What's in an Icon?

What is an icon and why do they look that way?  Icons are a piece of Catholic history and culture that take some getting used to for many of today's Catholics.  Your average Catholic prefers "Christian Bookstore Art."  Icons, however are very meaningful and beautiful, once you understand the meaning.


Here's a little lesson on Icons:

"Christian iconography expresses in images the same Gospel message that Scripture communicates by words. Image and word illuminate each other"-Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1160 

In other words, Christ lived, taught, died, and rose.  The Bible tells us the story in words, while icons tell it in image. 

The oldest icons we have are from the 5th century, but tradition tells us that St. Luke what the first to write icons of Mary and Jesus (Icons are not painted but "written" like the Gospels were written).  Icons follow a strict pattern – the tradition that those who saw the person alive write the first icon and all others follow that model.  St. Luke was the first to write icons of Mary and Jesus and all subsequent icons are written that same way, with only slight variations.  Icons are to be understood in a manner similar to Holy Scripture - not simply artistic compositions but rather are witnesses to the truth the way Scripture is. Far from being imaginative creations of the iconographer, they are more like scribal copies of the Bible.  Those who write an icon spend time in prayer, fasting, and contemplation before beginning.

This is the prayer in the Eastern Orthodox Church:

O Divine Master of all that exists, enlighten and direct the soul, the heart and the mind of your servant: guide my hands so that I might portray worthily and perfectly Your Image, that of Your Holy Mother and of all the Saints, for the glory, the joy, and the beautification of Your Holy Church. (Quenot, p.13)  

For centuries, in a society where the majority of people could not read, icons served as ‘books of the illiterate.’ In the same way that stained glass windows were ‘Gospel of the Poor.’ 


First and foremost, icons are a constant reminder of the incarnation of Christ, that is to say, they remind us that God “sent His only begotten Son” (Jn 3:16) to rescue us from our sin and death. We cannot see God the Father or God the Holy Spirit, but, because Christ chose to take on human flesh, we can see Him.

Icons ARE NOT meant to:

o   Illicit an emotional response

o   Portray emotion

o   Portray time and space

Icons ARE meant to:

o   Aid in Worship

o   Portray virtue (compassion, love, perseverance, etc) and truth

Symbolism:

·         Christ is always portrayed as God – even as a child in Mary’s arms, revealing his divinity under the veil of human form

·         Icons depict silence. There are no actions displayed, no open mouths. The icon invites the Christian to enter into silence – prayer and contemplation

·         Icons are two dimensional – time is irrelevant.  They may portray all scenes of a story in one icon because the story is seen as a whole not as they were at one moment in time.

·         There are never shadows in icons. This shows us that the saint(s) portrayed is “glorified” having completed the race and entered into heaven

·         Color symbolism

o   Blue reveals heaven and mystery.

o   Green is youth, fertility and the earth’s vegetation. Green is the color of the living earth and has been used to portray youth, hope and where life begins.

o   Green contrasts to brown which is meant to show our fallen nature on earth and that we will all eventually become dust.

o   Red, the color of blood, suggests life, vitality and beauty.

o   White is purity, the divine world and innocence.

o   Gold indicates sanctity, splendor, and the glory of God and life in the heavenly kingdom.  It shows the eternal uncreated light of God and his heavenly kingdom.

o   Purple reveals wealth, power and authority.

o   Black is used in Iconography to portray evil and death. Demons and satanic beings are portrayed in black

·         Size of figures is always proportional to importance.  

·         Blesseds are generally written with their face to the side, saints are written with their faces forward, and only those who have not attained holiness are seen in profile

·         Eyes are draw bigger in icons to show the wideness of eyes that have seen God

·         Foreheads are written high to denote wisdom

·         Noses are thin and elongated, which denotes nobility.  The nose of the saint is also said to only detects sweet odor of Christ and live-giving breath of spirit

·          Mouths are written small because they are used only for speaking truth

·         The ears are interiorized because only listen to sound of God’s voice

·         There is an absence of naturalism in order to perceive what is beyond nature