Words are movable, shaded and nuanced. Have you ever heard the expression, "A picture is worth a thousand words"? God was proclaimed by the Holy Spirit in words by Moses and the Prophets of all ages, actually since time began. Remember the old sayings, "It's not written in stone" "This IS written in stone" and "This is yet to be written in stone." More certainly than the stone tablets of Moses, God's Incarnation into the womb of Mary, him taking on HER humanity, was a writing in Stone. What before had been symbolized by the Holy Spirit, clouded, seen in myriad symbols and signs, became written in Stone in the Divine/Human Man, Jesus Christ. What had not and could not be depicted, except in abstract symbolism, took concrete form and became "depictable." So that what had been spoken in words, and depicted in abstract symbolism became an Living Human Being, with personality and features, countenance, expression, emotion.
Those who chose to bow to the heresy of the Muslims and condemn the depiction of Jesus Christ in holy imagery (Ikons) attacked HIM, tried to remove him to non-incarnational status, tried to ROB his likeness from the consciousness of future generations of Christians, tried to take his humanity away and make of him "spirit only" and remove his Divine/Humanity from the vision and thoughts of the believer. The Incarnation of Jesus Christ wasn't so that he could teach, but that he could be the LIVING IKON of God the Father.
The great theosophist Thomas Jefferson said, "I believe in Jesus Christ in every way he would have wanted me to believe in him. I believe in what he taught." You cannot be saved and find eternal life depending exclusively on what Jesus taught. Shocking words I know. Much less could Jefferson find salvation in the teachings he excluded in the same manner as the "Jesus Seminar" centuries later. Because both believed in a false Jesus, in a Jesus of their own creation, a product of their pride and imagination, they could not believe that "their" Jesus would say, this thing or that thing. But even when the words are clearly placed on a page, and all of them are included, as the myriad Protestant versions of the Gospel prove, words are movable, shaded and nuanced. Healing/salvation lies rather in who Jesus was and what he did and people HEARING about it, and learning about it in written word, spoken word and ART. He was God incarnate, Truly Human, Truly Divine, depictable in human reality, yet containing the fullness of the Godhead. The core Christian statement of faith, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed says nothing about Jesus' teaching, but says WHO he WAS and WHAT he DID. Every aspect of each of his actions contains the mystery of the Gospel, and every action is depictable. Hundreds, maybe thousands of Truths of the Gospel are depictable.
What do you think was the motivation of Satan, when he tried through the demonic influence of Islam, the use of the Roman Emperor and apostate Churchmen, to stamp out physical depictions of Jesus Christ, the Patriarchs, the Prophets, Angels and Saint and . . . the stories, the parables, the events of the Gospel? It was to rob the Church of the new means of spreading the message of the Gospel, to block the Church from creating those very IKONS that today even iconoclast cults have burned in their memory:
the Annunciation - when God became man,
The Nativity
the Presentation when the infant Jesus first shed blood for us,
His temptation by Satan in the Wilderness
His Betrayal by Judas,
His Agony in the Garden before his arrest,
His Arrest,
His trial before Pilate.
His Torture on a Cross,
His Shedding of Blood and Water,
His removal from the Cross,
The Preparation of his body for the Tomb,
His Tomb,
His sojourn in hell, where he lead captivity captive,
His Resurrection where he conquered death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowed LIFE,
His Meetings with his faithful after the Resurrection,
His revelation to Doubting Thomas,
His cooking and eating with his apostles,
His Ascension into Heaven,
His Kingship,
His Revelation to Saul on the Damascus Road
- these are just a few of the Depictions possible of the Story of the Gospel, the incarnation, the Message of the Cross. They are immanently and naturally DEPICTABLE.
What wealth Satan tried to seal through the arrogance and self-righteousness of prideful men! Everyone of these IKONS taught myriad generations of illiterate and simple people, and burned these scenes and the MEANING of these scenes into the hearts of Centuries of Faithful. In this, the Church is seen NOT as trying to "hide the Bible" from ordinary people, as is the common and ignorant anti-catholic accusation, but rather though massive book publishing called "codices" (starting in the 1st century) the forerunner of modern book publishing, spread these very expensive hand-produced works, the Books of Holy Scripture into several languages and to multiple continents. AND MORE, they created the universal language of ICONOGRAPHY, so that even the unlearned could view the picture, hear the story and have two means of retaining the message of God's Living Word, who is the person, Jesus Christ.
And what about that NAME, Jesus the Christ? In his condescension He created NAMES, The Messiah, Jesus Son of David, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Son of God, Emmanuel (and others). These given to him FOR man's sake, so that we would be able to SPEAK HIS NAME, as Friend and Brother; he also gave us the name of the Great unspeakable I AM, that name being Abba, (Father - most closely related to the English word, Daddy) something that before the Incarnation would have been unthinkable blasphemy. When we pray we say collectively, "Our Father" - what a wonder is that. Who else has a family, whose Father is GOD? Instantly these names were reduced to Iconography, that is given symbols to "picture" and remember.
Alpha And Omega: These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, signifying that Jesus Christ is the beginning and end of all things (Rev. 22:13).Chi Rho: This is a monogram of the first two letters X and P of the Greek word for Christ.
