On May 13th, 2023, President Zelensky gave an icon to The Pope. It was peculiar piece that blacked out Christ The Child, which Zelensky said “represents Ukrainian children that have died.” Articles claim that Christians were offended by the icon because it blacked out Christ, however, it has some unique symbolism. In Russia Araik Stepanian has declared Zelensky an antichrist, dubbing him “Zelensky-Antichrist.” (https://publicorthodoxy.org/2023/01/27/war-and-eschatology/). So the fact he gave an icon with the blacked out Jesus could be interpreted by politicians like Araik and Russian Orthodox fixated in end times as Zelensky is The Antichrist, especially because in Orthodox tradition, icons are mystical, able to be portals (doors) to those seen in them and to those events, making the image connected to one in the image, so in case of a icon featuring Christ , Christ is there in the icon, “In a mysterious way, the icon is believed to make present what it represents; it can communicate the presence and something of the spiritual nature of the holy person depicted (Christ, the Virgin, or some other saint).” (Praying With Icons, Chapter Five: Final Thoughts, Linette Martin). Thus to black out an icon of Jesus is to actually black out Christ himself due to the mystical nature of icons, that the icon is the person represented, hence why there is the custom of kissing icons, greeting Christ, The Theotokios, or saint depicted. The Russian Church has become very eschatologically focused via Patriach Kiril, “Patriarch Kirill, who seeks justification and support for his anti-globalist and anti-Western views. “Globalism is a project of world oneness, but without regard to the Creator’s true plan for man. And from the perspective of Christian eschatology, we know what global universalism means, and we know that without this global universalism there will not appear someone who will claim global power and whose name will be associated with the end of the world,” said Patriarch Kirill on October 25 at the opening of the XXIV World Russian People’s Council, calling Europe and the United States “anti-Christian territory.” (https://publicorthodoxy.org/2023/01/27/war-and-eschatology/). Patriach Kiril is not wrong, America and Europe are becoming anti-Christian, where Christianity is under siege or being abandoned for the pagan religions & anti religion via Nones (no religion, no affiliation) who make up 70% of younger generations in The USA, & in England alone churches are converted into pubs and Yoga studios while Satanisim and Tarot use is growing in popularity.
Zelensky could be perceived as fulfilling “he will enter the temple and declare himself a God,” (2 Thessalonians 2:4) by visiting the Pope and his temple, and presenting a blackened icon of The Christ Child with Mary Theotokios could be seen by Araik Stepanian, Patriach Kiril, and other Russian Orthodox as Zelensky declaring he is The Man of Sin, The Antichrist.
Another interpretation is that it is fitting rebuke of The Roman Catholic Church. In The Blackened Icon, Mary is untouched, but Christ is erased saved for the nimbus/halo that has the red cross in the disc. This could be a confrontation of Marian worship known as The Cult of the Virgin Mary and her being elevated in The Roman Church to eclipsing Christ in a blatant form of idolatry. The fact the cross on nimbus alone is seen also could point to The Roman Catholic veneration of the Cross that branches in idolatry and talisman like cultism. Zelensky may have been jabbing at The Pope’s church, which fails to believe the truth that Mary was an ordinary woman (not a demi-god) and sinner who needed a Savior too, “How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!” (Luke 1:47), and that Jesus alone forgiveness our sins by His propitiation and grace on the cross alone!, “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world,” (1 John 2:1-2) and “and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Colossians 1:20). Eastern Orthodox do not subscribe to Mary being sinless, that is a Roman Catholic doctrine.
The Blackened Icon is controversial whatever its meaning. To me it could mean that Christ is disappearing from view because Christianity is declining in the world (The West Especially) and being supplanted by Eastern religions, Atheism, Pantheism, Universalism, and Post Modernism. Mary is revered by feminists, Muslims have her image in The Dome of the Rock Mosque, Mexicans who keep their pagan goddess Tammuz alive in her Madonna form, and etc. But it is Jesus Christ our Lord who is the stumbling stone, “But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God,” (1 Corinthians 1:23-24) and sword, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.” (Matthew 10:34-36). No one is offended by Mary, a mother, but Jesus offends because He is the only way, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” (John 14:6), there is no other name that saves but his, “Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved,” (Acts 4:10-12) and He condemns those who reject him and his salvation, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (John 3:16-19). Jesus leaves no room for “all roads lead to heaven,” there is only The Narrow Way (Matthew 7:13-14), He is the Only Door to Heaven (John 10:9-16), and salvation is in The Lord Jesus Christ and no other (Act 4:10-12). There is no place for Universalism or Pantheism, you cannot add Jesus to your wall of gods, He demands you place all your trust in Him.
Perhaps too much is being read in the blacked out Christ Child icon. Maybe it means what Pres. Zelensky said it means. But if The President of Ukraine knew the rudimentary knowledge of what icons mean in Orthodoxy, he’d never have given it as a gift, for the icon is Christ in Eastern Orthodox tradition is Christ, “Nonetheless, on a different level, Christ is also present in his icon. Its matter (the wood, paint, etc.)..” (Praying With Icons, Chapter Five: Final Thoughts, Linette).
We as Protestants reject this bizarre icon belief, Christ is not in wood, “However, the Most High does not live in sanctuaries made by human hands,” (Acts 7:48), “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hand,” (Acts 17:24), if God does not dwell in temples and houses made by human hands, he does not dwell in icons made by human hands; rather He dwells in us his Bride and Children, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you,” (Romans 8:9), “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people,” (2 Corinthians 6:16), “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?,” (1 Corinthians 3:16). God does not dwell in dead wood, silver, gold, and etc, He dwells in us! Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment