Artwork or idol?

The Saint-du-jour is named John of Damascus.  He was son of the Christian tax agent for the Muslim Caliph of Damascus.  (Throughout history, Muslim rulers have generally been tolerant of other religions, unlike many of their Christian counterparts.)    John succeeded him in that prestigious post.  In time, John desired to know more about his faith, and entered the St. Saba Monastery for study and Christian formation.  He went on to be ordained a priest in 726, the same year that the Byzantine Emperor issued a decree against Holy Images, triggering a major controversy.  At issue was the question whether artistic forms such as crucifixes, statues and other carvings, paintings, or murals constituted idols.  Answering in the affirmative, the emperor ordered the destruction of all Christian art.  John wrote three treatises against the iconoclasts {lit. image smashers) and in favour of Christian art.  He pointed out that images do not represent either false gods, or even God in God's divine nature, but only saints, or our Lord as a man.  He distinguished between veneration and worship, which can be properly given only to God.

The iconoclastic movement was really rooted in the long-discredited, but not fully abandoned, heresy called Monophysitism, which held that Jesus only appeared to be human but actually had only one nature, divinity.  If he was not human, then an image depicting him would be inappropriate. It was also related to Manichaeism, another heresy which held that matter itself is evil.  Either of these discredited theological teachings, John wrote, denies the Incarnation, the central truth of our faith.

Finally, the last valid ecumenical council, which was held in 787, settled the controversy, decreeing that crosses, icons, and other sacred objects -- indeed Christian art in general -- was appropriate and acceptable for veneration, because the honour paid to them passed on to what they represented.

The religion in which I was raised obviously didn't get the memo, because they were keen to spread the falsehood that Roman, Episcopal, and Orthodox Christians worship idols.  Nothing could be farther from the truth!   In fact, as we have seen, the matter was settled long, long ago.



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