Why anyone would destroy masterpieces of marble and tempera is beyond most people today. The idea of destroying sacred art, even lighting Michelangelo's Last Supper on fire, or taking a hammer to David Statue seems inconceivable. So why throughout the history of the Church has iconoclasm ebbed and flowed? What motivates fanatical destruction of statues, icons, and paintings of sacred subject matter, even Christ's Crucifixion? The answer lies in the Scriptures. The LORD God wanted to distinguish himself from other gods which required stationary stone temples, the Lord wanted a Tabernacle (moveable tent that goes with followers see 1 Chronicles 17:5, 2 Samuel 7:6, and Exodus 33:1-17). While other gods demanded their images be hewn of stone, wood, and clay; the LORD God said we, His creation were His Image (Genesis 1:27), and He decided to take on that Image Himself and dwell among us (John 1:1-14). In fact, there is long dialogue between Nathan the Prophet and the LORD about how He never wanted a house of Cedar (2 Samuel 7:1-58). In addition to the Alpha and Omega's objections to ever having a house (temple of stone or wood), He told all followers not to make images of worship, "Do not make idols or set up carved images, or sacred pillars, or sculptured stones in your land so you may worship them. I am the LORD your God." (Leviticus 26:1), ""Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods; I am the LORD your God." (Leviticus 19:4). The Lord objects to carved images of any kind, with the Apostles even saying that it has nothing to do with the LORD's likeness, "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone--an image made by human design and skill." (Acts 17:29). And yet, icons in Orthodox Church are made of gold (tempera, egg and gold leaf), silver in Russia; and statues are those sculptured stones and temples in pagan world had those sacred pillars mentioned to be on God's no list in Leviticus 26:1. But what of depicting the LORD God Himself in sculpture, two dimensional canvas, tempera, fresco, and more? Is not that permissible?
The answer has not been very forthcoming. The logical answer is no. If God did not want a Cedar House, despite King David and King Solomon's zeal, why would He want images made of His likeness which would make Him seem like all the other gods who have statues and idols in their likenesses? If The Lord did not want to be in a house like other gods, because Heaven is his House, and the Earth His footstool, "However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that?' asks the LORD. 'Could you build me such a resting place? Didn't my hands make both heaven and earth?'You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!" (Acts 7:48-51); It then stands to reason that Lord did not want statues and paintings made of Him, because this too would appear to be mimicking the pagans who had their gods of Venus, Mars, Zeus, Oiden, and more depicted in marble, canvas, and carved in rock. The only thing the Lord allowed to be fashioned was a Lampstand (Exodus 25:31), and on it was angels, but this become irrelevant once we, Christians, became temples of the Lord God Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:27, 1 Corinthians 3:16). We are told that God's plan is to have no temple in New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:22). So what of images? Were the radicals like Karlstadt and Radical Protestant Reformers right to destroy sacred statues and images in churches? Was the iconoclasm and image breaking commanded by Emperor Leo III in Byzantium a correct command? Can any image be tolerated or should it be shunned as Puritans suggested? Is our world to be bereft of images, and art, or are they cheap imitation and shadow that distracts us from substance, Christ (Colossians 2:17). This question has festered at the heat of Christendom, and Christians everywhere. The Unseen God we serve, the Divine Trinity did not command us to make any image in His likeness or to erect any objects of veneration; rather He said go make disciples, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19).
Sacred art and depictions of the divine are dangerous. They can misrepresent. For Medieval Christians in the Early Middle Ages to the High Middle Ages, Christ's image was unbearable, a regal judge on throne with dagger eyes, and warlord sword in hand to pronounce judgement, and to remind them of their slackness to serve their liege Lord through penance. Mindful of danger of this monarchial messiah, a man named Bernard of Clairvaux vied for a new image, Corpus Christi, or Corpse of Christ fixed to a cross which became known as the Crucifix. Bernard believed this image would remind pilgrims and parishioners that Christ is merciful and that He poured out His blood for them. The problem wasn't if this depiction of Christ was biblical, it was (1 Peter 2:24, 1 John 2:2, Romans 4:24-25, John 19:1-42), the issue was that the crucifix was antithetical to canon law which taught salvation was merit based and that Christ is afar and distant, and you need courtiers and sacraments to be your courtiers to gain access to treasury of merit (treasure chest) at God's throne. So while Benard was trying to help people feel closer to Christ with the Crucifix, Catholic teaching and mass taught the opposite of what comfort the Crucifix was suppose to provide. Another heretical teaching that emerged with the Crucifix, was concept of perpetual atonement, that Jesus is being sacrificed on cross for sins daily and that His blood fills the cup at Catholic Mass. This ideology of Christ suffering everyday for sins contradicts the Holy Scriptures, "Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people; He sacrificed for sin once for all when He offered up Himself," (Hebrews 7:27), "Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own, If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the culmination of the ages to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice," (Hebrews 9:25-26), "so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him," (Hebrews 9:28), "For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has dominion over Him, When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God," (Romans 6:9-10), and "Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit." (1 Peter 3:18 NLT). Clearly Bernard's plan backfired eventually, since the Roman Church even took the image of our Lord Jesus Christ dying for our sins, and turned it into a strange doctrine of Perpetual Atonement.
