. - Patwardhan 87

Icons have apologetic and evangelical power, precisely because they invite their

viewers to experience God, to experience their divine origin, and their holy end. Icons

connect with viewers on a primordial level, activating archetypal memories of Adam, and

the divine genesis of all humanity as beings made in the image of God, living icons of the

Creator, and as a royal priesthood for all creation. Through a willful turning away from

God, mankind abdicated his inheritance, marred the image of God, and lost his authority

over the cosmos; creation no longer recognized mankind's role as the royal priesthood

and rebelled against him.

Although mankind has continued in his willful rebellion against his creator, and in

many instances has lost all conscious memory and connection with God, his true nature

as a living icon cannot be completely obliterated. Thus, even when a person is

consciously ignorant of his divine origin and telos, the seed of God in his 'nous' cries out

by day and by night for its creator. These cries did not go unheeded and at the opportune

moment in history, God entered into humanity through the incarnation of Christ in order to

restore the fallen image of God in man. Through His incarnation, Christ not only restored

the marred image of God in man, but also the potential for mankind to attain likeness to

God. This fact was expressed in visual form in the Transfiguration where Christ was

shown with light brighter than the sun. The Transfiguration, however, was not primarily

about a Theophany, but rather a message about man, that he too can shine with light

divine. The Transfiguration of Christ was largely about the enlightening of man. For the
 43

apostles to be capable of witnessing Christ shining brighter than the sun, they too had to

be somehow changed. On Mount Tabor it was not so much Christ who changed, but the

disciples. The Lord opened their eyes to see Him as He always was. 88

Due to shortsightedness and continued willful rebellion, however, it is often difficult

to reconcile the promise of the kingdom of God and the grace of the Spirit available to

each human being. In order to serve as a reminder of the ever-present reality, mankind's

royal priesthood, and his divine inheritance, icons were utilized by the church as meeting

places between man and the divine. Enargic icons present their subjects not as a collage

of signifiers but as beings realizing in their acts of existence the qualities that constitute

their distinctive natures. 89This enargic presence in an icon solidifies the greater reality of

man's nature and existence, that he is the image of God, the living icon. This is why the

icon has such a rich and anecdotal history of evangelizing unbelievers, convicting sinners,

and educating the converted. Icons remind their viewers of reality, and beckon them to

look through the facade erected by the hands of men to the face that stares back at them

from eternity: the face of Christ.

Icons show what is, rather than what seems to be; icons cut through the noise of

false images to reveal and make present the true image, the incarnate Christ and the

transfigured man. The icon depicts this transfigured world through its somewhat abstract

style. By refusing to be naturalistic, the icon can be more realistic. One will not find

chiaroscuro in an icon, because the saints and everything else depicted therein, shine

with the light of Christ. 90

This is the great mystery of the image painted on panel; it glows from within

through a painstaking canon of art and prayer. Icons are more than mere art, they are

liturgical and sacramental; they are a witness to the Gospel of Christ. Icons convict its
 44

viewers that humanity, made in the image of God, can achieve likeness to God through

grace, and is destined to save all of creation by uniting it within himself and offering it to

the Creator. The royal priesthood of mankind is its greatest gift. In the words of St.

Leontios of Cyprus,

“Through heaven and earth and sea, through wood and stone, through

relics and church buildings and the Cross, through angels and

humankind, through all creation visible and invisible, I offer veneration

and honour to the Creator and Master and Maker of all things, and to Him

alone. For the creation does not venerate the Maker directly and by itself,

but it is through me that the heavens declare the glory of God, through

me the stars glorify Him, through me the waters and the showers of rain,

the dew and all creation, venerate God and give Him Glory. 91
 45

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Evdokimov, Paul. The Art of the Icon: A Theology of Beauty. Redondo Beach, CA:
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Leominster, Herefordshire: Gracewing, 2011. Print.

