Ever Ancient, Ever New: Sunday of Orthodoxy

Today we celebrated the Triumph of Orthodoxy. On March 11, A.D. 843, the people of Constantinople marched into the Church of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) carrying the icons back into their proper place, having been banished by the iconoclasts some 150 years earlier. Every year now, on the first Sunday in Great Lent, we commemorate this triumph of beauty and truth over fear and iconoclasm. With all Orthodox Christians the world over, we processed out of our church, carrying our icons and ringing our bells! The joy was evident on all faces; I felt as if I were transported back to “the old country” (though I’ve never been there and am not even sure which one!). The crosses on standards, the censing, the icons in all hands, the neighborhood dogs playing the only iconoclasts today with their irritated barking, the pajama-clad neighbor watching our strange procession while munching on her microwave popcorn…. all of it reminded me that the Kingdom of Heaven is not the kingdom of this age.

The iconoclasts were not entirely bad people (many were undoubtedly very pious and had good intentions). It appeared to them that the second commandment (to have no “images”) was being violated by the icons (though political and social pressures against icons were most assuredly contributing factors to the iconoclastic mind, considering the ever expanding Islamic empire in the East). The 7th Ecumenical Council and Fathers, such as St. John of Damascus, were clear to point out, though, that they, too, shared the same concern over not violating the 2nd commandment of Moses.

Exodus 20.4 says,

“You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God…” (RSV).

The iconoclasts appealed to this text as proof that icons were the equivalent of idols and thus forbidden by this commandment. One can find thousands of web pages and many books today that make the same claim (I just found one a moment ago that specifically accuses the Russian Orthodox Church of idolatry for having “images” in their churches).

However, the Fathers of the True Faith pointed out several things that completely undermined this extreme and ahistorical position of iconoclasm. First, they pointed out that the same God who gave this commandment ALSO commanded that carved images be made to go into the Holy of Holies. The Fathers pointed out that the God who gave the 2nd Commandment was not opposed to skillful and artistic creativity in the worship of the One God (Exodus 31.1-11). They also pointed out that God further desired carved images of cherubim to be placed upon the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25.17-22). Thus, they concluded, God could not have meant by the 2nd Commandment that the making of religious images was intrinsically wrong. The determining factor, therefore, must have been twofold: (1) What was the image going to be used for? (2) What was the image of?

The Holy Fathers agreed that no images should be worshipped, for this would definitely contradict the 2nd Commandment. They also agreed that no images could be made of the invisible God. But, why was this? They pointed out that, according to Moses’ homily in Deuteronomy 4, it was because no man had seen God:

Since you saw no form (emphasis mine) on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a graven image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that fliesin the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. And beware lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and worship them and serve them, things which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven . . .

Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make a graven image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you. For the LORD your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God. (Deut. 4.15-24, selected from RSV)

As the Holy Fathers noted, the reason the Israelites were forbidden from making images was that no “form” of God had ever been seen. Thus, no form should be substituted for the invisible God, to be worshiped in HIS place.

But, what the Fathers pointed out was twofold, again. First, icons are not objects of worship. “Worship” was to be offered ONLY to God. Icons were to be “venerated” or honored, ONLY. The Fathers spoke of honoring the Saints and their images, using the same language that the Apostles used to speak of “honoring” those “to whom honor was due.” Thus, this charge of “worshiping images” (clearly forbidden by the 2nd Commandment) made by the iconoclasts fell flat.

Secondly, and prominently, the Fathers pointed out that the Incarnation changed everything. Quite literally. As St. John pointed out, the “Word was God,” and the “Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” The man Jesus was God. When one looked upon a dusty, tired carpenter born in Bethlehem and hailing from Nazareth, they were looking upon GOD. Our priest pointed out this morning that if one of us had seen Him walk by, or touched the hem of his garment, would we ever have forgotten that image? It would have been forever stamped on our memory. Whereas God HAD BEEN invisible, so that no man had seen a form of Him, NOW, with the incarnation, such was no longer the case. If the reason for making no images was partly because God was invisible, then the reason for making images was now that He had taken flesh and appeared unto us in human vesture. As Jesus told His apostles: “He who has seen my has seen the Father” (John 14.8). No longer does God appear unseen by men. His divine essence, his “substance” or “nature” is still ineffable and invisible; but, in Christ, God has taken on flesh and become visible.  No longer can we say that “no form has been seen,” for now God HAS appeared in human form.   Form has been seen.  And thus, the Fathers argued, icons were ACTUALLY the fulfillment of the 2nd Commandment, given the reality and implications of the Incarnation.

And so, today, we processed with our icons, showing that matter does matter. We proclaimed, as St. John of Damascus did so long ago with the Church of our Savior, we do not worship matter, but honor it, because by it God Himself chose to save us, i.e., by His body of flesh.

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I have been often asked by well-meaning Evangelicals: “Doesn’t the ‘Liturgy’ get boring? Don’t you get tired of doing the same thing every week?” If they only knew! Every week is different! Every day is its own feast! Even in the midst of Lent, a season of repentance, we celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy. Rituals, ceremonies, vestments, feasts galore; Orthodoxy has it all, seated firmly in truth and beauty and faithful adherence to Christ, Who is the Son of God. It dawned on me just today: Orthodoxy is my home, and in part it is so beautiful because it is the place where one can find newness every day, every week, without ever having to invent anything. It is, indeed, ever ancient, ever new.

Glory be to God, who has shown us the Light!