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A representation of Christ, the Virgin Mary, angels, saints, or even events of sacred history, used since the 5th-c for veneration and an aid to devotion, particularly in the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches. They are typically in Byzantine style, flat, and painted in oils on wood, often with an elaborately decorated gold or silver cover. They are believed to be the channel of blessing from God.

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For other senses of this word, see icon (disambiguation). For a list of icons for use on Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Icons.

An icon (from Greek , eikon, "image") is an image, picture, or representation; in computers an icon is a symbol on the monitor used to signify a command; by extension, icon is also used, particularly in modern popular culture, in the general sense of symbol —

In Eastern Orthodoxy and other icon-painting Christian traditions, the icon is generally a flat panel painting depicting a holy being or object such as Jesus, Mary, saints, angels, or the cross. Icons may also be cast in metal, carved in stone, embroidered on cloth, done in mosaic work, printed on paper or metal, etc.

Images in religion

Throughout history religion has often made use of images, whether in two dimensions or three. Some, such as Hinduism, have a very rich iconography called murti, while others, such as Islam, severely limit the use of visual representations.

There is no evidence of the making and use of painted icons or of similar religious images by Christians within the New Testament writings. Dr. Steven Bigham writes (Early Christian Attitudes Toward Images, Orthodox Research Institute, 2004), "The first thing to note is that there is a total silence about Christian and non-idolatrous images. In other words, relying only upon the New Testament as evidence of no painted icons amounts to an argument from silence.

Though the word eikon is found in the New Testament (see below), it is never in the context of painted icons. There were, of course, Christian paintings and art in the early catacomb churches. Many can still be viewed today, such as those in the catacomb churches of Domitilla and San Callisto in Rome.

The earliest written records available of Christian images treated like icons are in a pagan or Gnostic context. Irenaeus, in his Against Heresies 1:25;6, says of the Gnostic Carpocratians, ?They also possess images, some of them painted, and others formed from different kinds of material; They crown these images, and set them up along with the images of the philosophers of the world that is to say, with the images of Pythagoras, and Plato, and Aristotle, and the rest.

A criticism of image veneration is found in the apocryphal Acts of John (generally considered a gnostic work), in which the Apostle John discovers that one of his followers has had a portrait made of him, and is venerating it:
(27) ?...he John went into the bedchamber, and saw the portrait of an old man crowned with garlands, and lamps and altars set before it. and even later, in the account given by Evagrius, the painted image is transformed into an image that miraculously appeared on a towel when Christ pressed the cloth to his wet face (Veronica and her Cloth, Kuryluk, Ewa, Basil Blackwell, Cambridge, 1991). In 1204 it was lost when Constantinople was sacked by Crusaders.

Elsewhere in his Church History, Eusebius reports seeing what he took to be portraits of Jesus, Peter and Paul, and also mentions a bronze statue at Banias / Paneas, of which he wrote, "They say that this statue is an image of Jesus" (H.E. I.B.

When Christianity was legalized by the emperor Constantine within the Roman Empire in the early 4th Century, huge numbers of pagans became converts.

Images from Constantine to Justinian

After the legalization of Christianity under Constantine, and its adoption as the Roman state religion under Theodosius I, Christian art began to change not only in quality and sophistication, but also in nature. However, in the Old Testament we read of prophets having dreams of various heavenly figures, including a vision of God who appeared to Daniel as an elderly man, the "Ancient of Days".

It is also in this period that the first mention of an image of Mary painted from life appears, though earlier paintings on cave walls bear resemblance to modern icons of Mary. In later tradition the number of icons of Mary attributed to Luke would greatly multiply.

Early icons such as those preserved at the Monastery of St. Catherine at Sinai are realistic in appearance, in contrast to the later stylization. They are very similar to the mummy portraits done in encaustic wax and found at Faiyum in Egypt. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) said that no one knew the appearance of Jesus or that of Mary (De Trinitatis 8:4-5), though it should be noted that Augustine wasn't a resident of the Holy Lands and therefore wasn't familiar with the local populations and their oral traditions. form, and that as punishment his hands withered.