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Robinson, Walter. Instant Art History: From Cave Art to Pop Art. New York: Fawcett
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Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary, 1985. Print.
1

Martin, Linette. Sacred Doorways: A Beginner's Guide to Icons. Brewster, MA: Paraclete, 2002. p. 21. Print.
2 Ibid.
3 "Mt. Athos: A Visit to the Holy Mountain." 60 Minutes. CBS. Apr.-May 2011. Television.
4 Hart, Aidan. Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting: Egg Tempera, Fresco, Secco. Leominster, Herefordshire:
Gracewing, 2011. 5. Print.
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(http://aidanharticons.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PASTORIC.pdf), 5. Web.
6 Damascus, St. John, Three Trestises on the Divine Images. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladamir’s Seminary Press, 2003. 101.
Print.
7 Genesis 1.26 , The Orthodox Study Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008).
8 Basil, and Verna E. F. Harrison. On the Human Condition. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary, 2005. loc. 438.
Kindle eBook.
9 Genesis 1.26, Orthodox Study Bible.
1 0 Wood, Simon P. trans., Clement of Alexandria: Christ the Education, Fathers of the Church. Washington, DC:
Catholic University of America Press, 1954. p. 9. Print.
1 1 Basil, and Verna E.F. Harrison, 438.
1 2 Hart, Aidan, (August 2012). Beauty and the Gospel.
(http://aidanharticons.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Beauty-and-the-gospel.pdf), 102. Web.
1 3 Lossky, Vladimir, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. Cambridge: James Clarke & Co., Ltd., 2005. loc.
2068, Kindle eBook.
1 4 Hart, Aidan, Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting: Egg Tempera, Fresco, Secco. p. 4-5.
1 5 Romans 8.19, Orthodox Study Bible.
1 6 Vrame, Anton, The Educating Icon. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Press, 1999. p. 44. Print.
1 7 Hart, Aidan, Beauty and the Gospel, p.35.
1 8 Lossky, loc. 2295.
1 9 Lossky, loc. 2112.
2 0 Genesis 3.21-24, Orthodox Study Bible.
2 1 Ibid.
2 2 Wood, p. 5.
2 3 Hart, Beauty and the Gospel, p. 14.
2 4 Rose, Seraphim. Genesis, Creation, and Early Man: The Orthodox Christian Vision. Platina, CA: Saint Herman of
Alaska Brotherhood, 2000. p. 190. Print.
2 5 Lossky, loc. 2155.
2 6 Hart, Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting: Egg Tempera, Fresco, Secco. p. 2.
2 7 Lossky, loc. 2281.
2 8 St Athanasius, On the Incarnation, Popular Patristic Series, Crestwood, NY: St. Vladamir's Press. 1996. loc. 277,
Kindle eBook.
2 9 Col. 1.15, Orthodox Study Bible.
3 0 Heb 1.3, Orthodox Study Bible.
3 1 Cavarnos, Constantine, Byzantine Sacred Art. Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 1985, p. 97. Print.
3 2 Athanasius, loc. 21.
3 3 Gen 3:4, Orthodox Study Bible.
3 4 Athanasius, loc. 135.
3 5 Athanasius, loc. 277.
3 6 Hart, Icons and Pastoral Care. p. 48.
3 7 Florenskiĭ, P. A. Iconostasis. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary, 2000. 71-72. Print.
3 8 John 1.1, Orthodox Study Bible.
3 9 John 20.29, Orthodox Study Bible.
4 0 Athanasius, loc. 1047.
4 1 Matthew 12.39, Orthodox Study Bible.
4 2 Evdokimov, Paul. The Art of the Icon: A Theology of Beauty. Redondo Beach, CA: Oakwood Publications, 1990.
loc. 4548. Kindle eBook.
4 3 Hart, Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting: Egg Tempera, Fresco, Secco. p. 5.
4 4 Matthew 17.1-2, Orthodox Study Bible.
