In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
John 1.43-51
At that time, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. And he found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael, and he said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”
Today is the Sunday of Orthodoxy, also known as the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. It marks our joyful remembrance of the final repudiation of the heresy of Iconoclasm, a heresy which rejected the Holy and wholesome Tradition of the Church of the worship of God and the veneration of His Mother and His saints through the Holy Icons. Today to call someone an iconoclast is usually a form a compliment. They are someone who is standing up against settled beliefs, beliefs which they consider to be wrong in spite of the opinion of most others. But an iconoclast during the time this heresy held sway was essentially a thug and a vandal, in addition to being a heretic. Thug, because they persecuted those who held to the Orthodox faith, sometimes to the point of torture and death; vandals because they destroyed the Holy Icons whenever they could – the word iconoclast literally means icon breaker; and heretics, of course, because they promoted a belief that was in opposition to the Orthodox faith.
What drove these men? Well, their argument was that the Old Testament condemned the creation of images and their worship. You may recall here how David, in psalm 113, roundly condemns such practices; and how throughout the Old Testament there are multiple prohibitions against setting up statues and the like and worshipping them as gods. However, if we look to the history of the Church the archaeological evidence shows the use of images from the earliest days of the Church. There are countless images, for example, found in the catacombs of Rome. These are a precious inheritance. Hidden away as they were, they survived the depredations of the destruction wrought by the iconoclasts and became buried treasure more valuable than the gold, silver, and jewels of fanciful tales.
More than this, the Church Fathers tell us of the Mandylion, an image created by Christ Himself of His Holy face by pressing a cloth against it in order to send it to King Abgar the 5th, a Syrian monarch whose capital was in Edessa, who had written to Him begging to be healed of his illness. What might be called the first icon was created by Christ Himself. Further, the Fathers tell us that St Luke the evangelist and writer of the Acts of the Apostles was an icongrapher. And whose image was it that he set down? None other than that of the Holy Theotokos herself. Therefore, the making of icons was approved by both God and the Mother of God. Christ gave us the example of the making of icons of Him; and His holy mother gave us the example of the making of icons of her and the saints.
Why the change from Old Testament condemnation and prohibition to New Testament approval and celebration? The answer is the Incarnation of our Lord. Prior to His birth, God was invisible and attempts to make images of Him was wrong, nothing more than an act of imagination. But in Christ, God was made man and could now be seen. God had given us an image of Himself in the person of His Son, the second person the Holy Trinity. God was no longer invisible, He had revealed Himself to us and to make images of Him and worship Him through those images was only no longer wrong, it was good and necessary.
The reality of the Incarnation is what makes Iconoclasm a heresy. For to claim that it is wrong to make icons of Christ is to deny that He has come in the flesh, that He is truly man as well as being truly God. This is why it, like all heresies must be resisted; because they deny some truth of our faith, a truth that was revealed to us by God Himself.
The Church Fathers tell us that icons are like windows into heaven. When we look at them we are, essentially, standing before the person they show. When we stand before an icon of His Holy Mother or of His saints, we stand before them, offering them our veneration. And when we stand before an icon of Christ, we stand before Christ Himself, offering Him our worship. I am reminded here of the words that St Philip spoke to St Nathanael which we heard today in our Gospel reading. Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ And Philip replied, ‘Come and see.’ We also are invited to come and see, not to stand in the physical presence of Christ as Nathanael was, but, in a very real but different way to stand before Him through the means of His Holy Icons, a means of worshipping Him that He blessed; and a blessing that He gave to us Himself.
The Iconclasts tried to deny us this God-given blessing. This what heretics do. This is something to remember when you hear of new heresies being born or attempts to resurrect old ones. The Holy Orthodox Church resisted the heresy of Iconoclasm and prevailed; for as Christ Himself told us, the gates of hell itself shall prevail against His Church. This Sunday, give thanks for the great blessing we have in the icons. And during this Lent, and always, worship God and venerate His Mother and His saints through them. Amen.
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