BIBLICAL DEFENSE OF ICONS

The standard charge of classical Protestantism is that the Orthodoxy is

“idolatrous” because of the tradition of reverencing icons, images, relics
and shrines. If Orthodoxy thought these sacramental conduits of grace
were magical idols, that would be a valid charge. In fact, as I have
argued with both Islamic and Jewish thinkers, what we call the
“Incarnational” principle is something all monotheistic religions adhere
to, even if inconsistently. For example, in Judaism the debate has raged
at times over whether the Torah or various temporal manifestations of
the divine, are in fact divinity manifesting. The reverence Jews place
upon the pages of Torah itself points to this same principle. For Islam,
the notion is similar, given the classical debates over whether Allah’s
words in the Koran are eternal. For both views, as well as ours, the
theological issue centers around God’s relation to the created order, time
and space.
For Protestantism, however, the issues are even more muddled, as
Protestants historically confess belief that God became man in the
Incarnation, yet due to their various philosophical biases and
presuppositions, fail to see the implications of this doctrine. For one, the
Incarnation of the Logos means the entire created order is renewed, as
detailed in Romans 8. Christ’s humanity is universal in character, and
forms the metaphysical basis for the resurrection of all men (1 Cor. 15).
All things are rendered anew in Christ’s recapitulation, as all creation
awaits the full pledge of deification (Col. 1) fully realized at the Last Day
and in the eternal state. The reply to Judaism and Islam is similar here
– if God can create, and if God can communicate in some sense
sacramentally through the created order using signs, words, symbols and
events, then God can also become Incarnate.

However, the biblical case for holy images is overwhelming when one
takes the above into account.

Furthermore, for those in Christianity who respect Tradition, the matter

was settled by the Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicea II in 787), which
many Protestants claim to adhere to (though they in fact do not in the
least0:
Nicea II based its argumentation upon the writings and argumentation
of Ss. Theodore of Studium, Germanus of Constantinople, and John of
Damascus. St. John of Damascus’ famous treatise In Defense of Holy
Icons is the overall basis for the arguments below. I will also include
some quotes from various Fathers defending images:

The argument against icons and images takes basically one form: The
Protestant view is the Second Commandment. Protestants argue that
there are to be no images made of God, or anything in heaven or earth,
based on the letter of the text. In response to this charge, it is important
to note that the Protestant view is quite inconsistent and impossible.
First, the literal wording of the Command forbids all making of any
images of anythingin heaven, earth, sea, etc. Famed reformed theologian
Charles Hodge, for example, mentions a reformed colleague of his at
Princeton who even refused to use maps that pictured things like
mountains, lakes, etc. This is at least an attempt at being consistent in
the outworking of the Protestants position, but should be mocked for its
childishness.

Two points refute this: the Commandment specifically mentions heaven,

earth, sea, etc. God is specifically countering the type of worship
Israelites encountered in their pagan neighbors like Egypt, Babylonia,
Philistia, Canaan, etc. In other words, “heavens,” meaning astrology,
“earth,” meaning animism and nature worship, and “sea” meaning
various forms of aquatic idolatry, such as Nile worship. God is not
railing against the inherent evil of an image, but against the practices of
the Israelite neighbors, which included any or all of the above. We can
further prove this with the second point: God Himself commands many
holy images to be placed inside the Holy of Holies. 1 Kings 6 describes
how ornate the inside of the Holy of Holies was, replete with images of
Cherubim and Seraphim, and of course the Ark itself had two huge,
golden Cherubim over its lid. If images were inherently evil, the
tabernacle/temple would not be full of them. Thus, the Second
Command cannot mean absolutely no religious images. It forbids pagan
idolatry, and clearly the temple worship, which had images, was not
idolatry.
Following in this same vein, when the Israelites were in the wilderness
and were bitten by the serpents, God commanded Moses to make an
image of a bronze serpent and put it on a pole and all the Israelites are to
look in faith to this image. This is recounted in Numbers 21. Once again,
this is clearly a religious image because Jesus explains it as a mystical
type of His crucifixion in John 3:14-15. All who will look to His Holy
Cross will be saved from the bite of the real serpent, the devil. In
Christian theology this is called typology, where the historical event pre
signifies a later fulfillment: We have here a vindication of the image of
the crucifix. This is also why St. Paul sees power in the Cross of Christ
(see Colossians 2:13-15) to disarm the devil’s fallen hierarchy of angels
and why such crosses are used in exorcisms.

The Bible itself is full is symbolism, which is merely another form of the
use of images as mentioned above. Thus, the Holy Spirit appears in the
form of a dove at Christ’s baptism, and in the text, a dove is legitimately
used as an image of the Holy Spirit. The paschal lamb is an image of
Christ, as the true and final Passover. God also presents Himself to us in
Scripture through a variety of images, or ikons. Human fathers, for
example, are a faint image of our heavenly Father. St. Paul, in Colossians
1:15, says that Christ is the image (Greek is “ikon”) of the invisible God.
It was, in fact, the Jews who were enraged at Christ’s claim of divinity, a
claim that provoked this same errorneous zeal against holy images. How
could the invisible Jehovah be Incarnate in a human image? To the
Pharisees, this was idolatry. Instead, the Orthodox view gives due honor
to the Incarnation by recognizing the validity and holy nature of images
as part and parcel of the Incarnation, and this was the reasoning of Nicea
II.
Some Protestants may hold to the validity of images, but deny the
reverence paid to them as idolatry. Does, then, Scripture provide any
warrant for reverencing anything created? All monotheist agree worship
is to be paid only to God. But what about reverence, or as Latins term it,
dulia? Is it licit to give homage, reverence, even prostration to any
created thing/image? The biblical answer is yes, since we see several
times in Scripture men occupying positions of authority being
reverenced. For example, Joseph, as a ruler in Egypt, deserves the
homage of his brothers and sisters, and thus they “bowed themselves
before him with their faces to the ground” (Gen. 42:7). The company of
the Lord’s prophets also bow down before Elijah in reverence in 2 Kings
2:15. Surely, if it were inherently wrong to bow before a created thing
(and Joseph and Elijah were created), they would have rebuked others
for so doing. There are numerous such examples of this in Scripture. St.
Paul says to give “honor to whom honor is due” (Romans 13:7), and if
anyone is due honor, it is the Saints and their relics.

In Acts 19:11-12, cloths and handkerchiefs are touched by Sr. Paul, and
are then placed upon those possessed, resulting in the spirits are driven
out by such “relics.” Likewise, the woman with an issue of blood touches
the hem of Jesus’ garment and “virtue goes forth from him” to heal her.
The bones of Elisha even resurrect a dead soldier (2 Kings 13): These
examples display the entire principle behind relics. Things–matter–stuff
can be consecrated/sanctified for such purposes and are conduits of the
divine energies. We also see this displayed as Jesus spits in the sand and
makes clay, rubbing it on the blind man’s eyes to heal him. Jesus could
have simply spoken a word and healed the man, but in this instance He
intentionally chose to use mud–stuff, to do the miracle. This
Incarnational principle is the same thinking behind sacraments.

Likewise, in the Old Testament period, locations were often spoken of as

holy, such as Mt. Sinai, the Temple, etc. Contrary to Protestantism, this
practice is not rejected in the New Testament: In John 5, there is a pool
where an angel stirs up the water and the first to enter the pool is healed.
This is continued in the Orthodox principle behind shrines and healing
icons. In 2 Peter 1:16-18, St. Peter calls the mountain where he
witnessed the Transfiguration and the divine energetic Light, the “holy
mountain.” Thus, even in the New Testament the principle of holy
placesis not abolished.
The patristic view is also very clear:
“We do not worship, we do not adore [non colimus, non adoramus], for
fear that we should bow down to the creature rather than to the Creator,
but we venerate [honoramus] the relics of the martyrs in order the better
to adore Him whose martyrs they are.” Against Riparium
-St. Jerome
“We by no means consider the holy martyrs to be gods, nor are we wont
to bow down before them adoringly, but only relatively and reverentially
[ou latreutikos alla schetikos kai timetikos].” Against Julian
-St. Cyril of Alexandria
And Bl. Augustine Against Faustus the Manichaean:

“We, the Christian community, assemble to celebrate the memory of the

martyrs with ritual solemnity because we want to be inspired to follow
their example, share in their merits, and be helped by their prayers. Yet
we erect no altars to any of the martyrs, even in the martyrs’ burial
chapels themselves.”
“No bishop, when celebrating at an altar where these holy bodies rest,
has ever said, “Peter, we make this offering to you”, or “Paul, to you”, or
“Cyprian, to you”. No, what is offered is offered always to God, who
crowned the martyrs. We offer in the chapels where the bodies of those
he crowned rest, so the memories that cling to those places will stir our
emotions and encourage us to greater love both for the martyrs whom we
can imitate and for God whose grace enables us to do so.

So we venerate the martyrs with the same veneration of love and

fellowship that we give to the holy men of God still with us. We sense
that the hearts of these latter are just as ready to suffer death for the sake
of the Gospel, and yet we feel more devotion toward those who have
already emerged victorious from the struggle. We honour those who are
fighting on the battlefield of this life here below, but we honour more
confidently those who have already achieved the victor’s crown and live
in heaven.

But the veneration strictly called “worship”, or latria, that is, the special
homage belonging only to the divinity, is something we give and teach
others to give to God alone. The offering of a sacrifice belongs to worship
in this sense (that is why those who sacrifice to idols are called
idol-worshippers), and we neither make nor tell others to make any such
offering to any martyr, any holy soul, or any angel. If anyone among us
falls into this error, he is corrected with words of sound doctrine and
must then either mend his ways or else be shunned.

The saints themselves forbid anyone to offer them the worship they
know is reserved for God, as is clear from the case of Paul and Barnabas.
When the Lycaonians were so amazed by their miracles that they wanted
to sacrifice to them as gods, the apostles tore their garments, declared
that they were not gods, urged the people to believe them, and forbade
them to worship them.

Yet the truths we teach are one thing, the abuses thrust upon us are
another. There are commandments that we are bound to give; there are
breaches of them that we are commanded to correct, but until we correct
them we must of necessity put up with them.”