I've had my fair share of conversations and debates about icons, usually with my Catholic and Orthodox friends. Are icons good? Should we pray to them? Do they violate the 2nd commandment? Etc. But for some reason we've NEVER talked about images of God the Father, not even once. Until now, it never occurred to me to bring up the subject. It just wasn't on my radar---I never knew about them. I guess I'm just a naive Protestant after all. However, this seems like a very big deal to me. Sure, images of Christ and Saints are one thing. But images of the Father? Really?
ROMAN CATHOLICISM
Images of God the Father are common in the Roman Catholic Church. Nobody seems to have a problem with them. Arguments I've heard defending such images includes:
(a) taking John 14:9 out of context, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father",
(b) appealing to the Council of Trent, which says that veneration directed toward
an image is paid to the person it represents, not to the image itself; and
(c) vague appeals to the Prophet Daniel's vision of the "Ancient of Days."
Personally, I think these arguments are factitious. I believe it's indefensible to even make images of God the Father, to say nothing of setting up such images for veneration.
Description: Depiction of God the Father with his typical "triangle" halo, located in the sanctuary in St. Peter's Catholic Church, in Saint Charles, Missouri. The Holy Ghost is symbolized by a dove with a special "cross" halo.
Description: A stained glass window depicting the Father (and Holy Spirit) at St. Virgil Church, in Morris Plains, New Jersey
EASTERN ORTHODOXY
To be fair, some will point out that images of God the Father are prohibited in Eastern Orthodoxy (according to the 7th "ecumenical" council), and from what I can tell this appears to be technically true. Not only that, but the Russian Orthodox took it upon themselves to officially banned such images in 1667 AD. For these reasons, images of God the Father are less pervasive in Eastern Orthodoxy, and somewhat controversial.However, that apparently doesn't stop folks from making such images and venerating them. It wasn't difficult at all for me to find the images below, some of which are quite famous:
Description: The inscription for this Russian icon reads "LORD SABAOTH".
Description: The Holy Trinity, a Greek Orthodox wall painted icon at the ceiling of the entrance of the Vatopedion Monastery at Agion Oros (Mount Athos), Greece.
ORIENTAL ORTHODOXY
(Not to be confused with the Eastern Orthodox.) This includes the Ethiopian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and a few others. The Oriental Orthodox only recognize the first three "ecumenical" councils and didn't take part in any of the later councils. So as you might expect, they don't care very much about the 7th "ecumenical" council. Therefore (from what I've read) depictions of God the Father aren't as controversial in this group. But I'm no expert in this, so don't take my word for it. Since these groups are small, it was difficult for me to find many icons and images from their churches at all. However, it wasn't hard to find the following example:
Description: Ethiopian Orthodox Icon depicting the coronation of the Virgin Mary by Jesus and God the Father. (As an aside, check out that source and look through some of those Ethiopian Orthodox icons. I've never seen icons like THAT before. Some of them look almost like cartoons...)
The one with the Son in the bosom of the Father is interesting, though I agree about pictures of the Father.
ReplyDeleteI doubt God cares very much as long as they are related to properly for their aesthetic and philosophical merit and not worshipped or taken literally. The triangular halo around God the Father in these icons points to the intrinsic or Platonic rationality of the Father and indeed is intriguing. I think the triangle is even more the icon in these cases than the personified human form being represented. (Or should be). Perhaps a fool might think that such images articulate a theology where The Father is a literal body like Christ’s (just older) but I’ve never heard anyone anywhere articulate such an idea. Incidentally, I think most people probably think that the famous images of God on the Sistine Chapel ceiling are images of God the Father, which may be true, or maybe Michelangelo was just painting an archetypal image of God in a general, non-Trinitarian sense (though certainly not anti-Trinitarian).
ReplyDeleteThere is no such thing as “God in general”
Delete