Praying with Icons
First, I wish you all a Belated St. Barnabas
Day! Our Patron Saint’s Feast Day is June
11th, and this year it fell between 2 major Sunday Feasts – Pentecost and Trinity
Sunday – so we could not transfer our commemoration to the closest Sunday like
we usually do. However, we do give
thanks for the life and example of Barnabas, who ENCOURAGES us to give abundantly
of ourselves in our life in Christ.
On Pentecost, I offered the teaser that my blog
this week would be help you understand my sermon on Trinity Sunday more
deeply. In an effort to offer the congregation
an internalized spiritual experience, the sermon will be a meditation on the icon
of “The Trinity”, written by Andrei Rublev. Yes, icons are “written” rather
than “painted.” As PBS anchor, Bob
Abernathy, states, “In the Orthodox Christian tradition, icons are said to be
written, not painted. The Orthodox consider making icons more a form of prayer
than art, and they believe the iconographer’s hand is guided by God.”
There are several “Orthodox” traditions (i.e.
Greek, Russian, Armenian, etc.). As a group,
the Orthodox churches are thought of as the “Eastern” tradition, and the Roman
Catholic Church and its descendants (i.e. the Protestant churches) are considered
the “Western” tradition. The Eastern churches take decorating their worship
spaces to the next level – the more, the better! It is thought that no matter how magnificent the
decoration, God’s realm is even more amazing, and that God deserves the very
best. Similarly, the Orthodox are very
dedicated in their prayers beyond corporate worship and have a long tradition
of using icons.
While icons are not unheard of in the Western
church tradition, they are not used as often and there is some (misguided) sentiment
that they are idolatrous. Please note,
we DO NOT pray TO icons, we pray WITH icons. Icons offer us a glorious way to
connect with the divine, but they are not divine. They are sacred objects as they written in
prayer and invite the faithful and searching to participate with the divine.
One of the most famous icons is Rublev’s “The Trinity.”
Andrei Rublev (1360s-late 1420s) is considered to be one of the greatest medieval
Russian painters of Orthodox icons and frescos. (Fun Fact: The liturgical
calendar of the Episcopal Church remembers Rublev on January 29!) He wrote the
icon in 1425 in memory of great Russian saint, Serguis, and gave it to a monastery
40 miles north-east of Moscow, where (I believe) the original icon is
housed. The icon has degraded, so many
depictions of it are “enhanced” (like the version we will use on Sunday), but
some versions are more accurate than others, specifically in reference to the
colors Rublev used, which are very symbolic.
The icon depicts the three angels who visited Abraham
by the oaks of Mamre (Genesis 18:1–8), but the icon is full of symbolism and is
interpreted as an icon of the Holy Trinity. At the time of Rublev, the Holy
Trinity was the embodiment of spiritual unity, peace, harmony, mutual love and
humility. It is important to note that it was Rublev’s choice to connect the theological
understanding of the Holy Trinity to the three mysterious messengers in this story
rather than rely solely on the biblical text.
From our Christian context, this association almost seems obvious, but
it is not explicitly stated in the Hebrew Scripture. Recognizing Rublev’s inspirations is important
to our own use of icons in prayer so that they can deepen the understanding of
our faith, or even question exactly what we believe.
I hope this short introduction will help with
your experience on Sunday. If you have
other questions about icons or praying with icons, please let me know!
In Christ,
Rev. Valerie+
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