Though their development was gradual, we can date the full-blown appearance and general ecclesiastical (as opposed to simply popular or local) acceptance of Christian images as venerated and miracle-working objects to the 6th century, when, as Hans Belting writes, "We first hear of the church's use of religious images...(Likeness and Presence, University of Chicago Press,1994). Cyril Mango writes, "In the post-Justinianic period the icon assumes an ever increasing role in popular devotion, and there is a proliferation of miracle stories connected with icons, some of them rather shocking to our eyes" (The Art of the Byzantine Empire 312-1453, University of Toronto Press, 1986).

The Iconoclast period

Main article: Iconoclasm There was a continuing opposition to misuse of images within Christianity from very early times. Nonetheless, popular favoritism for icons guaranteed their continued existence, while as yet no systematic apologia for or against icons, or doctrinal authorization or condemnation of icons existed.

The use of icons was seriously challenged by Byzantine Imperial authority in the 8th century. Though by this time opposition to images was strongly entrenched in Judaism and in the rising religion of Islam, attribution of the impetus toward an iconoclastic movement in Eastern Orthodoxy to Muslims or Jews "seems to have been highly exaggerated, both by contemporaries and by modern scholars" (see Pelikan, The Spirit of Eastern Christendom).

Though significant in the history of religious doctrine, the Byzantine controversy over images is not seen as of primary importance in Byzantine history. (Patricia Karlin-Hayter, Oxford History of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, 2002).

The Iconoclastic Period began when images were banned by Emperor Leo III sometime between 726 and 730. Under his son Constantine V, an ecumenical council forbidding image veneration was held at Hieria near Constantinople in 754. Image veneration was later reinstated by the Empress Regent Irene, under whom another ecumenical council was held reversing the decisions of the previous iconoclast council and taking its title as Seventh Ecumenical Council. Then the ban was enforced again by Leo V in 815. And finally icon veneration was decisively restored by Empress Regent Theodora.

Icons in Greek-speaking regions

Icons are used particularly among Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Coptic and Eastern Rite Catholic Churches.

As was described above, the icon painting tradition developed in Byzantium, with Constantinople as the chief city. We have only a few icons from the 11th century and no icons dating from the two centuries that preceded it, firstly because of the Iconoclastic reforms during which many were destroyed, secondly because of plundering by Venetians in 1204 during the Crusades, and finally the taking of the city by the Islamic Turks in 1453.

It was only in the Comnenian period (1081-1185) that the cult of the icon became widespread in the Byzantine world, partly on account of the dearth of richer materials (such as mosaics, ivory, and enamels), but also because a special screen for icons was introduced in ecclesiastical practice.

In the late Comnenian period this severity softened, and emotion, formerly avoided, entered icon painting. Major monuments for this change include the murals at Daphni (ca. 1100) and Nerezi near Skopje (1164). The Theotokos of Vladimir (ca. 1115, illustrated to the right) is probably the most representative monument to the new trend towards spirituality and emotion.

The tendency toward emotionalism in icons continued in the Paleologan Period, which began in 1261. In the last half of the 1300s, Paleologan saints were painted in an exaggerated manner, very slim and in contorted positions, that is, in a style known as the Paleologan Mannerism, of which Ochrid's Annunciation is a superb example.

After the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453, the Byzantine tradition was carried on in regions previously influenced by its religion and culture--the Balkans and Russia, Georgia, and in the Greek-speaking realm, on Crete.

Crete, at that time, was under Venetian control and became a thriving center of art of the Scuola di San Luca, the "School of St. Luke," an organized guild of painters. In 1669 the city of Heraklion, on Crete, which at one time boasted at least 120 painters, finally fell to the Turks, and from that time Greek icon painting went into a decline, with a revival attempted in the 20th century by art reformers such as Photios Kontoglou, who emphasized a return to earlier styles.

Icons in Russia

Main article: Russian icons

Russian icons are typically paintings on wood, often small, though some in churches and monasteries may be as large as a table top. Many religious homes in Russia have icons hanging on the wall in the krasny ugol, the "red" or "beautiful" corner. There is a rich history and elaborate religious symbolism associated with icons. In Russian churches, the nave is typically separated from the sanctuary by an iconostasis (Russian ikonostás) a wall of icons.

