Icons have been around since before the church was founded on earth. The first Christian icon was written by Saint Luke, one of the 70 apostles and the writer of one of the four gospels. Even though the first icon was written by him, it was not the first holy image written. Sacred images were also commanded to Moses by God in the Old Testament. We say that an icon is written. This comes from the fact that icons actually tell a story. The writers of great icons must prepare themselves with prayer and fasting so that their mind setting is right. Writing icons requires total concentration and a lot of patience. Many iconographers get easily distracted from their work. Besides their role of telling stories, icons also are a part of worship in the Orthodox Church, because they are our evidence that Christ who is our God came to earth.
Iconoclasts, or people against icons being used in worship, say that we worship icons. Icons are not worshiped by Orthodox Christians, they are venerated and only play a part in assisting the service. They are a constant reminder that God with all the saints can see our every move. There were many saints who helped defend the use of icons at a time when icons were being removed from churches. One saint who really defended the use of icons in churches was Saint John of Damascus.
Saint John lived during the reign of the Emperor Leo III of Isauria, who ruled the Byzantine Empire from 717-741 A.D. Saint John was born in the city of Damascus in Syria, around 675 A.D. The city in which he grew up in, Damascus, was under the authority of Umayyads, the Muslim leader, and the city was the capital of the Moslem world. Many people living in the city at the time were led astray by Mohammed and were not Christians. Muslims also forbid the use of images in their worship.
Saint John’s parents were devout Christians. His father had an important role in the city court and was called "al-Mansur" or victorious by the Muslims. His positions, like the other court positions, needed learning and experience. That is why most of them were filled by Christians, who at that time were more educated.
When Saint John grew into a man he was very holy and was an example to many. The emperor of the city was a Muslim and did not persecute the Christians in his city. Also Saint John was a counselor if his. Saint John wrote letters to the emperor of the Byzantine empire defending icons. He gave the theological importance of the incarnation of our Lord, and by using the shield of living out of his jurisdiction, he protected himself. Emperor Leo III got very mad at Saint John and wanted to get him in trouble. So he wrote a false letter from Saint John saying that the Emperor should attack Damascus and take over the entire kingdom. When Umayyads heard from Leo that John was trying to get him to attack Damascus he called John into his chamber and had John’s right hand cut off. Later on in the evening John laid his severed hand in front of the icons. He then prayed to God to heal his hand. He fell into a light sleep praying and saw the icon come to life and heal him. When he woke up his hand was healed. After this he defended icons many more times and always trusted in God. In this way he greatly defended the church and truly showed his love for the Lord our God.
Icons are a very important part of the Orthodox church. Through Saint John of Damascus many icons were preserved and the Glory of God was truly upon this Saint. This is thy we as Orthodox Christians must stay together, and keep icons in our church, and most importantly remember that icons are holy images and that God through them is always watching down on us, and we can always see Him.
Delivered by: Alexey Petrides, April 22, at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, on the occassion of the Saint John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival 2001. Alexey will represent his parish community in the upcoming national festival sponsored by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.