Icon/Icons/Iconic
- Michael Haldas
- 14 minutes ago
- 3 min read
“…in Christ all of life becomes both a doxology and a theophany. We see God enthroned everywhere, in every creature, leaf and blade of grass, and yet understand that somehow in his humility He also asks for our kind welcome and care. And so we praise God by conveying the mercy we receive from him to all of the creation around us. Creation remains creation, but it now functions as an icon of Christ in his twofold anointing as both resurrected king and sacrificial victim. The world becomes for us a giant procession; each part of the world becomes part of a liturgy for the life of the rest of the world–a liturgy for God in Christ, in other words, for He is our Life, and the world moves for him!” (Timothy G. Patitsas)
“Once we have learned to understand creation iconologically, we know that while we live, we always continue to bear the image of God. In the depths of our hearts, this is always who we really are. While we continue to draw breath, the ultimate reality we all reflect is God’s life, and that is a life of perfect goodness and love. Deep down beyond the dragons and all the other “treasures of wickedness” in the heart, it is the image of God that most truly defines who we are. However obscured that image may seem, it is possible to read my particular shame iconologically to help find my way through my heart—past the dragons and back to Him.” (Andrew Williams)
“How can we learn to love God? By loving His creation—man. Man is the image of God, and it’s impossible to love the Archetype while treating the image of God without love, to disrespect the icon. It’s not without reason that the Apostle John the Theologian writes to us: If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: ‘for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.’ (1 Jn. 4:20–21).” (Archpriest Pavel Gumerov)
“What you acknowledge in the other, you acknowledge in yourself. What you acknowledge in yourself, you acknowledge in the other. If we are all created in the image and likeness (icon) of God, and Christ is the perfect Icon of the Father, then we are all unique icons of Christ. There is no room for individuality in any of this. Indeed, it is an ontological impossibility. You can never truly be out of the relationship with God and your fellow man. You can merely fail to recognize and acknowledge the relationship.” (Reverend Christopher T. Metropulos, D. Min.)
“Since every human person is an icon of God, how we treat them reveals our relationship to Him. Christ taught that what we do “to the least of these,” to the most wretched people, we do to Him. If we become so obsessed with gratifying our own desires for pleasure or impressing others that we refuse to convey His mercy to our neighbors, our actions will show that we have rejected our Messiah and denied the truth of His resurrection. We will then be unable to bear witness to His victory over the corrupting power of sin and death. Regardless of what we say we believe or our membership in the Church, our actions will demonstrate that we want no part of the salvation that the God-Man has brought to the world. Like the rich man, we will exclude ourselves from the joy of the Kingdom. Remember the words of the Lord: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven (Matt. 7:21).” (Fr. Philip LeMasters)
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