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Rating: 
Summary: The Holy Icons and the Incarnation
Review: C.S. Lewis once wrote on the importance of reading primary sources. This little book is an excellent example of how much reading translations of the early Church fathers can help Christians today. St. Theodore is writing to defend the veneration of the Icons from the second wave of Iconoclasm in the 8th century, in which the iconoclasts had developed a more sophisticated theological attack on the Icons. Theodore the Studite deals with the accusation of idolatry, drawing his defence from the Holy Scriptures. Then he solidly bases the veneration of icons on the Incarnation, saying "He who had created everything became matter (that is, flesh)." He meets the iconoclasts' own arguments, demonstrating that iconoclasts must either be docetists (not believing that the Incarnation was real) or monophysites (Christ's human nature being submerged into His Divinity). He also maintains that Christ is still circumscibable after his Resurrection. While Theodore repeats arguments previously made, such as John of Damascus' distinction between worship and veneration, - saying that we worship only God, but we venerate the images of Christ and His saints, - he also articulates further the connection between the Incarnation and the depiction of Christ in the Icons. Easy to read, this book shows how the veneration of the Icons of Christ and the saints comes directly from an Orthodox understanding of who Christ is and what the incarnation means.
Rating:
Summary: Iconoclasm=Monophysitism
Review: Don't believe me? Read the book. St. Theodore's work is an excellent defense of the veneration of icons and should be read in conjunction with St. John Damascus' "On the Divine Images" and Leonid Ouspensky's "Theology of the Icon".
Rating:
Summary: Iconoclasm=Monophysitism
Review: Don't believe me? Read the book. St. Theodore's work is an excellent defense of the veneration of icons and should be read in conjunction with St. John Damascus' "On the Divine Images" and Leonid Ouspensky's "Theology of the Icon".
Rating: 
Summary: True worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth
Review: On the Holy Icons:
St. Vladimir Seminary Press periodically introduces patristic texts, on subjects that are traditional in Byzantine theology. In addition to John of Damascus defense of "Divine Images," On the Holy Icons treats the same schismatic issue of looking through the window of eternity, in icon veneration. Theodore of Studios bases the veneration theology on Damascene's "He who had created everything became 'matter'. He meets the iconoclasts' own arguments, stating that iconoclasts must be heretics, either Docetists or Monophysites (Euticians). Theodore of Studios:
An Imperial bureaucrat, retired into Byzantine monastic life, became abbot of a monastery in Bithynia after his uncle where he migrated to Constantinopole to the Monastery of Studios that he bare its identity. Although he started his Quixotic endeavors with Constantine's divorce, and took it from there on the marginal issue of icons, his best achievement, in addition to hymns for Byzantine worship, was introducing the minuscule letter writing for copying Greek books. Prelude to the Schism:
Cappadocian anthropology was based on the mystery of the Incarnation and the Trinitarian theology as formulated by the Cappadocians who influenced Byzantine aesthetics and the theology of the icon, an aspect of Orthodox tradition that sets it apart from Judaism and Western Protestant tradition.Eight centuries after the rise of Christianity, the Byzantines adopted a pagan Alexandrian Greco Roman tradition, and used it as the test of Orthodoxy. This lip service, in the veneration of icons, was one of many innovations, in a series of Byzantine corruption of Orthodoxy, that petrified Eastern Orthodoxy, and refuted its core of mystical theology, initiated by Alexandria. Uncreative repetition of Damascene:
His defense, which is basically a repetition of his predecessor Yuhanna Al- Damashky cannot convince any contemporary devoted Protestant, or liberated Roman catholic. Theodore also maintains that Christ is still circumscribable after his Resurrection. While he repeats arguments previously made, such as John of Damascus' distinction between worship and veneration, saying that we worship only God, but we venerate the images of Christ and His saints. He also articulates further the connection between the Incarnation and the depiction of Christ in the Icons. The reasons are based in his very defense, the thesis which makes no sense for Protestants, and can be read under the label "Schismatic" unqualified tradition. The inherited corruption of orthodoxy, from Arianism, Nestorianism, to diophysitism all come from a common root of polytheism. Reformists Biblical defense:
You are not Orthodox (Christian disciple) unless you obey our Lord and only teacher, the Christ, who said that He is one with the Father. After the resurrection, Jesus own disciples could not identify him in any physical resemblance to the Jesus they saw and touched, neither the Magdalene who took him for the gardener, or Luke and Clobbas on the way to Emmuas who only recognized him mystically on breaking of the bread. Even when Jesus showed himself, AGAIN, by the Sea of Tiberias; and none of his close circle: Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples, in total seven, until John the beloved, who for the second time comes ahead in identification by faith not His human image. Christ Icon & Diophysitism:
The iconoclasts had developed a more sophisticated theological attack on the Icons and their Christological meaning, in the second wave of Iconoclasm in the 8th century. Theodore "the Studite" deals with the accusation of idolatry, which although exaggerated, neither him nor John the Damuscene, could defend with any biblical support, Old or New Testament, that today Christian believers could make any sense out of them.
