The early history of icon
veneration and worship
The use of Christian religious images dates
back to the beginning of Christianity. Paint-
ings on the walls of Roman catacombs,
portraits of important personages, and narra-
tive scenes from the Old and New Testa-
ments served to educate the initiates. As
didactic allegories, they also helped to rally
the spirit of besieged Christians, connecting
their present reality to the acts of sacrifice
told in the Scriptures.
The painting techniques and styles of early
icons have their origins in the art of Greek
and Roman portraiture of the second and
third centuries CE. Early religious images
were painted, carved, or woven. Painted
icons typically used egg tempera, minerals
ground to a fine powder and bound with egg
yolk, or the technique known as “encaus-
tic,” in which colors are mixed with wax and
applied hot on the surface of the panel.
In the year 721 CE, the Christian community
faced a backlash against the use of “graven
images,” in a movement known as Icono-
clasm. For over one hundred years, icons
were considered idolatrous; those existing
were destroyed, and the practice of making
them was banned. Very few icons from
before that period have survived. Most can
be found in the remote Monastery of Saint
Catherine on Mount Sinai.
When the use of holy icons was finally
restored in the Church in the year 831 CE,
the restoration came with specific caveats
about their meaning, use, and worship.
Until the city fell, the art of Constantinople
had provided the style and direction of
all artistic creation for Eastern Christian-
ity. Thereafter, the icon began to take on
diverse local characteristics as each region
developed its own variation of the Byzantine
style.
In the post-Byzantine era, the art of paint-
ing icons flourished in most areas where
Byzantine culture held sway, most notably
in Russia and Greece. The decorative arts,
silver and gold metalworking, and wood and
stone carving also thrived in both the secular
and sacred spheres. Increased contact with
the West, which was at the forefront of artis-
tic creation after the Renaissance, brought
new elements to Eastern art. Even the icon,
rooted in dogma and therefore the most
conservative of the arts, evolved.
This art permeates not simply the reli-
gious sphere, but all aspects of everyday
life. Sacred objects reflect the styles and
themes of popular art, and folk creations
are infused with the character of typically
ecclesiastical art. The lively and constant
exchange between these two realms gives
the iconography of each region its vitality
and freshness.
Introduction to the
viewing of Greek Icons
The Greek icon occupies its own special
place in the history of Byzantine tradition
for two main reasons: first, its heritage in the
art of antiquity; and second, the Byzantine
Greeks’ creation and preservation of the
dogma by which their use was permitted. In
addition, the Byzantine Greeks became the
Greek Asia Minor, embossed silver
icon on a clerical belt buckle, dated
1772. Two scenes conflated, The
Annunciation and the Presentation
of Christ in the Temple, represent-
ing the Incarnation of Christ and the
recognition of the Infant Christ as The
Messiah by Saint Simeon.
The Argie & Emmanuel Tiliakos Collection of Greek Icons
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