The use and making of icons entered Kievan Rus' (which later expanded to become the Russian Empire) following its conversion to Orthodox Christianity from the Eastern Roman (Byzantine)Empire in 988 A.D. As time passed, the Russians - notably Andrei Rublev and Dionisius - widened the vocabulary of types and styles far beyond anything found elsewhere. The personal, improvisatory and creative traditions of Western European religious art are largely lacking in Russia before the 17th century, when Simon Ushakov's painting became strongly influenced by religious paintings and engravings from both Protestant and Catholic Europe.

In the mid-17th century changes in liturgy and practice instituted by Patriarch Nikon resulted in a split in the Russian Orthodox Church. The traditionalists, the persecuted "Old Ritualists" or Old Believers," continued the traditional stylization of icons, while the State Church modified its practice. From that time icons began to be painted not only in the traditional stylized and nonrealistic mode, but also in a mixture of Russian stylization and Western European realism, and in a Western European manner very much like that of Catholic religious art of the time. The Stroganov movement and the icons from Nevyansk rank among the last important schools of Russian icon-painting.

Icon traditions in other regions

Main article: Romanian icons

In Romania, icons painted as reversed images on glass and set in frames were common in the 19th century and are still made. Athos were gradually replaced by small, locally produced icons on glass, which were much less expensive and thus accessible to the Transylvanian peasants..." (Romanian Icons on Glass, Dancu, Juliana and Dumitru Dancu, Wayne State University Press, 1982).

The Egyptian Coptic Church and the Ethiopian Church also have distinctive, living icon painting traditions.

The Protestant Reformation

The abundant use and veneration historically accorded images in the Roman Catholic Church was a point of contention for Protestant reformers, who varied in their attitudes toward images. A joint Lutheran-Orthodox statement in Helsinki reaffirmed the Ecumenical Council decisions on the nature of Christ and the veneration of images:

"The Seventh Ecumenical Council, the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, which rejected iconoclasm and restored the veneration of icons in the churches, was not part of the tradition received by the Reformation. Yet, Lutherans and Orthodox are in agreement that the Second Council of Nicaea confirms the christological teaching of the earlier councils and in setting forth the role of images (icons) in the lives of the faithful reaffirms the reality of the incarnation of the eternal Word of God, when it states: "The more frequently, Christ, Mary, the mother of God, and the saints are seen, the more are those who see them drawn to remember and long for those who serve as models, and to pay these icons the tribute of salutation and respectful veneration. Certainly this is not the full adoration in accordance with our faith, which is properly paid only to the divine nature, but it resembles that given to the figure of the honored and life-giving cross, and also to the holy books of the gospels and to other sacred objects" (Definition of the Second Council of Nicaea)."

Icons and images in contemporary Christianity

Today attitudes can vary even from church to church within a given denomination, whether Catholic or Protestant. Protestants generally use religious art for teaching and for inspiration, but such images are not venerated as in Orthodoxy, and many Protestant church sanctuaries contain no imagery at all.

After the Second Vatican Council declared in the 1960s that the use of statues and pictures in churches should be moderate, most statuary was removed from many Catholic Churches. Present-day imagery within Roman Catholicism varies in style from traditional to modern, and is often affected by trends in the art world in general.

Icons are often illuminated with a candle or jar of oil with a wick. (Beeswax for candles and olive oil for oil lamps are preferred because they burn very cleanly, although other materials are sometimes used.) The illumination of religious images with lamps or candles is an ancient practice pre-dating Christianity.

Historically and up to this day, among conservative Eastern Orthodox Christians there are reports of particular, miraculous icons that exude fragrant, healing oils, or perform miracles upon petition by the believers. Islands like that of Tinos are renowned for possessing such "miraculous" icons, and are visited every year by thousands of believers, with the purpose of petitioning these icons.

Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic teaching about Icons

Icons are used particularly in Eastern Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern-rite Catholic churches.

