The word "icon" derives from the
Greek "eikon" and means an image, any image or representation,
but "in the more restricted sense in which it is generally
understood, it means a holy image to which special veneration
is given" . Even though the word "icon" applies
to all kinds of religious images -- those painted on wooden
panels (icons proper), on walls (frescoes), those fashioned
from small glass tesserae (mosaics) or carved in stone, metal
or ivory -- we associate it most often with paintings on wood.
The first Christian images appeared
around the third century. That could be an indication that
for the first two hundred years of its existence, the new
religion, probably affected by its Jewish roots and the Second
Commandment, "Thou shall not make unto thee any graven
images" (Exodus 20:4), objected to representational sacred
art, particularly to any representation of the Deity. When
Christians finally turned to art to aid them in promoting
the religion, they found many convertible examples in the
earlier art of mystery religions and in the pagan art of the
Roman Empire. Naturally, they incorporated various elements
from a number of sources: from Hellenic art they borrowed
gracefulness and clarity of composition; from the Roman art
they took the hierarchical placement of figures and symmetry
of design; from Syrian art they took dynamic movements and
energy of the represented characters; and from Egyptian funeral
portraits they borrowed large almond-shaped eyes, long and
thin noses, and small mouths. By the time Christianity became
the official religion of the Byzantine Empire (313), the iconography
was developing vigorously and the basic compositional schemes
were well established.
Even though the representations of holy figures and holy events
increased in number, they kept arousing suspicions of traditionalists
who inflexibly obeyed the Second Commandment and feared that
any deviation from it can lead to heresy or idol worship.
Such fears were, at least partially, justified. Not only the
average uneducated believer, but often the churchmen themselves
could not understand how the three hypostases of God are the
One and only God, and how can the divine and human nature
of Christ be reconciled.
In 726, the Emperor Leo III and a group of
overzealous "puritans" or traditionalists, arguing
that misinterpretation of religious images often leads to
heresy, banned all pictorial representations and began a systematic
destruction of holy images, known as the period of iconoclasm
(cf. the scene of whitewashing the images from the Khludov
Psalter). Referring to the decrees of the Fourth Ecumenical
Synod (Council) in Chalcedon (451) which defined that in Christ
the two natures, human and divine, are united without confusion
and without separation, the iconoclasts rejected the images
of Christ because for them they were simply material images
which either confused or separated the two natures of Christ.
Such confusion or separation, in the iconoclasts' opinion,
was tantamount to the heresies of Nestorianism, Arianism or
Monophysitism.
To fight the iconoclasts, the iconodules (the
defenders or lovers of icons) had to find powerful spokesmen
who would come up with convincing formulations to prove that
icons were not worshipped but venerated and that such veneration
was not idolatry. The iconodules based their defense of icons
on the Doctrine of the Incarnation and on the Dogma of the
Two Natures of Christ. St. John of Damascus (675-749) and
St. Theodore of Studios (759-826) wrote extensive treatises
explaining the reasons for and the importance of icon veneration.
The Damascene argued that "it is not divine beauty which
is given form and shape, but the human form which is rendered
by the painter's brush. Therefore, if the Son of God became
man and appeared in man's nature, why should his image not
be made?" The Studite defended the icons on the basis
of the ideas of identity and necessity: "Man himself
is created after the image and likeness of God; therefore
there is something divine in the art of making images. . .
As perfect man Christ not only can but must be represented
and worshipped in images: let this be denied and Christ's
economy of the salvation is virtually destroyed." The
iconoclasts, by rejecting all representations of God, failed
to take full account of the Incarnation. They fell into a
kind of dualism. Regarding matter as a defilement, they wanted
a religion freed from all contact with what is material, for
they thought that what is spiritual must be non-material.
But if we allow no place to Christ's humanity, to his body,
we betray the Incarnation and we forget that our body and
our soul must be saved and transfigured. Thus, Iconoclasm
was not only a controversy about religious art, but about
the Incarnation and the salvation of the entire material cosmos.
The Empress Irene suspended the iconoclastic persecutions
in 780. Seven years later the Seventh Ecumenical Synod in
Nicaea reaffirmed the veneration of icons:
"We salute (aspazometha) the form of the venerable and
life-giving Cross, and the holy relics of the Saints, and
we receive, salute, and kiss the holy and venerable icons.
. . These holy and venerable icons we honor (timomen) and
salute and honorably venerate (timitikos proskynoumen): namely,
the icon of the Incarnation of our great God and Savior Jesus
Christ, and of our immaculate Lady and All-Holy Theotokos,
. . . also of the incorporeal Angels -- since they appeared
to the righteous in the form of men. Also the forms and icons
of the divine and most famed Apostles, of the Prophets, who
speak of God, of the victorious Martyrs, and of other saints;
in order that by their paintings we may be enabled to rise
to the remembrance and memory of the prototypes, and may partake
in some measure of sanctification. . . To these icons should
be given salutation (aspasmos) and honorable reverence (timitiki
proskynesis), not indeed the true worship (latreia) of faith,
which pertains to the divine nature alone. . . To these also
shall be offered incense and lights, in honor of them, according
to the ancient pious custom. For the honor which is paid to
the icon passes on to that which the icon represents, and
he who reveres the icon reveres in it the person who is represented."
However, the attacks on the icons were renewed
by Leo the Armenian in 815. Only in 843, during the reign
of the Empress Theodora, the iconoclasts were defeated for
good; the day of their defeat is celebrated each year on the
first Sunday after Lent as Triumph of Orthodoxy.
After the triumph of the icon lovers, iconography
developed at an unprecedented speed. By the end of the tenth
century most iconographic formulae had been firmly established
and had been exported to other Orthodox countries (Bulgaria,
Serbia, and a little later, Russia), where they were further
developed and elaborated by regional schools.
|
