Iconography & Sacred Art

Theology of Icons

Icons are not mere religious art: they are 'theology in color,' windows into the heavenly reality. The veneration of icons is grounded in the Incarnation: because God became visible in Christ, it is possible and proper to depict Him. 'He who has seen Me has seen the Father' (John 14:9). The honor paid to the image (eikon) passes to the prototype (protypon).

Sources

St. John of Damascus, Three Treatises on the Divine Images
Seventh Ecumenical Council (787) the Acts, NPNF
Leonid Ouspensky, Theology of the Icon

Connections

Christ Pantocrator (Icon Type)
Hagia Sophia
Holy Tradition
Iconoclasm
Seventh Ecumenical Council: Nicaea II (787)
St. John of Damascus (c. 676-749)
St. Theodore the Studite (759-826)
The Cross (Symbol & Object)
The Incarnation
The Quinisext Council (Trullo, 692)
The Triumph of Orthodoxy
Theotokos Icon Types

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