4 5 Hart, Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting: Egg Tempera, Fresco, Secco. p. 5.
4 6 Harrison, Verna E. F. God's Many-splendored Image: Theological Anthropology for Christian Formation. Grand
 Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010. p. 52. Print.
4 7 Evdokimov, loc. 150.
4 8 Constas, Maximos. The Art of Seeing: Paradox and Perception in Orthodox Iconography. Alhambra, CA.:
Sebastian Press., 2014. loc. 497. Kindle eBook.
4 9 Evdokimov, loc. 44.
5 0 Robinson, Walter. Instant Art History: From Cave Art to Pop Art. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1995. viii. Print.
5 1 Lewis, C. S. God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics. Grand Rapids, MI.: Eerdman's Publishing., 1970.
loc, 750. Kindle eBook.
5 2 Evdokimov, loc. 1701.
5 3 Ouspensky, Léonide, and Vladimir Lossky. The Meaning of Icons. Crestwood, N.Y: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press,
1982. p. 55. Print.
5 4 Cavarnos, p. 19.
5 5 Zizioulas, Jean. Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's
Seminary, 1985. p. 62. Print.
5 6 Bigham, Steven. The Image of God the Father. Redondo Beach, Calif: Oakwood Publications, 1995. p. 131. Print.
5 7 Ibid.
5 8 Roberts, p.7.
5 9 Roberts, p. 7-8.
6 0 Cavarnos, p. 119.
6 1 Roberts, Arida. "Spirituality and the Person: The Vision of the Orthodox Icon." Sacred Arts Journal 10.1 (n.d.): p.
7. Print.
6 2 Rose, Seraphim trans., Symeon the New Theologian. The First-created Man: Seven Homilies. Platina, CA: Saint
Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1994. p. 99. Print.
6 3 Vrame, p. 6.
6 4 Rose, The First-created Man: Seven Homilies., p. 76.
6 5 Vrame, p. 1.
6 6 Matthew 3.12, Orthodox Study Bible.
6 7 1 Cor 3.9-15, Orthodox Study Bible.
6 8 Tsakiridou, Cornelia A. Icons in Time, Persons in Eternity: Orthodox Theology and the Aesthetics of the Christian
Image. Burlington, VT.: Ashgate., 2013. loc. 1391. Kindle eBook.
6 9 Tsakiridou, loc. 1396.
7 0 Roberts, p. 9.
7 1 Jinn, Bo. Illogical Atheism. Sattwa, 2013. loc. 512. Kindle eBook.
7 2 Hart, Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting: Egg Tempera, Fresco, Secco., xviii.
7 3 Hart, Icons and Pastoral Care, p. 2.
7 4 Genesis 1.31, Orthodox Study Bible.
7 5 Matthew 25.34, Orthodox Study Bible.
7 6 Hart, Icons and Pastoral Care, p.5.
7 7 Tsakiridou, loc. 1523.
7 8 Vrame, p. 63.
7 9 Berger, Arthur Asa. Seeing Is Believing: An Introduction to Visual Communication. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield
Pub., 1989. p. 1. Print.
8 0 Vrame, p. 52.
8 1 Hart, Beuaty and the Gospel, p. 9.
8 2 Mirzoeff, Nicholas. The Visual Culture Reader. London: Routledge, 2002. p. 94. Print.
8 3 Matthew 6.22, Orthodox Study Bible.
8 4 Hart, Aidan, (August 2012). Mother of God in Festal Icons
(http://aidanharticons.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Feasts-of-virgin.pdf), p. 1. Web.
8 5 Hebrews 4.12, Orthodox Study Bible.
8 6 Vrame, p. 56.
8 7 Anderson, Richard L. Calliope's Sisters: A Comparative Study of Philosophies of Art. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall, 1990. p. 197. Print.
8 8 Hart, Aidan, (August, 2012). Icons and the Spiritual Role of Matter.
(http://aidanharticons.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/IconsSpiritualRoleMatter.pdf). p. 3. Web.
8 9 Tsakiridou, loc. 1489.
9 0 Hart, Aidan, (August 2012). Icons and Art
(http://aidanharticons.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/The-Icon-and-Art.pdf), p. 5. Web.
9 1 Hart, Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting: Egg Tempera, Fresco, Secco. , p. xvii-xviii.