Byzantine Icons

Throughout the world, Byzantine icons have served as eloquent ambassadors of a religious tradition that unfortunately has not always been properly understood.

Most casual observers have suddenly found themselves overtaken by the light of the icon, captivated by its luminous presence, at once so strange and so familiar. Every icon is a manifestation of the human person, and, like the bodies of the saints, every icon is the physical locus of their spiritual energy. From this it follows that icons are not simply art objects, but rather subjects, who invite us to enter into the transfiguring light of a day that knows no evening.

The icon is intrinsically intertwined and ultimately identified with the Orthodox tradition in its entirety, handsomely expressing its message of love and hope. This is clear already from the end of the ninth century, when the restoration of the holy icons was understood as the restoration of the Orthodox Church to its authentic faith and form.

The Orthodox Church went through an intense struggle, during that period of Byzantine history, known as “iconoclasm” (eijkonomaciva). In that struggle, those who sought to repress the images of Christ and His saints revealed their deeper hostility against mankind, for they destroyed not only wooden panels and wall paintings, but tortured and even put to death those who defended the icons.

The iconoclastic controversy lasted for more than a century and redefined Byzantine Christianity in light of the new emphasis on the icon, which was thereafter granted a central role in the expression of the Church’s theology, worship and ultimately, understanding of what the human person really is. This last point has particular importance because the Church’s association of the icon with basic anthropological concepts has been decisively influenced by the inspired words of the Book of Genesis, which states that man was fashioned “according to the image (eikon) and likeness (omoiosis)” of God (Gen. 1.26).

Before we say anything more about this fundamental biblical passage, let us reflect for a moment on the meaning of the word “image” or “icon.” In Greek, these words are the same; icon – eikona is simply the Greek word for “image.” But what exactly is an “image”? How are we to understand the basic meaning of the word “icon”? According to St. John of Damascus, “an image is a likeness, or a model, or a figure of something, showing in itself what it depicts,” to which he adds, “every icon is both like and unlike its prototype.”

“According to the image and likeness” of God (Gen. 1.26). Keeping in mind the words of St. John of Damascus that we just cited, we can say that man is brought into the world, as a living icon of God, standing in relation to God as an image does to its prototype. Man’s very existence speaks of a relationship to God, of a “likeness” to God, and human beings can find meaning and truth only when they live “iconically,” that is to say, in dynamic and continuous relation with their divine source. As the divine icon, every human being is the manifestation of his or her luminous prototype.

The legacy of the Byzantine icon for humanism, especially for today’s movements, ideas, and concepts related to humanism, and this point is that the icons of the Orthodox Church in their immense variety and in their amazing depictions of the human person give us the message that human beings have been created in the “image and likeness of God,” and that they are mirrors reflecting the luminous nature of the Divine Being. A luminous reflection, following the idea of similarity and dissimilarity between prototype and image or icon, can vary in degree and quality from its prototype.

Byzantine icons depict an enormous variety of saints - men and women of all ages, races, and ethnicities, and from the entire spectrum of social conditions - with a single characteristic in common: the status of being holy.

The Byzantine depiction of Christ either in mosaics or in frescoes or in portable icons constitutes a truly unique and unsurpassed legacy for humanism. The reason is obvious. Jesus Christ as He is presented in His human nature is undoubtedly the perfect human being, the unique and absolute prototype of anthropos, man.