HISTORY OF ICONS

The word icon is used in the Greek Bible in the Old Testament where it is said, “Then God said, let us make man in our image” and “so God created man in His own image, in image of God he created” (Genesis 1:26-27).   Also in the New Testament of the Greek Bible, in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians, “He is the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15).

The first icons date back to the first century when Christ was on earth.  The first icon is said to have been made by St. Luke who was in addition to an Apostle of the Lord, a doctor and artist.  The Icon represented the Theotokos with the Baby Jesus.  Copies and interpretations of this Icon currently exist in a variety of churches worldwide.  The historian Van Celub claims that St. Luke also made an icon of the Archangel Michael which he discovered in a Cathedral in Alexandria.  The second icon was made by Christ himself (“Image of Christ Not Made By Hands”).  King Abagar of Edessa (eastern Iraq) being afflicted with leprosy, sent an envoy/artist to paint a picture of Jesus in the belief that he would be cured by it.  The Envoy however, being struck by the powerful presence of the Lord was unable to paint Him.  So the Envoy conveyed to the Lord his charge by the King.  The Lord was so impressed by the King’s faith that He washed his face and dried it with a cloth that left an imprint of His face and gave it to the Envoy to deliver to the King.  The Cloth ultimately cured the King and restored his health.  The King converted to Christianity as did the majority of his Kingdom.  "All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit," (2 Cor 3:18).  The third icon concerns a woman cured from her twelve year bleeding (Luke 8:43).  It seems this woman living in the village of Banias (near the source of the Jordan) drew a representation of Christ and another of herself lying prostrate at His feet, on her house. This icon (and others) is recorded by the historian Eusebius of Caesaria in "The History of the Church".  Eusebius (264-340 A.D.), specifically saw the image on the woman's house in the 3rd century.  Another icon of consideration is the image on Veronica's sheet an icon where she wiped our Lord's face during His flight to Golgotha and received an imprint of Him.

                                 St. Luke's Icon                      "Image of Christ Not Made by Hands"

History has seen many debates and divisions over the use and value of icons related to the Second Commandment:  "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth" Exod 20:4.  While this Commandment forbids all Imagery, its intent (in the context of the same scriptures from which it is taken) is only to forbid False Imagery (idols and their worship).  In fact, God also commanded that representations of Angels be placed on the Temple Curtain and the Arc of the Covenant (Exod 26:1 and 25:18).  Over the last several years there have been National and International media accounts of Icons that have "wept", leading to the healing of many, conversion of some non-Christians and the renewal of faith for Christians.