The origin of prostration to man is the presence of the image of God in him: – لمّا كان البعض يلومنا لسجودنا لصورتَي المخلص وسيدتنا مريم العذراء وتكريمنا إياهما، وكذلك صوَر سائر القديسين وخدّام المسيح، ولكن فليفطن هؤلاء أن الله قد صنع الإنسان منذ البدء على صورته الخاصة، وإلاّ ما هو السبب في سجود بعضنا لبعضٍ سوى أننا مصنوعون على صورة الله؟ وعلى ما يقوله باسيليوس المتعمق كثيراً في الإلهيّات: “إن إكرام الإيقونة يعود إلى تمثّله في الأصل”، والمثال هو ما ترسمه الصورة، وهي مشتقّة عنه. فلمن يا ترى كان يسجد الشعب الموسوي حول الخباء الحاوي صورة السماء ورمزها، و بالأحرى صورة الخليقة كلها؟ وهذا هو قول الله لموسى : “انظر واصنع على المثال الذي أنت مراه في الجبل” (خر25: 4، عبرا 8: 5). والكاروبان المظلّلان المغتفر، ألم يكونا صنع أيدي الناس؟ وماذا كان هيكل أورشليم الشهير؟ ألم يكن من صنع الأيدي وقد أتقن الناس زخرفته؟
What is forbidden is the worship of idols and sacrifices offered to demons: The Holy Bible speaks denounced those who worship idols and sacrifice to demons. The Greeks sacrificed and the Jews also sacrificed. But the sacrifices of the Greeks were to demons and the sacrifices of the Jews to God. The sacrifice of the Greeks was rejected and condemned, but the sacrifice of the righteous was acceptable to God. For Noah offered burnt offerings to God, and “the Lord smelled a pleasing savour” (Gen. 8:21) and accepted his good preparation that reached Him. In this way, then, the idols of the Greeks, that is, the statues of demons, were rejected and forbidden.
The use of icons was not common in the Old Testament because God is invisible. - The reason for this custom in the New Testament. - Bowing down to icons is part of the church tradition: - Otherwise, who can make a likeness to the invisible God who has no envy, no limit, and no form?... The attempt to give a likeness to God is the height of foolishness and blasphemy! Therefore, the use of icons was not common in the Old Testament. However, when God, in His mercy, became truly human for our salvation, not as He appeared to Abraham in human form, nor as to the prophets, but that He truly became human in essence and lived on earth and frequented people and performed miracles and suffered and was crucified and rose and ascended and all this happened in reality and people saw it and wrote it down to remind us and teach us who were not present at that time, so that if we believe in what we did not see and did not hear, we may attain the Lord’s blessing. But since not everyone knew how to write and was not trained to read, the fathers saw it best to depict these memorials in icons that represented some of the noble meanings in a memorial summary. Often when we are not thinking about the sufferings of Christ, we see an icon of the crucifixion of Christ, and we are transported in memory to the saving sufferings and fall down in prostration, not to the material, but to what is depicted in it, just as we do not prostrate ourselves to the material of the Gospel or to the cross, but to what they inspire in us. What is the difference between a cross that does not bear the image of the Lord and one that does? The same can be said of the example of the Mother of God. The honor offered to her rises to the Incarnate One from her. Likewise, the deaths of holy men raise us to courage, zeal, imitation of their virtues, and glorification of God. As we said, the honor offered to the master’s faithful servants is proof of good will toward the common master. And the veneration of the icon returns to what it represents.
The apostles left us much that was not written. The Apostle to the Nations wrote, saying: “Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold the traditions which you have learned, either by word of mouth or by our letters” (2 Thessalonians 2:14). He wrote to the Corinthians: “I commend you, brothers, because you remember me in everything and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you” (1 Corinthians 11:2).
About the book: The Hundred Articles on the Orthodox Faith
Saint John of Damascus