Theodore is writing in defense of the use of an 'illegitimate intercessor' in worship, other than the life giving teaching of Christ. It seems that his education which was targeted to serve the imperial court, following his father, did not give him the tools of the Damascene (Mansour Ibn Sergon).
To the Samaritan our Lord Jesus Christ qualified the true worship of the Father as; "the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth." Our Lord elaborates; " God is spirit, and those who worship him MUST worship in spirit and truth." John 4:23,24
Rating:
Summary: True worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth
Review: On the Holy Icons:
St. Vladimir Seminary Press periodically introduces patristic texts, on subjects that are traditional in Byzantine theology. In addition to John of Damascus defense of "Divine Images," On the Holy Icons treats the same schismatic issue of looking through the window of eternity, in icon veneration. Theodore of Studios bases the veneration theology on Damascene's "He who had created everything became 'matter'. He meets the iconoclasts' own arguments, stating that iconoclasts must be heretics, either Docetists or Monophysites (Euticians). Theodore of Studios:
An Imperial bureaucrat, retired into Byzantine monastic life, became abbot of a monastery in Bithynia after his uncle where he migrated to Constantinopole to the Monastery of Studios that he bare its identity. Although he started his Quixotic endeavors with Constantine's divorce, and took it from there on the marginal issue of icons, his best achievement, in addition to hymns for Byzantine worship, was introducing the minuscule letter writing for copying Greek books. Prelude to the Schism:
Cappadocian anthropology was based on the mystery of the Incarnation and the Trinitarian theology as formulated by the Cappadocians who influenced Byzantine aesthetics and the theology of the icon, an aspect of Orthodox tradition that sets it apart from Judaism and Western Protestant tradition.Eight centuries after the rise of Christianity, the Byzantines adopted a pagan Alexandrian Greco Roman tradition, and used it as the test of Orthodoxy. This lip service, in the veneration of icons, was one of many innovations, in a series of Byzantine corruption of Orthodoxy, that petrified Eastern Orthodoxy, and refuted its core of mystical theology, initiated by Alexandria. Uncreative repetition of Damascene:
His defense, which is basically a repetition of his predecessor Yuhanna Al- Damashky cannot convince any contemporary devoted Protestant, or liberated Roman catholic. Theodore also maintains that Christ is still circumscribable after his Resurrection. While he repeats arguments previously made, such as John of Damascus' distinction between worship and veneration, saying that we worship only God, but we venerate the images of Christ and His saints. He also articulates further the connection between the Incarnation and the depiction of Christ in the Icons. The reasons are based in his very defense, the thesis which makes no sense for Protestants, and can be read under the label "Schismatic" unqualified tradition. The inherited corruption of orthodoxy, from Arianism, Nestorianism, to diophysitism all come from a common root of polytheism. Reformists Biblical defense:
You are not Orthodox (Christian disciple) unless you obey our Lord and only teacher, the Christ, who said that He is one with the Father. After the resurrection, Jesus own disciples could not identify him in any physical resemblance to the Jesus they saw and touched, neither the Magdalene who took him for the gardener, or Luke and Clobbas on the way to Emmuas who only recognized him mystically on breaking of the bread. Even when Jesus showed himself, AGAIN, by the Sea of Tiberias; and none of his close circle: Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples, in total seven, until John the beloved, who for the second time comes ahead in identification by faith not His human image. Christ Icon & Diophysitism:
The iconoclasts had developed a more sophisticated theological attack on the Icons and their Christological meaning, in the second wave of Iconoclasm in the 8th century. Theodore "the Studite" deals with the accusation of idolatry, which although exaggerated, neither him nor John the Damuscene, could defend with any biblical support, Old or New Testament, that today Christian believers could make any sense out of them.
