It is undeniable that first-century
Christians were not bowing down to icons. If they were, this would have
undoubtedly been the most frequently used criticism the Jews, who took the Old Testament’s
proscription of “graven image[s]” (Exod. 20:4) seriously, would have leveled
against them. Yet there is no evidence of such criticism, let alone evidence of
icon veneration among the early Christians. However, as noted above the
framework for such things is certainly apostolic. It is in this sense that the
Second Councils of Nicaea can say. (Michael Lofton, Answering Orthodoxy: A
Catholic Response to Attacks from the East [El Cajon, Calif.: Catholic
Answers Press, 2023], 79)
. . . the practice of issuing indulgences
is from the early second millennium, but it is rooted in concepts from the
first. Does this pose a problem for Catholicism? No more than the liturgical
veneration of icons (most likely not a first century-practice) . . . (Ibid.,
155)
Let’s return to a concept we covered
in the last objection: the liturgical veneration of icons. There is seemingly
no evidence that Jesus or the apostles established the practice. For instance,
Orthodox priest and author Fr. John Anthony McGuckin notes the early Chruch’s
general aversion to images:
Christianity in the earliest period
seems to have shared the aversion common in Judaism (though not an absolute aversion
as is demonstrated by the highly decorated second-century synagogue at Dura
Europos) to painted representations in religious contexts. The Hellenistic
world was so thoroughly immersed in art as a religious medium that both the synagogue
and the church turned form it as a part of their apologia against false cult,
and Christian thinkers argued instead for the intellectual, spiritual, and
moral mimesis of God as the only valid depictions of the divine on
earth. (See the entry under “Art” in John Anthony McGuckin, The Westminster
Handbook to Patristic Theology [Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox
Press, 2006], 32)
Fr. Andrew Louth chimes in by saying
the later doctrinal development of icon veneration cannot be found in the
fourth-century Fathers. (Louth, “Is Development of Doctrine a Valid Category
for Orthodoxy Theology?,” 47) Orthodox priest and author Fr. Laurent A.
Cleenewerck echoes this same sentiment: “One will not find in the early Church
any clear exposition of the current Eastern Orthodox theology of icons.” (Cleenewerck,
His Broken Body: Understanding and Healing the Schism Between the Roman
Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, 43)
In fact, veneration of icons—as practiced
at the time of its dogmatic definition—would have been a perfect practice for
the Jews to point to in order to condemn early Christians, if it had existed in
such a form in the first century. In the same way that early Christians were
accused of being cannibals for their view on the real presence of Christ in the
Eucharist, they would certainly have incurred charges of idolatry for this
practice. Moreover, some of the early Christians seemed to have held a critical
view of the liturgical use of images, since they were still combatting pagan
idolatry. Yet the concepts that would give rise to the liturgical veneration of
icons are certainly apostolic. (Ibid., 158-59)
Further Reading:
Answering Fundamentalist Protestants and Roman Catholic/Eastern Orthodox on Images/Icons
