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.

Where Do Icons Come From?

Jesus made the first icon by pressing His face to a cloth, sometimes known as Veronica’s Veil.  Veronica’s name means “true icon.”   It is also called “the image not-made-by-hands.”  All icons of Him are patterned after this image.  St. Luke was the first iconographer or icon painter.  He painted the Virgin Mary from life. Some of his icons are still here so we can see what she looked like too.
All of the icons have two dimensions, one earthly after the form which each person appeared in this world, and one Heavenly in the deliberate abstraction added to the image to show us more than just realism.  God was both Man and God.  When He was on earth He was always more than just what people could see outwardly.  Some people found that He was God incarnate even while He was here. Let us look deeply into the icons to see this dimension too!
Click on yellow links above to view these special icons and go to skete.com to our see our vast collection.