Theodore is writing in defense of the use of an 'illegitimate intercessor' in worship, other than the life giving teaching of Christ. It seems that his education which was targeted to serve the imperial court, following his father, did not give him the tools of the Damascene (Mansour Ibn Sergon).
To the Samaritan our Lord Jesus Christ qualified the true worship of the Father as; "the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth." Our Lord elaborates; " God is spirit, and those who worship him MUST worship in spirit and truth." John 4:23,24
Rating:
Summary: Veneration of Icons in Eastern Orthodoxy.
Review: _On the Holy Icons_ by St. Theodore the Studite is an interesting, if extremely dense, treatise defending the Eastern Orthodox tradition of icon veneration. Theodore was a monk from Constantinople who managed several monasteries in the Byzantine Empire during the infamous iconoclast controversy which raged in Byzantium during the eighth and ninth centuries. This English translation (1981) from St. Vladimir's Seminary Press features an introduction by Catherine Roth where she outlines the issues behind the iconoclast controversy and the premises of Theodore's polemics from the side of Orthodoxy. Roth succinctly notes how Theodore "elaborates on the relation of the image to the prototype. The image belongs to the Aristotelian category of relative things, and so it directs the attention from itself to its prototype. The image and the prototype different in essence, but share the same likeness and are called by the same name. Insofar as the image is like its prototype, the prototype may be venerated in the image" (12). This applies to the iconoclast case that the veneration of Orthodox believers to icons is a form of or equivalent to idolatry. If an icon is venerated, Christ is still being worshiped. The actual veneration paid toward the icon is not the same as worship offered to God but an honor and form of high respect to the One who is depicted thereon. Theodore organizes his polemics into three sections. The first section gives an apology for the Orthodox position on icons, defining what exactly is being done when an Orthodox believer venerates an icon. It is similar to the same veneration paid to the sign of the cross, which was maintained by the iconoclasts. Theodore also goes to extreme length in order to prove that the Incarnate Christ was "circumscribable" and thus having the quality to be depicted using physical artistic forms. Christ was a man who lived and walked on earth, was seen by men, wore clothing, ate food and continued to do so even after His resurrection. Therefore, the Incarnate Word was of circumscribable essence and can be pictured with legitimacy. At the end of the first section, Theodore anathematizes as heretics those who deride and condemn the Orthodox veneration of icons. Theodore's second section presents a hypothetical dialogue between a heretic (iconoclast) and an Orthodox on the Biblical and patristic theology behind the issue in question. The third section goes on further to define, using specific examples from the Gospels, of Christ's ability to be circumscribed. Throughout all of the treatises, Theodore also painstakingly differentiates between icon veneration and worship of God. The honor given to the icon is honor given to Christ, and conversely, the dishonor shown toward icons is also a dishonor to Christ. Theodore uses an interesting example of Jews desecrating an icon of Christ in imitation of the sufferings undergone by Christ during His trial and crucifixion. Needless to say, the Mother of God and other saints are depicted in icons as well and veneration is shown to them. Their images are also worthy of veneration because they have partaken in God's divine grace and have become "sons of God" in a figurative sense. In all, I recommend _On the Holy Icons_ as a technical introduction to the topic for those interested in the general question of using art forms in Christian worship.
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