“WHY” VENERATION OF IMAGES…
By: Anto Gibson
Tags: Christianity, Venerationofimages, Why, Catholic

“I believe in the catholic religion, but I do not believe in bowing down before images” — Common men.

Neither do we believe in bowing down before images if that means we worship them, because that would be idiotic, a grievous sin against God as every Catholic child will tell you.

To Kneel before in prayer however doesn’t mean that we pray to or worship that crucifix. The sight of the crucifix merely raises our heart and mind in loving adoration to him who died on the cross for us. We love and adore Christ alone; His image is only an external aid to that end.

Nothing brings home the truth better than a representation of the truth. That is why, our books and papers are filled with pictures; this is why our motion picture shows are well; patronized; that is why our public parks are crowded with the statues of famous statesmen. We have the representatives of saints in our churches then for the same reason that you cherish the memory of your friends and dear ones and keep their pictures in our albums.

The whole question of paying respect to the images of Christ and his saints has been so grossly misunderstood, that we deem it well to dwell upon it somewhat further.

Early times in church:

Since the beginning of the church, the veneration of the images has always been accepted element of christian worship In the famous catacombs of Rome, those underground passages beneath the streets of the ancient city, where the first Christians gathered to worship in the times of persecution, are found many wall paintings of exquisite beauty and great art-value. These paintings depict scenes from the old testament, the life of our Lord, Our Lady, the Twelve Apostles, and the early martyrs of the church.

The catacombs are the cradle of Christian art. There are those who would maintain that the early church was prejudiced against pictures and statues and that their use was something which crept in later to defile the purity of the christian faith. After Constantine(306–337) gave freedom of worship to the church, there was of course an enormous development of every kind. Instead burrowing catacombs, Christians began to build splendid basilicas. These they adorned with costly mosaics, carvings and statues. But there were nothing new in the community, the sacred images of saints and Christ were common among the Christendom.

Augustine in many of his writings mentions the images of Lord and saints. Distinct from the admission of images into the religious life and worship of the Church is the way in which they are treated. What signs of respect did the first Christians gave to these images? You may ask! We may say that they understood well that paintings may not have any share in the adoration due to God alone. On the other hand, the place of honor they give to their symbols and pictures, shows that they treated representations of their most sacred beliefs with at least decent reverence. It is from this the veneration of holly images developed gradually.

This custom first sprung up in the East. The imperial court of Constantinople, like most Eastern courts had a most elaborate ceremonial and ritual. Great reverence was paid to the emperor, and to the symbols which represented his authority. We are not without such feelings even today. To Byzantine Christian, prostrations, kisses and incense were the natural way of showing honor to civil superiors and to the symbols that represented them. And so he carried his normal habits to church. Tradition, the conservative instinct that is ecclesiastical matters always insists on custom, gradually stereotyped such practices till they were written down as rubrics and became part of the ritual.

The most significant fact in the history of veneration of images was the complete failure of the powerful group known as the Iconoclasts to destroy this pious practice. In seventh and eight centuries there arose a group of men, who scandalized at certain abuses and inspired with an evil zeal, wished to remove all images from Christian churches. The very name they bore “Iconoclasts” means image-breakers. For a time they weakened havoc in the East with radical measures and sometimes violent persecutions. In Rome the position of holy images was explained soberly and reasonably by St.Gregory the great. This holy pope writes thus to Serenus, the Iconoclast Bishop of Marseilles, “Not without reason has antiquity allowed the stories of saints to be painted in the holy places. And we indeed entirely praise thee for not allowing them to be adored, but we blame thee for breaking them. For it is the one thing to adore an image, it is quite another to learn from the appearance of a picture what we must adore.

NICENE COUNCIL:

The church council held at Nicene (325 A.D) settled this question once and for all. The catholic church had never since deviated from the decision of this council. The text of the council definition are as follows

“ We define with all certainty and care that both the figure of the sacred and life-giving Cross, as also the venerable and holy images, whether made in colors or mosaic or other materials, are to be placed suitably in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and vestments, on walls and pictures, in houses and by roads; that to say the images of Our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, our Immaculate Lady, the holy Mother pf God, of the honorable angels, all the saints and holy men. For as often as they are seen in their pictorial representations, people who look at them are ardently lifted up to the memory and love of the originals and induced to give respect and worshipful honor but not real adoration which according to our faith is due only to the Divine Nature. So, the offerings of incense and lights are to be given to these as to the figure of the sacred and life-giving cross, to the holy Gospel-books and other sacred objects in order to do them honor, as was the pious custom of ancient times. For honor paid to an image passes on to its prototype; he who worships an image worships the reality of him, who is thus portrayed”