Holy Ikons Inspire True Faith and Good Works
Homily for the Sunday of the Fathers of the 7th Ecumenical Council
Titus 3:8-15,,,,,,,Luke 8:5-15
What first catches your eye when you come into the church? Probably the ikons. They are everywhere: in front of you on the iconostasis, above you, around you on the walls, even in the midst of you on the tetrapods. When we walk into the church, we walk into the Communion of Saints. They inspire us to consider God’s great gifts and to pray in praise and thanksgiving. They teach us by their stories and symbols. They delight us by their colors and patterns and facial expressions.
Now imagine the church without the holy ikons. Bare walls. No color. No saints to “talk” to. Nothing to remind us of the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. We might as well gather in a corporate conference room.
Today the Church honors the memory of the 350 holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council. We have them to thank for the welcoming, comforting, inspiring presence of the holy ikons.
Held in 787, the Seventh Ecumenical Council sought to end the long, painful, often violent period of Iconoclasm—image-smashing. Iconoclasm officially began in 726 under Emperor Leo III. In 780, Empress Irene stopped it, and in 787, the Council made veneration of ikons Christian doctrine. Unfortunately, iconoclasm did not die, officially restarted by Emperor Leo V in 815 and finally stamped out by order of Empress Theodora in 843. During that period of almost 120 years, a puritanical faction in the Church, led by fanatical gangs of monks but including even Patriarchs and Emperors, waged war against holy images, calling them idolatrous and claiming that they violated the Old Testament commandment against graven images. They tried to destroy all ikons, statues, carvings, and other images of Christ, the Theotokos, and the saints.
As a result, almost no ikons remain from before the 8th Century. Because of its remote location, only St Catherine’s Monastery at Mt Sinai possesses a significant number of pre-iconoclastic ikons.
Seeking to put an end to the violence resulting from faulty theology and to restore appropriate reverence and worship in the Church, the bishops who gathered in Nicea for the Seventh Ecumenical Council clearly defined the place of ikons in Christian life. They approved making images of Christ because He took flesh and became a man. In this way, ikons affirm the Incarnation, an essential article of faith that teaches us the goodness of created matter, sanctified and redeemed by God’s entering the material world in the flesh. We should not depict the Father, for no one has seen the Father; however, a hand extended from a cloud can represent the action of the Father. We can show the Holy Spirit as a dove because the Spirit appeared in the form of a dove at Christ’s baptism in the Jordan. The Council plainly stated that the faithful should honor or venerate ikons by kissing them and bowing to them, and that doing so does not offer worship to wood and paint but to Christ and the saints whom the ikons depict.
To keep us from the temptation to worship images, the iconographic tradition of the Byzantine East excludes three-dimensional images and allows only flat paintings. Iconographers avoid realistic representations, depicting features and clothing in stylized and exaggerated ways, such as the extremely high forehead of St John Chrysostom, which symbolizes his great wisdom. Many ikons of St John the Forerunner and Baptizer show him holding his own head on a plate, reminding us of his martyrdom. Ikons of the Transfiguration portray the amazement of the disciples Peter, James, and John in their impossibly contorted postures.
Other symbols add to our understanding of theological truths. For instance, most ikons of Christ show Him in a blue cloak over a red tunic, indicating that He is God who put on humanity, while ikons of the Theotokos depict her in a blue tunic covered with a red cloak, revealing her as a human overshadowed by divinity when she conceived and gave birth to the Son of God. Bishops are shown holding the Gospel book and giving a blessing. Martyrs hold crosses or the instruments of their martyrdom. Holy healers hold medicine boxes and anointing wands. Prophets carry scrolls, usually inscribed with their prophetic words.
In the light of today’s reading from the Gospel according to Luke, we can see Iconoclasm as an example of seed sown on the road or on rocks; iconoclasts had defective faith that could not take root or flourish. Likewise, we can take the decision of the Seventh Ecumenical Council as an example of sowing seed in good soil; the Holy Fathers guided the Church onto good ground, well-prepared to nourish strong faith.
In today’s reading from St Paul’s Letter to Titus, whom he had made bishop in Crete after founding the Church there, the Apostle gives advice that still binds not just bishops but all of the Christian people. It certainly applies to the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council and their repudiation of Iconoclasm. He says that Titus (and all of us) should insist on true belief so that believers “may be careful to devote themselves to good works” and “avoid stupid controversies.” We can argue that St Paul does not rule out confronting serious controversies that threaten the Church, such as Iconoclasm. He advises that we should admonish people who cause division (which is what “heresy” means) once or twice, and then have nothing more to do with them, because they condemn themselves by their sins. The Seventh Ecumenical Council reinforced and united the Church in the good work of true belief and proper worship, leaving the iconoclastic heretics to condemn themselves.
Let us also hold fast to true doctrine and good works, giving thanks and praise and glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit through veneration of the holy ikons, now and ever and to ages of ages. Amen.