In Byzantium, the Greco-Roman Christina Kingdom forged by Constantine the Great, sentiment against sacred images, known as icons began to take root. Emperor Leo III, who had with God's help routed the Muslims, banned icons across His empire. Icons or images, are two dimensional artwork painted on tempera, they depict Christ Pantocrator (Y'WH Jehovah) with the Testament in One hand and Christogram made by His hand, and Saints both from Scripture, and indigenous to the Slavic, Greek, Turkish, Egyptian, and Roman lands. Icons are not just simple reminders or objects of devotion, they are portals, doorways, and windows into the supernatural and time travel (sources, Praying with Icons by Linette Martin and OrthodoxToday.org). They are mystical conduits, and for this reason they are spiritually malignant. The mysticism of the East is very much alien and unknown to the Western Church. The Mystics and ascetics like St. Antony of Egypt, John Chrysostom, St. Basil, and many others are not household names like St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Jerome translator of Latin Vulgate Bible, and St. Francis of Assisi. Mysticism in the Eastern Churches gets its roots in Egypt, which is very dangerous, because as early as 3rd century, Kabbala and other mystical secret arts became prevalent. In fact, Gnosticism, and other heretical Christianities had origins in the East, not the West. While the Western Church was polluted by the paganisms and traditions of Saxons, Celts, Picts, Franks, and beyond; the Eastern Church was infected by mysticisms of the Egyptians, Arabians (who had Jinns, evil spirits known to us as genies), Syrians, and Turks. Icons are among the objects of the East that are mystical in nature, and unsettling. The Lord Jesus rebukes anything done in secret, and calls mysteries things of Satan, "Jesus replied, "Everyone knows what I teach. I have preached regularly in the synagogues and the Temple, where the people gather. I have not spoken in secret," (John 18;20, "Yet here He is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying anything to Him. Have the rulers truly recognized that this is the Christ?," (John 7:26), "Why are you asking Me? Ask those who heard My message. Surely they know what I said," (John 18:21), "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people," (Matthew 4:23), "At that time Jesus said to the crowd, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would an outlaw? Every day I sat teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest Me," (Matthew 26:55), and "Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets, 'I will not impose any other burden on you." (Revelation 2:24). Thus secret societies, secret knowledge, mysteries, and mysticism are not what Jesus Messiah taught; He taught in public and so all could hear, His Disciples even wrote everything down for the churches everywhere, and we have those documents in the New Testament.
The problem of images is that they can lead believers into heresies or they can misrepresent Christ. Take a look at some of Christ Pantocrator or Christ Teacher icons. Christ looks angry, with his forehead about to explode and lightning come out of it or at least "I am not impressed, I disapprove":
or Bug eyed:
In Western Christendom it wasn't much better, Jesus either looks indifferent, depressed, and bored with those who just can't be perfect, and even anemic:
If sacred art can be so dangerous and divert disciples from seeing God rightly, as Job was confronted for, "Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God's critic, but do you have the answers?"," (Job 40:2), "The Lord said "Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?," (Job 40:8), "After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has," (Job 42:7), and "We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy." (James 5:11). Religious art can do this, it can make us not see God rightly, as in case of the Orthodox Icons and Medieval Paintings of Christ. Iconoclasts (image breakers) have a reason for destroying sacred images, because those images can misrepresent and be inaccurate in their depiction of the LORD. This can do great harm, and hault the reconciling process in evangelism, "All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is, in Christ God was reconciling[b] the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). We are ambassadors, not the paintings, and images that people paint, sketch, and beyond.
