Sunday, October 17, 2021

Affirmation of the Veneration of Images, not "Heavenly Prototypes" Merely at the Synod of Jerusalem (1672)

In the 1672 Eastern Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem (AKA Council/Synod of Bethlehem), we find the following EO affirmation of the veneration of images, not simply the "(heavenly) prototype" thereof:


QUESTION IV.

 

How ought we to think of the Holy Eikons, and of the adoration of the Saints?

 

The Saints being, and acknowledged by the Catholic Church to be, intercessors, as hath been said in Eighth Chapter, it is time to say that we honour them as friends of God, and as praying for us to the God of all. And the honour we pay them is twofold ;--according to one manner which we call hyperdulia (Τπεδουλικον), we honour the Mother of God the Word. For though indeed the Theotokos be servant (Δουλη) of the only God, yet is she also His Mother, as having borne in the flesh one of the Trinity; wherefore also is she hymned, as being beyond compare, above as well all Angels as Saints; wherefore, also, we pay her the adoration of hyperdulia. But according to the other manner, which we call dulia, we adore, or rather honour (Δουλικον), the holy Angels, Apostles, Prophets, Martyrs, and, in fine, all the Saints.

 

Moreover, we adore and honour the wood of the precious and life-giving Cross, whereon our Saviour underwent this world-saving passion, and the sign of the life-giving Cross the Manger at Bethlehem, through which we have been delivered from irrationality, te place of the Skull [Calvary], the life-giving Sepulchre, and the other holy objects of adoration; as well as the holy Gospels, as the sacred vessels, wherewith the unbloody sacrifice is performed. And by annual commemorations, and popular festivals, and sacred edifices and offerings; we do respect and honour the Saints.

 

And then we adore, and honour, and kiss the Eikons of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the most holy Theotokos, and of all the Saints, and of the holy Angels, as they appeared to some of the Forefathers and Prophets. We also represent the All-holy Spirit, as He appeared in the form of a dove. (J.N.W.B. Robertson, The Acts and Decrees of The Synod of Jerusalem Sometimes Called The Council of Bethlehem Holden Under Dositheus, Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1672 [London: Thomas Baker, 1899], 156-57, emphasis in bold added)

 

 For more, see:


Answering Fundamentalist Protestants and Roman Catholic/Eastern Orthodox on Images/Icons