As we begin the road to the feast of Pascha, each week we are given an image upon which to focus our attention. The commemoration for each of the Sundays in lent are like signs which show us the way we must go. They define the steps we take, so that with a repentant and humbled heart, we may enter into the joy of His holy Resurrection.
On the first Sunday in Lent, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we are confronted with not only an image, but the theology of Images. The image, not only representing a person, but bringing us face to face with the reality of personhood; the individual transformed in the image of Christ.
The Holy Church, on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, commemorates the Seventh Ecumenical Council and the restoration of the Holy Icons in 787 and 842, after more than one hundred years of iconoclast opposition. In the year 726, the emperor Leo III began the controversy by ordering the removal and destruction of all Icons in the empire. Basing his actions upon the prohibition against “graven images” in Exodus chapter twenty, he and many within the church felt that the use of icons was a slipping back into paganism. How could a church, which claimed to worship God in spirit and in truth, use material images in its worship? Wouldn’t that be contrary to the spiritual nature of God and our true worship of Him?
The Church, in Her response to these charges reminds us that through the incarnation God, who is unseen, became Man who can be seen. The Creator of all became a creature, that by His destruction of the power of death, all of creation might be redeemed and transfigured in His Image and glory. If one refuses to honour the Image of Christ, or of His Mother, or of the Saints, one may be in danger of denying the Incarnation that made possible the salvation and sanctification of all.
St John of Damascus (+749), who defended proper veneration of the Icons wrote, ”I adore the creature created as I am, adopting creation freely….that He might elevate our nature and make us partakers of His divine nature.” In other words, by virtue of the fact that God became flesh, not only can an image be made of Him, but that by venerating or honouring the image, my honour and worship pass on to God who is the prototype of the image. There is then no question of the worship of the icon, as it is only the “vehicle” of the honour paid to Christ.
After many years of destruction and persecution of the supporters of the Icons, the Seventh Ecumenical Council convened in Nicaea in 787 declaring that icons were to be used in Churches, and honoured in the same way as we honour the Gospels and the Cross. The fathers of the council reminded us that worship (latreia) is due only to God. However, we Venerate or honour the images of Christ or the saints as that which directs us to Him.
After a short period of further persecution beginning in 815 with Leo V, the Icons were finally restored permanently in 843 by the Empress Theodora. This victory is celebrated on the first Sunday in Lent as the “Triumph of Orthodoxy”. It is on this day, we are shown the first fruits, as it were, of Christ’s death and resurrection. By His destruction of the kingdom of sin and death, we are able to share in His Divinity. This is an important fact that we need to reflect upon as we begin to engage ourselves in the Lenten struggle. Thus we are able to boldly proclaim,”This is the Faith of the apostles! This is the Faith of the fathers! This is the Orthodox Faith! This faith has established the universe!”
So, let us, spurred on by this joyful celebration, turn our attention to the task at hand; that purified by the spirit of repentance, we may truly share in the Paschal Feast of Faith.