I do not think it is wrong for anyone to paint Christ out of inspiration, but the risk is to not represent Him properly, and so make people feel disconnected or distance them from Him. The Iconoclasts wanted to avoid idolatry, and so broke images for this reason; however, I argue in 21 Century the greatest threat images pose is making Christ appear too harsh, indifferent, angry, or even too greasy in grace; He is love and He is Truth (1 John 4:18, John 14:6), and Love rejoices when Truth wins out (1 Corinthians 13:6). The problem with art and images is they are shadows, often depicting only one or two dimensions of emotion and feeling, but God the Trinity is infinite, omnipresent, and unfailing in love and yet just (Revelation 19:11-16). It is nearly impossible to depict both Christ's sovereignty as King of Kings and Compassionate Savior at the same time. I pose this statement, should we really obsess over shadows, fragmented images of God that may or may not have hint of truth, or should we instead seek the Divine Trinity in prayer, and let Him show us what He is like and let the Holy Bible tells us what His character, emotions, love, justice, perfection and forgiveness of imperfections really is. How can we paint the Creator and Savior? Is it not crude splinters of a mirror, does a photo of you or painting at festival capture all complexities of your personality, make up, views, mind, heart, soul, and Spirit? How then could we ever expect a painting of the Lord Trinity ever capture Him rightly? Will it not, as in a photo of us, only show the feeling of that moment; for when someone takes a photo of us at birthday party we smile, at a wedding we laugh, and at funeral we weep and are sad; if we freeze frame one of those moments and gave it to someone in remote land, would they not think "he or she is sad person, or happy person," they then judging one state, one moment, and experience we had as total expression of who we are; unaware that we have been happy, sad, angry, and beyond in many other instances.
I am not calling for iconoclasm, and image breaking. Please do not with holy zeal go into meseums and break sacred art, or full of zeal go to a church and start destroying Madonna statues (the Catholic Church is rich, they will just replace them, and you will go to jail). Rather focus on the images in your own homes, and if they disturb you, hinder your disciple walk with Jesus, then you by all means have the authority and right to be rid of them. For others, paintings of Jesus help, it is nice to see Christ praying in Gethsemane, or to see our Lord depicted coming out of Grave or on the Cross; to each person may their conscious and convictions dictate; I am not writing a new law. Rather I have endeavored to explain iconoclasm beyond mere destruction of idols (this is noble thing and was what Emperor Leo III, Karlstadt, and others did destroy images for). On the surface iconoclasm is about destroying idols, objects of worship of false gods, but underneath in respects to Christian images, the problem lies in how the art effects the person and wither if glorifies and draws people to be reconciled to God through Christ Jesus who is God and Son of God (Colossians 2:9, 1 John 4:15) or does it hinder and make Christ to familiar to people in an indifferent or angry depiction? I pose this analysis to artists, and forewarn, while you may be sure you honor the Messiah with your brush and paint, take heed, for one misdeed, one misshapen image of the Divine Savior and God can make many feel repellent rather than reconciled. Just as we must examine ourselves, and make sure we reflect the Lord Jesus inside us, we must be wary of other mediums such as image making that can either help or hinder someone's path to Salvation (John 6:40, John 3:16). Amen.
Addendum:
This post was merely to examine Iconoclasm, not a call to boycott religious, sacred, and Christian art. I myself am a patron, and admirer of Christian art throughout the centuries, hence why I include pieces from all periods in my posts. This post was merely to look at another motivational factor in Iconoclasm, not a radical push to purge all religious art from your lives. I enjoy Christian art, and my sentiments were to raise concerns about when sacred art is done badly, in case of Early Middle Ages with Imperial and Regina Christus.
Addendum:
This post was merely to examine Iconoclasm, not a call to boycott religious, sacred, and Christian art. I myself am a patron, and admirer of Christian art throughout the centuries, hence why I include pieces from all periods in my posts. This post was merely to look at another motivational factor in Iconoclasm, not a radical push to purge all religious art from your lives. I enjoy Christian art, and my sentiments were to raise concerns about when sacred art is done badly, in case of Early Middle Ages with Imperial and Regina Christus.
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