The Eastern Orthodorx view of the origin of icons is quite different from that of some secular scholars and from some in contemporary Roman Catholic circles: "The Orthodox Church maintains and teaches that the sacred image has existed from the beginning of Christianity" (Leonid Ouspensky, Theology of the Icon," St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1978). Thus accounts such as that of the miraculous "Image Not Made by Hands," and the weeping and moving "Mother of God of the Sign" of Novgorod are accepted as fact: "Church Tradition tells us, for example, of the existence of an Icon of the Savior during His lifetime (the "Icon-Made-Without-Hands") and of Icons of the Most-Holy Theotokos Mary immediately after Him." (These Truths we Hold, St. Tikhon's Seminary Press, 1986). Eastern Orthodox further believe that "a clear understanding of the importance of Icons" was part of the church from its very beginning, and has never changed, although explanations of their importance may have developed over time. Also, icons served as tools of edification for the faithful during most of the history of Christendom when most couldn't read nor write.okai?

Eastern Orthodox find the first instance of an image or icon in the Bible when God made man in His own image (Septuagint Greek eikona), recorded in Genesis 1:26-27. Eastern Orthodox believe these qualify as icons, in that they were visible images depicting heavenly beings and, in the case of the cherubim, used to indirectly indicate God's presence above the Ark.

In Numbers it is written that God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and hold it up, so that anyone looking at the snake would be healed of their snakebites. John of Damascus also regarded the brazen serpent as an icon. Further, Jesus Christ himself is called the "image of the invisible God" in Colossians 1:15, and is therefore in one sense an icon. As people are also made in God's images, people are also considered to be living icons, and are therefore "censed" along with painted icons during Orthodox prayer services. This is because the theology behind icons is closely tied to the Incarnational theology of the humanity and divinity of Jesus, so that attacks on icons typically have the effect of undermining or attacking the Incarnation of Jesus himself as elucidated in the Ecumenical Councils.

The Eastern Orthodox teaching regarding veneration of icons is that the praise and veneration shown to the icon passes over to the archetype (Basil of Caesarea,On the Holy Spirit 18:45: "The honor paid to the image passes to the prototype"). Thus to kiss an icon of Christ, in the Eastern Orthodox view, is to show love towards Christ Jesus himself, not mere wood and paint making up the physical substance of the icon.

The Latin Church of the West, which after 1054 was to become separate as the Roman Catholic Church, accepted the decrees of the iconodule Seventh Ecumenical Council regarding images. This view of images as educational is shared by most Protestants.

Catholics also, however, accept in principle the Eastern Orthodox veneration of images, believing that whenever approached, images of the cross, saints, etc. The word eikon is found in:

1. Genesis 1:26-27;
   
2. Genesis 5:1-3;
   
3. Genesis 9:6;
   
4. Deuteronomy 4:16
   
5. 1 Samuel (1 Kings) 6:11 (Alexandrian manuscript);
   
6. 2 Kings 11:18;
   
7. 2 Chronicles 33:7;
   
8. Psalm 38:7
   
9. Psalm 72:20;
   
10. Isaiah 40, 19-20;
    
11. Ezekiel 7:20;
    
12. Ezekiel 8:5 (Alexandrian manuscript);
    
13. Ezekiel 16:17;
    

Ezekiel 23:14;
Daniel 2:31,32,34,35;
Daniel 3:1,2,3,5,7,11,12,14,15,18;
Hosea 13:2

Be aware that Septuagint numberings and names and the English Bible numberings and names are not uniformly identical.

Eikon in the New Testament

In the New Testament the term is used for everything from Jesus as the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15) to the image of Caesar on a Roman coin to the image of the Beast in the Apocalypse (Revelation 14:19).

• Revelation 13:13;
  
• Revelation 13:15;
  
• Revelation 14:9;
  
• Revelation 14:11
  
• Revelation 15:2
  
• Revelation 16:2
  
• Revelation 19:20;
  
• Revelation 20:4.
  

See also

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• Christian symbolism
  
• Crucifix
  
• Emblem
  
• Iconoclasm
  
• Iconography
  
• Iconostasis
  
• Ideogram
  
• Idolatry
  

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• Image
  
• Proskynetarion
  
• Symbol
  
• Symbolism
  
• Religious symbolism
  
• Religious topics
  
• Templon
  
• Veneration
  

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