The following comes from Sergius Bulgakov, Icons and the Name of God (trans. Boris Jakim; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2012)
Divine energy radiates from the
icon of Christ, just as it does from the Divine Name Jesus. The icon is not
just a picture, and the Name of God is not just a word: they are modes in which
this Divine energy radiates into us. (Translator’s Introduction, p. vii)
The veneration of icons was legitimized
in the Church by the decree accepted in the seventh act of the Seventh
Ecumenical Council. (p. 1)
In order to deflect completely the
accusation of idolatry, the fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council sought a
dogmatic expression for the special form of icon veneration that would distinguish
it from the veneration of God Himself. The dogmatic terms used there were
service, latreia, with respect to God; and reverent veneration, timētikē
proskunēsis, with respect to icons. “Kissing, veneration, and reverence,
but in no wise that true service which in our faith is appropriate to the
divine essence alone . . . because the honor bestowed upon the icon refers to
its proto-image and one who venerates the icon venerates the hypostasis of the
one portrayed on it” (Acts of the Council, p. 285). Therefore, the distinction
here is connected with the ideality of the image, in contrast to the reality of
the proto-image. However, this consideration can be complemented by the further
consideration that the image itself on the icon acquires a certain reality,
i.e., that it becomes the place of the gracious presence of Christ, listening
to the prayer offered to Him. And precisely this positively grounds the “reverent
veneration” (through kissing, bowing, the lighting of candles, censing) that characterizes
icons but that is of course impossible in relation to religious pictures or in
relation to icons before they are sanctified. Reverent veneration is based on
the connection between image and Proto-image, on a certain identity between the
two, but the distinction between image and Proto-image limits this veneration,
distinguishing it from the veneration of latreia offered to the
Proto-image itself. The veneration of latreia is appropriate to the Holy
Gifts too, as the mysterious appearance of the Lord Himself; however, for the
sake of accuracy it must be added that, though it was left unarticulated at
the Seventh Ecumenical Council, the concept of latreia as the veneration
of God does admit further definition within its own limits. The latreia
that is offered to the Holy Gifts is of course nevertheless different from the veneration
of the Lord Himself (cf. Matt. 28:17: “And when they saw Him, they worshiped
Him”; Rev. 1:7: “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him . .
. and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him”). However, this distinction
lies beyond the doctrine of the icon. (pp. 89-90)
Further Reading:
Answering Fundamentalist Protestants and Roman Catholic/Eastern Orthodox on Images/Icons
