Why Do Icons Sometimes Show More Than a Single Time Dimension?

Icons of Christ and His Holy Ones are not just natural art, but supernatural art.  They show by looking through them as “windows into Heaven” something that is not just of earth or worldly, but something that is far beyond even all of our limited imaginations.  They show a vision of Eternity when our hearts and minds are open and purified from just selfish and self-centered thoughts.  This is actually an easy way to begin to perceive more, to see a greater Universe than our present minds can conceive.  In that greater Universe we can see and perceive through Christ as the light of our perceiving all things, and since He is Eternal, then all of time is present at once in Him.

In icons of Christ’s Nativity, for example, often we see the Virgin and nearby the Christ Child in the cave where He was born, and also the Three Magi on route to see Him.  Nearby the Christ Child in another image is also being washed off by the mid-wives.  The Angels are present from singing “Glory to God in the Highest” at midnight to the Shepherds from the nearby fields, and those shepherds are also shown.  This makes no sense in just our temporal and continuous time, but it makes perfect sense as all the disparate parts are gathered together to celebrate with us the Lord’s wonderful Nativity in the flesh from the Virgin Mary.

God is whole, complete, cohesive, and comprehensive all at once.  He is in time, outside of time, and before time too.  God is with us, in us, around us, and also separate from us, but He is always near us as His love always reaches out to every person beyond all time and place, right now, immediate, and permanent.  It is a mystery, but one not solved by thought, but entered into by Faith.  Let us enter today as humbly as we can into this great mystery!

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