Icons

 

For now we see in a mirror dimly

1 Cor. 13:12

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At this point, we have traced the connection between logoi and Logos, between aesthetic and substance, between reflective matter and the deeper reality. If the created objects in their natural form each bear some reflection of God, what is the case when these objects are formed again by intention to bear His likeness more clearly? While icons have a practical and pedagogical use in that they are a visible expression of theology, this is not their only purpose. In the holy images of the Church, the reality of Christ, the cosmos and man's purpose converge at a single point to create not just a representation, but a mirror.

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Fr. Maximus Constas says that icons are "a place for spiritual encounter," or rather, the place where two planes of existence touch; the physical and the spiritual. Icons are reflections of divine realities in the same way that all of creation reflect the Logos naturally, but rather than being borne of the natural earth, they are in a sense born by the Spirit and formed by the hand of man. The object is given a "glorified body". The creation is transfigured. It is for this reason that the image has a mystical participation in the holiness of the person depicted, the effulgence of God's grace infusing the material form due to its likeness to Christ, He who blessed all matter by His incarnation. When we behold an icon, we are beholding the grace and goodness of God as given through Christ on earth. Vladimir Lossky, the 20th century theologian, summarizes this in a phrase: [an icon] is a material centre in which there reposes an energy, a divine force, which unites itself to human art.

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An attempt to describe this beyond what the mystery immediately reveals itself would far surpass my own ability and I will leave it to those who speak with much more precision and grace. However, it is worth further developing the concept of image and likeness in matter, for if this is truly the way the cosmos operate, it would do so consistently in various forms. So let us consider the vivid example given to us before the incarnation of our Lord: the Tabernacle and Temple.

(Part 9 of 14 of Mimetic Reality series)