Léonid Alexandrovich Ouspensky (1902–1987) was a famous Russian icon painter and art historian. In his Theology of the Icon (2 vols.) he wrote the following about the origin of the icon of the tradition that St. Luke made the very first image of Mary:
The oldest historical evidence we have about the icons painted by
St. Luke dates back to the sixth century. It is attributed to Theodore, called “the
Lector,” a Byzantine historian in the first half of the century (around 530)
and a reader in the church of St Sophia in Constantinople. Theodore speaks of
an icon of the Virgin Hodigitria sent to Constantinople in the year 450,
which was attributed to St Luke. It was sent from Jerusalem by the Empress
Eudoxia, wife of Emperor Theodosius II, to her sister, Pulcheria. St Andrew of
Crete and St Germaus, Patriarch of Constantinople (715-730), also speak of an icon
of the Virgin painted by St Luke but which was found in Rome. St Germanus adds
that the image was painted during the life of the Mother of God, and that it
was sent to Rome by Theophilus, the same “excellent” Theophilus who is
mentioned in the Prologue of the Gospel of St Luke and in the Acts of the
Apostles. Another tradition tells of an icon of the Virgin which, after having
been painted by St Luke and blessed by the Mother of God, was sent to the same Theophilus,
but to Antioch. (Leonid Ouspensky, The Theology of the Icon, 2 vols.
[trans. Anthony Gythiel; Crestwood, N.Y.: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1992], 1:63)
The Eastern Orthodox (and Roman Catholic) dogma of icon veneration is probably the most ahistorical dogma both communions believe in, and goes against the unanimous consent of the Fathers of the opening 5 centuries. For more, see:
Answering Fundamentalist Protestants and Roman Catholic/Eastern Orthodox on Images/Icons
