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Anyone want to guide a Latin through it?
"We love, because he first loved us"--1 John 4:19
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Hi Myles,
There is no guide. We simply venerate the IMAGE depicted on the icon, which is a form of art that has been prayerfully painted for the sole purpose of devotion.
The icon visually helps us think of Heaven, the Saints, the Blessed Mother, Biblical stories, and/or our Lord.
We Orthodox usually kiss our icons after making the sign of the cross, as a sign of reverence to the holy image. Sometimes we also bow, and other times we make a partial prostration (right hand to the ground after signing the cross).
We also travel with icons (we have miniature ones) and bring them with us to new environments. This makes us feel protected, as the image of our God, His beloved Mother, and the saints are with us. All icons are supposed to have been blessed by the priest and ideally, supposed to have resided in the Holy Altar for forty days. This is how an icon differs from just a religious picture.
Hope this helps!
In the Resurrected Lord,
Alice
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Originally posted by Myles:
Anyone want to guide a Latin through it? Been doing some searching for you since you posted that, Myles. Alice has given you an excellent "How to do it" I'll add a wee bit of literary help - Dr Rowan Williams has written some books on this very subject - and one has totally gone from my memory - I've seen it but cannot for the life of me remember its title  It was quite small - Like the Glenstall Abbey Icon Prayer book - but it was not that one. However - from Amazon I did find 2 which you may be able to have a search for in Blackwells perhaps ? Ponder These Things: Praying with Icons of the Virgin
The Dwelling of the Light: Praying with Icons of Christ Me - well I just look at one and it really is a window to Heaven - and somehow Prayer will always start itself I find. Yes = I do travel with my Icons - I have some in my caravan and if I go away from home then I take a wee folding Diptych with me . All mine are indeed Blessed and I recently gave my Deacon Friend a copy of the Kazan Icon for his Ordination - and that had been placed in the Altar for him. I also have a wonderful Icon of Ss Cosmos and Damian and I know that one was also placed in the Holy Altar for 40 days before it came to me. A word of warning though  - you will find that once you have one Icon and use it - somehow others appear . Make sure you have a large corner for your Icons - you will need it  Anhelyna
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Just a little bit of FYI...
Many Christians are familiar with kissing the feet of icons, but what happens when the icon is hanging on a wall or in a place where you are unable to kiss it? I have seen people kiss their fingers and then touch the icon but really it should be the other way around. We sinners are unable to give anything to the icon so we touch the feet of the icon first, then we kiss our fingers. Like I said-just FYI
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"We love, because he first loved us"--1 John 4:19
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Icons participate in the divine energies, and so when a man venerates an icon he receives the purifying, illuminating and sanctifying energy of God. [See Ambrosias Giakalis, Images of the Divine: the Theology of Icons at the Seventh Ecumenical Council. New York: E. J. Brill, 1994; pages 114-129] The following text is taken from Fr. Kucharek�s detailed study of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and in it he explains the significance of the doctrine of icons within the Eastern Catholic tradition: �There is a fundamental difference between Byzantines and Westerners in the interpretation of sacred images. The latter merely regard them as representations of one whose presence is elsewhere, in heaven. For the Byzantine Christian, the icon is a veritable theophany, a dynamic manifestation of divine energy at work on earth. The person represented is in some spiritual way actually present in the icon. From this presence flow streams of grace upon the sinful world, purifying and sanctifying it.
How [does one] explain this mysterious presence in the icon? To define this presence would be as difficult as explaining the Shekinah or the mysterious presence of Christ amid two or three gathered together in His name (Matt. 18:20). Yet such a presence was no less true. The mystical teaching concerning icons stems from the master idea of all Eastern typology, the idea of the Church building as �Heaven on earth.� Gregory of Nyssa was probably the first to set out the main lines of such teaching. His doctrine was taken up and developed by others. The author of the eighth-century Rerum Ecclesiasticarum Contemplatio, for example, expresses it boldly: �The heaven wherein the Triune God lives and moves on earth is the Christian holy place, the Church. . . .� The presence of heaven passed easily from the Church to the icon.
The West never understood the iconoclastic controversy. It did not see the veneration of icons as a dogmatic matter but simply as a disciplinary matter. The Byzantine East, on the other hand, saw clearly in the decision of the seventh general council a contribution toward a better understanding of the mystery of the Incarnation or, more precisely, the mystery of God's communication of Himself to the world and to man in particular. That is why iconography was always such a serious science. It was never merely an art form. To be worthy of the task, the ancient icon painters prayed and fasted for days before taking up their brush � only then could they communicate the Divine through their image-making. Because icons represent human forms that have been �regenerated into eternity,� holy bodies of persons transformed, transfigured by grace in prayer, iconographers attempted to convey theological meanings through symbolical colors and forms. Saints, for example, are represented facing forward so that their entire face is showing, for a spiritual man cannot be incomplete, with one eye only. �A soul that has been illuminated by divine glory,� teaches Macarius the Great, �becomes all light and all face. . . and has no part with that which is behind but stands altogether facing forward.�� (Fr. Casimir Kucharek, The Byzantine-Slav Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Ontario, Canada: Alleluia Press, 1971; page 211)
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I know the incensation in the beginning of the Divine Liturgy serves many purposes. However, I think it is one of my favorite parts of the liturgy. I can just imagine all of us, militant and triumphant, standing before the Throne of God in praise and adoration, yet the imagination is a sure realtiy. As we know heaven gazes back upon us through the eyes of those we remember. Thank you Sweetest Jesus.
