The following
extracts are taken from St Gregory Palamas' longer work, The New Testament
Decalogue:
'You shall not
make an image of anything in the heavens above, or in the earth below, or in
the sea' (cf. Exodus 20.4 ), in such a way that you worship these things and
glorify them as gods. For all are the creations of the one God, created by Him
in the Holy Spirit through His Son and Logos, who as Logos of God in these
latter times took flesh from a virgin's womb, appeared on earth and associated
with men, and who for the salvation of men suffered, died and rose again,
ascended with His body into the heavens, and 'sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on High' (Hebrews 1.3 ), and who will come again with His body to judge the
living and the dead. Out of love for Him you should make, therefore, an icon of
Him who became man for our sakes, and through His icon you should bring Him to
mind and worship Him, elevating your intellect through it to the venerable body
of the Saviour, that is set on the right hand of the Father in heaven.
In like manner
you should also make icons of the saints and venerate them, not as gods --for
this is forbidden-- but because of the attachment, inner affection and sense of
surpassing honour that you feel for the saints when by means of their icons the
intellect is raised up to them. It was in this spirit that Moses made icons of
the Cherubim within the Holy of Holies (cf. Exodus 23. 18 ).The Holy of Holies itself was an image of things
supercelestial (cf. Exodus 25. 40; Hebrews 8. 5 ), while the Holy Place was an image of the entire
world. Moses called these things holy, not glorifying what is created, but
through it glorifying God the Creator of the world. You must not, then, deify
the icons of Christ and of the saints, but through them you should venerate Him
who originally created us in His own image, and who subsequently consented in
His ineffable compassion to assume the human image and to be circumscribed by
it.
You should
venerate not only the icon of Christ, but also the similitude of His cross. For
the cross is Christ's great sign and trophy of victory over the devil and all
his hostile hosts; for this reason they tremble and flee when they see the
figuration of the cross. This figure, even prior to the crucifixion, was greatly
glorified by the prophets and wrought great wonders; and when He who was hung
upon it, our Lord Jesus Christ, comes again to judge the living and the dead,
this His great and terrible sign will precede Him, full of power and glory (cf. Matthew 24.39 ). So glorify the cross now, so that you may boldly
look upon it then and be glorified with it. And you should venerate icons of
the saints, for the saints have been crucified with the Lord; and you should
make the sign of the cross upon your person before doing so, bringing to mind
their communion in the sufferings of Christ. In the same way you should
venerate their holy shrines and any relic of their bones; for God's grace is
not sundered from these things, even as the divinity was not sundered from
Christ's venerable body at the time of His life-quickening death. By doing this
and by glorifying those who glorified God --for through their actions they
showed themselves to be perfect in their love for God-- you too will be
glorified together with them by God, and with David you will chant: 'I have
held Thy friends in high honour, O Lord' (Psalm 139. 17 LXX).
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