St Teresa of Avila ‘The Way of Perfection’
The purpose and
function of an icon
It is quite common to hear that icons are “windows into
heavens”. Unfortunately, this poetic metaphor has a flavour of distantly
gazing, through a window, into the immeasurably far away heavens – where God is
surrounded by his angels and his saints. The icon, on this take, has something
to do with “beautiful enigmatic art” along with notions like “artefact”,
“museum”, even “esoteric” and so on. There could be no more contrary approach
to the meaning of the icon than this one.
While icon painting unites both fine art and the wealth of
theology (namely Christological and Trinitarian dogmas) the first true icons
(that is, not symbolic representations like lamb or fish) were born out of the
simple need of a human heart, to look at the portraits of those they love. The
portrait-like depictions of Jesus Christ and Virgin Mary appeared first; the
dogma of the Seventh Ecumenical Council about the veneration of the holy images
was second. Likewise, the prayer of a believer before an icon of Christ, true
God and true man, was first – it is only centuries later that icon painting was
proclaimed to be the activity that reinforces the reality of Incarnation. The
active engagement with the icon was first, the dogma which defends such
engagement was second.
A door, not a window
Hence icons satisfy the need of a believer to have a
portrait of those he loves. But there is much more. A person who suddenly stops
before an icon, being drawn by it, looks intently into the eyes of Christ for
some time and then sinks into prayer repeats exactly that what happens in the
Gospels with the contemporaries of Christ. Countless people there are stopped
by Christ and forced to look into His Face or, longing to see Him, are joining
the crowds or climbing a tree or on roof tops and inevitably find themselves
being pulled out by Christ, from the crowd or the tree, for the purpose of
looking at each other. And then something happens: via looking into the human
Face of God a person is brought into the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven; the
Kingdom which is here and now, the Incarnated Christ being the Door into the Kingdom
of Heaven Himself! The person who suddenly engages with Christ via
contemplation of His icon is not different from one in the Gospels. The icon,
so to speak, is the picture on the Door who is Christ, the picture which makes
the [now] invisible visible, the door into the Door, together with the Gospels
which are the portrait of Christ in words.
The function of an icon then is to pull a person into the
reality of Christ. How does it do this? – First, via depicting the reality of
the spiritual world which invites a viewer to step into it. The One depicted on
the icon definitely has a life and radiates a sense of presence. He is not like
a photo or a portrait of a relative who has passed away; He looks at the viewer
intently now and waits for the response here and now. And yet, although His
presence is very real He is of another world or better to say via looking at
Him a viewer sees much more than only a human being in Him.
If a viewer says “yes” to the invitation his mind will be
gradually stilled and silenced. It is achieved by a specific visual language
(peculiar rhythm of lines, choice of colours, proportions, even technique)
which makes an icon an organic part of the prayer of the Church. So, an icon is
not a “window into heaven” but a visual depiction of a prayer and invitation to
pray at the same time. It also has an imprint of the personal prayer of the
iconographer, to the subject of his work and of his personal spiritual
experience.
However, even the hypothetical “best icon in the world” can
do nothing if the proper disposition of the viewer is missing, just like Christ
in the Gospels could do nothing if a person was not willing to to engage with
Him. While no one prays to the icon itself but prays to its prototype a
believer is expected to approach an icon with the same reverence if as he was
before the prototype. If this attitude is absent a viewer typically sees
nothing but “art”. This is entirely logical: the component of reverence to the
prototype is absent for him so he is unable to engage with the latter. [The
lack of reverence I believe signifies the lack of personal connection. Who
could approach Our Lord casually, with his hand in the pockets so to speak?
Then how can His icon be approached casually? It is entirely normal, for a human
being, to transfer his feelings for a person to their depiction; a lover
kissing his treasure, a photo of his beloved is an obvious example.]
What was said about the function of the icons of Our Lord
also applies to the icons of Our Lady and the Saints – the persons who dwell in
the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven and who reflect Christ, who are themselves
Christ-like.
How to see an icon
1. Icons are designed to be looked at “up”, not “down”. They
are usually placed slightly above eye level, both in churches and in homes.
There is an anecdote from Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh (London), about a
convert to Eastern Orthodoxy who “could not see anything in icons” – something
he related to the Orthodox congregation while casually glancing at the icon of
Christ. A young woman advised him: “try to kneel”. So he did, and suddenly he
saw. The kneeling of course forced him not just to change his point of view but
his attitude as well.
In the Orthodox household the smaller icons are usually not
hung but placed on special shelves from which they can occasionally be taken to
hold in hands during a meditation, for the sake of creating more intimacy with the
One depicted.
Noteworthy, this active engagement with the holy images is
not exclusive to Eastern Orthodoxy. In Spain, for example, Roman Catholics
carry the holy images (statues) in the streets at certain feasts, just like the
Holy Host is carried on the feast Corpus Christi. Those facts highlight a close
connection between the holy images and the Eucharistic Christ; one can also
recall the devotions to the Holy Face which is intimately connected with the
Eucharist, and so on.
2. It takes time to connect with the depicted Person. Just
as engaging with someone in flesh and blood, a few seconds of casual looking
will not do.
3. Remaining in the presence of God while looking at an icon
is, in my opinion, an equivalent of “a prayer of a simple look” (Roman Catholic
definition), a very simple affectionate prayer which is said to be a necessary
step towards contemplation. My opinion seems to be confirmed by the advice of
St Teresa of Avila to her nuns always to have with them a picture of Our Lord
which stirs their affection and also her words about prayer “I am not asking
you to do anything more than to look at Him”. It is not surprising then that
many, at some point, being pulled closer by the Lord, stop noticing the icon
and go into whatever prayer the Lord gives to them. A person, being led by
Christ, moves from the icon into his own heart.
There is nothing “esoteric” about those two approaches,
Orthodox and Carmelite; both simply use the holy images to focus all attention
on the Person of Christ.
4. Apart from being the focus for prayer, the icons serve as
an aid to developing the sense of being in God’s presence (that is also a
prayer of course).
Some common misconceptions about icons
It is probably easy to see, in the context of what was said
before, that a commonly heard statement “a true icon must be of Byzantine or
Russian style made with gold and egg tempera on wood” has very little to do
with the primary purpose of the holy images. It is quite possible to make an
icon with acrylics on paper and not in Byzantine but Georgian or Ethiopian or
any style and, as long as it is in conformity with the teaching the Church and
pulls the viewer into a relationship with God, it is an icon. It is equally
possible to make a perfectly Byzantine looking icon painted with egg tempera on
wood layered with gold which will look not as a door or even a window into
heavens but something impenetrable. Naturally, different people would feel
affinity with very different icons – this is why different styles and different
approaches are good – but one should look for a personal connection first and
only then think about the materials and style.
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