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As one Steubenvilleite ( don't think there is such a word) to another, thanks for the wonderful prayer to the Paraclete on your website.
A Byzantine Prayer to be said in front of an Icon
Holy Paraclete, Giver of Life, Eternal God: Mercifully bestow on us the Grace of the Life-giving Energies of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ; and let us live as faithful children of the Light so that we � finally beholding the unfading beauty of the Vision of the uncreated Light, becoming partakers by Grace of the Divine Nature, and being transformed into the glorious Likeness of our Creator � may on the awesome Day of Judgment be reckoned among the august company of His Mother, our Lady and Queen, and all others in whom the Love of God has been perfected, and worship and bask forever in the refulgence of the true Glory. Amen.
~~~~~~~
Thanks again,
Pani Rose
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Gaze and know that all veneration proceeds to the prototype, Incarnate in the flesh for our salvation. What you have before you is a real window to heaven, with an image and likeness of the heavenly realm.
Use words if you want to or need to.
Christ is Risen!
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The icons should be censed once a day, if possible...often it is not in dormitory or hotel surroundings, however, I think that one of the nicest ways to prayerfully acknowledge their subjects is to recite their troparia/kontakia. This can serve to remind us of the actions of those who have gone before us, and why we venerate them. For instance, the Troparion of St. Nicholas:
"The verity of your actions revealed you to your flock as a rule of faith, an icon of mildness, and a teacher of continence, O Father Bishop Nicholas; wherefore by humility you have achieved exaltation, and by poverty richness. Intercede with Christ to save our souls."
One should, in any event, "recognize" one's icons, if only with a bow in the direction of each, and, perhaps, "Holy Father Nicholas, pray to God for us" etc...
Gaudior, who also recommends a study of the theology of icons, so that while you gaze at it in prayerful contemplation, it may speak more eloquently to you.
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Myles, Jim Forrest wrote an excellent primer book called "Praying with Icons" which I am sure you can get through Amazon or similar service. It also has a great conversation with one of the greatest living iconographers, Father Zenon of the Pskov Lavra in Russia.
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Originally posted by Myles:
Anyone want to guide a Latin through it? Hi Myles! Glory to Jesus Christ! You've gotten some truly excellent advise. When I first began to explore the Byzantine Rite (I'm a former Latin Riter), I mentioned my interest in the Eastern Church to my Roman Catholic confessor. The penance he prescribed was to go buy an icon and pray with it! Lo and behold, across the street at a little Catholic gift shop, I found a beautiful icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help for only thirty dollars... bear in mind that this shop almost never has icons. I bought it, bought a CD of Russian liturgical music (Rachmaninov's Vespers, I think)... and that night I set the icon on a table, lit a small votive candle in front of it, put on the Russian Vespers CD, and fired up some incense. I sat there and just stared at the icon... it seemed that I was being drawn into it, beckoned into the presence of the Lord. It seemed to me to be quite literally a window into heaven. And that is what praying with icons is all about... they don't simply remind us of the Lord and His Holy Mother and the Saints, they actually bring us into their presence. If you don't already have an icon, I'd highly recommend getting one, preferably one of Christ and the Mother of God. Find one that attracts you... icon addicts like myself will tell you that we don't choose icons-- they choose us. :-) Good luck and God bless.
Slava Isusu Christu!
Karen
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Myles,
Although I had seen icons most of my adult life it wasn't until I heard a Byzantine priest refer to them as, Theology in Color that I really began to appreciate and venerate them. Growing up Latin Catholic we did have them in the churches and still do in some. Every Lent in the small parish in my hometown on Wednesday evenings we also had devotions to "Our Lady of Perpetual Help" and our priest-pastor placed the icon on a stand in front of the communion rail (back when we had communion rails).
But now as I have read more and more about icons, attended Eastern Liturgies, seen the reverence of the people there, and gazed upon many different ones do I understand what that priest meant who said they were a theology in color.
Stylized in a specific manner each icon has great significance and meaning as do the colors, each gesture is important, and there is a wealth to absorb even as we gaze upon them. Many of them which show a biblical scene are telling a story.
I also feel such peace and presence when I take the time to pray with an icon. Actually they have been a great blessing to me time and time again whether I venerate them in church or in private prayer.
In Christ,
Mary Jo
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