The Theology of Images with a Special Emphasis on the Patristic Period

U prilogu se nastoji teološki fundirati povijest i sadržaj štovanja svetih slika (ikona) u Crkvi i to kroz biblijsku ukorijenjenost te kroz refleksiju svetih otaca prvih stoljeća. Prava teološka refleksija o svetim slikama razvila se s pojavom ikonoklazma koji je izazvao veliku teološku i naročito kristološku kontroverziju i time bio pokretač istinskog teološkog, kristološkog i sasvim osobito inkarnacijskog fundiranja štovanja svetih slika u Crkvi. Osnovne teološke kriterije štovanja slika zato nalazimo u djelima svetih otaca VIII. stoljeća, gdje se u polemici s ikonoklazmom razvila i izgradila prava teologija slike. Dogmatsko ozakonjenje štovanja svetih slika donio je Drugi nicejski sabor 787. godine, Sedmi ekumenski sabor Crkve, koji se smatra posljednjim ekumenskim saborom jedne i jedinstvene Crkve, prije Istočnog raskola.Our civilization rests on the religious and philosophical heritage of Mediterranean culture, in which there exists a mixture of philosophical components of the Hellenistic world and a religious composition derived from Christianity having its roots in Jewish monotheism. A figurative presentation of God\u27s presence is equivalent to his epiphany in which God reveals himself to his People. Strict precepts regarding the construction of the temples, the Covenant Ark, and the Jewish Temple, are pictorial and figurative realities of God\u27s presence. This God\u27s revealing his own existence and presence is reserved only for his will, independently of what people themselves desire. The adoration of holy images and icons in the Church has existed and lived from the very beginning in the living tradition of Eastern and Western Christianity. Three great steps were undertaken for a Christian understanding of the visual arts from its first appearances in the Church up to the period of the iconoclastic conflict and the Second Nicean Council (787). In this way, there became a theological and Christological legalization of the veneration of holy images in the Church which somehow defined the place and criteria for the visual arts in the Church. Firstly, the simple and every-day visual forms of antic life became the medium for content. The fish, anchor, shepherd, and the young man with the scroll in his hand, become symbols (σύμβολα) of Christian content. The fish (ΙΧΘΥΣ) does not just represent the fish but also Christ signified in the acrostic: Ιησούς / Χρίστος / Θεού / Υιός / Σωτηρ. The second historical moment in understanding and perceiving the Christian visual arts are the dramatic presentations of the Old and New Testaments, and finally the lives of the martyrs and saints, aiding those who were illiterate. This visual form is call narration (ιστορία). This form uses color to present historical events. The third moment in understanding and experiencing images in the Church is its anagogic trait. The image leads the viewer to an intelligible reality. The iconoclastic controversy erupted in the Church, particularly in Byzantine, due to the rejection and destruction of holy icons, and the merciless persecution of the venerators of holy images. This prompted a challenge to reflect on the theology of images. The theology of images at the time of the iconoclastic controversies was particularly developed by the Church fathers John of Damascus and German of Constantinople. Before their time, Athanasius the Great, the Alexandrian fathers and later, the Cappodocian fathers, also spoke on the same topic. However, Irene of Lyon was the original pioneer whose teachings were directly tied to the teachings on images of the holy apostles Paul and John. According to John of Damascus, »God cannot be pictured, because he is void of body, unseen, void of material, without form, without description and incomprehensible«. However, the visual expressions of God\u27s work which leads us to an insight of his existence and presence, allows us to understand incarnation, the human face of God\u27s Son according to his nature (Jesus Christ) and that of God\u27s sons according to grace (of the saints). In theological anthropology, the defenders of the veneration of images affiliated man who is the crown of creation and created »in the image and likeness of God« (Gen 1:26), to the restorer of this image, by the incarnation of the Logos who in Jesus\u27 human image is the basis of the sacred visual arts. The particular quality (είδος) and goal of Christian visual arts is the revealing of God and has best been realized on the human face of the Son of God and his works. It is also actualized on the face of that person who by a free decision and God\u27s gracious working of virtues, shows a decorated life as the impression of God\u27s nature. An image fulfills its role not only by encouraging a prayerful and deeply religious disposition but also by inspiring a virtuous life and the overcoming of evil. This is the criteria which judges an image and the intention by which an image is created. According to the decision of the Second Nicean Council of 787, the dogmatic norm on the veneration of holy images is expressed by the words τιμητική προσιονησις that is, bold veneration, and not by adoration (λατρεία) since it is reserved only for God\u27s nature. This has prevented the tendency of some bishops according to certain legends. Namely, veneration (προσκσνησις) greatly differs from the concept of adoration or idolatry (λατρεία) in the real sense of the word. Veneration is justified since it is directed to the person who is represented by the image