This morning we learned that today the Byzantine Catholics commemorate in the Divine Liturgy the Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, the Second Council of Nicaea (787). The principal object of this Council was to deal with the heretical scourge of iconoclasm (Catholic Encyclopedia article on Nicaea II, texts of Nicaea II).Some excerpts from Nicaea II:
"We declare that we defend free from any innovations all the written and unwritten ecclesiastical traditions that have been entrusted to us. One of these is the production of representational art..."
"We decree with full precision and care that, like the figure of the honoured and life-giving cross, the revered and holy images, whether painted or made of mosaic or of other suitable material, are to be exposed in the holy churches of God, on sacred instruments and vestments, on walls and panels, in houses and by public ways; these are the images of our Lord, God and saviour, Jesus Christ, and of our Lady without blemish, the holy God-bearer, and of the revered angels and of any of the saintly holy men. The more frequently they are seen in representational art, the more are those who see them drawn to remember and to long for those who serve as models, and to pay to these images the tribute of salutation and respectful veneration. Certainly this is not the full adoration in accordance with our faith, which is properly paid only to the divine nature, but it resembles that given to the figure of the honoured and life-giving cross, and also to the holy books of the gospels and to other sacred cult objects. Further, people are drawn to honour these images with the offering of incense and lights, as was piously established by ancient custom. Indeed, the honour paid to an image traverses it, reaching the model; and he who venerates the image, venerates the person represented in that image."
"If anyone does not confess that Christ our God can be represented in his humanity, let him be anathema."
"If anyone does not accept representation in art of evangelical scenes, let him be anathema."
"If anyone does not salute such representations as standing for the Lord and his saints, let him be anathema."
"If anyone rejects any written or unwritten tradition of the church, let him be anathema."
5 comments:
So, do the decrees of the 7th council forbid graphic representations of the Father? Are graphic representations of the Father formally violations of Christian teaching (informally it would seem not, as the creation of Adam, e.g., on the Sistine Chapel seems to be approved)?
I read through the whole Definition, and all the anathemas this morning. There is no explicit condemnation of icons of the Father or the Holy Ghost. However, they are not included in the list of persons that are to be represented in art, which could be taken as an implicit condemnation.
As I recall, the pro-icon argument was advanced by Irene, who had her son's eyes put out. He was an iconoclast, and she reasoned that he would be less effective on the iconoclast side. Irene is a saint in the Orthodox church, based on what she accomplished. (We Catholics take a different approach to recognizing sainthood.
Fred,
I didn't know that! How interesting. But then, the Eastern church has always tended toward Caesaropapism.
John-
I think there was a decree in the Latin Church a little later to the effect that the Father could be portrayed as long as it was as an old man, in keeping with the image of God as the "Ancient of Days" as portrayed in Daniel 7:9: "I beheld till thrones were placed, and the Ancient of days sat: his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like clean wool: his throne like flames of fire: the wheels of it like a burning fire." In verses 13-14 another one, the "Son of Man" comes, who is given power by the Ancient of Days.
Second, in the Orthodox Church the marvellous feast day they have commemorating II Nicea is called "The Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy", celebrated on the First Sunday of Lent. What an excellent name!
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