Thursday, February 23, 2017

How the Image of God Is Manifest in the Holy Icons

According to St. Basil,  Christ is the image of God the Father, Whom no man hath ever seen.  We can see God by beholding Jesus Christ manifest inwardly when He becomes the very Light of our life and our means of perception, seeing all other things through Him.  We can see God outwardly by looking at His Holy icons which are a direct revelation of Him as He was in the flesh. Then we must look through those icons as “windows into the Heavenly Realms”: where Christ is the very light of perception of the Next World.

The Holy Icons help us in another way as we are always included in the act of beholding an icon and are a living part of each icon that we behold.  This “window into Heaven” is a two-way window.  When we see Him with love and compassion, the image of God that was planted in us becomes alive and luminous, for we are essentially made in His Image. The word Icon is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word for Image, so we are made as the icons of Him.   Let us reach out to Him ardently so that He reaches back to us in love!

Click on colored links above to view these special icons and go to skete.com to our see our vast collection.

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