Orthodox Icons
Windows into heaven — written, not merely painted.
An Orthodox icon is not religious decoration. It is a theological statement made in wood, egg tempera and gold: because God became visible in Christ, the invisible God may now be depicted. Iconography is therefore an argument about the Incarnation.
Why icons look the way they do
- Gold grounds, because the setting is eternity rather than a landscape.
- Inverse perspective, which opens toward the viewer instead of receding.
- Elongated, stilled faces — bodies transfigured, not idealised.
- No cast shadows: the light comes from within the depicted person.
- Inscriptions naming the person, because an icon must be identifiable.
The Seventh Ecumenical Council
The iconoclast controversy was settled at Nicaea II in AD 787, which affirmed that honour given to the image passes to the prototype. The Triumph of Orthodoxy, celebrated on the first Sunday of Great Lent, commemorates the final restoration of the icons in 843.
The icon corner at home
Most Orthodox homes keep an icon corner, traditionally on an east wall, with icons of Christ and the Theotokos, the patron saints of the household, and a hanging lampada. It is where morning and evening prayers are said.
Frequently asked
- Is venerating icons idolatry?
- No. Orthodox teaching distinguishes worship, which belongs to God alone, from honour shown to an image, which passes to the person depicted, as defined by the Seventh Ecumenical Council in 787.
- Why are icons said to be written rather than painted?
- The Greek verb covers both writing and painting. Iconographers speak of writing an icon because it is understood as Scripture and doctrine set out in line and colour.