God
is the unique Being, the absolute existence; nothing can be compared
with Him and the honor which is due Him, i.e. worship and adoration, is
rendered unto none other; neither to some non-existent god nor to some
idol.
But
God's grace is transmitted in every way in accordance with His will;
even through material objects or even through the shadow of holy men, as
was the case with the shadow of the Apostles, which is their imprint, a
type of image (Acts 5, 12-16. 19,11-12).
In
the Old Testament some of the objects which transmitted the miraculous
grace of God were the bronze snake of Moses, the Ark of the Covenant,
the sheep-skin coat of the Prophet Elias, et al. Every desecration of the sacred objects was severely punished by God (see Num. 10,15-20. I Kings 5, 2-4).
The
teaching of the Orthodox Church concerning the holy icons has a
Christological foundation. God is by essence unapproachable; He can
neither be expressed by words nor depicted. The Son and Word of God,
however, became man and we beheld His glory (Jn 1, 14). Thus we can
depict the person of Christ which constitutes the visible sign of the
invisible presence of God, an "image of the invisible God" (Col. 1, 15).
In the Orthodox Church that which is seen can be depicted; we express
the same confession of faith either by written or oral word and even by
depiction. The icon of Christ constitutes the confirmation of the
incarnation of the Son and Word of God, which was a totally real, and
not a docetic or imaginary, one.
Through
the sacred icons we express our internal desire to grow in the love of
Christ and the saints, to attain to the "new creation in Christ" and to
become "conformed to His image" (Rom. 8,29). Just as the word sanctifies
our lips, in a like way the icon, which transmits the same meaning as
does the word, sanctifies our eyes and our mind.
The
icons of the saints refer to "the new man" and are a declaration of our
belief in our transformation in Christ and in the incorruption of man
and the entire world. They do not refer to the "beauty" of this world,
but rather symbolize the beauty and the glory of the "future age". This
is why the holy icons lack the dimension of "depth" and are
two-dimensional. They proclaim a transfigured world which however we
observe "as through a mirror" (I Cor. 13, 12). The holy icons give us
the feeling that there exists a new world that is being transformed, and
they constitute the assurance of our hope, expressed in the words of
our Lord: "Behold I make all things new" (Rev. 21,5).
The
honor rendered to the holy icons is placed within the framework
established by the Seventh Ecumenical Council. According to the Holy
Fathers of this council, the honor shown towards the holy icons refers
back to the ancient Church and confirms the belief in the real
incarnation of God the Word. This council ordains that along with the
Holy Cross icons be made for the Churches, to be placed on the sacred
vessels and the vestments of the priests, in the homes and in the roads;
icons of Christ, the Theotokos and all the saints. It further
underlines:
"For
the more frequently they [the sacred icons] are seen, all the more
those who see them are moved to remembrance and desire of those
depicted; to them [the icons] they render greetings and a veneration of
honor, but not true worship, which in accordance with our faith, is due
only unto the divine nature...for the honor rendered to the icon is
transfered to the prototype, and he who venerates the icon venerates the
person depicted thereon".
Orthodox
Christians believe that the Holy Cross is their only pride (Gal. 6,14).
It is the instrument through which sin, the source of death, was set at
naught (Rom. 5,12. 8,3). The Cross is thus no longer a symbol of death
and of shame (Deut. 21,23), but a source of eternal life. Through the
Cross the curse is done away with, conciliation "in Christ" is brought
about, and "the new man" is created (Eph. 2, 15- 16). These truths are
expressed in many of the hymns of the Church:
"You spread out Your hands on the Cross, Ο Merciful One, and You gathered together the Nations that were far from You so that they might glorify Your great goodness".
"By spreading out Your divine hands upon the Cross, Ο Jesus,
You
brought unto Yourself the work of Your hands, and You freed all from
the hands of the Evil One and subjected them [unto You], for which cause
let us faithful hymn Your majesty, for indeed it is glorified".
The
Cross of Christ is thus characterized by the Lord Himself as glory, as
the judgment of this world, as the casting out of the Devil and as
exaltation (Jn 12, 24-33). Our Church characterizes the Cross as "a
weapon against the Devil", because he trembles and shudders at the sight
of the Cross, not being able to bear its power.
"Lord,
You have given us Your Cross as a weapon against the Devil; for he
shudders and trembles, not being able to gaze upon its might.
For its resurrects the dead,
and abrogated death;
for which cause we venerate
Your entombment and Your Resurrection".
