www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Veneration of Icons

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings in the love and peace of our Lord from Australia.

I have a basic question about "Veneration of Icons", which I believe is a common practice in Orthodox / Eastern Catholic circles. What exactly does this involve (ie how does the Priest do it)? Is it usually done by a Priest? What is the idea behind it? Is this practice only common in the Byzantine tradition, or is it also common in the Coptic, Antiochean tradition etc?

Many thanks for your help guys.

Love in Christ, Aussie Man.

PS: Australians stand right beside Americans as we pursue peace in the world. God bless America during this difficult time. As the banners that they have at NFL games say (btw go 49ers!!), "America will prevail".

Dear Aussie Man,

It is delightful to hear from another from Syndey (i have associates who study at the University here with me from Sydney and other parts of the continent-nation).

Priests are not the only ones who venerate Ikons, but the laity do as well. The idea behind venerate is that we do not venerate the image itself for itself, but the veneration passes on to the person depicted, as physically present in their transfigured and glorified Heavenly state.

Veneration includes bows and prostrations, kisses, decorations, and special places in our homes.

The Ikon is our sign of Hope in God's presence, a deeper communion with Him, and His Will to abide in us; our teacher in that it transmits and preserves the Tradition of the Church in a visual manner; the expression of our Faith; and the invitation for us to prayer.

Dear Aussie Man (if that's your real name);

Icons are venerated by Eastern Christian priests and laity alike. To us, icons are symbolic representations of the unseen reality, the reality that has already been perfected in God. Venertion is accomplished in many ways. We adorn our churches with them, we use them in processions, we pray while gazing at them, we include them in our liturgies by incensing them and referring to them, we have the priest bless them, we kiss them, we place them in our homes, we give them to each other, we study them, and we refer to them as one would discuss a friend.

Go 49ers? Not their year my friend although as long as its not the Steelers or the Ravens, it'll be OK

Fr. Dcn. John
Long Suffering Browns Fan

Welcome to the guy from Down Under!

For us veneration of icons mean that we show respect and reverence towards icons of Our Savior, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the saints. Many icons depect scenes from the life of Jesus, or some historic event in the history of salvation.

In showing them respect, it is customary to kiss icons as many Roman Catholics kiss the crucifix on a rosary, or at church on Good Friday. On a special occasion, a priest may bless people with an icon, especially if it is known that God has performed miracles through it.

Byzantine rite churches, both Orthodox and Catholic have icons in them. (Some have more than others depending on the economic status of the community and the over all design scheme of the church.)

Many Eastern Christians as well as Western Christians have icons in their homes to help them focus when praying. Some very popular icons among Latin Rite Catholics are Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Our Lady of Czestochowa.

Icons are found in all ancient branches of Christianity, even in the Catacombs in Rome, although not necessarily in the same style that we commonly see today.

In our tradition, icons are to be blessed by a priest with holy water before use, preferably in church. In some cases, the priest may touch the icon to a special liturgical object in the sanctuary such as the Gospel book left on the altar.

In former times, and still the practice in some chruches and monasteries, the icons [or any devotional object] being blessed would be left in the church for a period of 40 days. Within this period of time, the entire cycle of liturgical prayers would hopefully have been completed in the presence of the new icon lending it a greater sanctification.

I hope this information helps. Icons are a fascinating topic which includes much more information.

Anyone have anything to add?

Best Wishes to All!
Stefan

Welcome, Aussie Man!

My website's Q&A page, linked to the Intro page, has a new section about icons.

http://oldworldrus.com

Dear Akemner, Fr John, Stefan-Ivan & Serge,

Many thanks for your kind responses and very, very helpful information. I am very grateful for your replies.

Serge - excellent website. I have been studying Catholic-Orthodox issues for a few years now and have visited your website before. Your Q&A on Catholic-Orthodox differences is both objective and insightful and I have found that it has helped many Catholic & Orthodox people see the "other sides" point of view. Keep up the excellent work.

How does an Orthodox Priest bless an icon? Is it "out-of-line" to ask an Orthodox Priest to bless an icon if it is only going to be put in one's house (ie does an Orthodox / Byzantine Catholic Priest only bless an icon for "special occasions"?)

Thanks heaps again!!!

Love in Christ from Australia, Aussie Man.

Aussie Man,

You're welcome and thanks.

How does an Orthodox Priest bless an icon?

The way priests bless them ranges from saying a prayer and sprinkling them with holy water to bringing them into the altar (sanctuary in Western parlance) and putting them on the Holy Table (altar) during Liturgy.

Is it "out-of-line" to ask an Orthodox Priest to bless an icon if it is only going to be put in one's house (ie does an Orthodox / Byzantine Catholic Priest only bless an icon for "special occasions"?)

Not at all! In fact pious Orthodox will put up an icon at home only after the priest has blessed it.

http://oldworldrus.com

Dear Aussie Man,

The Greek Orthodox have a longer form of blessing icons or "Aghia" as they call them.

They leave their new icons in Church for forty days and nights. After this the priest anoints the icon with Holy Oil, as opposed to Holy Water as occurs in other Churches.

The Slavic tradition blesses icons with Holy Water.

I've often asked Orthodox priests to bless my icons of Orthodox saints and they are only too happy to do it.

There are different rites for the blessing of different icons.

There are, for example, four icons of the Holy Trinity blessed with a special blessing: Epiphany/Theophany, Pentecost, Transfiguration and the Old Testament Trinity.

An icon is often "written" (no painted) on wood to connect it with Christ's saving death on the Cross, the supreme expression of the reality of His Incarnation through which iconography is possible.

Other icons are done in brass or metal to signify the brass serpent that Moses raised in the desert when the children of Israel were being bitten by snakes.

Christ compared this event to His own being "raised up" on the Cross.

Icons are written with paint in which have been mixed all the elements of the Cosmos, as well.

Icon-writers are not like other painters. They lead ascetical lives, attend confession and Communion before getting to work and even have special prayers they say to bless their brushes, paint and canvasses which are sometimes wiped over with Holy Water.

The honour we show to the persons on the Icon goes to the Prototype in heaven.

When we kiss icons, we cross ourselves twice, bow down and then kiss the person on the icon move back and Cross ourselves again.

We never kiss the Face of Christ, but His feet or edge of His garment in imitation of the woman with the issue of blood who touched Christ's garment and was healed. The same is true of the Mother of God.

On icons of the Face of Christ only, we kiss the hair. When venerating the Epitaphion or Shroud on Great Friday, we again kiss the Feet of Christ only.

Alex