We venerate Your most pure image, O Good One. — From the Apolytikion
On the first Sunday of Lent, we remember the restoration of icons to the churches in 843, after years of repression by iconoclast rulers and agitators. We process around the church with our icons, and we honor the many confessors who suffered humiliation, exile, torture, and even death because they defended the veneration of these images.
But what about this celebration makes it more than a historical commemoration? How is it unto our salvation? In other words, what does it say to us about how we should live?
We adorn our churches with icons, and we venerate these — show them honor — by kissing them. If we truly believe that every person is created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26), then how much more should we honor God’s image in each person we meet, and even in those we’ll never know personally?
We venerate the image of God in those around us through active love in all its forms — service, patience, generosity, encouragement, forgiveness, and many other ways. And IOCC gives us an opportunity to honor God’s image in thousands of people around the world who are hungry, displaced, and desperately poor by serving their needs.
As we celebrate the Sunday of Orthodoxy, then, let us remember that the veneration of icons should not be a practice that sets Orthodox Christians apart, but one that pushes us to care about every human being, especially those in need.
Fr. Michael Arbanas
Parish Priest
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, St. Louis, MO
Read or download all of this year’s reflections.
Icon courtesy of OCA.org.