The
Holy Cross of Christ becomes a standard and a measure of either man's
triumph or his condemnation, depending upon the position he takes
vis-a-vis it. Whoever equates Christ's Cross with that of the thieves,
is equated with the unrepentant thief and is condemned. On the contrary,
whoever differentiates the Cross of Christ and considers it to be a
royal scepter, and invokes the mercy of Christ, is likened unto the good
thief, and the road leading to Paradise is opened up before him. In
this way the Holy Cross becomes the measure of the judgment of the
world, "the scale of justice" as it is called by the hymn of the Church:
"Your Cross stood between two thieves
as a scale of justice.
The one is led down to hell
by the weight of his blasphemy,
the other is lightened from the burden of his sins
unto the knowledge of things divine.
Ο Christ-God, glory to You".
When
we speak of the Holy Cross we do not mean only Christ's crucifixion,
but also the wood of the Cross. For this, too, is sanctified by its
contact with the Body of Christ, and that is why it, too, is venerated:
"The wood of Your Cross do we venerate, Ο Lover of man, for on it was
nailed the Life of all things", states one of the Church's hymns. The
sign of the Cross is also "divine and venerable", says St. Gregory
Palamas, for it is "a venerable seal, sanctifying and perfecting all the
marvelous and ineffable good things that come from God". It is an image
of the crucified Christ and it draws its power and grace from His
passion. This is why the sealing with the sign of the Cross is the
external sign of all of the Church's Mysteries through which man's
salvation is wrought.
The
Cross of Christ expresses the ineffable love of God, but at the same
time it also expresses man's infinite value in God's sight. A
contemporary theologian says that Christ put sin to death without
slaying the sinner; He did away with guilt and yet saved the guilty one.
This is the great difference between Christ and human justice which
crushes guilt by deriding and disgracing the guilty one. However, Christ
did not simply conquer sin but also the consequence of sin which is
death, and restored man to his pristine purity. Thus He led man to a
surpassing of death, to the life of immortality and incorruption. Thus
we do not have here a lifting of some type of Augustinian inherited
guilt, nor room for any type of "payment" or "ransom" - save only in the
patristic sense - and certainly not an Ansel-mian satisfaction of
Divine justice. Rather the weight rests on Christ's love, Who achieved
the most extreme limits of sacrifice in behalf of those whom He loves.
And it is in precisely this that we see man's infinite value.
Making
the sign of the Cross is an early Christian Tradition testified to by
St. Justin the Martyr (+ 150) and by Tertullian (+ 200). The latter
writes: " We Christians in all our travels and in all our movements
about, at every departure and upon every arrival, when we put on our
clothes and shoes, in the bath and at the table, when we light our lamp,
when we sit or sleep, in all the acts of our every-day life in general,
we make the sign of the Cross".
"
This custom," Tertullian concludes, "has its beginnings in the Church's
Tradition, it is strengthened through habit and should be preserved in
faith".
Orthodox
Christians unite the three fingers of their right hand and place them
first on their forehead, then on their stomach and finally bring them to
their two shoulders from right to left. All of the Church's theology is
depicted in the sign of the Cross. By uniting our three fingers we
depict and confess our belief in the One Triune God. From the forehead
we bring our fingers to the stomach, and by so doing "typify the Son"
Who was pre-eternally born of the Father and came down to earth by His
birth from the Virgin Mary. When we place our united fingers on our
shoulders we do so to "typify the Holy Spirit", Who is characterized as
being the "arm" and the "might" of God. By uniting the remaining two
fingers we depict Christ's incarnation and the inseparable union of the
two natures, through which human nature was cured and exalted to the
height of theosis.
We
must not make the sign of the Cross in a mechanical way, but
conscientiously, with inner participation. We should make the sign of
the Cross upon our bodies distinctly and not carelessly, but in
accordance with the order of the Church: with our three fingers joined
together and as if the Cross itself were touching us. It is understood
that the sign of the Cross must be accompanied by analogous faith in
that which it depicts and b> the unwavering decision to crucify and
do away with our sinful selves and our passions; to put on the new man
and ever be orientated towards the Cross and the Resurrection of
Christ.
Orthodox
Christians therefore render respect and honorary veneration to the
Cross just as they do to the holy icons, in relation always to the
personage of Christ. This also holds true for the honor rendered to the
saints. This honor is not adoration and worship, but an expression of
respect and love towards persons and things which God Himself honored by
abundantly bestowing upon them His grace. This veneration would be
transformed into worship only in such case where one were to render it
by identifying in his conscience that which he venerated with God. No
Orthodox Christian, however, ever identifies the Holy Cross, the sacred
icons or the saints with God, nor does he differentiate the honor
accorded them from their relationship to the person of our Lord.
DECEMBER 27, 2010
