Introduction In the American Evangelical Protestant church, icons are a taboo subject that leads to responses that those who have icons are practicing idolatry. In the Protestant tradition, the idea of traditions and other rituals have less significant meaning and influence on worship than they do in the Eastern and Catholic tradition. The use of icons has been a controversial subject during the history of Christendom and help split the Catholic West and the Eastern Orthodox to excommunicate each other in 1054. Icons in the Eastern tradition has significant meaning because they help connect the worshipers to the divinity of Christ, a tool that can try to produce reverence for the deity that the icons is representative, used as a means of
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Since an icon is a holy object, there is strict criteria on how the icons is to be made. Icons are essentially under strict supervision of the church and which allows the church to control the creation process, which allows for the church to prevent an artist from straying too far from the stated regulations. In many Orthodox churches, there is a screen of icons that usually covers the entirety of the nave, this is a practice that has its roots in the screen that covered the entrance to the holy of holies. An icon for a saint in certain practices of the Orthodox Church is a necessary require to be considered for …show more content…
In a typical Orthodox Church, there several areas full of icons. They are on the walls, on the iconostasis, or a desk that individuals can kneel at and pray. At the onset of an Orthodox Church service, an individual will go in and purchase candle that will be used to light the candle in front of the specific icon that they would go to show reverence, while they do the lighting of the candle, the individual will pray and kiss the icon that was chosen. That specific icon becomes a symbol or manifestation of their faith and a bridge for heaven and earth to meet. During the early history of the church, a large part of the population was illiterate, thus icons became a valuable tool to teach the story of Christ and specific concepts. To that end, in a typical Orthodox Church, the icons and the art work are aligned to make one major narrative which is one showing the history and the story of the Kingdom of Heaven, the church is arranged in a specific way to convey a
Since an icon is a holy object, there is strict criteria on how the icons is to be made. Icons are essentially under strict supervision of the church and which allows the church to control the creation process, which allows for the church to prevent an artist from straying too far from the stated regulations. In many Orthodox churches, there is a screen of icons that usually covers the entirety of the nave, this is a practice that has its roots in the screen that covered the entrance to the holy of holies. An icon for a saint in certain practices of the Orthodox Church is a necessary require to be considered for …show more content…
In a typical Orthodox Church, there several areas full of icons. They are on the walls, on the iconostasis, or a desk that individuals can kneel at and pray. At the onset of an Orthodox Church service, an individual will go in and purchase candle that will be used to light the candle in front of the specific icon that they would go to show reverence, while they do the lighting of the candle, the individual will pray and kiss the icon that was chosen. That specific icon becomes a symbol or manifestation of their faith and a bridge for heaven and earth to meet. During the early history of the church, a large part of the population was illiterate, thus icons became a valuable tool to teach the story of Christ and specific concepts. To that end, in a typical Orthodox Church, the icons and the art work are aligned to make one major narrative which is one showing the history and the story of the Kingdom of Heaven, the church is arranged in a specific way to convey a