So what St. John and St. Theodore and the other defenders of the holy icons claimed is that Jesus reveals God through his humanity. He doesn’t conceal God; he reveals God. God is made known through his human flesh, and therefore can be seen and heard and tasted and touched and smelled; that God really is with us in Jesus....
Then when he was speaking openly, the Apostle Philip says to him... “Ah, now you are speaking openly, no longer in parables. But one thing still is lacking.” He said, “Show us the Father and we’ll be satisfied.” And Jesus said to Philip, with some exasperation; he said, “Philip, have I been with you so long and you still do not understand? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
So we Christians believe that he who sees Jesus sees the Father in him. The Father’s invisible, but he becomes visible in his Son, who is his word, who is his image, who is his wisdom, who is his truth, who is his peace, who is his light, who is his life. He actually becomes flesh and becomes visible. Therefore, when you have an image of Jesus, you have an image of God becoming visible; that in the humanity of Jesus, you are given insight into the invisible character of God. As St. John of Damascus said, if a person wants to know what a Christian believes, just show them an icon, because the icon testifies to the incarnation of the Son of God, the real incarnation of the Son of God; that God really became a human being whose image can be depicted.
So the event of his birth can be depicted, his crucifixion can be depicted, the activities of his human life could be depicted, his ascension into heaven can be depicted. Then there developed a whole language of how to do these depictions, how to make an icon....
And when you depict a saint, you show that saint as a real human being. Already early on, Paul and Peter and John the Baptist and Andrew were painted in certain ways that you could identify them. All through history they are painted, from England all the way to India, looking pretty much the same way so that you know who they are. But when they are painted, they are also painted as saints, filled with grace, holy, sanctified, deified, illumined, enlightened. They’re shown really as human beings, but human beings who have been made divine by grace, who have been made holy. So the icon is a testimony to the Gospel. It’s a testimony to the reality of the Christian faith, and therefore the making of icons is totally proper. It’s a testimony; it’s a witness. And then venerating them is totally proper.
- Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko
Then when he was speaking openly, the Apostle Philip says to him... “Ah, now you are speaking openly, no longer in parables. But one thing still is lacking.” He said, “Show us the Father and we’ll be satisfied.” And Jesus said to Philip, with some exasperation; he said, “Philip, have I been with you so long and you still do not understand? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
So we Christians believe that he who sees Jesus sees the Father in him. The Father’s invisible, but he becomes visible in his Son, who is his word, who is his image, who is his wisdom, who is his truth, who is his peace, who is his light, who is his life. He actually becomes flesh and becomes visible. Therefore, when you have an image of Jesus, you have an image of God becoming visible; that in the humanity of Jesus, you are given insight into the invisible character of God. As St. John of Damascus said, if a person wants to know what a Christian believes, just show them an icon, because the icon testifies to the incarnation of the Son of God, the real incarnation of the Son of God; that God really became a human being whose image can be depicted.
So the event of his birth can be depicted, his crucifixion can be depicted, the activities of his human life could be depicted, his ascension into heaven can be depicted. Then there developed a whole language of how to do these depictions, how to make an icon....
And when you depict a saint, you show that saint as a real human being. Already early on, Paul and Peter and John the Baptist and Andrew were painted in certain ways that you could identify them. All through history they are painted, from England all the way to India, looking pretty much the same way so that you know who they are. But when they are painted, they are also painted as saints, filled with grace, holy, sanctified, deified, illumined, enlightened. They’re shown really as human beings, but human beings who have been made divine by grace, who have been made holy. So the icon is a testimony to the Gospel. It’s a testimony to the reality of the Christian faith, and therefore the making of icons is totally proper. It’s a testimony; it’s a witness. And then venerating them is totally proper.
- Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko
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