Icons
With all the statues and paintings that one can find there, visiting a Catholic church (especially a cathedral or the older churches) can sometimes feel like visiting an art gallery. Of course, not even the grandest church is meant to be simply visited for its art, so why are those sculptures and paintings there?
Any work of art in a Catholic church (as a matter of fact, this applies to all churches) is more than just a work of art. It is an icon.
What is an icon? An icon is any work of art, the purpose of which is to turn the heart and mind of the viewer towards God. Hence, an icon can be a statue of a Saint, or of a scene from the Bible (or from Church history). In short, an icon is an image of the Gospel (CCC 1160).
But hold on, you may be remembering in the back of your mind the second Commandment:
You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth.
(Exo 20:4)
And indeed, there are many Christians outside the Catholic Church who do not approve of the use of icons because they believe God ordered them not to be made.
At first sight, this belief is understandable. When we look more closely at the matter, however, we see why it is an mistaken one. In the second commandment, God is talking very specifically about idols, not icons. What is the difference between them? Well, as mentioned above, an icon is a work of art that turns our heart and mind to God. An idol, however, is a work of art that is given worship as if it was God, or, a god. So that the Israelites would know the difference, after commanding that no carved image be made, God clarifies what kind of carved image He is talking about. He does so by commanding what is not to be done before them. He says,
You shall not bow down to them or serve them…
(Exo 20:5)
Unfortunately, this is what the Israelites proceeded to do when they worshipped the Golden Calf (Exodus 32:1-5), but that is another story. In the meantime, let us see how God explained to the Israelites what kind of carved images were acceptable to Him. Here are the Old Testament references for some of the occasions when God instructed icons to be made.
… you will model two great winged creatures of beaten gold, you will make them at the two ends of the mercy-seat. Model one of the winged creatures at one end and the other winged creature at the other end; you will model the winged creature of a piece with the mercy-seat at either end. The winged creatures must have their wings spread upwards, protecting the mercy-seat with their wings and facing each other, their faces being towards the mercy-seat. You will put the mercy-seat on the top of the ark, and inside the ark you will put the Testimony which I am about to give you. There I shall come to meet you; from, above the mercy-seat, from between the two winged creatures which are on the ark of the Testimony.
(Exodus 25:18-22)
‘The dwelling itself you will make with ten sheets of finely woven linen dyed violet-purple, red-purple and crimson. You will have them embroidered with great winged creatures… You will make a curtain of finely woven linen, dyed violet-purple, re-purple and crimson, and embroidered with great winged creatures…
(Exodus 26:1,31)
…God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel. The people came and said to Moses, ‘We have sinned by speaking against Yahweh and against you. Intercede for us with Yahweh to save us from these serpents.’ Moses interceded for the people, and Yahweh replied, ‘Make a fiery serpent and raise it as a standard. Anyone who is bitten and looks at it will survive.’ Moses then made a serpent out of bronze and raised it as a standard, and anyone who was bitten by a serpent and looked at the bronze serpent survived.
(Numbers 21:8-9)
In the Debir he made two great winged creatures of wild-olive wood… It was ten cubits high. One winged creature’s wing was five cubits long and the other wing five cubits: ten cubits from wing tip to wing tip. The other winged creature also measured ten cubits; both had the same measurements and the same shape. The height of one was the same as the other’s. He placed them in the middle of the inner chamber; their wings were spread out so that the wing of one touched one of the walls and wing of the other touched the other wall, while their wings met in the middle of the chamber wing to wing. And he overlaid them with gold. All round the Temple walls he carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees and rosettes, both inside and outside. He overlaid the floor of the Temple with gold, both inside and outside…
(1 Kings 6:23-29)
He carved winged creatures, palm trees and rosettes, which he overlaid with gold laid evenly over the carvings.
(1 Kings 6:35)
He made the Sea of cast metal, ten cubits from rim to rim, circular in shape and give cubits high; a cord thirty cubits long gave the measurement of its girth. Under its rim and completely encircling it were gourds surrounding the Sea; over a length of thirty cubits the gourds were in two rows, of one and the same casting with the rest. It rested on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, three facing west… On the crosspieces of the undercarriage were lions and bulls and winged creatures…
(1 Kings 7:23-26; 29)
…for the gold for the model of the chariot and of the great winged creatures which cover the ark of the covenant of Yahweh with wings outspread…
(1 Chronicles 28:18-19)
…[Solomon] decorated the hall beautifully with precious stones and with gold from Parvaim, overlaying the hall, its beams and its thresholds, its walls and its doors, with gold and engraving the walls with great winged creatures.
He also made the Holy of Holies, the length of which corresponded to the width of the Great Hall, being twenty cubits, with a width of twenty cubits, and this he overlaid with fine gold weighing six hundred talents, while the weight of the gold nails was fifty shekels. He also overlaid the upper rooms with golf. In the Holy Holies he modelled two winged creatures of wrought metal work and overlaid them with fold. The total span of their wings was twenty cubits’ one wing, being five cubits long, touched the wall of the house and the other wing, being five cubits long, touched the wing of the other winged creature; while one wing of the other, five cubits long, touched the other wall of the house and the other wing, five cubits long, touched the wing of the other winged creature. The spread of these creatures’ wings was twenty cubits. They stood in an upright position, with their faces towards the Hall.
He also made the curtain of violet, scarlet, crimson and line linen, working a design of winged creatures on it.
(2 Chronicles 3:7-14)
From the door to the inner part of the Temple, as well as outside, and on the wall all round, both inside and out, were carved great winged creatures and palm trees, one palm trees, one palm tree between two winged creatures; each winged creature had two faces: a human face turned towards the palm tree on one side and the face of a lion towards the palm tree on the other side, throughout the Temple, all round. Winged creatures and palm trees were carved on the wall from the floor to above the entrance.
(Ezekiel 41:15)
The ultimate justification for icons, however, does not rest even with God’s authorisation for them in the Old Testament. Rather, it rests with Jesus Himself. St. Paul describes Him thus,
He is the image of the unseen God…
(Colossians 1:15)
image here is translated from the Greek word eikon, from which is derived, you guessed it, icon! What makes Jesus so special, however, is not that He is the icon of God – insofar as we are conformed in our hearts to God, you and I are icons of God – but that as well as being an icon of God, He is God Himself. As St. Paul says,
He is the image of the unseen God,
the first born of all creation,
for in Him were created all things
in heaven and on earth:
everything visible and everything invisible,
thrones, ruling forces, sovereignties, powers –
all things were created through Him and for Him.
He exists before all things
and in Him all things hold together,
and He is the Head of the Body,
that is, the Church.
He is the Beginning,
the first-born from the dead,
so that he should be supreme in every way;
because God wanted all dullness to be found in Him
and through Him to reconcile all things to him,
everything in heaven and everything on earth,
by making peace through his death on the cross.
(Col 1:15-20)
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