Chi Rho with Alpha and Omega: This symbol for the Lord comes from the catacombs and indicates that he is the beginning, continuation and end of all things.
Chi Rho with Alpha and Omega in a Circle: The symbol for Christ is within the symbol for eternity (the circle), thus signifying the eternal existence of the Savior.
I X: This symbol for the Lord consists of the initial letters of the Greek words for Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ The Victor: This is a Greek Cross with the abbreviated Greek words for Jesus Christ, the lines above the letters indicating that the words are abbreviated. The letters NIKA are translated victor or conqueror.
I.N.R.I.: These are the initial letters for the Latin inscription on the Cross of the Crucified Christ. Iesus Nazaremus Rex Indaeorum: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews (John 19:19).
I.H.B.I [Greek]
[Slavonic]
Sun and Chi Rho: The sun is the source of light and Jesus is referred to as the Light (John 1:4). The sun is combined with the CHI RHO, another symbol for Christ (Mai. 4:2).
Accuse the Orthodox of "worshiping idols" and you attack the person of Jesus Christ, depicted in those IKONS, The Christ, the Living Word of God, The Way, The Truth, and The LIFE, given us to DEPICT in IKONS to share and teach, not just by words but VISUALLY. "1Jn 1 ff That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full."
Accuse the Orthodox of "worshiping idols" because we venerate the Saints depicted in ICONOGRAPHY and you attack the Sanctity of Christ himself.
Do you not know that what has been witnessed may be depicted in Sacred Icon? That not only can we "tell you" we can "draw you a sacred picture"? And when you attack it, do you not know you attack the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, "Heb 2:11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren". Families and family members can be depicted, and even the Son of God may have his likeness depicted, and in the hands of the worshiping Eucharistic Society that IS his family, IT IS SACRED ICONOGRAPHY and NOT Idol. Using VISUAL AID to draw to mind and heart THROUGH the SACRED OBJECT depicted, showing that ICON reverence, is the least respect it deserves. Both to Jesus Christ, but also to ALL the Saints because, HE who sanctifies and those he sanctifies are ONE.
Since Satan was defeated in his attempt to destroy Sacred Iconography he had to choose another tact. That happened in Western Art, where depraved artists began to create images that were "anti-christ" vulgar, demeaning and even lewd. With the advent of photography and moving pictures he greatly increased his anti-christ depicting enterprises. We see a constant diet of it on the History Channel, Net/Geo the National Geographical Channel, on all the major networks and in movies like The Last Temptation of Christ and The Divinci Code, to name only two of many. Sadly in this culture that anti-christ depiction is all many know.
This anti-christ depiction of Jesus Christ and his Church is prevalent in this Western Society, financed by a who's who list of Jesus Haters. It has herded mindless quasi-Christians into a conditioned state, where the mere mention of The Church brings from their gut an immediate attack as if the Church of Jesus Christ is evil. I remember seeing a lecture about early Church History by a former "evangelical believer" turned Agnostic, who in all honesty gave a fair verbal depiction of the formation of the Church. At the end of the presentation, a young man stood to ask a question and asked some absolutely ridiculous question about some conspiracy of the Roman Church. The former Evangelical, a PhD professor in Roman History looked stunned and said, "You are making reference to the Divinci Code, correct."
The young man acknowledged that was his point of reference.
The professor returned, "It never happened."
Then the young man was stunned. He responded, "Who are you to say? What proof do you have?"
The professor said, "I know the difference between fact and fiction. It is that simple. The Divinci Code is entertainment, and totally fictional."
The young man said, "How can you say that? How can you know?"
"Well, after all, I have a PhD in both early Church History and Secular Roman History. I have the witness of historians of the contemporary period, the Roman and Jewish historians, not to mention the record of the Church itself. I'm not even a Christian, but I've spent decades studying these sources and I'm telling you, it never happened."
In total incredulity the young man asked, "How can I know that what you are saying is true?"
The professor said the logical thing. "I invite you to spend the years I've spent studying the extant material and see if you can come to another conclusion."
Still the young man was not convinced.
The anti-Christ depiction of Christ in the 20th and 21st Century is a massive brainwashing tool. I looked at that clean-cut well dressed articulate college student, caught in the sorcery of the New Babylon. I heard the words of the prophet Isaiah speaking to those who are the image of nice people without God, comfortable and prosperous on the outside yet filled with great poverty and tragic but laughable foolishness. As affluent and educated as he was, he had been "suckered" played the fool by sorcery. "Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, which you learned with much labor from your youth; see if you will be able to profit from this. You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. (He was truly frustrated and angry and I'm sure he had spent much energy imbibing every anti-Christ, anti-Church message, book, blog, movie etc., available to him.) Let the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save you from these things that will surely come upon you. Behold all these shall be burned like sticks in a fire, and they shall not deliver their soul from the flame." Isaiah 47:12ff
Those who attack the Church, who believe the lies of the sorcerers, who watch the daily prognosticators, the fear mongering "free-church-prophet class", who abuse the Sacred Scriptures and paint Christ's Body the Church as pagan and "idolatrous," the whore of Babylon, the Bishop of Rome as the Anti-Christ . . . they are JUST AS much victim of sorcery, just as deeply brainwashed and deluded as this college secularist.
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