The paintings and likenesses of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of His Holy Virgin Mother, and of other Saints we keep in our homes and in our churches. We venerate them and kiss them: not that any divinity or virtue is in them, nor do we pray to them, believing that the wood, the canvas, or the paint can help us, but the honor which we show them is referred to the originals which they represent, so that by the images which we kiss, and before which we uncover our heads or kneel, we adore Christ, and venerate His saints, whose likeness they represent.
In the Book of Exodus, we read: Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them. It is true, indeed, that the making of holy images was not so general among the Jews as it is among us, because the Hebrews themselves were prone to idolatry, and because they were surrounded by idolatrous people who might misconstrue the purpose for which the images were intended. For the same prudential reasons, the primitive Christians were very cautious in making images, and very circumspect in exposing them to the gaze of the heathen among whom they lived, lest Christian images should be confounded with Pagan idols. The catacombs, to which the early Christians retired for Divine Service, and to which the faithful alone were admitted, abounded however in sacred emblems and pious representations, which are preserved even up to this day, and attest the practice of the Christian Church during the first ages. You could see there painted on the walls, also on vases of glass, the Dove, the emblem of the Holy Ghost; Christ carrying His Cross, or bearing on His shoulders the lost sheep; the Virgin Mother; you could also meet with the Lamb, and an anchor, and a ship, appropriate types of our Lord, of hope, and of the Church.
The text I quoted above does not mean an absolute prohibition of making images; for, in that case, God would contradict Himself, by commanding in one part of Scripture what He condemns in another. In Exodus, for instance, He commands two cherubim of beaten gold to be made and placed on each side of the ark of the covenant; and, in the Book of Numbers, He commands Moses to make a brazen serpent, and to set it up for a sign, that whosoever being bitten by the fiery serpents shall look upon it, shall live. Are not cherubim and serpents the likeness of creatures in heaven above, in the earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth? For cherubim dwell in heaven, and serpents are found on land and in the sea. Yet for another and more striking instance: have we not in our homes portraits and photographs of living and departed relatives? The good ones, whose end was without shame, peaceful, and, according to the rules of the Church, are they not in heaven? Still, we do not offer divine homage to their pictures, but simply adorn them in frames, and keep them so that they may be easily seen, for the love we cherish for those individuals represented. We all must pray. Is it not more convenient to turn to a scene in our Lord’s life, or His life-giving cross, or to an icon of the Saint whose name was given us when we were dedicated to God in baptism, than it would be to turn to a bare wall, or to the bedpost in our room when we pray?
What is more becoming than to adorn the Church, which is the shadow of the heavenly Jerusalem, so beautifully described by St. John? If it was meet and proper to adorn Solomon’s temple, which contained only the Ark of the Lord, how much more fitting is it to decorate our churches, which contain the Lord of the Ark?
What beauty, what variety, what charming pictures are presented to our view in this temple of nature which we inhabit! Look at the canopy of heaven. Look at the exquisite pictures painted by the hand of the divine Artist on this earth. Consider the lilies of the field. I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. If the temple of nature is so richly adorned, should not our temples made with hands bear some resemblance to it?
How many thousands, who could not read, would have died ignorant of the Christian faith, if they had not been enlightened by paintings? It is natural for children to adorn their homes and their House of Prayer with the likenesses of their Fathers in the faith. Almost every moment of the day the eye is receiving impressions from outward objects and is instantly communicating these impressions to the soul; and thus the soul receives every day thousands of impressions, which are good or bad, according to the character of the objects presented to its gaze, and for this reason I implore you, parents, to watch for the welfare of your children, and not allow them to keep and to amuse themselves with immoral pictures. Having been informed concerning the holy pictures or icon, we hope that you will keep them in respectful places, and not be ashamed to boldly confess the true religion. Besides the cross on the iconostasis, you are aware that the crucifix is also continually kept on the Altar or holy Table. Representing the Throne and the seat of the Lord’s glory, the holy Table is at the same time a smaller Mount Calvary, on which Jesus Christ was offered up to God, bleeding on His cross. Thrice blessed is the sacred cross for us! It is our wood of life! This relic of our wonderful regeneration should continually be with us. When we pray, we make upon us the sign of the cross. It means that we do not put trust in ourselves, but place our entire hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, Who for us all suffered on the cross. By joining together the three fingers (the thumb and the two first fingers), we express our belief in the All-holy Trinity. In making the sign of the cross by touching the forehead, the chest, and the shoulders, we show that we give up to God both our mind and heart, and all our actions, our entire life.
The Bishop, or in his place a priest, bless the faithful in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and for this reason, he joins the fingers of his right hand denominatively, i.e. so that they represent the first letters of the abbreviated words IC. XC. (i.e. Jesus Christ). Christians should be eager, and ask for to receive the blessing of the Bishop and a priest, also that of their parents, believing that through this benediction are conveyed to us the grace and the mercy from the Lord Himself.
This is a digital edition of Beacon from the Bay: The Collected Works of Saint Sebastian Dabovich of Jackson and San Francisco, a several-month-long project to catalogue the out-of-prints works of Saint Sebastian Dabovich, the first American-born Orthodox priest.
If you would like to purchase print copies of Beacon from the Bay for a personal or church library or bookstore, you may do so from Amazon. All support is greatly appreciated for this labor of love.