In this recording, Archimandrite Athanasios Mytilinaios (1927-2006) answers the question of whether venerating wooden icons is a form of idolatry. This teaching defends the true incarnation of Christ, reminding us that because the Son of God became a perfect man, He can be visibly depicted and faithfully honored by the Church.
Audio source: “Answers to questions“, no. 579 (in Greek), January 31st, 1993
https://arnion.gr/index.php/diafora-uemata/pantiseis-pori-n-katixitiko
Fr. Athanasios:
Q: When we kiss the wooden icons, do we kiss and venerate the wood?
A: Let’s see. This matter is not so easy as someone would probably think, since I want you to know that it was an issue that afflicted the Byzantine Empire for over 100 years. At that time, Monophysitism was on the rise which in principle was responsible for the Ιconoclasm. The issue of whether we worship the wood when we venerate the icons or even that we cannot depict Christ in general was settled by the 7th Ecumenical Council. The whole quarrel was not about the Saints and the Virgin Mary, but it was about Jesus Christ. Can you depict Christ? Christ is God, so can God be depicted? That was the whole issue. But if he cannot be depicted, it means that he did not become a man, and if he did not become a man, then we fall into the heresy called Monophysitism: accepting only one of his natures. Did he become human? Then we can depict him.
So, when we say that we celebrate the victory of the 7th Ecumenical Council, which proclaimed that we can venerate icons and worship Christ, as well as the Holy Cross, etc., do you actually know what it means? This is exactly what we say on that Sunday, the Sunday of Orthodoxy. Because it is the Orthodox view-position that the Son of God truly became man. That is why we can and do depict Him. If he didn’t really become a man, really, how could we portray him? Therefore, in reality we accept the true incarnation of God-Word and that is exactly what the Evangelist John mentions: “the Word became flesh”. If we do not accept that, Monophysitism lurks either overtly or covertly in our beliefs. Whenever we deny one of the two natures of Christ, we are close to Monophysitism. Arianism was essentially a form of Monophysitism, since Arius denied the divine but not the human nature, while the subsequent Monophysitism denied the human and not the divine. This matter, that we have incarnation at will, that is, imaginary incarnation and many other things, was criticized by the Fathers of our Church and by the Synods.
However, Jesus Christ is a God-man, which means perfect God and perfect man; if we say “perfect God” we refute Arianism, and if we say “perfect man” we refute later Monophysitism. That is why the expression “the God-human person of Christ” says it all. Therefore, since Christ became a perfect man, he can be depicted. But now let’s move on to the second aspect of this issue: the veneration. I can depict Christ, yes, since He became a man, I can paint Him. How can I venerate Him? Many people think that when they venerate an icon, they worship the paint, its shape and the wood. If you have the wood and the paint in your mind, then you venerate what you have in mind. That means you are an idolater and you worship a piece of wood. Actually, the Book of Solomon very accurately mentions the following: you take and cut a large piece of wood and you carve it into an idol, and you use the rest as wood for your fire or you make a stool out of it. There the idol is blamed, of course, because you carve one part of the wood into an idol that you worship, and you put the other part of the same wood into the fire to keep you warm or to cook your food. “Aren’t you stupid?” says the Wisdom of Solomon. Indeed. So, you cannot have the wood in your mind, but what will you have instead? You will have the painted face depicted on the wood in your mind, that is, the person of Jesus Christ. I do not have it in front of me in a perceptible way, so I will venerate his icon. Basil the Great mentions two things that constituted the core of Saint John of Damascus’ works, and were the foundation of the 7th Ecumenical Council: that the veneration of the icon, he says, passes over to the original, that is all. The veneration passes over to the original. What is the original? Τhe living person of Christ. Thus, if I venerate his icon, I venerate the original.
It is well known that the Chiliasts reject the icons. But do you know how they can be convinced that you rejected Orthodoxy? They give you an icon of Christ and tell you: spit on it and step on it. But they do not understand that to prove this denial they are using the icon again. When you use the icon for this denial and you admit that you will only be convinced that the other person denied Christ’s divine nature if he spits the icon, he breaks it or if he insults it, you don’t understand that in this way you accept the same thing. Because if the icon meant nothing to you, it would be unnecessary to challenge someone to break it, knowing that both veneration and blasphemy pass over to the original. If you break the icon, blasphemy passes over, but if you don’t believe in the icon what will pass over it? If veneration does not pass over, will blasphemy pass? Both honorary veneration and blasphemy pass over. That is why it is a terrible sin to break the icon of Christ or to desecrate it in any way, because everything passes over to Christ Himself.
If you decorate an icon with flowers, it also passes over to the original; it means you honor Him. All the flowers were made by God. A nice troparion chanted during the Holy Week mentions: “It is you, God, and Word of God, who created the beautiful flowers”; it is a very nice troparion. That is why we adorn the epitaph with flowers. Do you know why it is not considered idolatry to decorate the epitaph, the icons, etc.? Because in this way we honor him; the honor of putting flowers that the Creator himself made -the one who became man and died and we have the saving memory of his death- passes over to the original. When I was little, I was told that you must not smell the flower that you adorn the icon with, I don’t know if I told you this and if you understand its meaning; it must be a virgin flower; you must not reap its smell before offering it to Christ. No; the Evangelist clearly says that when Christ sat on that donkey to enter Jerusalem triumphantly, no one had ever sat on it before. He also says that in the tomb where he was buried, no one else had ever been buried there before. Although He came into our world, Christ keeps for himself certain privileges. Consequently, when you offer him a flower, you must not smell it beforehand, because the whole flower and its smell belong to Him. So, this passes over to the original, it’s a very important thing. That is how we worship Christ.
I repeat, all the fuss is about Jesus Christ, and not about the Virgin Mary and the Saints, because the latter were fully human. Therefore, I always have the original in my mind and that’s where my mind and my heart rise and go, because we have a Lord in heaven and we invoke Him through His image. The presence of the icon constitutes a psychological need for us, apart from the fact that it symbolizes the refutation of Monophysitism by accepting the divine and human nature of Christ. As an ascetic once said, I do not remember who at the moment: “and how am I going to do without having an image in front of me?” This is important. Do you know that many people would be afraid to sleep in a church alone at night? They feel that Christ sees them and He will punish them; but why would He punish them? If you are a thief and you break into a church to steal and your eyes fall on the icons above but you do not feel anything, you have become a villain, you have become an animal, you are no longer a human being if the icon does not affect you. The icon affects us just like the image of our mother and father; I cannot be considered an idolater if I take my mother’s blessing from her photo, nor if I look at her photo, that is preposterous. On the contrary, I draw courage from it because humans need images. For this reason, God created man in His image. The issue of the veneration of icons is of fundamental theological importance. I repeat and conclude with this matter of the icons; it was the subject of an entire Ecumenical Council that was characterized as the victory of Orthodoxy. That is all for this question as well.
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