Icon

Icon

Icons (Greek eikon or image), in Eastern Christian practice are usually two-dimensional images and may be made of paint, mosaic, embroidery, weaving, carving, engraving, or other methods. Icon painting, or more traditionally and correctly icon writing, is an ancient practice of creating images of Jesus Christ, signal events of the faith or images of the Saints, for the purpose of veneration and growth in the Christian faith. Icon writing uses time honored techniques and, because they are spiritual images, use specific approaches, practices and techniques.

OVERVIEW

The most basic elements of icon writing, using a flat board prepared so it won’t bend or break, application of a sizing element to hold the paint, use of egg tempera, etc. can be traced back to Egyptian times. In the early Christian Church and contemporary Judaism, “icons” were used in worship as illustrated by frescoes found in an excavated Christian church and a synagogue (circa 250 AD) at Dura Europos in Syria. Icons are usually two-dimensional images and may be made of paint, mosaic, embroidery, weaving, carving, engraving, or other methods. They can be applied to walls as frescoes, to structures designed to display them (iconostasis), to the outside of buildings, or most commonly on a single board for veneration and assistance in prayer.

Iconography, derived from the Greek words εικοn and graphein, the writing (the correct term, as opposed to painting) of icons provides an image that becomes a vehicle for prayer and a model to which the faithful can conform their lives, thoughts, words and deeds. Because it is a spiritual vehicle, with the purpose of directing our attention to heaven, assisting us in our prayer, providing a model for living, or putting forth a model of the Christian life to emulate, icons are written in a particular fashion. Most people unfamiliar with icons, when first seeing them, are struck by their apparent simplicity, by their over-emphasized flatness, unreal colors, lack of perspective, and strange proportions. The answer to the question “Why?” is that the purpose is not to present a naturalized image as in a painting. It is not to present a “familiar” figure we can recognize, but to put before us a spiritual image that challenges us, delivers theological content and enables us to proceed on our spiritual path.

See Subject Pages on: Icon Painting and Iconography

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
Liturgica.com offers the following additional content on this subject:

Articles

1. Worship in the early church

2. Heavenly Worship

3. Early Eastern Orthodox Liturgics

4. Iconography and worship

5. Calvin and the Icon

The Liturgica.com Web Store offers:

1. A wide range of books on the development of liturgical worship

2. Books on iconography